Psychology Undergraduate Course Catalog

Introduction to Psychology (V89.0001), or the equivalent, is a prerequisite for all courses in Psychology, with the exception of Statistical Reasoning for the Behavioral Sciences (V89.0010). Additional prerequisites are noted below, following the course titles.

INTRODUCTORY AND STATISTICS COURSES

Introduction to Psychology (V89.0001)*
Offered every semester. 4 points.
Fundamental principles of psychology, with emphasis on basic research and applications in psychology's major theoretical areas of study: thought, memory, learning, perception, personality, social processes, development, and the physiological bases of psychology. Direct observation of methods of investigation by laboratory demonstrations and by student participation in current research projects.

Statistical Reasoning for the Behavioral Sciences (V89.0010, Formerly V89.0009)*
Offered every semester. 4 points.
This course aims to provide students with tools for evaluating data from psychological studies. Students will gain familiarity with data description, significance tests, confidence intervals, linear regression, analysis of variance, and other related topics. Students will learn to analyze psychological data with both handheld calculators and computer software, and learn to interpret the results from randomized experiments, as well as correlational studies.

CORE COURSES: CORE A—PSYCHOLOGY AS A NATURAL SCIENCE

Two courses must be taken to satisfy the major requirement, one for the minor. V89.0001 is the prerequisite for all Core A courses.

Perception (V89.0022)
Offered every semester. 4 points.
How do we construct a conception of physical reality based on sensory experience? Survey of basic facts, theories, and methods of studying sensation and perception. The major emphasis is on vision and audition, although other modalities may be covered. Representative topics include receptor function and physiology; color; motion; depth; psychophysics of detection, discrimination, and appearance; perceptual constancies; adaptation, pattern recognition, and the interaction of knowledge and perception.

Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience (89.0025)*
Offered every semester. 4 points.
Provides students with a broad understanding of the foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience including dominant theories of the neural underpinnings of a variety of cognitive processes and the research that has led to those theories. In doing so, students also learn about the goals of cognitive neuroscience research and the methods that are being employed to reach these goals.

Cognition (89.0029)*
Offered every semester. 4 points.
Introduction to theories and research in some major areas of cognitive psychology, including human memory, attention, language production and comprehension, thinking, and reasoning.

Developmental Psychology (89.0034)*
Offered every semester. 4 points.
Introduction and overview of theoretical issues and selected research in developmental psychology. Focuses on infancy through adolescence. Lectures interweave theory, methods, and findings about how we develop as perceiving, thinking, and feeling beings.
Developmental Psychology (V89.0034) can count as a Core A or a Core B requirement.

CORE COURSES: CORE B—PSYCHOLOGY AS A SOCIAL SCIENCE

Two courses must be taken to satisfy the major requirement, one for the minor. V89.0001 is the prerequisite for all Core B courses.

Personality (V89.0030)*
Offered every semester. 4 points.
Introduction to research in personality, including such topics as the self-concept; unconscious processes; how we relate to others; and stress, anxiety, and depression.

Social Psychology (V89.0032)*
Offered every semester. 4 points.
Introduction to theories and research about the social behavior of individuals, such as perception of others and the self, attraction, affiliation, altruism and helping, aggression, moral thought and action, attitudes, influence, conformity, social exchange and bargaining, group decision making, leadership and power, and environmental psychology.

Developmental Psychology (V89.0034)*
Offered every semester. 4 points.
Introduction and overview of theoretical issues and selected research in developmental psychology. Focuses on infancy through adolescence. Lectures interweave theory, methods, and findings about how we develop as perceiving, thinking, and feeling beings.
Developmental Psychology (V89.0034) can count as a Core A or a Core B requirement.

CORE COURSES: CORE C—LABORATORY COURSES

All Core C courses have prerequisites in addition to V89.0001. See individual courses.

Laboratory in Organizational Psychology (V89.0038)
Offered every fall. 4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0010 and either V89.0030, V89.0032, V89.0051, or V89.0062.
Students are acquainted with research methodology in organizational psychology. They then perform an original study, such as a laboratory experiment or research survey, in one of these areas.

