Why are people superstitious? Why do people blush when they are embarrassed? What is intelligence (and are IQ tests a good way to measure it)? Why don't psychopaths feel guilty when they harm others? How reliable are childhood memories? Why do we laugh? Do violent video games make people act violently? Why do some people seem instantly trustworthy and others seem "creepy"? How do we choose whom to sleep with, date, or marry? How does stress affect our body? While questions like these have been asked for centuries, psychology has begun to provide answers to these - and other questions about the human mind - by applying the tools of scientific investigation. In this course you will receive a broad introduction to the science of psychology: from the history of the field and its major advances, to the latest research on topics such as perception, memory, intelligence, morality, sexuality, mental illness, religion, language, and creativity. You will also learn about the tools and methods psychologists use to investigate the mind, such as observing how the mind of a child changes and develops over time, looking at people across cultures, measuring brain activity, and experimentally manipulating everything from the shape of a figure presented on a computer screen, to the smell of a room, or the attractiveness of the experimenter.

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 1101 - Introduction to Psychology

This course provides an introduction to the science of the mind. Everyone knows what it's like to think and perceive, but this subjective experience provides little insight into how minds emerge from physical entities like brains. To address this issue, cognitive science integrates work from at least five disciplines: Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Linguistics, and Philosophy. This course introduces students to the insights these disciplines offer into the workings of the mind by exploring visual perception, attention, memory, learning, problem solving, language, and consciousness. 

Catalog Distribution: (ETM-AS) (KCM-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 1102 - Introduction to Cognitive Science

This section is highly recommended for students who are interested in learning about the topics covered in the main course through writing and discussion. 

Full details for PSYCH 1104 - WIM: Introduction to Cognitive Science

Full details for PSYCH 1120 - FWS:Personality & Social Psychology

Behavioral & Evolutionary Neuroscience Psychology seeks to understand behavior and cognition through investigations of the integrated roles of evolution, development, and mechanisms. The emphasis is on naturalistic behaviors of animals and ecologically relevant behaviors of humans. Comparative perspectives are well represented, the full range of development, including aging, is investigated, and both social and non-social behaviors are explained. Core questions are, what are the mechanisms (brain, sensory, endocrine, and behavioral) that enable animals (including humans) to behave appropriately? How do these mechanisms work? How do they develop? How did they evolve?

Full details for PSYCH 1130 - FWS:Behavioral Evolution Psych

Introduction to Human Development provides a broad and foundational overview of field of human development, starting from conception and ending through process of death and dying. The course will start with an outline and explanation of the lifespan perspective in human development. The biological beginnings of life and prenatal development will serve as the start of the discussion of human development, followed by an exploration of physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development at each subsequent stage within the lifespan (e.g., infancy, early childhood, middle & late childhood, etc.). Discussion of each developmental stage will highlight major research findings and their real-world application.

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 1131 - Introduction to Human Development

How do we perceive, learn about, and store information about the environments around us? How does what we have learned affect how we perceive and understand? PCD researchers in the graduate field of psychology at Cornell study human perception, language, and memory, as well as the development of various cognitive functions in infants. The methods they use are diverse, and range from human behavioral experiments in development, perception, and psycholinguistics, through computational modeling and simulation of auditory, visual, and language processes, to human electrophysiology by means of event-related potential (ERP) analysis.

Catalog Distribution: (WRT-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 1140 - FWS: Perception, Cognition, and Development

Environmental Psychology is an interdisciplinary field concerned with how the physical environment and human behavior interrelate. Most of the course focuses on how residential environments and urban and natural settings affect human health and well-being. Students also examine how human attitudes and behaviors affect environmental quality. Issues of environmental justice and culture are included throughout. Hands-on projects plus exams.

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 1500 - Introduction to Environmental Psychology

Human-Environment Relations is an interdisciplinary field concerned with how the physical environment and human behavior interrelate. Most of the course focuses on how residential environments and urban and natural settings affect human health and well-being. Students also examine how human attitudes and behaviors affect environmental quality. Issues of environmental justice and culture are included throughout. Hands-on projects plus exams. Lecture and discussion sections. WIM section attends a regular lecture but also meets weekly with a graduate writing instructor. The two principal objectives of WIM section:

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 1501 - Introduction to Environmental Psychology - Writing in the Major

Introduction to psychology from a biological perspective, which focuses on brain mechanisms of behavior. Topics include the structure and function of the nervous system, physiological approaches to understanding behavior, hormones and behavior, biological bases of sensation and perception, learning and memory, cognition, emotion, and communication.

