Courses

Courses by semester

Courses for Spring 2025

Complete Cornell University course descriptions and section times are in the Class Roster.

Course ID Title Offered
PSYCH 1101 Introduction to Psychology

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

Fall, Spring, Summer.

PSYCH 1120 FWS:Personality & Social Psychology

PSYCH 1130 FWS: Behavioral Evolutionary 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 Evolutionary Psychology

Fall.

PSYCH 1140 FWS: Perception, Cognition, and 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

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 2050 Perception

Basic perceptual concepts and phenomena are discussed with emphasis on stimulus variables and sensory mechanisms. All sensory modalities are considered, vision is discussed in detail.

Catalog Distribution: (BIO-AS)

Full details for PSYCH 2050 - Perception

Spring.

PSYCH 2090 Developmental Psychology

One of four introductory courses in cognition and perception. A comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in developmental psychology that approaches topics from both psychobiological and cognitive perspectives. We will use a comparative approach to assess principles of development change. The course focuses on the development of perception, action, cognition, language, and social understanding in infancy and early childhood.

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

Full details for PSYCH 2090 - Developmental Psychology

Spring.

PSYCH 2091 WIM: Developmental Psychology

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 2091 - WIM: Developmental Psychology

Spring.

PSYCH 2100 The Science of Human Stupidity

The most significant problems that humans face - climate change, sectarian violence, political polarization, the spread of misinformation, etc. - are problems that we've made for ourselves. In this lecture course, we will probe the depths of human stupidity by exploring research on the nature of human reasoning, decision-making, beliefs, and more.

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

Full details for PSYCH 2100 - The Science of Human Stupidity

Spring.

PSYCH 2150 Psychology of Language

Provides an introduction to the psychology of language. The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the scientific study of psycholinguistic phenomena. Covers a broad range of topics from psycholinguistics, including the origin of language, the different components of language (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics), processes involved in reading, computational modeling of language processes, the acquisition of language (both under normal and special circumstances), and the brain bases of language.

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

Full details for PSYCH 2150 - Psychology of Language

Spring.

PSYCH 2300 How the Brain Makes the Mind

There is no getting away from the brain. Everything a person does, creates, thinks, feels, believes, and experiences (including making sense of course descriptions!) depends on it. But, how? How could a three pound mass of cells and the body in which it exists "see," "decide," or "remember," let alone navigate a busy city, play soccer, or write poetry? This course will provide students with the foundational concepts and tools they will need to begin to address these questions, providing insight into how modern cognitive neuroscientists understand the brain, how it works, and how the mind emerges from all of this. Students will learn core principles of modern human cognitive neuroscience (e.g., brain structure versus function, connectivity, reuse) and their application to cognition (e.g., action, perception, attention, memory, emotion, language, cognitive control, and consciousness). Topics in neuroanatomy, human neuroscience methods, and neurological conditions will also be covered.

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

Full details for PSYCH 2300 - How the Brain Makes the Mind

Spring.

PSYCH 2415 Introduction to Moral Psychology

This course is an introduction to the moral mind from philosophical and psychological perspectives. Many traditional philosophical problems about morality are being illuminated by current work in cognitive science. In this course, we will look at several of these problems. In each case, we will begin with a presentation of the philosophical problems, and we will proceed to examine recent empirical work on the topic. A wide range of topics will be covered, including moral judgment, agency, the self, and punishment.

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

Full details for PSYCH 2415 - Introduction to Moral Psychology

Spring.

PSYCH 2650 Psychology and Law

This course explores how cognitive, social & clinical psychology are used in law. Law makes many assumptions about human psychology, and lawyers and judges regularly rely on psychological research in their cases. The course examines the psychology underlying criminal confessions; children's testimony; the insanity defense; risk assessment; judge and jury decision making; criminal punishment; constitutional law; and common law (tort, contract, and property) disputes. The course assesses the use and misuse of psychology in these subjects.  

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

Full details for PSYCH 2650 - Psychology and Law

Fall.

PSYCH 2800 Introduction to Social Psychology

Introduction to research and theory in social psychology. Topics include social influence, persuasion, and attitude change; culture, social interaction and group phenomena; evolution, altruism, and aggression; stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination; everyday reasoning and judgment.

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

Full details for PSYCH 2800 - Introduction to Social Psychology

Spring, Summer.