Laboratory in Personality and Social Psychology (V89.0039)*
Offered every semester. 4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0010 and either V89.0030, V89.0032, or V89.0062.
Methodology and procedures of personality and social psychological research and exercises in data analysis and research design. Statistical concepts such as reliability and validity, methods of constructing personality measures, merits and limitations of correlational and experimental research designs, and empirical evaluation of theories. Student teams conduct research projects.

Laboratory in Developmental Psychology (V89.0040)*
Offered every year. 4 points.Prerequisites: V89.0010, V89.0034.
Review of observational and experimental techniques used in studying children. Each student chooses a topic and conducts a short-term study on that topic in a field or laboratory setting. Two presentations require a literature review and a proposed experimental design, and a report of the results of the study, which is due at semester's end.

Laboratory in Infancy Research (V89.0042)*
Offered every semester. 4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0010, V89.0034, and/or to be taken with a second semester of Tutorial in Infant Research, V89.0992, and permission of instructor. .
Part of a year-long research training program. Students learn general methods for studying infant development and specific methods for examining infants' perceptual-motor development. Students design and conduct laboratory research projects, code and analyze data, and prepare results for presentation and publication (grant proposals, conference submissions, and journal submissions).

Laboratory in Clinical Research (V89.0043)*
Offered every semester. 4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0010 and either V89.0030 or V89.0051 .
The course concerns the process of the scientific investigation into issues related to psychopathology, personality dynamic, individual differences, interpersonal interaction, and various treatment modalities. Lectures cover all aspects of research methodology. Students complete a set of research exercises and submit writing assignments, including an APA-style research article.

Laboratory in Perception (V89.0044)*
Offered every semester. 4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0010 and either V89.0022, V89.0025, V89.0027, or V89.0029 .
Presents a state-of-the-art introduction to the design and implementation of experiments in perception. By participating in class-designed experiments and by carrying out a research project design by individual or pairs of students, students learn how to formulate an experimental question, design and conduct an experiment, statistically analyze experimental data using a variety of statistical tests, write up the experiments as research papers, and present a short research talk.

Laboratory in Human Cognition (V89.0046)*
Offered every year. 4 points. Formerly V89.0028. Prerequisites: V89.0010 and either V89.0022, V89.0025, V89.0027.
Presents a state-of-the-art introduction to the design and implementation of experiments in cognitive psychology as performed on computers. Experiments are performed in the areas of perception, learning, memory, and decision making. Students carry out independent research projects and learn to write research reports conforming to APA guidelines.

Lab in Statistical Methods (V89.0047)
Prerequisite: V89.0010. 4 points.
An advanced undergraduate course in Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression that aims to reinforce first semester statistics and extend knowledge and application of statistics to problem solving using exploratory data analysis using both Excel and SPSS. The course seeks to bridge the gap between basic statistics courses offered at the undergraduate level and graduate statistics.

Lab in Psychopathology (V89.0048)*
Prerequisites: V89.0010 and either V89.0030 or V89.0051.
This laboratory will serve as an introduction to research approaches and strategies as applied to the issue of psychopathology and its treatment. This will be done through the re-creation of interesting and compelling studies that have been culled from the psychiatric and psychological literatures. Using real and stimulated data, class members will re-run these studies using SPSS. In addition, the weekly lectures will not only cover important issues related to the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders, but also the basic principles, methodology, and ethics of psychological research.

Behavioral and Integrative Neural Science (V89.0052)
Offered every spring. 4 or 5 points. Identical to V23.0202 and V80.0202. Prerequisites: V23.0011, V23.0012, and either V89.0025 or V80.0100 . If this class is taken with its laboratory component for 5 points, the course can count as both a laboratory and advanced elective.
See description under Neural Science (80).

Laboratory in Cognitive Neuroscience (V89.0300)
The major approaches to cognitive neuroscience will be discussed from a practical point of view, including imaging and neuropsychological patient data. The core component of the class will be hands-on: students will design, execute, and analyze an electrophysiological experiment using EEG or MEG.