Catalog Distribution: (BIO-AS) (OPHLS-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 2230 - Intro to Behavioral Neuroscience

What counts as a community? How do communities shape who we are? How can we engage in action to transform the communities we are a part of? These questions guide our inquiry in this introductory community psychology course. Community psychology examines the interrelationship between individual wellbeing and the multiple social structures and contexts with which individuals interact. Community psychologists are united by a shared commitment to understanding individuals using a multidisciplinary perspective, including developmental psychology, education, and sociology. Beyond seeking to understand, community psychologists also emphasize values, applied and participatory research, and action to promote the well-being of entire communities from a strengths-based perspective. This lecture-based course will provide an overview of theory, research, and action in community psychology. We will focus on (a) essential community psychology theories, (b) methodological strategies for studying alongside communities, and (c) practical applications related to understanding social and environmental contexts as essential components of the human experience. Throughout the course, we will discuss the role of communities in shaping our understandings of diversity, equity, and social justice.   

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (CA-AG, D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 2400 - Introduction to Community Psychology

The Pursuit of Happiness is even mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, but what does this mean? This course will explore the kinds of happiness found in human experience, including financial success, public service, romantic and family life, political and cultural identity, as well as the power of music, literature, art and film to affect mood and self-awareness. 

Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS, ETM-AS) (CA-AG, KCM-AG, LA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 2450 - Pursuing Happiness

In a complex environment with many sources of variability, how can one tell with confidence whether a particular observed effect is real? And how much confidence is appropriate? This course introduces the principles of statistical description and inference as strategies to answer these questions, with emphasis on methods of principal relevance to psychology, neuroscience, and the behavioral sciences.

Catalog Distribution: (SDS-AS, SSC-AS) (MQL-AG, OPHLS-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 2500 - Statistics and Research Design

This course is modeled after "Great Books" literature courses in the humanities, but with two important differences: we read non-fiction books in the social sciences rather than the humanities, written by highly prominent contemporary social scientists. The course title refers to the fact that the books are new, hence their potential greatness has yet to be confirmed by the test of time. We choose living authors to give students a unique opportunity: to interact with each of the six authors in Q&A sessions via live or recorded video conferencing. 

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 2580 - Six Pretty Good Books: Explorations in Social Science

What is "personality"? How is it scientifically studied and measured? To what extent, do biological, social, and cultural factors shape personality? Is personality an expression of our genetic make up and biology, the culmination of social influences, the interplay of both, or the result of random events? In this course, we will review the major theoretical paradigms of personality psychology, discuss contemporary research, theory, and methodology, and learn about key historical debates in the study of "personality".

Catalog Distribution: (ETM-AS, SSC-AS) (KCM-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 2750 - Introduction to Personality

This course will introduce students to the basics of research design and will review several methodologies in the study of human development. The focus of the course will be on descriptive and experimental methods. Students will learn the advantages and challenges to different methodological approaches. The course also places an emphasis on developing students' scientific writing and strengthening their understanding of statistics.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 2830 - Research Methods in Human Development

Intro to Data Science for Social Scientists using R.

Catalog Distribution: (SDS-AS) (OPHLS-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 2930 - Introduction to Data Science for Social Scientists

This course will expose students to a wide range of commonly used methods in neuroscience research (theory behind the method, common applications of the method, how data are collected and analyzed using the method, strengths and weaknesses of the method, etc.). The goal for students is that by the end of the course, they will be able to read and critically evaluate primary literature from many areas of neuroscience and to understand how the methods used in the study helped the researchers come to their conclusions. This course will explore methods including (but not necessarily limited to): microscopy, methods to visualize neuronal structure and function, electrophysiology, methods to measure neural activity, methods to measure and manipulate expression of genes/mRNA/protein, machine learning methods for behavioral analysis, and whole brain imaging methods in humans and non-human animals.

Catalog Distribution: (BIO-AS) (OPHLS-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 3020 - Methods in Neuroscience

In this course, we will explore how language interacts with power: how does language reflect, shape, threaten and reinforce power relations in human society? From childhood through old age, language is an ever-present source of symbolic power. We use it to develop and express our identities, to position ourselves in hierarchies, and to establish group membership and exclusion throughout life. Language shapes ourselves, our families, our social lives, and our institutions. Understanding how people use language can provide a window into hidden aspects of both individuals and the social world.

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (CA-AG, D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 3130 - Language and Power

Morality seems to be a universal feature of humananity. People across time, place and culture have a strong sense that certain things are right or wrong, that some people are good and some are evil. Where does this moral sense come from? Why do some people disagree so strongly about what is right and wrong? How did evolution shape this moral sense? How does it develop? Are there any universal aspects of moral psychology? The goals of this course are to offer an introduction to the psychological science behind what humans know as morality.

Catalog Distribution: (ETM-AS, SSC-AS) (KCM-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 3135 - The Psychology of Good and Evil

Focuses on how the scientific study of human memory interfaces with the theory and practice of law.

