Psychology Undergraduate Course Catalog

Prerequisites: V89.0001 or the equivalent is a prerequisite for all courses in psychology, except for V89.0009. Additional prerequisites are noted below following the course titles.

INTRODUCTORY AND STATISTICS COURSES

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

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

CORE COURSES: CORE A—PSYCHOLOGY AS A NATURAL SCIENCE

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

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

Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
V89.0025  Curis, Davachi. Given every semester. 4 points.
Provides students with a broad understanding of the foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience including dominant theories of the neural underpinnings of a variety of cognitive processes and the research that has led to those theories. In doing so, students also learn about the goals of cognitive neuroscience research and the methods that are being employed to reach these goals.

Cognition
V89.0029  McElree, Murphy, Rehder. Given every semester. 4 points.
Introduction to theories and research in some major areas of cognitive psychology, including human memory, attention, language production and comprehension, thinking, and reasoning.

CORE COURSES: CORE B—PSYCHOLOGY AS A SOCIAL SCIENCE

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

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

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

Developmental Psychology
V89.0034  Adolph, Marcus, Vouloumanos. Given every semester. 4 points.
Introduction and overview of theoretical issues and selected research in developmental psychology. Focuses on infancy through adolescence. Lectures interweave theory, methods, and findings about how we develop as perceiving, thinking, and feeling beings.

Community Psychology
V89.0036  Formerly V89.0074. Identical to V99.0380. Shinn, Yoshikawa. Given every fall. 4 points.
Explores the field of community psychology in terms of its origins, theories, and applications. Examines current models of person-environment systems together with their implications for understanding normal and deviant behavior and for the treatment and prevention of individual and social pathology. Discusses the place of advocacy, innovation, and action research and the role of the psychologist as change agent.

CORE COURSES: CORE C—LABORATORY COURSES

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

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

Laboratory in Personality and Social Psychology
V89.0039  Prerequisites: V89.0009 and either V89.0030, V89.0032, or V89.0062. Bolger, Chaiken. Given every semester. 4 points.
Methodology and procedures of personality and social psychological research and exercises in data analysis and research design. Statistical concepts such as reliability and validity, methods of constructing personality measures, merits and limitations of correlational and experimental research designs, and empirical evaluation of theories. Student teams conduct research projects.

Laboratory in Developmental Psychology
V89.0040.001  Prerequisites: V89.0009, V89.0034. Bolger, Hughes. Given every year. 4 points.
Review of observational and experimental techniques used in studying children. Each student chooses a topic and conducts a short-term study on that topic in a field or laboratory setting. Two presentations require a literature review and a proposed experimental design, and a report of the results of the study, which is due at semester's end.

Laboratory in Community Research
V89.0041  Prerequisites: V89.0009 and any Core B course. Hughes. Given every year. 4 points.
Presents methods and techniques for naturalistic research in nonlaboratory settings. Research is designed to answer questions about human behavior in natural settings, the influence of environmental settings on behavior, questions of specific and broad-range social policy, and the effects and effectiveness of programs of planned intervention or change. Explores both the advantages and problems of this kind of research. Includes designing, conducting, and analyzing one such project.

Laboratory in Infancy Research
V89.0042  Prerequisites: V89.0009, V89.0034, and/or to be taken with a second semester of Tutorial in Infant Research, V89.0992, and permission of instructor. Adolph. Given every semester. 4 points.
Part of a year-long research training program. Students learn general methods for studying infant development and specific methods for examining infants' perceptual-motor development. Students design and conduct laboratory research projects, code and analyze data, and prepare results for presentation and publication (grant proposals, conference submissions, and journal submissions).

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

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

Laboratory in Human Cognition
V89.0046  Formerly V89.0028. Prerequisites: V89.0010 and either V89.0022, V89.0025, V89.0027, or V89.0029 . McElree. Given every year. 4 points.
Presents a state-of-the-art introduction to the design and implementation of experiments in cognitive psychology as performed on computers. Experiments are performed in the areas of perception, learning, memory, and decision making. Students carry out independent research projects and learn to write research reports conforming to APA guidelines.

Lab in Statistical Methods
V89.0047  Prerequisite: V89.0009. Given every semester. 4 points.
An advanced undergraduate course in analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression that aims to reinforce first semester statistics and extend knowledge and application of statistics to problem solving using exploratory data analysis using both Excel and SPSS. The course seeks to bridge the gap between basic statistics courses offered at the undergraduate level and graduate statistics.