Laboratory in Infant Cognition I and II (89.0300)
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0010, V89.0034, and permission of instructor. To be taken as a two-semester sequence.
A two-semester immersive research training program. Students learn general methods for studying infant development and specific methods for studying infant cognition and communication. Students participate in laboratory research projects, code and analyze data, and report results in presentation and paper formats.

ADVANCED ELECTIVE COURSES

All advanced elective courses have prerequisites in addition to Introduction to Psychology (V89.0001). Please see individual courses for additional information. Special Topics courses are offered every semester in a variety of areas. The Special Topics courses listed below represent a sampling of previous courses offered.

Seminar in Memory (V89.0023)
Offered every 2 to 3 years. 4 points. Prerequisite: V89.0029. McElree.
Examination of the conceptual problems involved in understanding the retention of information. Reviews research findings addressed to those problems, involving studies with humans and subhumans and with environmental, psychological, and biochemical variables.

Language and Mind (V89.0027)
Offered every spring. 4 points. Prerequisite: V89.0029. Identical to V61.0028.
Introduces students to the field of cognitive science through an examination of language behavior, one of the major domains of inquiry in the discipline. Begins with interactive discussions of how best to characterize and study the mind. These principles are then illustrated through an examination of research and theories related to language representation and use. The course draws from research in both formal linguistics and psycholinguistics.

Abnormal Psychology (V89.0051)
4 points. Formerly V89.0035. Prerequisite: any Core B course or permission of the instructor..
The kinds, dynamics, causes, and treatment of psychopathology. Topics include early concepts of abnormal behavior; affective disorders, anxiety disorders, psychosis, and personality disorders; the nature and effectiveness of traditional and modern methods of psychotherapy; and viewpoints of major psychologists past and present.

Psychology, Neuropsychology, and Medicine (V89.0055)
4 points. Prerequisite: V89.0024 or a year of biology or permission of the instructor.
Contributions of psychology and neuropsychology to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of injury, dysfunction, and disease and to posttreatment rehabilitation. Compliance problems in medical treatment; behavioral factors in the etiology of stress-related disorders; cognitive and neurobehavioral diagnostic techniques to discriminate between dysfunctions of psychological and physiological origin; and biofeedback, hypnosis, and behavioral control in treating various medical problems.

The Psychology of Language (V89.0056)*
Offered every other year. 4 points. Formerly Psycholinguistics. Prerequisite: V89.0001 or V61.0001 (Linguistics).
Examines theories and research concerning the cognitive processes and linguistic representations that enable language comprehension and production. Topics include speech perception, visual processes during reading, word recognition, syntactic processing, and semantic/discourse processing.

Industrial and Organizational Psychology (V89.0062)
4 points. Prerequisite: V89.0001, V89.0010, and either V89.0030, V89.0032, V89.0034 or V89.0036.
Personal, social, and environmental factors related to people's attitudes and performance in industry and other organizations. Topics include personnel selection and evaluation, training and development, attitudes and motivation, leadership, group dynamics, organizational structure and climate, and job design and working conditions.

Gender Roles and Behavior (V89.0072)
Offered every other year. 4 points. Formerly Sex Roles and Behavior. Identical to V97.0072.
Considers ways that gender expectations influence women's and men's behavior and the way that they perceive the world. Topics include theories of gender socialization and development, physiological and cultural determinants of sex differences, and power relationships between men and women. A major goal of the course is to relate recent findings from the scientific literature to the students' own lives as children, on campus, and in the future.

Close Relationships (PSYCH-UA 300)
4 points. Prerequisite: PSYCH-UA 32 Social Psychology
Close relationships are at the core of the human experience. You already have extensive experience with relationships of many sorts – family bonds, friendships, and probably romantic partnerships as well. The objective of this course is to introduce you to the scientific perspective of close relationships. You will learn how research psychologists apply the scientific method of data collection and analysis to investigate how people experience and think about relationships in general, and romantic relationships specifically. What makes someone attractive? Do we each have one true love out there or is the person you end up with determined by who happens to be around? Is it better to see your romantic partner for who they really are or to see them through rose-colored glasses? How do relationships influence the way you see yourself? This course will address these and related questions from a social psychological perspective.