Catalog Distribution: (ETM-AS) (KCM-AG, OPHLS-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 3190 - Memory and the Law

This course is designed to provide an introduction to experimental research on the neural basis of behavior and cognition in animals. Topics will include basic neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, neural and hormonal control of behavior, and learning and memory. Students will gain extensive hands on experience with a variety of laboratory techniques, and animal species, and behaviors.

Catalog Distribution: (BIO-AS) (OPHLS-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 3240 - Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory

Covers the basic ideas and techniques involved in computational neuroscience. Surveys diverse topics, including neural dynamics of small networks of cells, neural coding, learning in neural networks and in brain structures, memory models of the hippocampus, sensory coding, and others.

Catalog Distribution: (BIO-AS, SDS-AS) (OPHLS-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 3300 - Introduction to Computational Neuroscience

Social group membership - based on race and ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, sex, gender and gender identity, etc. and their intersection- can profoundly influence one's experience of the world and each other.  Through this course we will cover the basic experimental social psychology research on thoughts and beliefs (stereotypes), evaluative attitudes (prejudice), and behaviors (discrimination) that are based on group membership. We will explore how empirical research developed from primarily examining explicit (blatant) prejudice in the 20th century to recent examinations of implicit forms of stereotyping and prejudice. We will explore how stereotyping and prejudice can arise from basic perceptual and categorical processes, discuss strategies for minimizing expressed bias in interpersonal situations, and examine the experience of high status - and the consequences of losing it. The ultimate aim is to enhance your ability to evaluate and analyze the scientific merit of this research and apply it to real world social issues.

Catalog Distribution: (SCD-AS, SSC-AS) (D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 3820 - Prejudice and Stereotyping

Seminar surveying a cross-section of modern theories, methods, and research pertaining to the origin and evolution of language. Considers evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, theoretical biology, comparative psychology, and computational modeling of evolutionary processes. Topics for discussion may include: What is special about language? What can we learn from comparative perspectives on neurobiology and behavior? Can apes really learn language? Did language come about through natural selection or cultural evolution?

Catalog Distribution: (ETM-AS) (KCM-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 4270 - Evolution of Language

People experience and remember complex and dynamic environments as events. This seminar draws on work from cognitive neuroscience to characterize how people shape experience into events, and how these processes support adaptive behavior. The course will start with discussions of historical and modern perspectives about the relationships between minds, bodies, and experience. We will then cover topics ranging from the perception of motion and causality to social learning and interaction. The primary goals are for you to be able to (1) read and evaluate research in psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, and (2) describe and understand the implications of this research for how minds and bodies are adapted to everyday situations.

Catalog Distribution: (ETM-AS) (KCM-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 4331 - Event Cognition: How Minds, Brains and Bodies Experience Events

New technologies are changing our world at a rapid pace. In many cases, the society does not fully understand the impact of technology and is not prepared for the speed of the change that is occurring. This course will explore a few of these new technologies and investigate their effects on the users and on the society at large. The topics that will be explored include face recognition, virtual reality, violence in media, general AI, and the technological singularity. We will look at the ways in which these technologies affect our lives, with a focus on education, entertainment, employment, politics, and the future of humanity.

Catalog Distribution: (ETM-AS) (KCM-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 4420 - The Psychology and Ethics of 21st Century Technology

This course on the climate crisis acquaints students with the psychological factors underlying ecocide and anthropogenic climate change and the possible avenues for its mitigation, with a particular focus on climate justice and Indigenous knowledges and ways of relating to nature. In parallel with reading and discussing primary literature on these topics, students work on research projects, complementing theory with practice and placing it in the local geopolitical context.

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 4430 - Confronting Climate Change

Full details for PSYCH 4510 - Research Seminar on the Relational Mind

This course will cover the psychology of wisdom.  Among the topics to be covered are the definition of wisdom, theories and models of wisdom, development of wisdom, measurement of wisdom, relations of wisdom to other characteristics, state versus trait characteristics of wisdom, teaching for wisdom, wisdom and leadership, wisdom and society.

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (CA-AG, D-AG, HA-AG, KCM-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 4550 - The Psychology of Wisdom

This is a capstone seminar for seniors who are interested in graduate or professional study in scientific disciplines that focus on human behavior and social interaction. The intent is to provide seniors with an opportunity to summon, integrate, and apply insights that they have acquired over the course of their undergraduate education, and give prospective graduate students the opportunity to lead discussions in a large introductory lecture course, "Six Pretty Good Books". Each seminar member is part of a two or three-person team that leads the discussion together, under the supervision of a graduate teaching assistant. Seminar meetings are devoted to building lesson plans for leading an effective discussion of each of the six books. The authors vary from year to year but include Malcolm Gladwell, Michelle Alexander, Nate Silver, and Nicholas Christakis. All authors have agreed to participate in a "Q&A" session with the students which seminar members are required to attend.

