Emeritus Professor D. Weese; Professor Vitale; Associate Professor GyurovskiS; Assistant Professor Bauer.
Chair: Jennifer E. Vitale
PSYCHOLOGY 101. (3) INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY. Introduction to the field of psychology with an emphasis on research methodologies and findings in the areas of neuroscience, learning, development, abnormal, and social psychology, plus other topic areas as appropriate. Examination of the methods and evidence pertaining to important concepts, issues, and topics in those areas of psychology, application of that knowledge in solving individual and societal problems, and the relevance of psychology to everyday life. Prerequisite: none. Offered: each semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 107. (3) CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGY. This is an entry-level course designed to introduce students to conflicting views on a variety of important issues in different areas of psychology. The focus of this course is the gulf between public opinion and empirical knowledge. Discussions about each controversy begins with a presentation of some basic information about the general topic under study (e.g., the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and the nature of human memory) and is followed by an in-depth examination of each controversy in light of what the public believes to be true and what psychologists have learned. Videotapes, web resources, and readings from the critical thinking monograph are used to supplement the primary text in this course. Prerequisite: none. Offered: alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 202. (3) COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY. This course focuses on the study of human memory and mental processes. The information-processing approach is presented and described in some detail. A variety of mental activities are covered, including attention, perception, remembering, using language, reasoning, and problem-solving. Special attention is paid to the application of current research in cognitive psychology to real-life situations. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: fall semester of alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 204. (3) ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY. An overview of emotional, behavioral, and cognitive conditions which are considered sufficiently stressful, dysfunctional, unusual, or bizarre to require treatment by mental-health professionals. Included in each major category defined by psychiatry’s diagnostic manual are a description of symptoms, typical antecedent life stresses, correlates in childhood developmental patterns, and physiological, neurological, and temperamental concomitants. Theory and research concerning causes and common therapeutic approaches are reviewed. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: fall semester of alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 205. (3) MOTIVATION. An examination of factors responsible for the instigation, continuation, and cessation of human and animal behavior. Topics include physiological mechanisms of motivation, instinct, acquired motives, the relationship between motivation and learning, emotion, and complex forms of motivation (e.g., achievement, social influence). Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: fall semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 207. (3) DRUGS AND BEHAVIOR. The systematic study of the effects of drugs on behavior, cognitive functioning, and emotions; the interaction of a drug with the nervous system; the biological and psychological makeup of the individual; and the social and physical environment as the determinant of the drug experience. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: spring semester of alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 208. (3) SPORT PSYCHOLOGY. Examines the psychological principles involved in sport, including the effects of attention and arousal on performance, audience effects on performance, factors underlying achievement motivation, factors that predict effective coaching and team cohesion, and personality variables associated with athletic participation. Emphasis is placed on reading and discussing empirical studies in the area, with some attention paid to case studies. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: spring semester of alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 209. (3) PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE. This course is designed to introduce students to adolescence, an important stage of human growth and development. Students begin by reviewing the major theories of adolescence, then cover some of the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional changes that occur during this stage of development. Current research on problematic behaviors such as drug use, sexual behavior, risk taking, juvenile delinquency, and psychopathology help students explore the roles that neurological development, parents, and cultural forces play in the development of these behaviors. Finally, students develop ideas about how we might reduce or eliminate the occurrence of some of these problematic behaviors. Videotapes, web resources, and additional short readings are used to supplement the primary text in this course. Prerequisite: Psychology 101, or permission of the instructor. Offered: alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 212. (3) BUSINESS PSYCHOLOGY. This course is designed to increase the student’s understanding of the nature and dynamics of mental processes and interpersonal behavior relevant to organizational performance in business and industry. Course content will focus on theory and research in cognitive and social psychology that is applicable to management, consumer behavior, and marketing (e.g. social perception, interpersonal relations, persuasion, and cooperation). The course will include a combination of case discussions, the reading of primary sources, group activities, and lectures. This course will enable students to use psychological concepts in order to gain insight into practical workplace issues. Prerequisite: Psychology 101.