CogNeuro: Principles of Frontal Lobe Functions (V89.0300)
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0022, V89.0025, or V89.0029.
The frontal cortex is thought to be a key cortical area important for the integration of sensory and motor information. Many cognitive and emotional facets of our behavior that make us unique as humans are thought to depend on the frontal cortex, which accounts for almost 1/3 of the cortical surface of the entire brain. In this course we will delve into the issues that have led many clinicians and scientists throughout the years to suspect that the key to understanding what makes us uniquely human depends on understanding the frontal cortex. We will cover important neuropsychological patient studies and theories as well as human and animal empirical studies into the structure and physiology of the frontal lobes as they relate to higher cognitive functions.

Two ‘mock’ endeavors are emphasized in the class and form the majority of basis for evaluation, the oral communication of research results and the written proposal of a research grant.

Computation and the Mind: An Introduction to Cognitive Science (V89.0300)
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0010 and one of V89.0022, V89.0025, or V89.0029 or instructor permission.
How do humans (and machines) learn from experience? What is the best way to make decisions? How do individuals spontaneously organize to create complex social structures such as traffic jams, cities, or the Internet? In this hand-on, "studio"-like course, we will explore these types of questions through simple computer simulations. Simulations and computer modeling have become central to research in many areas of scientific endeavor, including Psychology. No previous background in computer programming is required and students are not expected to develop complete programs from scratch. However, students must be willing to learn some basic computer programming skills early in the course so they can interact with and tackle the later assignments. Students will leave with a better understanding of the central role that computer simulations play in contemporary research in human learning, memory, and behavior.

Speech: A Window into the Developing Mind (V89.0300)
4 points. Prerequisite: At least two from V89.0022, V89.0029, V89.0032 or V89.0034.
Open to juniors and seniors only. Covers selected new findings in infant speech perception, focusing on speech as a linguistic, communicative and social signal. Topics may range from audio-visual speech perception to the role of speech in social cognition. Emphasizes theories, experimental design, and critical thinking.

Special Topics: Cognitive Development (V89.0300)*
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0034 Developmental Psychology.
This course will examine how children's thinking develops from infancy through childhood. We will discuss how children develop knowledge and reasoning skills across various domains (e.g., how children learn and think about objects, people, the natural world, and society) and we will examine the major theories and explanations of cognitive growth. This course will include consideration of both classic and contemporary research on cognitive development.

Special Topics: Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion (V89.0300)
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0001 and V89.0025.
This seminar will examine what is known about neural systems mediating emotion and cognition in humans.  Topics covered will include: Fear learning, Controlling fears, Emotion's influence on memory, attention and perception, and Emotion and social behavior.  The course will consist of reading primary articles that students are expected to present and discuss.

Special Topicss: Experiments in Beauty (V89.0300)
4 points.
Beauty is famously hard to study scientifically, but students in this hands-on laboratory course will each week formulate beauty-related questions and design and implement experiments to answer them. We also read and discuss one article/chapter each week from authors including Kant, Woolf, Berlin, Donoghue, Kuhn, Quine, and Wittgenstein.

Special Topics: Language Acquisition and Cognitive Development (V89.0300)*
4 points. Prerequisite: V89.0001 or instructor permission
In the first three years of life, children go from helpless creatures, fresh out of the womb, to toddlers with a basic grasp of language and the people and objects in the world around them. How do they do that? This seminar will discuss current issues in language acquisition and cognitive development, exploring nature, nurture, and their interaction.

Special Topics: Motivation and Volition (V89.0300)
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0032 and V89.0029
The course provides an overview of the major theories and findings in research on motivation and volition. More specifically, we will address the history of research on motivation and volition, classic phenomena of being motivated versus lacking motivation and willpower, the psychology of goals (goal setting, goal implementation, effortful goal pursuits, disengagement, content and structure of goals, the mental representation of goals), disorders of self-regulation, and cognitive-neuropsychological research as well as the perspective of economics on motivation and volition. We will focus on understanding the interrelations and contradictions between the different approaches, and on designing research that promotes these different lines of thinking.