PSYCH 2801 Introduction to Social Psychology: Writing in the Majors

Writing in the Majors section of PSYCH 2800. In addition to attending all the lectures in PSYCH 2800, students will attend an additional weekly seminar and all assessment is based on writing instead of exams. This course is an introduction to research and theory in social psychology, covering the same material as in PSYCH 2800 (social influence, persuasion, and attitude change; social interaction and group phenomena; altruism and aggression; stereotyping and prejudice; everyday reasoning and judgment).

Full details for PSYCH 2801 - Introduction to Social Psychology: Writing in the Majors

Spring.

PSYCH 2940 Better Decisions for Life, Love and Money

Effective judgments and decisions are critical to success in every avenue of life. This course will explore research on the principles of sound judgment and decision making, and on the ways in which people's judgments and decisions are prone to bias and error. The course aims to improve students' critical thinking skills and to enable them to make better judgments and decisions in an increasingly complicated world. The course is taught by a team of psychologists and economists who draw on recent research in psychology and behavioral economics that can benefit the lives of students.

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

Full details for PSYCH 2940 - Better Decisions for Life, Love and Money

Spring.

PSYCH 2945 Data Science for Social Scientists II

This is a course on applications of data science in social science using R. We will cover fundamentals of statistical and causal inference, exploratory data analysis and data reduction, supervised learning, and recent, prominent applications of machine learning in social science.

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

Full details for PSYCH 2945 - Data Science for Social Scientists II

Spring.

PSYCH 3130 Language and Power

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

Fall.

PSYCH 3140 Computational Psychology

This course states and motivates the observation that cognition is fundamentally a computational process and explores the implications of this idea. Students are introduced to a variety of conceptual tools for thinking about cognitive information processing, including statistical learning from experience and the use of patterns distilled from past experience in guiding future actions. They learn to apply these tools to gain understanding of perception, memory, motor control, language, action planning, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, intelligence, and creativity.

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

Full details for PSYCH 3140 - Computational Psychology

Spring.

PSYCH 3150 Obesity and the Regulation of Body Weight

Multidisciplinary discussion of the causes, effects, and treatments of human obesity. Topics include the biopsychology of eating behavior, the genetics of obesity, the role of activity and energy metabolism, the psychosocial determinants of obesity, anorexia nervosa, therapy and its effectiveness, and social discrimination.Multidisciplinary discussion of the causes, effects, and treatments of human obesity. Topics include the biopsychology of eating behavior, the genetics of obesity, the role of activity and energy metabolism, the psychosocial determinants of obesity, anorexia nervosa, therapy and its effectiveness, and social discrimination.

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

Full details for PSYCH 3150 - Obesity and the Regulation of Body Weight

Spring, Summer.

PSYCH 3220 Hormones and Behavior

Covers comparative and evolutionary approaches to the study of the relationship between peripheral hormones and neuroendocrine mechanisms in vertebrates, including humans, with sexual behavior, affiliative bonds and social grouping, parental behavior, aggression, mating systems, stress, learning and memory, and biological rhythms.

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

Full details for PSYCH 3220 - Hormones and Behavior

Spring.

PSYCH 3310 Developmental Psychopathology

Why do some children grow up well-adjusted and others do not? This course applies a developmental framework to understanding psychological disorders. We will consider the common disorders of childhood and adolescence; the individual contexts which promote risk versus resiliency; trends and trajectories in disorders over time; and the complex ethical issues associated with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders early in life.

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

Full details for PSYCH 3310 - Developmental Psychopathology

Fall.

PSYCH 3420 Human Perception: Application to Computer Graphics, Art, and Visual Display

Our present technology allows us to transmit and display information through a variety of media. To make the most of these media channels, it is important to consider the limitations and abilities of the human observer. The course considers a number of applied aspects of human perception with an emphasis on the display of visual information. Topics include "three-dimensional" display systems, color theory, spatial and temporal limitations of the visual systems, attempts at subliminal communication, and "visual" effects in film and television.

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

Full details for PSYCH 3420 - Human Perception: Application to Computer Graphics, Art, and Visual Display

Spring.