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

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

ADVANCED ELECTIVE COURSES

All advanced elective courses have prerequisites in addition to V89.0001. See individual courses.

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

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

Learning
V89.0050  Formerly V89.0020. Prerequisite: any Core A course or permission of the instructor. Matthews. Given every spring. 4 points.
The environment exerts influence over behavior through mechanisms such as elicitation, Pavlovian conditioning, and operant conditioning. Our understanding of these most basic processes has been built largely on laboratory experimentation with animals. The course reviews the history of this research and its application to human behavior.

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

Behavioral and Integrative Neural Science
V89.0052  Identical to V23.0202 and V80.0202. Prerequisites: V23.0011, V23.0012, and either V89.0024 or V80.0100. Glimcher. Given every spring. 4 or 5 points.
See description under Neural Science (80).

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

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

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

Tests and Measurements
V89.0063  Prerequisite: V89.0009. Given every 2 to 3 years.4 points.
Examination of the logical and empirical problems involved in the measuring of psychological variables. Concerned with how concepts are isolated for measurement, the factors that influence the adequacy of their measurement, and the criteria that may be used in assessing the validity and usefulness of the measures. Topics also include tests of intelligence and ability, personality inventories, and projective techniques.

Multicultural Psychology
V89.0070  Formerly Minority Psychology: A Humanistic View. Prerequisite: Any Core B course (for majors), or a course in philosophy (for nonmajors). Open to juniors and seniors only. Cannot be taken if student has taken V89.0071. Jenkins. Given every other year. 4 points.
Covers selected psychological literature on nonwhite American ethnic minorities from a humanistic psychological perspective. The groups of particular concern are African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Examines such topics as self-concept, cognition, personality, and mental health. Outlining of a systematic humanistic perspective on psychology, used as a framework for highlighting the adaptive strategies of ethnic minorities to survive in America.

Psychology and African Americans
V89.0071  Identical to V11.0702. Prerequisite: Any Core B course (for majors), or a course in philosophy (for nonmajors). Open to juniors and seniors only. Cannot be taken if student has taken V89.0070. Jenkins. Given every other year. 4 points.
An introduction to selected psychological literature on African Americans from a humanistic psychological perspective. Topics covered include self-concept and identity, cognition and school performance, and linguistic expression. The course is taught in a seminar format emphasizing active student participation.

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

Attitudes and Persuasion
V89.0073  Prerequisite: V89.0032. Chaiken. Given every 2 to 3 years. 4 points.
Deals broadly with how people's behaviors and beliefs can be altered by other individuals and by social circumstances. The power of social influences in determining how people feel and act toward themselves and others is examined, emphasizing the ways in which the individual interprets and understands the social environment. Topics include the relationship between attitudes and social behavior, attitude formation, and change and stability.

Clinical Interventions in Psychological Disorders
V89.0081  Formerly Clinical Psychology. Prerequisite: V89.0035 or V89.0051. Limited to junior or senior majors in psychology. Jenkins, Westerman, Wolitzky. Given every other year. Given every 2 to 3 years. 4 points.
Intended as an introduction to the field of clinical psychology for those who are planning or considering graduate study in this field. Topics: research and theoretical foundations of clinical psychology, patterns of psychopathology, and methods of diagnosis and treatment.

Psychology of Adolescence
V89.0085  Prerequisite: any Core B course. Given every 2 to 3 years. 4 points.
Concerned with the developmental phenomena of the adolescent years. Physical, emotional, intellectual, and social development are explored, and the issues and dilemmas of evaluating psychopathology at this period are examined in conjunction with readings of clinical case histories. The historical evolution of the concept of adolescence.

Preventative Psychology
V89.0093  Prerequisites: V89.0032, V89.0036, or V89.0074. Seidman. Given every 2 to 3 years. 4 points.
Examines the idea of prevention beginning with its earliest roots in the fields of both public and mental health to more contemporary perspectives on the promotion of well-being. Alternative meanings, conceptual frameworks, risk-protective models, as well as research and ethical issues in prevention are examined. A wide array of exemplary preventive interventions during each major life state serves as the foci of analyses, in terms of their conception, strategies of intervention, and demonstrated effects.