Special Topics: Prejudice and Stereotyping (V89.0300)*
4 Points.
This course will cover historical and contemporary scientific approaches to understanding prejudice, specifically prejudice that exists between social groups (for example, ethnic prejudice, religious prejudice, etc.) across different cultures. Readings will draw from multiple social scientific perspectives, and will cover topics including the origins of prejudice, the justification of prejudice, the different forms of prejudicial expression, the identification of prejudice in individuals and institutions, the consequences of being a victim of prejudice, and the value (or not) of different prejudice reduction strategies.

Special Topics: Psychology of Action (V89.0300)
4 Points.
In the last decade, there has been a surge of research on the mechanisms of human action. This seminar covers most of the basic questions regarding human action: What are the mechanisms by which action plans are acquired (learned), mentally represented, activated, selected, and expressed? The seminar addresses research on motor control, behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, psycholinguistics, biology, as well as cognitive,developmental, social, and motivational psychology. The seminar thus adheres to a multidisciplinary perspective on the analysis of human action.

Special Topics: Psychology of Addiction (V89.0300)*
4 Points.
This course will provide: (1) an overview of the major substances of abuse; (2) a review of the various psychological approaches to understanding substance use, abuse, and addiction as informed by the cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and behavioral traditions; (3) an in-depth exploration of the major forms of addiction treatment; and (4) an application of this knowledge to the non-substance or behavioral addictions such as pathological gambling and addictive sexuality.

Special Topics: Self and Social Judgment (V89.0300)*
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0010 Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences & V89.0032 Social Psychology.
How is the self-concept formed and how do we come to know other people? Students will discuss the role of motivations, cognitive errors and biases, culture, and situational and dispositional influences on how we think about ourselves and other people.

Special Topics: Seminar in Thinking (V89.0300)
4 Points. Prerequisites: V89.0010 and V89.0029
This seminar focuses in depth on a single aspect of thinking: decision making. Decision making is a critical part of every person’s life, as we make decisions about major life events such as what college to go to (if any), whether to get married, or what career to follow, down to trivial decisions about which bagel to order or where to sit in a class. We will examine formal theories of how people /should/ make decisions, as well as many studies on whether people are good or even rational decision makers. The class is a seminar, and active discussion and class participation are expected.

Special Topics: Social Attitudes (V89.0300)
4 Points. Pre-requisites: V89.0032
The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the major empirical and theoretical developments in the area of attitudes and evaluation. Attitudes are positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event that guide our judgments and behavior. People can also be ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward the item in question. The pre-requisite for this course is Introduction to Social Psychology.

Special Topics: Social Neuroscience (V89.0300)
4 Points. Pre-requisites: V89.0022, V89.0025, or V89.0029 AND either V89.0032 or V89.0030
This course provides an overview of topics in the emerging field of Social Neuroscience. We will focus on how theories and methods of neuroscience may be used to address classic questions of social psychology from new and informative angles. The goal of this course is to give you a broad background in social neuroscience so that you may (a) be a critical consumer of this literature, (b) broaden the way you think about connections between the mind, brain, and behavior in the context of the social world, and (c) most importantly, apply these ideas to inform your own ideas and future research in psychology.

Special Topics: Social Psychology of Decision Making (V89.0300)
4 Points. Pre-requisites: V89.0029 or V89.0032
This course will review theory and research on cognitive and motivational processes underlying judgments and decision making regarding social objects and events. The course will examine how people seek, interpret, and integrate information in making social judgments and decisions. The seminar will discuss models of rational judgment and how cognitive limitations, social stereotypes, emotions, desires, and impulses produce judgmental error and biases. The course will examine how these judgmental phenomena are expressed in everyday life situations.