PSYCH 3450 On Being Social

Humans are said to be "social animals." This seminar provides an in-depth exploration of what it means to be social. Examples of topics to be covered include the fundamental need to belong and the affiliative system underlying cooperation; attachment and the proclivity to form strong affective ties throughout the life span; the biological bases of attraction and relationship formation; and the various consequences of thwarted relational needs, including the end of relationships through break-up, divorce, or death, and social alienation and chronic loneliness. We will focus on people's most intimate relationships – with partners, parents, and close friends – but will explore how our social nature is expressed in diverse ways – with unknown others, in social networks, and with political leaders, celebrities, and objects. These topics will be considered from diverse theoretical perspectives including work from social neuroscience, social, personality, developmental, cognitive, and evolutionary psychology, as well as drawing from work in communications, information science, sociology, and political science. Articles will be a combination of theoretical, review, or perspective pieces as well as empirical papers.

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

Full details for PSYCH 3450 - On Being Social

Spring.

PSYCH 4110 Writing, Inquiry, and Communicating in STEM

PSYCH 4190 STEAM, Outreach and Community Engagement

PSYCH 4230 Navigation, Memory, and Context: What Does the Hippocampus Do?

Although the hippocampus has been the subject of intense scrutiny for nearly 50 years, there remains considerable disagreement about functional contributions the hippocampus makes to learning and memory process. This course will examine the diverse functions attributed to the hippocampus with an eye toward integrating the differing viewpoints in the literature. After a brief historical overview, students will discuss cutting-edge literature on the hippocampal role in spatial navigation, learning, and memory, and context processing.

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

Full details for PSYCH 4230 - Navigation, Memory, and Context: What Does the Hippocampus Do?

Spring.

PSYCH 4320 Topics in Cognitive Science

A seminar series examining current and classical ideas in human sciences and the humanities. Themes vary from semester to semester.

Full details for PSYCH 4320 - Topics in Cognitive Science

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 4390 Neural Circuits for Social Behavior

This course explores what is known, and what remains unknown, about the neural circuits that control social behavior, including parental behavior, sexual behavior, aggression, and vocalization. How do neural circuits control and coordinate distinct social behaviors? How are sex-typical social behaviors generated? How do past experiences and internal states influence social behavior, and what are the neural mechanisms for these effects? This course focuses mainly, although not exclusively, on research performed in non-human animals, and we'll also examine differences and similarities in the neural circuits for social behavior across species.

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

Full details for PSYCH 4390 - Neural Circuits for Social Behavior

Spring.

PSYCH 4510 Research Seminar on the Relational Mind

PSYCH 4560 Black Girlhood Studies: Rememory, Representation, and Re-Imagination

How has history shaped our notion of Black girlhood? What is our collective understanding of Black girlhood? How do we see and understand Black girls? Black Girlhood Studies is a multidisciplinary field that draws on education, literature, psychological, and sociological perspectives as tools to see and honor Black girls' lived experiences. In this seminar course, we will use a mixture of lectures and facilitated discussions to provide an overview of Black girlhood as it relates to historical and current-day social, political, and cultural constructions of Black girlhood within and beyond the United States. We will also interrogate how Black girls deconstruct and interrupt these social constructions by engaging in scholarly works, popular press articles, poetry, music, film, and novels. Throughout the course, we will make space to imagine a world where Black girls' ways of knowing, being, and experiencing the world are honored.   

Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS, SCD-AS) (CA-AG, D-AG, LA-AG)

Full details for PSYCH 4560 - Black Girlhood Studies: Rememory, Representation, and Re-Imagination

Spring.

PSYCH 4600 Neural Representations

Neurons generate action potentials. Brains underlie feeding, fighting, fleeing, and reproduction, also navigation, attention, sociality, art, and science. What about the middle part? This advanced seminar course examines the construction and transformations of neural representations that enable animals to comprehend and interact effectively with their environments. The curriculum emphasizes integration across levels of analysis and organization, including cellular and synaptic physiology, the emergent properties of networks, energy and information management, quantitative modeling, cognitive algorithms, and adaptive behavioral outcomes.

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

Full details for PSYCH 4600 - Neural Representations

Spring.

PSYCH 4670 Advanced Seminar in Mood Disorders

Each year, more than 100 million people worldwide develop clinically recognizable depression. Because of its prevalence, depression is sometimes called "the common cold of psychopathology." This course provides a wide-ranging examination of the theories, methods, and major controversies in mood disorders research, including coverage of social, cognitive, and biological perspectives.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE)

Full details for PSYCH 4670 - Advanced Seminar in Mood Disorders

Spring.