PSYCHOLOGY 250. (4) RESEARCH METHODS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS IN PSYCHOLOGY. Students will learn how to design, conduct, and evaluate research in the behavioral and biological sciences and how to conduct parametric and nonparametric statistical analyses. There is an emphasis on understanding experimental design, using descriptive and inferential statistics, interpreting analyses, and reporting conclusions. Students will learn how to use a computer based statistical package and will learn how to use and write in APA style. Offered each semester. Prerequisite: Psychology 101.
PSYCHOLOGY 301. (3) BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE. The role of the nervous system in the control of behavior. An examination of neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology, and neuroanatomy and their relation to motivation, learning and memory, cognition, and mental disorders. Prerequisite: Psychology 101 or Biology 110; recommended: Psychology 210 and 351. Offered: fall semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 302. (3) SOCIAL AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE. This course will offer an overview of the neural basis of social (e.g. person perception) and affective (e.g. emotion regulation) processes. Social and affective neuroscience applies tools typically used to study cognition (i.e. neuroimaging) to better understand affective and social processes, as well as how these processes interact with cognitive ones. For example, affect (e.g. the emotional salience of the information we are processing) can alter performance on cognitive tasks. Students will be introduced to foundational concepts in the field, and will use this knowledge in order to understand recent findings in core content domains including emotional appraisal, emotion regulation, person perception and impression formation, social affiliation and rejection, inferring the mental states of others, risk evaluation, reward processing, and default network activity. Prerequisite: Psychology 101.
PSYCHOLOGY 303. (3) COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE. Cognitive neuroscience examines the neural basis of higher mental functions, including brain systems supporting vision, object recognition, attention, memory, spatial functions, language, and decision-making. Major themes include mind/ brain relationships, localization of function, and plasticity of the brain, in addition to behavioral measures of cognition used to study people with focal brain damage as well as neuroimaging studies of neurologically normal people. Cognitive neuroscience approaches to disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease are also explored. Prerequisite: Psychology 101 or Biology 110/151. Offered: spring semester of alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 304. (3) PERSONALITY: THEORY AND MEASUREMENT. This course focuses on theoretical models and research methods relevant to the study of personality. Historical and modern approaches are examined, with an emphasis on evaluating theories in the context of relevant empirical evidence. Students are also exposed to common methods of personality assessment, and the processes behind scale development and validation. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: as staffing permits.
PSYCHOLOGY 306. (3) SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. The analysis of social motivation, attitude formation and change, group structure and processes, interpersonal perception and attraction, and the psychological impact of the environment. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: fall semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 310. (3) INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. Application of psychological principles to problems in business and industry, and to management. Addresses such topics as personnel selection and organizational theory. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: as staffing permits.
PSYCHOLOGY 312. (3) LEARNING. The theoretical and empirical study of the acquisition, modification, and retention of human and animal behavior. Topics to be addressed include conditioning and instrumental learning, mechanisms of reinforcement, verbal and language learning, memory and forgetting, and the application of principles of learning and memory. Prerequisite: Psychology 101; recommended: Psychology 250. Offered: spring semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 313. (3) SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. An examination of sensory systems and perceptual processes. The senses are considered in terms of their respective physical stimuli, receptor systems, neural structures, and psychophysical data. Topics in perception include attention, feature detection, depth perception, perceptual organization, and perceptual illusions. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: spring semester of alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 315. (3) DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY. Normal development of the human individual beginning with the prenatal period and with a special emphasis on childhood and adolescence. Developmental change and crises in middle life and old age are described in less detail. Prerequisite: Psychology 101; recommended: Psychology 250. Offered: spring semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 318. (3) NEGOTIATIONS. Negotiation is prevalent in interpersonal interactions, from the trivial, such as making dinner plans, to the consequential, such as determining employer-employee disputes or resolving international conflicts. In this course, we will examine the structure of different negotiations. We will pay particular attention to the principles, derived through psychological science, that govern the processes and outcomes of a negotiation. For instance, we consider the role of perceptions, expectations, intuitions, and biases, and evaluate the role of information processing, culture, modes of communication, and power in influencing a negotiated outcome. We see how the psychology of trust, reciprocity, fairness, cooperation and competition can affect our ability to benefit from an exchange or contribute to the escalation of conflict. To better understand the dynamics of the negotiation process, we learn through engaging in a variety of negotiation role-plays, through reflecting on these experiences during class discussions, and through relating these experiences to research findings and behavioral science. Prerequisite: Psychology 101.