Full details for PSYCH 4580 - The Science of Social Behavior

Practice in planning, conducting, and reporting independent laboratory, field, and/or library research.

Full details for PSYCH 4700 - Undergraduate Research in Psychology

Advanced experience in planning, conducting, and reporting independent laboratory, field, and/or library research. One, and preferably two, semesters of PSYCH 4700 is required. The research should be more independent and/or involve more demanding technical skills than that carried out in PSYCH 4700.

Full details for PSYCH 4710 - Advanced Undergraduate Research in Psychology

The focus of this course is on discussion and critical analysis of selected articles from very recent issues of the most selective social psychological journals.  Readings are chosen for their importance, their coverage of contemporary topics in social psychology, and their potential for generating stimulating discussion . Students write brief "thought papers" before each class in which they offer suggestions for class discussion based on their close reading of the day's assigned articles. They also write a term paper (details at first class meeting).

Catalog Distribution: (SSC-AS) (SBA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 4810 - Advanced Social Psychology

Full details for PSYCH 4860 - Special Topics in Social Psychology

This course is a rigorous introduction to graduate statistics for social sciences. We will briefly review descriptive statistics and probability theory. We will discuss fundamental inferential frameworks at length, with a focus on Frequentist and Bayesian statistics.  The remainder of the semester will be focused on the analysis of randomized studies.

Full details for PSYCH 5750 - Quantitative Methods I

This course is designed to introduce first-year graduates to the Psychology Department faculty through a weekly series of presentations of current research.

Full details for PSYCH 6000 - General Research Seminar

This course enhances the graduate experience and prepares first-year psychology graduate students for success.  The student receives a formal introduction to conceptualizing and articulating a research project, science writing, the grant proposal and review processes, and numerous other aspects of professional development.  The course serves as an opportunity for preparation for graduate studies and a career in academics or a related profession.

Full details for PSYCH 6001 - Graduate Professionalism Seminar

This course will expose students to a wide range of commonly used methods in neuroscience research (theory behind the method, common applications of the method, how data are collected and analyzed using the method, strengths and weaknesses of the method, etc.). The goal for students is that by the end of the course, they will be able to read and critically evaluate primary literature from many areas of neuroscience and to understand how the methods used in the study helped the researchers come to their conclusions. This course will explore methods including (but not necessarily limited to): microscopy, methods to visualize neuronal structure and function, electrophysiology, methods to neural activity, methods to measure and manipulate expression of genes/mRNA/protein, machine learning methods for behavioral analysis, and whole brain imaging methods in humans and non-human animals.

Full details for PSYCH 6020 - Methods in Neuroscience

Full details for PSYCH 6225 - Special Topics in Social Psychology

Seminar surveying a cross-section of modern theories, methods, and research pertaining to the origin and evolution of language. Considers evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, theoretical biology, comparative psychology, and computational modeling of evolutionary processes. Topics for discussion may include: What is special about language? What can we learn from comparative perspectives on neurobiology and behavior? Can apes really learn language? Did language come about through natural selection or cultural evolution?

Full details for PSYCH 6270 - Evolution of Language

Course explores current issues in Psychology.  Topics vary by section.

Full details for PSYCH 6271 - Topics in Biopsychology

Full details for PSYCH 6331 - Event Cognition: How Minds, Brains and Bodies Experience Events

Full details for PSYCH 6510 - Research Seminar on the Relational Mind

The focus of this course is on discussion and critical analysis of selected articles from very recent issues of the most selective social psychological journals. Readings are chosen for their importance, their coverage of contemporary topics in social psychology, and their potential for generating stimulating discussion. Students write brief "thought papers" before each class in which they offer suggestions for class discussion based on their close reading of the day's assigned articles. They also write a term paper on a social psychological topic of their own choosing.

Full details for PSYCH 6810 - Advanced Social Psychology

Full details for PSYCH 6860 - Special Topics in Social Psychology

A graduate research seminar in biopsychology.

Full details for PSYCH 7000 - Research in Biopsychology

A graduate research seminar in human experimental psychology.

Full details for PSYCH 7100 - Research in Human Experimental Psychology

A graduate research seminar in social psychology and personality.

Full details for PSYCH 7200 - Research in Social Psychology and Personality

First semester of a year-long discussion-seminar course intended to give graduate students an in-depth understanding of current research and theory in social psychology. Emphasizes social cognition, but other topics, such as group dynamics, social influence, moral psychology, and emotional experience, are covered.