PSYCH 4700 Undergraduate Research in Psychology

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

Full details for PSYCH 4700 - Undergraduate Research in Psychology

Fall or Spring.

PSYCH 4710 Advanced 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

Fall or Spring.

PSYCH 4800 Social Psychology of Race and Racism

The human mind has a fundamental need to create categories. In this course we will examine how historical, developmental, cognitive, and motivational factors give rise to the construction of the social category race in the United States. We will also consider how racial group membership - and its intersections with other group memberships - can profoundly influence one's experience of the world and each other. To understand the construct of race and its consequences we will perform close reading and critical analysis of theoretical and empirical work in social psychology.  As social psychologists, we are uniquely poised to answer why it is we are so drawn to categorizing people based on race, how our minds construct these categorizations, and what the downstream consequences of these categorizations are - ultimately guiding our ability to intervene.  The aims of the course are to enhance students' ability to evaluate and analyze existing theory and research and to apply these readings to aid understanding of real world discrimination, disparities, and violence.

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

Full details for PSYCH 4800 - Social Psychology of Race and Racism

Spring.

PSYCH 4860 Special Topics in Social Psychology

PSYCH 4940 Moral Psychology in Action

Moral Psychology in Action is an applied psychology course for students who want to make a difference in the world through ethical leadership and positive contributions in organizations, and who are drawn to scholarly work on psychology, ethics, and morality.  The course is experiential and takes place mostly outside the classroom through students' individualized partnerships in community organizations, businesses, and institutions.  Learning outcomes include enhanced critical reflection, intercultural competence, ethical practice, and the practice of applied moral psychology research methods.

Full details for PSYCH 4940 - Moral Psychology in Action

Spring.

PSYCH 5760 Quantitative Methods II

This second part of the graduate statistics sequence is intended to teach more advanced techniques of modern quantitative data analysis, with a focus on the analysis of non-randomized studies. We will cover a variety of models, including models with linear and non-linear effects, model with random effects, and models for limited dependent variables.  

Full details for PSYCH 5760 - Quantitative Methods II

Spring.

PSYCH 6000 General Research Seminar

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

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 6110 Writing, Inquiry, and communicating in STEM

PSYCH 6140 Computational Psychology

This course states and motivates the observation that cognition is fundamentally a computational process and explores the implications of this idea. Students are introduced to a variety of conceptual tools for thinking about cognitive information processing, including statistical learning from experience and the use of patterns distilled from past experience in guiding future actions. They learn to apply these tools to gain understanding of perception, memory, motor control, language, action planning, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, intelligence, and creativity.

Full details for PSYCH 6140 - Computational Psychology

Spring.

PSYCH 6190 STEAM, Outreach and Community Engagement

PSYCH 6225 Special Topics in Social Psychology

This course will cover special topics related to belief, metacognition, and reasoning.

Full details for PSYCH 6225 - Special Topics in Social Psychology

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 6230 Navigation, Memory, and Context: What Does the Hippocampus Do?

Although the hippocampus has been the subject of intense scrutiny for nearly 50 years, there remains considerable disagreement about functional contributions the hippocampus makes to learning and memory process. This seminar will examine the diverse functions attributed to the hippocampus with an eye toward integrating the differing viewpoints in the literature. After a brief historical overview, students will discuss cutting-edge literature on the hippocampal role in spatial navigation, learning, and memory, and context processing.

Full details for PSYCH 6230 - Navigation, Memory, and Context: What Does the Hippocampus Do?

Spring.

PSYCH 6271 Topics in Biopsychology

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

Full details for PSYCH 6271 - Topics in Biopsychology

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 6450 On Being Social

PSYCH 6510 Research Seminar on the Relational Mind

PSYCH 6600 Neural Representations

Neurons generate action potentials.  Brains underlie feeding, fighting, fleeing, and reproduction, also navigation, attention, sociality, art, and science.  What about the middle part?  This advanced seminar course examines the construction of neural circuits and systems that enable achievement of behavioral goals.  The curriculum emphasizes integration across levels of analysis and organizations, including cellular and synaptic physiology, the emergent properties of networks, energy and information management, quantitative modeling, cognitive algorithm, and adaptive behavioral outcomes.