PSYCHOLOGY 319. (3) THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LAW. This course deals with the relationship between psychology and the legal process. Psychological abnormality and the criminal and civil law; the psychology of jury selection and deliberation; the validity of eyewitness testimony; the nature and treatment of criminal offenders; and the psychology of lawyering, negotiation, and conflict-resolution are among its concerns. Some attention is given to the psychological assumptions that underlie the common law and to the empirical investigation of their validity. Prerequisite: Psychology 101. Offered: fall semester of alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 320. (3) PSYCHOTHERAPY. A study of clinical methods, treatment approaches, and problems; the clinician and research. Prerequisites: Psychology 204 or 304. Offered: spring semester of alternate years.
PSYCHOLOGY 343. (3) JUDGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING. People form judgments and make decisions frequently, yet we are far from perfect when doing so. Further, we are consistent in the ways we depart from rationality. This course examines the psychological processes by which intuition, reasoning, and social interaction generate judgments and decisions as well as how these mental processes enable prediction and control of human behavior. We will consider the limitations of willpower, self-interest, and ethics. We will contextualize our learning through historical examples and role-playing exercises. We will identify practical applications of scientific findings in a number of fields, including finance, public policy, law, medicine, management, and marketing. Prerequisite: Psychology 101.
PSYCHOLOGY 350. (3) ADVANCED LAB. Advanced Lab in Psychology is a laboratory-based course focusing on developing and conducting research based on a topic or area of investigation within the instructor’s realm of expertise. PSYC 350 should be completed by the end of the junior year. Prerequisite: Psychology 250. Offered each semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 351. (1) LABORATORY FOR BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE. Application of laboratory techniques in physiological research, including dissection, anesthesia, surgery, lesioning, behavioral testing, and histology. Corequisite: Psychology 301. Offered: fall semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 352. (1) LABORATORY FOR LEARNING. Applications of principles of classical and operant conditioning, observational learning, human learning, and memory in laboratory exercises and experiments. Corequisite: Psychology 312. Offered: spring semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 355. (1) LABORATORY FOR DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY. Exercises utilizing various research methods involved in the study of developmental processes, such as observational techniques and cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Corequisite: Psychology 315. Offered: spring semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 356. (1) LABORATORY FOR SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. Application of research methods in the fields of social behavior and social cognition. Students conduct direct and conceptual replications of studies in areas including group dynamics, conformity, persuasion, information processing biases, attributional style, and stereotype use. Corequisite: Psychology 306. Offered: fall semester.
PSYCHOLOGY 403. (3) HISTORY AND SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY. An exploration of the history of psychology from its philosophical antecedents through the major schools of structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, and psychoanalysis. Current issues which influence the research emphasis of current psychologists are discussed. The course is highly recommended for students who are planning on graduate study in psychology or related fields. Prerequisites: Psychology 101 and at least three courses at the 300-level; Psychology 304 and 312 are especially recommended. Open to seniors only. Offered: as staffing permits.
PSYCHOLOGY 410. (3) PRACTICUM AND INTERNSHIP IN PSYCHOLOGY. Students gain hands-on experience in a work setting that applies the principles of psychology. Academic-year internships typically involve about 120 hours per semester at the internship site (one full day or two half-days per week) with supervision by a psychology professional. Summer internships may (and generally do) involve a more substantial time requirement. Prerequisite: status as a senior majoring in Psychology, or consent of the department. Offered: as staffing permits.
PSYCHOLOGY 450. (3) SENIOR SEMINAR IN PSYCHOLOGY. The Senior Seminar in Psychology is the capstone course for those students majoring in psychology. Under the supervision of a faculty advisor, students design and conduct an original, empirical, semesterlong research project. In so doing, they will apply knowledge they have gained from courses in statistics, research design, as well as courses with laboratories that introduce students to fields of psychology. Students will also grapple with common ethical issues in psychology. Prerequisites: Psychology 250, Psychology 350.
updated 7/28/22