Special Topics: Social Psychology of Visual Perception (V89.0300)
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0001 and V89.0010.
People tacitly assume that they see the world exactly how it is. New research, however, calls this assumption into question and instead suggests our vantage is clouded at best. In this seminar, we discuss research that suggests that visual perception is influenced by the perceiver's cognitions, emotions, goals, motivations, culture, surroundings, and other variables that have been traditionally considered exclusive to social, personality, and cognitive psychology. Students taking this course will read and evaluate the original literature related to these topics. Weekly response papers will inform class discussion of papers. A final paper will be required.

Special Topics: Social Support Processes (V89.0300)
4 Points. Pre-requisites: V89.0032
This special topics course will examine what is known about the effects of social support, as well as factors that influence the provision of support.  Social support is defined in the literature alternatively as networks and structural relationships, cognitions and beliefs about the availability of support, or daily transactions of supportive behavior. The assumed nature of support also varies, ranging from displays of empathy and reassurance, to provision of helpful information, to the enactment of practical help.  Some researchers consider support in the context of stressful life events or health events, while others consider it more broadly as a means to enhance general positive growth and functioning.  Depending on the way support is defined and measured, its apparent effects are either very positive, mildly helpful, ineffective or even harmful.  Studies of the effects of support are challenging because persons who receive support in the general population vary systematically from those who do not.  Recipients tend to be more socially connected but also more in need.  Students taking this course will review the literature on social support and evaluate experimental and survey-based studies that attempt to reveal the impact of support. Weekly response papers will inform class discussion of papers.  A final paper will be required.

Special Topics: Systems of Psychotherapy (V89.0300)*
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0030 or V89.0051.
This course will introduce students to the nature of psychotherapy. It will consider the major theories and techniques of psychotherapy, with particular emphasis on psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral approaches. A significant portion of the course will be devoted to viewing and discussing videos illustrating different methods of psychotherapy.

Special Topics: Neuroeconomics and Decision Making (V89.0300)*
4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0001, V89.0010, and V89.0025 or V89.0029.
This course explores how humans and animals make decisions, drawing broadly on many perspectives including particularly the nexus of psychological, neuroscientific, and economic considerations, but also ethological and computational ones. The course is organized around modules considering decision making in several sorts of tasks; for instance, by foraging animals or by humans in competitive multiplayer interactions.

Research Experiences and Methods (V89.0999)*
Offered every semester. 1-4 points. Prerequisites: V89.0001, V89.0010, and at least two other psychology courses and permission of department required. Recommended: a laboratory course in psychology. This course may be repeated for three semesters. It is normally taken for 4 points, but may be approved for less after the first semester with permission of the instructor.
Undergraduate students are paired with faculty, advanced graduate students, or other researchers on a one-to-one basis to pursue common research goals in psychology. Undergraduates serve as apprentices on survey, laboratory, clinical, and field research projects and in return receive guidance in reading and developing research skills. Biweekly meetings deal with research methods and design and allow students an opportunity to speak on their research projects. Written assignments include several brief homeworks and a final journal-style research report.

HONORS COURSES

Open only to students who have been admitted to the Psychology Honors Program. Either V89.0200 or V89.0201 (but not both) may be counted as an advanced elective in the fulfillment of the requirements of the major.

Honors Seminar I (V89.0200)
Offered every fall. 4 points. Prerequisite: Admission to the psychology honors program.
Students read and discuss recent studies and classical papers related to current controversies in psychology. A portion of class time is set aside for discussion of theoretical and technical aspects of each student's thesis project.

Honors Seminar II (V89.0201)
Offered every spring. 4 points. Prerequisite: V89.0200.
A continuation of V89.0200. Students are also expected to present preliminary results of their thesis projects and interpret their findings.

GRADUATE COURSES OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES

Certain courses in the Graduate School of Arts and Science are open to advanced undergraduates who satisfy the following prerequisites: Junior or Senior major in Psychology, permission of the student's undergraduate psychology adviser, permission of the Department of Psychology (graduate division), and additional specific prerequisites listed for each course. For further information, please consult the Graduate Course Catalog.