Full details for PSYCH 6600 - Neural Representations

Spring.

PSYCH 6655 Topics in Cognition

In this journal-club-style class we will read and discuss papers exploring a content-area in Cognition. For Spring 2025, readings will focus on relationships between language and thought (i.e., linguistic relativity).

Full details for PSYCH 6655 - Topics in Cognition

Spring.

PSYCH 6800 Social Psychology of Race and Racism

The human mind has a fundamental need to create categories. In this course we will examine how historical, developmental, cognitive, and motivational factors give rise to the construction of the social category of race in the United States. We wll also consider how racial group membership - and its intersections with other group memberships - can profoundly influence one's experience of the world and each other. To understand the construct of race and its consequences we will perform close reading and critical analysis of theoretical and empirical work in social psychology.

Full details for PSYCH 6800 - Social Psychology of Race and Racism

Spring.

PSYCH 6860 Special Topics in Social Psychology

PSYCH 7000 Research in Biopsychology

A graduate research seminar in biopsychology.

Full details for PSYCH 7000 - Research in Biopsychology

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 7090 Developmental Psychology

One of four introductory courses in cognition and perception. A comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in developmental psychology that approaches problems from both psychobiological and cognitive perspectives. We will use a comparative approach to assess principles of development change. The course focuses on the development of perception, action, cognition, language, and social understanding in infancy and early childhood.

Full details for PSYCH 7090 - Developmental Psychology

Spring.

PSYCH 7100 Research in Human Experimental Psychology

A graduate research seminar in human experimental psychology.

Full details for PSYCH 7100 - Research in Human Experimental Psychology

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 7200 Research in Social Psychology and Personality

A graduate research seminar in social psychology and personality.

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

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 7220 Hormones and Behavior

Covers comparative and evolutionary approaches to the study of the relationship between reproductive hormones and sexual behavior in vertebrates, including humans. Also hormonal contributions to other social behavior (parental behavior, aggression, mating systems) stress, learning and memory, and biological rhythms.

Full details for PSYCH 7220 - Hormones and Behavior

Fall.

PSYCH 7760 Proseminar in Social Psychology II

Second 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 7760 - Proseminar in Social Psychology II

Spring.

PSYCH 9000 Doctoral Thesis Research in Biopsychology

A graduate seminar on doctoral thesis research in biopsychology.

Full details for PSYCH 9000 - Doctoral Thesis Research in Biopsychology

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 9100 Doctoral Thesis Research in Human Experimental Psychology

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

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

Fall, Spring.

PSYCH 9200 Doctoral Thesis Research in Social Psychology and Personality

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

Fall, Spring.

HD 2050 Perception

Basic perceptual concepts and phenomena are discussed with emphasis on stimulus variables and sensory mechanisms. All sensory modalities are considered, vision is discussed in detail.

Full details for HD 2050 - Perception

Spring.

HD 2090 Developmental Psychology

One of four introductory courses in cognition and perception. A comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in developmental psychology that approaches topics from both psychobiological and cognitive perspectives. We will use a comparative approach to assess principles of development change. The course focuses on the development of perception, action, cognition, language, and social understanding in infancy and early childhood.

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

Full details for HD 2090 - Developmental Psychology

Spring.

HD 2170 Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

HD 2170 introduces students to the major theoretical perspectives, research findings, research methods, applications, and controversies in the study of human development during the period of adolescence and the transition to emerging adulthood. The main focus is on individual development, but we view this development from an interdisciplinary perspective. The emphasis in the course is on psychological development, but we also will draw on related fields, such as sociology, anthropology, biology, neuroscience, and education. Within psychology, we will be looking at adolescence and emerging adulthood from the standpoints of developmental, cognitive, social, personality, clinical, and biological psychology. There will be some use of statistics in the course, but sophisticated knowledge of statistics is not required. This is a second-level course, so the emphasis is on creative, analytical, practical, and wise understanding and application of concepts of development.

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

Full details for HD 2170 - Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

Spring.