Full details for PSYCH 7750 - Proseminar in Social Psychology I

A graduate seminar on doctoral thesis research in biopsychology.

Full details for PSYCH 9000 - Doctoral Thesis Research in Biopsychology

A graduate seminar on doctoral thesis research in human experimental psychology.

Full details for PSYCH 9100 - Doctoral Thesis Research in Human Experimental Psychology

A graduate seminar on doctoral thesis research in social psychology and personality.

Full details for PSYCH 9200 - Doctoral Thesis Research in Social Psychology and Personality

This course provides an introduction to the science of the mind. Everyone knows what it's like to think and perceive, but this subjective experience provides little insight into how minds emerge from physical entities like brains. To address this issue, cognitive science integrates work from at least five disciplines: Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Linguistics, and Philosophy. This course introduces students to the insights these disciplines offer into the workings of the mind by exploring visual perception, attention, memory, learning, problem solving, language, and consciousness. 

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-HE) (KCM-AG)

Full details for HD 1102 - Introduction to Cognitive Science

This is a topics course for Human Development First-Year Writing Seminars.

Catalog Distribution: (LAD-HE) (WRT-AG)

Full details for HD 1125 - FWS: Topics in Human Development

Introduction to Human Development provides a broad and foundational overview of field of human development, starting from conception and ending through process of death and dying. The course will start with an outline and explanation of the lifespan perspective in human development. The biological beginnings of life and prenatal development will serve as the start of the discussion of human development, followed by an exploration of physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development at each subsequent stage within the lifespan (e.g., infancy, early childhood, middle & late childhood, etc.). Discussion of each developmental stage will highlight major research findings and their real-world application.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE) (SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 1130 - Introduction to Human Development

HD 2150 introduces students to the major theoretical perspectives, methods (both classic and contemporary), research findings, and controversies in the study of child development. Prenatal development and development in infancy and childhood are examined, including physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development.  The focus is on individual development from an interdisciplinary perspective, with an emphasis on psychological development, but also drawing from the fields of sociology, history, biology, anthropology, neuroscience, and education.  This is a second-level course, so the emphasis is on analytical, creative, and practical understanding and application of concepts of development.

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-HE) (KCM-AG)

Full details for HD 2150 - Introduction to Human Development: Infancy and Childhood

Introduces students to theories and research in adult development and aging. Describes biological, psychological and social changes from early through late adulthood. Identifies strategies to promote healthy aging at the individual and societal level.

Catalog Distribution: (D-HE, KCM-HE, SBA-HE) (D-AG, KCM-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 2180 - Human Development: Adulthood and Aging

At the turn of the 21st century the age of Embodied Cognition dawned: a reconsideration of relationships between body, brain, and mind. Researchers in philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and cognitive neuroscience challenged the 20th-century dogma that the mind is like a digital computer, and can be studied independently of the body, brain, and world. Researchers turned their attention to the role that bodily experience plays in thinking and learning, and the roles neural systems for perception and action play in cognition. This course views the field of Cognitive Neuroscience through the lens of Embodied Cognition research, and evaluates the extent to which "embodiment" may be passing fad, a useful shift in perspective, or a revolutionary new way of building theories about brain and mind. 

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-HE, PBS-HE, SBA-HE) (KCM-AG)

Full details for HD 2200 - The Human Brain and Mind: An Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience

Introduction to psychology from a biological perspective, which focuses on brain mechanisms of behavior. Topics include the structure and function of the nervous system, physiological approaches to understanding behavior, hormones and behavior, biological bases of sensation and perception, learning and memory, cognition, emotion, and communication.

Catalog Distribution: (OPHLS-AG)

Full details for HD 2230 - Intro to Behavioral Neuroscience

This course will provide you with an overview of how children's cognition develops. We will investigate how cognition develops from many different perspectives. The main perspectives will be biological, genetic-epistemological, socio-cultural, and information-processing ones. This course also will help you to understand how cognition influences other areas of development, including intelligence, development of the self, language, and social development. Finally, different populations will be considered to better understand the roles not only of nature and nurture, but also of how the two interact to influence development.

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 2300 - Cognitive Development

What counts as a community? How do communities shape who we are? How can we engage in action to transform the communities we are a part of? These questions guide our inquiry in this introductory community psychology course. Community psychology examines the interrelationship between individual wellbeing and the multiple social structures and contexts with which individuals interact. Community psychologists are united by a shared commitment to understanding individuals using a multidisciplinary perspective, including developmental psychology, education, and sociology. Beyond seeking to understand, community psychologists also emphasize values, applied and participatory research, and action to promote the well-being of entire communities from a strengths-based perspective. This lecture-based course will provide an overview of theory, research, and action in community psychology. We will focus on (a) essential community psychology theories, (b) methodological strategies for studying alongside communities, and (c) practical applications related to understanding social and environmental contexts as essential components of the human experience. Throughout the course, we will discuss the role of communities in shaping our understandings of diversity, equity, and social justice.   