Social Issues and Social Policy
V89.0094  Prerequisites: V89.0032, V89.0036, or V89.0074. Shinn. Given every 2 to 3 years. 4 points.
Reviews research on causes, psychological correlates or consequences, and social policy options for dealing with selected social problems or social issues. Because most social issues are not purely psychological in nature, readings from other disciplines are included. The instructor chooses two or three social or policy issues to be explored in depth each term. Possible topics include poverty, homelessness, immigration, racism, affirmative action, child care, work and family, school dropout, and prevention of AIDS.

Special Topics in Psychology
V89.0300  Prerequisites: At least one Core A and one Core B course. Given every semester. 4 points.
Seminars of an advanced level. Topics vary each time offered.

Systems of Psychotherapy
V89.0300.001 Prerequisites: V89.0030 or V89.0051. Wolitzky.
This course will introduce students to the nature of psychotherapy. It will consider the major theories and techniques of psychotherapy, with particular emphasis on psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral approaches. A significant portion of the course will be devoted to viewing and discussing videos illustrating different methods of psychotherapy.

CogNeuro: Principles of Frontal Lobe Functions
V89.0300.002 Prerequisites: V89.0022, V89.0025, or V89.0029. Curtis.
The frontal cortex is thought to be a key cortical area important for the integration of sensory and motor information. Many cognitive and emotional facets of our behavior that make us unique as humans are thought to depend on the frontal cortex, which accounts for almost 1/3 of the cortical surface of the entire brain. In this course we will delve into the issues that have led many clinicians and scientists throughout the years to suspect that the key to understanding what makes us uniquely human depends on understanding the frontal cortex. We will cover important neuropsychological patient studies and theories as well as human and animal empirical studies into the structure and physiology of the frontal lobes as they relate to higher cognitive functions.

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

Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion
V89.0300.003 Prerequisites: V89.0001 and V89.0025. Phelps.
This seminar will examine what is known about neural systems mediating emotion and cognition in humans.  Topics covered will include: Fear learning, Controlling fears, Emotion's influence on memory, attention and perception, and Emotion and social behavior.  The course will consist of reading primary articles that students are expected to present and discuss.

Motivation and Volition
V89.0300.010 Prerequisites: V89.0032 and V89.0029
The course provides an overview of the major theories and findings in research on motivation and volition. More specifically, we will address the history of research on motivation and volition, classic phenomena of being motivated versus lacking motivation and willpower, the psychology of goals (goal setting, goal implementation, effortful goal pursuits, disengagement, content and structure of goals, the mental representation of goals), disorders of self-regulation, and cognitive-neuropsychological research as well as the perspective of economics on motivation and volition. We will focus on understanding the interrelations and contradictions between the different approaches, and on designing research that promotes these different lines of thinking.

Language Acquisition and Cognitive Development
V89.0300.011 Prerequisite: V89.0001 or instructor permission
In the first three years of life, children go from helpless creatures, fresh out of the womb, to toddlers with a basic grasp of language and the people and objects in the world around them. How do they do that? This seminar will discuss current issues in language acquisition and cognitive development, exploring nature, nurture, and their interaction.

Experiments in Beauty
V89.0300.012 Beauty is famously hard to study scientifically, but students in this hands-on laboratory course will each week formulate beauty-related questions and design and implement experiments to answer them. We also read and discuss one article/chapter each week from authors including Kant, Woolf, Berlin, Donoghue, Kuhn, Quine, and Wittgenstein.

Speech: A Window into the Developing Mind
V89.0300.013 Prerequisite: At least two from V89.0022, V89.0029, V89.0032 or
V89.0034. Open to juniors and seniors only./
Covers selected new findings in infant speech perception, focusing on
speech as a linguistic, communicative and social signal. Topics may
range from audio-visual speech perception to the role of speech in
social cognition. Emphasizes theories, experimental design, and critical
thinking.

Research Experiences and Methods
V89.0999  Prerequisites: V89.0001, V89.0009, and at least two other psychology courses and permission of department required. Recommended: a laboratory course in psychology. This course may be repeated for three semesters. It is normally taken for 4 points, but may be approved for less after the first semester with permission of the instructor. Aaronson. Given every semester. 1-4 points.
Undergraduate students are paired with faculty, advanced graduate students, or other researchers on a one-to-one basis to pursue common research goals in psychology. Undergraduates serve as apprentices on survey, laboratory, clinical, and field research projects and in return receive guidance in reading and developing research skills. Biweekly meetings deal with research methods and design and allow students an opportunity to speak on their research projects. Written assignments include several brief homeworks and a final journal-style research report.

HONORS COURSES

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

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

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

GRADUATE COURSES OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES

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