HD 2310 How the Brain Makes the Mind

There is no getting away from the brain. Everything a person does, creates, thinks, feels, believes, and experiences (including making sense of course descriptions!) depends on it. But, how? How could a three pound mass of cells and the body in which it exists "see," "decide," or "remember," let alone navigate a busy city, play soccer, or write poetry? This course will provide students with the foundational concepts and tools they will need to begin to address these questions, providing insight into how modern cognitive neuroscientists understand the brain, how it works, and how the mind emerges from all of this. Students will learn core principles of modern human cognitive neuroscience (e.g., brain structure versus function, connectivity, reuse) and their application to cognition (e.g., action, perception, attention, memory, emotion, language, cognitive control, and consciousness). Topics in neuroanatomy, human neuroscience methods, and neurological conditions will also be covered.

Catalog Distribution: (KCM-AG)

Full details for HD 2310 - How the Brain Makes the Mind

Spring.

HD 2650 Psychology and Law

This course explores how cognitive, social & clinical psychology are used in law. Law makes many assumptions about human psychology, and lawyers and judges regularly rely on psychological research in their cases. The course examines the psychology underlying criminal confessions; children's testimony; the insanity defense; risk assessment; judge and jury decision making; criminal punishment; constitutional law; and common law (tort, contract, and property) disputes. The course assesses the use and misuse of psychology in these subjects.  

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

Full details for HD 2650 - Psychology and Law

Fall.

HD 2810 Introduction to Social Psychology

Introduction to research and theory in social psychology. Topics include social influence, persuasion, and attitude change; culture, social interaction and group phenomena; evolution, altruism, and aggression; stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination; everyday reasoning and judgment.

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

Full details for HD 2810 - Introduction to Social Psychology

Spring.

HD 2940 Data Science for Social Scientists II

This is a course on applications of data science in social science using R. We will cover fundamentals of statistical and causal inference, exploratory data analysis and data reduction, supervised learning, and recent, prominent applications of machine learning in social science.

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

Full details for HD 2940 - Data Science for Social Scientists II

Spring.

HD 3110 Educational Psychology

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

Fall, Spring, Summer.

HD 3150 Language and Power

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

Fall.

HD 3220 Hormones and Behavior

Covers comparative and evolutionary approaches to the study of the relationship between peripheral hormones and neuroendocrine mechanisms in vertebrates, including humans, with sexual behavior, affiliative bonds and social grouping, parental behavior, aggression, mating systems, stress, learning and memory, and biological rhythms.

Catalog Distribution: (OPHLS-AG)

Full details for HD 3220 - Hormones and Behavior

Fall.

HD 3290 Self-regulation Across the Life Span

Covers the science of self-regulation and its development over the human life span. After providing an overview of historical perspectives, the class will focus on contemporary research including homeostasis in bodily systems, self-control and regulation, goal setting, economic perspectives, as well as the role of emotions and personality. 

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

Full details for HD 3290 - Self-regulation Across the Life Span

Spring.

HD 3300 Developmental Psychopathology

Why do some children grow up well-adjusted and others do not? This course applies a developmental framework to understanding psychological disorders. We will consider the common disorders of childhood and adolescence; the individual contexts which promote risk versus resiliency; trends and trajectories in disorders over time; and the complex ethical issues associated with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders early in life.

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

Full details for HD 3300 - Developmental Psychopathology

Fall.

HD 3320 Gender and Psychopathology

This course will examine the ways in which sex and gender impact the expression of severe psychopathology. We will try to understand these relationships using different levels of analysis. This will involve an exploration of biological, psychological, cognitive, and social factors associated with sex and gender as they influence the epidemiology, phenomenology, etiology, diagnosis, and course of illness in major forms of psychopathology: specifically, schizophrenia, major affective illness, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and personality disorders. We will examine these topics through the frameworks of psychological science, feminism, and intersectionality, and attempt to integrate the offerings of each, to generate a nuanced understanding of mental illness.

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

Full details for HD 3320 - Gender and Psychopathology

Spring.

HD 3455 On Being Social

Humans are said to be "social animals." This seminar provides an in-depth exploration of what it means to be social. Examples of topics to be covered include the fundamental need to belong and the affiliative system underlying cooperation; attachment and the proclivity to form strong affective ties throughout the life span; the biological bases of attraction and relationship formation; and the various consequences of thwarted relational needs, including the end of relationships through break-up, divorce, or death, and social alienation and chronic loneliness. We will focus on people's most intimate relationships – with partners, parents, and close friends – but will explore how our social nature is expressed in diverse ways – with unknown others, in social networks, and with political leaders, celebrities, and objects. These topics will be considered from diverse theoretical perspectives including work from social neuroscience, social, personality, developmental, cognitive, and evolutionary psychology, as well as drawing from work in communications, information science, sociology, and political science. Articles will be a combination of theoretical, review, or perspective pieces as well as empirical papers.