Catalog Distribution: (CA-HE, D-HE) (CA-AG, D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 2400 - Introduction to Community Psychology

Analyzes the social aspects of aging in contemporary American society from a life course perspective. Topics include (1) an introduction to the field of gerontology, its history, theories, and research methods; (2) a brief overview of the physiological and psychological changes that accompany aging; (3) an analysis of the contexts (e.g., family, friends, social support, employment, volunteer work) in which individual aging occurs, including differences of gender, ethnicity, and social class; and (4) the influences of society on the aging individual.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE) (SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 2510 - Social Gerontology: Aging and the Life Course

This course is modeled after "Great Books" literature courses in the humanities, but with two important differences: we read non-fiction books in the social sciences rather than the humanities, written by highly prominent contemporary social scientists. The course title refers to the fact that the books are new, hence their potential greatness has yet to be confirmed by the test of time. We choose living authors to give students a unique opportunity: to interact with each of the six authors in Q&A sessions via live or recorded video conferencing. 

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE) (SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 2580 - Six Pretty Good Books: Explorations in Social Science

What is "personality"? How is it scientifically studied and measured? To what extent, do biological, social, and cultural factors shape personality? Is personality an expression of our genetic make up and biology, the culmination of social influences, the interplay of both, or the result of random events? In this course, we will review the major theoretical paradigms of personality psychology, discuss contemporary research, theory, and methodology, and learn about key historical debates in the study of "personality".

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 2600 - Introduction to Personality

This course will introduce students to the basics of research design and will review several methodologies in the study of human development. The focus of the course will be on descriptive and experimental methods. Students will learn the advantages and challenges to different methodological approaches. The course also places an emphasis on developing students' scientific writing and strengthening their understanding of statistics.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE) (SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 2830 - Research Methods in Human Development

Intro to Data Science for Social Scientists using R.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE) (OPHLS-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 2930 - Introduction to Data Science for Social Scientists

Educational psychology is the application of psychological principles and concepts to cases of teaching and learning. We study behavioral, cognitive, embodied, and social-cultural perspectives on learning and thinking, and we use them in planning and reflecting on weekly fieldwork outside the classroom. In the process, we become more mindful and skilled learners ourselves and better facilitators of others' learning.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-HE, KCM-HE) (CA-AG, KCM-AG)

Full details for HD 3110 - Educational Psychology

In this course, we will explore how language interacts with power: how does language reflect, shape, threaten and reinforce power relations in human society? From childhood through old age, language is an ever-present source of symbolic power. We use it to develop and express our identities, to position ourselves in hierarchies, and to establish group membership and exclusion throughout life. Language shapes ourselves, our families, our social lives, and our institutions. Understanding how people use language can provide a window into hidden aspects of both individuals and the social world.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-HE, D-HE) (CA-AG, D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 3150 - Language and Power

Focuses on how the scientific study of human memory interfaces with the theory and practice of law.

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-HE, PBS-HE) (KCM-AG, OPHLS-AG)

Full details for HD 3190 - Memory and the Law

As it is with much of scientific discovery, a poet, William Wordsworth, best explained development with a simple phrase: The Child is father of the Man (person). In this course, we explore how our adult selves come to be through the lens of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. You will learn about current perspectives and controversies, the latest understanding of the development of multiple physiological systems (e.g., vision, perception, language, etc.) as interactions between molecular mechanisms, experience, and neural plasticity. Weekly short reaction papers, class exercises, and midterm and final projects, will all be geared towards developing a personal appreciation for the subject as well as an understanding of the issues in developmental cognitive neuroscience as a field.

Catalog Distribution: (D-HE, KCM-HE, PBS-HE, SBA-HE) (D-AG, KCM-AG, OPHLS-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 3210 - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

This course explores psychological research on gender, examining the interactions between biology and social learning, gender identity, stereotypes, gender diversity, and discrimination. We will critically evaluate gender with respect to cognition, attitudes, leadership, close relationships, psychological and physical development, achievement, communication, and health. Our engagement with course material will use an intersectional approach that acknowledges that gender development, expression, and experience are deeply impacted by race, social class, sexuality, ability, and culture. 