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

Full details for HD 3455 - On Being Social

Spring.

HD 3490 The Science of Well-Being

Takes a comprehensive look at current research and theory in the emerging field of Positive Psychology. Students become familiar with theories, methods, and empirical research pertaining to the psychology of human strengths, virtues, abilities, and talents.

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

Full details for HD 3490 - The Science of Well-Being

Spring.

HD 3620 Human Bonding

Covers the science of interpersonal relationships. Examines the basic nature of human affectional bonds, including their functions and dynamics. Covers such topics as interpersonal attraction and mate selection, intimacy and commitment, love and sex, jealousy and loneliness, the neurobiology of affiliation and attachment, and the role of relationships in physical and psychological health.

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

Full details for HD 3620 - Human Bonding

Spring, Summer.

HD 4000 Directed Readings

For study that predominantly involves library research and independent study.

Full details for HD 4000 - Directed Readings

Fall, Spring.

HD 4010 Empirical Research

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

Full details for HD 4010 - Empirical Research

Fall, Spring.

HD 4020 Supervised Fieldwork

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

Fall, Spring.

HD 4030 Teaching Assistantship

For study that includes assisting faculty with instruction.

Full details for HD 4030 - Teaching Assistantship

Fall, Spring.

HD 4230 Research on Children's and Adult's Testimony

Laboratory-based research that exposes students to the research process in the area of children's testimonial competence. Students attend a weekly lab meeting for 1.5 hours per week, read pertinent papers, write reaction responses, and work 7 hours per week in the laboratory completing tasks that contribute to ongoing research studies.

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE)

Full details for HD 4230 - Research on Children's and Adult's Testimony

Spring.

HD 4310 Mind, Self, and Emotion

Offered to students who are currently conducting research or planning to do research in the near future on one of the three topics-memory, self, or emotion. The course examines current data and theories concerning the topics from a variety of perspectives and at multiple levels of analysis, particularly focusing on the interconnections among these fields of inquiry. The "scale of observation" is viewed as occurring within the person (brain mechanisms, including genetics), at the level of the person (content-goals, beliefs, desires, etc.), and between persons (relationships and group interaction-including culture).

Catalog Distribution: (SBA-HE)

Full details for HD 4310 - Mind, Self, and Emotion

Fall.

HD 4530 Affective Science

This seminar provides a selective overview of the scientific study of emotion. Topics include: theoretical foundations and history; functions of emotion; behavioral expression of emotion; biological and sociocultural approaches; and applications (e.g., personality, psychopathology, physical health, judgments and decisions, and happiness). Within each topic, we will critically examine methods, measures, and theoretical conclusions.

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

Full details for HD 4530 - Affective Science

Spring.

HD 4560 Black Girlhood Studies: Rememory, Representation, and Re-Imagination

How has history shaped our notion of Black girlhood? What is our collective understanding of Black girlhood? How do we see and understand Black girls? Black Girlhood Studies is a multidisciplinary field that draws on education, literature, psychological, and sociological perspectives as tools to see and honor Black girls' lived experiences. In this seminar course, we will use a mixture of lectures and facilitated discussions to provide an overview of Black girlhood as it relates to historical and current-day social, political, and cultural constructions of Black girlhood within and beyond the United States. We will also interrogate how Black girls deconstruct and interrupt these social constructions by engaging in scholarly works, popular press articles, poetry, music, film, and novels. Throughout the course, we will make space to imagine a world where Black girls' ways of knowing, being, and experiencing the world are honored.   

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

Full details for HD 4560 - Black Girlhood Studies: Rememory, Representation, and Re-Imagination

Spring.

HD 4600 Professional Development in Geriatric and Palliative Research

This course serves as a companion class for students admitted to the Geriatric Palliative Research Immersion Program who are engaged in concurrent research with remote mentors at Weill Cornell Medicine. Students in this course will learn about research methods, techniques, and practices in geriatric and palliative settings and engage with various providers and stakeholders in the field.