Full details for HD 3310 - Psychology of Gender

Social group membership - based on race and ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, sex, gender and gender identity, etc. and their intersection- can profoundly influence one's experience of the world and each other.  Through this course we will cover the basic experimental social psychology research on thoughts and beliefs (stereotypes), evaluative attitudes (prejudice), and behaviors (discrimination) that are based on group membership. We will explore how empirical research developed from primarily examining explicit (blatant) prejudice in the 20th century to recent examinations of implicit forms of stereotyping and prejudice. We will explore how stereotyping and prejudice can arise from basic perceptual and categorical processes, discuss strategies for minimizing expressed bias in interpersonal situations, and examine the experience of high status - and the consequences of losing it. The ultimate aim is to enhance your ability to evaluate and analyze the scientific merit of this research and apply it to real world social issues.

Catalog Distribution: (D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 3820 - Prejudice and Stereotyping

For study that predominantly involves library research and independent study.

Full details for HD 4000 - Directed Readings

For study that predominantly involves data collection and analysis or laboratory or studio projects.

Full details for HD 4010 - Empirical Research

For study that involves both responsible participation in a community setting and reflection on that experience through discussion, reading, and writing. Academic credit is awarded for this integration of theory and practice.

Full details for HD 4020 - Supervised Fieldwork

For study that includes assisting faculty with instruction.

Full details for HD 4030 - Teaching Assistantship

This course provides an overview to the theory, concepts, and controversies underlying common psychological disorders, as well as an introduction to transdiagnostic perspectives on mental health.

Full details for HD 4110 - Advanced Seminar in Psychopathology

Introductory laboratory-based course focusing on basic foundations in translational research on decision making across the lifespan. The course introduces students to hands-on applications of research skills in the context of research on decision making, spanning basic and applied research in law, medicine, behavioral economics, and policy. It focuses on such topics as human subjects protection, working with populations across the lifespan (e.g., children, seniors), database development, working with external partners and stakeholders (e.g., schools, hospitals), and basic concepts and techniques in decision research. Students participate in weekly laboratory meetings in small teams focused on specific projects as well as monthly meetings in which all teams participate. During laboratory meetings, students discuss ongoing research, plans for new studies, and interpretations of empirical findings from studies that are in progress or have been recently completed. New students work closely with experienced students and eventually work more independently. In order to fully grasp how the research projects fit into the broader field, students read relevant papers weekly and write reaction responses. Because several projects are ongoing at all times, students have the opportunity to be involved in more than one study and are assigned multiple tasks such as piloting research paradigms, subject recruitment, data collection, data analysis, and data entry. Students attend a weekly lab meeting for 1.5 hours per week, read pertinent papers, write reaction responses, and work 10.5 hours per week in the laboratory completing tasks that contribute to ongoing research studies.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE) (D-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 4250 - Translational Research on Decision Making

Laboratory-based course focusing on basic foundations in translational research on the neuroscience of human memory and memory development. Students attend a weekly lab meeting for 1.5 hours per week, read pertinent papers, write reaction responses, and work 10.5 hours per week in the laboratory completing tasks that contribute to ongoing research studies.

Catalog Distribution: (PBS-HE) (OPHLS-AG)

Full details for HD 4260 - Translational Research on Memory and Neuroscience

People experience and remember complex and dynamic environments as events. This seminar draws on work from cognitive neuroscience to characterize how people shape experience into events, and how these processes support adaptive behavior. The course will start with discussions of historical and modern perspectives about the relationships between minds, bodies, and experience. We will then cover topics ranging from the perception of motion and causality to social learning and interaction. The primary goals are for you to be able to (1) read and evaluate research in psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, and (2) describe and understand the implications of this research for how minds and bodies are adapted to everyday situations.

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-AG)

Full details for HD 4331 - Event Cognition: How Minds, Brains and Bodies Experience Events

This course will survey theory, research, and practice with regard to human creativity and its development. An especial emphasis will be on how to use research findings in the service of developing your own creativity. Examples of topics will include theories of creativity, research on creativity, improving creativity, mental health and creativity, and the dark side of creativity.

Catalog Distribution: (D-HE, KCM-HE, SBA-HE)

Full details for HD 4540 - Creativity and Its Development

This course will cover the psychology of wisdom.  Among the topics to be covered are the definition of wisdom, theories and models of wisdom, development of wisdom, measurement of wisdom, relations of wisdom to other characteristics, state versus trait characteristics of wisdom, teaching for wisdom, wisdom and leadership, wisdom and society.