Full details for HD 4600 - Professional Development in Geriatric and Palliative Research

Spring.

HD 4650 Neuroimaging for Behavioral Syndromes

HD 4670 Advanced Seminar in Mood Disorders

Each year, more than 100 million people worldwide develop clinically recognizable depression. Because of its prevalence, depression is sometimes called "the common cold of psychopathology." This course provides a wide-ranging examination of the theories, methods, and major controversies in mood disorders research, including coverage of social, cognitive, and biological perspectives.

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

Full details for HD 4670 - Advanced Seminar in Mood Disorders

Spring.

HD 4720 Current Research in Emotion, Cognition, and Brain

The course will cover advanced topics in research on the emotions from central neural and peripheral physiological perspectives, with an emphasis with how emotions shape different aspects of cognition and behavior.

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

Full details for HD 4720 - Current Research in Emotion, Cognition, and Brain

Spring.

HD 4765 How to Think Like a Scientist

What does it mean to think like a scientist?  This course will explore the structure of scientific thinking, from its philosophical foundations through current efforts to make science fair and replicable. The thought processes that underlie the methods used in psychology and neuroscience are rarely made explicit in courses on statistics and research methods – understanding these thought processes can make us better scientists and sharper thinkers.

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

Full details for HD 4765 - How to Think Like a Scientist

Spring.

HD 4850 Professional Development in Translational Research

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

Fall, Spring.

HD 4860 Nearest Neighbor

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

Fall, Spring.

HD 4940 Moral Psychology in Action

Moral Psychology in Action is an applied psychology course for students who want to make a difference in the world through ethical leadership and positive contributions in organizations, and who are drawn to scholarly work on psychology, ethics, and morality.  The course is experiential and takes place mostly outside the classroom through students' individualized partnerships in community organizations, businesses, and institutions.  Learning outcomes include enhanced critical reflection, intercultural competence, ethical practice, and the practice of applied moral psychology research methods.

Full details for HD 4940 - Moral Psychology in Action

Spring.

HD 4990 Senior Honors Thesis

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

Full details for HD 4990 - Senior Honors Thesis

Fall, Spring.

HD 5760 Quantitative Methods II

This second part of the graduate statistics sequence is intended to teach more advanced techniques of modern quantitative data analysis, with a focus on the analysis of non-randomized studies. We will cover a variety of models, including models with linear and non-linear effects, model with random effects, and models for limited dependent variables.  

Full details for HD 5760 - Quantitative Methods II

Spring.

HD 6200 First-Year Proseminar in Human Development

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

Fall, Spring.

HD 6210 Seminar on Autobiographical Memory

This graduate seminar is designed to give an overview as well as in-depth analysis of topics related to autobiographical memory and its development. Readings focus heavily on current theories and empirical research on a wide range of topics including childhood amnesia, reminiscence bump, emotion and memory, memory accuracy, development and disruption, neurological perspectives, memory functions, and memory across cultures.

Full details for HD 6210 - Seminar on Autobiographical Memory

Spring.

HD 6655 Neuroimaging for Behavioral Syndromes

HD 6690 The Nature and Function of Affectional Bonds

This course will examine human bonding primarily from a psychological perspective, drawing on empirical and theoretical work from the fields of developmental, clinical, evolutionary, cognitive, personality, and social psychology, and secondarily from ethology, anthropology, sociology, and neurobiology. The central goal of the course is to define and explain basic structure, functions, dynamics, and formation of human affectional bonds, especially those of the attachment and mating variety.

Full details for HD 6690 - The Nature and Function of Affectional Bonds

Spring.

HD 6720 Current Research in Emotion, Cognition and Brain

The course will cover advanced topics in research on the emotions from central neural and peripheral physiological perspectives, with an emphasis with how emotions shape different aspects of cognition and behavior.

Full details for HD 6720 - Current Research in Emotion, Cognition and Brain

Fall.

HD 6820 Proseminar in Affective and Clinical Science II

HD 7000 Directed Readings

For study that predominantly involves library research and independent study.

Full details for HD 7000 - Directed Readings

Fall, Spring.

HD 7010 Empirical Research

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

Full details for HD 7010 - Empirical Research

Fall, Spring.

HD 8990 Master's Thesis and Research

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

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

Fall, Spring.

HD 9990 Doctoral 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

Fall, Spring.

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