Catalog Distribution: (CA-HE, D-HE, HA-HE, KCM-HE) (CA-AG, D-AG, HA-AG, KCM-AG, SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 4550 - The Psychology of Wisdom

This is a capstone seminar for seniors who are interested in graduate or professional study in scientific disciplines that focus on human behavior and social interaction. The intent is to provide seniors with an opportunity to summon, integrate, and apply insights that they have acquired over the course of their undergraduate education, and give prospective graduate students the opportunity to lead discussions in a large introductory lecture course, "Six Pretty Good Books". Each seminar member is part of a two or three-person team that leads the discussion together, under the supervision of a graduate teaching assistant. Seminar meetings are devoted to building lesson plans for leading an effective discussion of each of the six books. The authors vary from year to year but include Malcolm Gladwell, Michelle Alexander, Nate Silver, and Nicholas Christakis. All authors have agreed to participate in a "Q&A" session with the students which seminar members are required to attend.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE) (SBA-AG)

Full details for HD 4580 - The Science of Social Behavior

This course serves as a companion class for students admitted to the Geriatric/Palliative Immersion Program. Students in this course will learn about the continuum of geriatric/palliative care and different types of community-based and residential services that support it. They will hear first-hand perspectives from different providers and stakeholders and learn about ongoing research within the field.

Full details for HD 4610 - Community and Residential Services in Geriatric and Palliative Care

As a supplement to their immersive learning experience working on faculty research projects, students in this course will engage with actors and ideas from across the youth development research and practice communities, learn about research methods and dissemination to various audiences, and begin to see the world from a translational research perspective.

Full details for HD 4850 - Professional Development in Translational Research

As a supplement to their immersive learning experience working on translational research projects led by CHE faculty, and building on their experience in HD4850 (Professional Development in Translational Research), this course will provide opportunities for students to put their learning into practice by proposing and implementing a translational research project in collaboration with community partners.

Full details for HD 4860 - Nearest Neighbor

This course is for students doing research as part of the Honors Program in Human Development.

Full details for HD 4990 - Senior Honors Thesis

This course is a rigorous introduction to graduate statistics for social sciences. We will briefly review descriptive statistics and probability theory. We will discuss fundamental inferential frameworks at length, with a focus on Frequentist and Bayesian statistics.  The remainder of the semester will be focused on the analysis of randomized studies.

Full details for HD 5750 - Quantitative Methods I

This hands-on laboratory course will develop research skills in the context of risk and rational decision making in human development from multiple disciplinary perspectives and with respect to different kinds of decision-making under risk and uncertainty.  Topics will depend on student interests but may include decisions about war, terrorism, cancer control and prevention (e.g., screening tests), personal behaviors that involve risk (e.g., HIV prevention), and other public health risks (e.g., vaccinations), law enforcement (e.g., use of a weapon), and legal decision making (e.g., jury deliberations). Students will read the research literature, discuss the latest empirical findings and scientific theories of risk and rationality, and engage in group work and peer review to hone their skills.  Students will then design research projects and engage in research activities as well as read additional references tailored to their interests.

Full details for HD 6020 - Research in Risk and Rational Decision Making

Focuses on how the scientific study of human memory interfaces with the theory and practice of law.  Students study relevant areas of memory research and memory theory.

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-HE, PBS-HE)

Full details for HD 6190 - Memory and the Law

Designed as an orientation to the department and the university. Activities include attendance at research presentations, visits to departmental research laboratories, relevant informational sessions (e.g., Institutional Review Board for Human Participants, proposal writing), and guidance in preparing a public research presentation to be made at the end of spring semester.

Full details for HD 6200 - First-Year Proseminar in Human Development

Full details for HD 6540 - Creativity and Its Development

Full details for HD 6550 - The Psychology of Wisdom

This is a course on networks and text in quantitative social science. The course will cover published research using text and social network data, focusing on health, politics, and everyday life, and it will introduce methods and approaches for incorporating high-dimensional data into familiar research designs. Students will evaluate past studies and propose original research.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE)

Full details for HD 6610 - Text and Networks in Social Science Research

This course is intended as a professional development seminar for graduate students hoping to pursue research that integrates affective and clinical science. It is modeled after the popular "Brown Bag" courses at peer institutions.  Class meetings will blend student presentations; workshopping of emerging research; analysis of classic and recently published scholarship in the field; and visiting speakers. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the scientific methods needed to study this topic and build the skills required for an academic career - while simultaneously developing a community of scholars with shared interests in this area of research.

Full details for HD 6810 - Proseminar in Affective and Clinical Science I

For study that predominantly involves library research and independent study.

Full details for HD 7000 - Directed Readings

For study that predominantly involves collection and analysis of research data.

Full details for HD 7010 - Empirical Research

For study that predominantly involves field experience in community settings.

Full details for HD 7020 - Practicum

For advanced graduate students who independently develop and teach an undergraduate topics course under the supervision of a faculty member.

Full details for HD 8060 - Teaching Practicum

This course is for Master's students doing research for their Master's thesis.

Full details for HD 8990 - Master's Thesis and Research

This course is for Ph.D. students doing research for their doctoral thesis.

Full details for HD 9990 - Doctoral Thesis and Research