| source Georgetown (X) |
level |
department Psychology (X) |
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course offers an introduction to the logic of research design and to descriptive and inferential statistics. The goals are to prepare students to design, analyze, interpret, and report on their own research, and to evaluate critically the work of others. Emphasis is placed on the logical bases of psychological measurement, research design, and statistical inference. The topics to be covered include the nature of both correlation and experimental studies, confounds and ways of dealing with them, reliability, internal and external validity, frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, variability, graphic presentation of data, hypothesis testing, correlation, and an introduction to the analysis of variance. Each student conducts a research project in an area chosen by the student. Students also write critical summaries of published research. Majors are strongly encouraged to complete this course in their sophomore year and no later than their junior year. Prerequisite: PSYC-001 and MATH-040. Fall and Spring.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course has two principal objectives: (a) to present the major research methods and findings in the neural sciences as they pertain to relationships between neural and psychological processes and (b) to discuss critically the validity of physiological explanations of psychological events. Prerequisite: PSYC-001. Fall.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
The major goals of this course are to present the theories and methods psychologists have developed in their study of human memory, language, and thought, and to demonstrate the practical applications of these theories and research findings to such everyday activities as studying and problem solving. The course consists of three major sections: memory, language, and thinking. The memory section analyzes the evidence for multiple memory systems, and considers ancient and contemporary techniques for remembering in light of current psychological research and theory. The language section focuses on the mental processes and capacities that underlie our ability to acquire, produce, and comprehend language. The thinking section discusses reasoning, decision-making, creativity, and problem solving. Prerequisite: PSYC-001. Spring.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course examines the social foundations of human nature by addressing the following aspects of social life: (a) social influence; (b) social roles and public behavior; (c) inferences about other people; and (d) interpersonal relations and groups. Among the topics to be considered are: the social origins of knowledge and of self, the influence of public behavior on social and moral norms, persuasion, impression management, social emotions, judgment of responsibility and character, interpersonal attraction, aggression, altruism, group dynamics, and inter-group conflict. The course will concentrate on the level of analysis of the individual, but will include sociological and evolutionary perspectives where appropriate. Prerequisite: PSYC-001. Spring.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course looks at abnormality (madness), and civilization's attempts to comprehend, punish, banish, and treat it. We will examine selective historical and current problems and answers: such as who is abnormal, what types of abnormality exist, what are the causes, and what are the remedies. Theoretical, legal, and ethical challenges to the discipline, along with newer trends and future perspectives, close the course. Fall and Spring.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course begins with a consideration of the proximate intellectual roots of scientific psychology, extending from the Renaissance into the latter part of the 19th century. Following the discipline's formal founding (to the extent that there can be such a thing) in Leipzig in 1879, tensions soon arose around alternative conceptions of the discipline's proper subject matter and its most apposite methods of investigation. By concentrating primarily on developments that transpired over the first 6 decades of the 20th century, the lines of psychology's past in its early 21st century "face" can be more readily discerned, and the result is an enhanced critical perspective on the discipline's historic achievements, its failures, and its future prospects. Prerequisite: PSYC-001.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course focuses on the social, ecological, and evolutionary processes that have shaped primate (including human) behavior and social organization. Field studies will be emphasized over studies of captive animals. The first part of the course will be devoted to learning about different primate species, where they live, what their lives are like, and their social organization. We will then turn to specific topics including conflict, cooperation, reconciliation, aggression between social groups, dominance hierarchies, mating and reproductive strategies, parental care, juvenile and adolescent socialization and development, sex differences, and finally, to comparisons between ourselves and other primates. Slides, videos, and a field trip are used to help students become familiar with our closest kin. . Prerequisite: PSYC-001. Not offered 2005-2006 academic year. Professor Mann on sabbatical Fall 2005 â Spring 2006.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Cognitive neuroscientists study the relation between the mind and brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a new discipline, having been named only in the 1970s, when advances in the brain sciences and the psychological sciences converged to offer new ways of attacking enduring questions about how the brain enables the mind. This course considers how cognitive neuroscientists use modern techniques such as behavioral analyses of brain-damaged individuals, and brain imaging techniques (such as PET and MRI) to investigate the brain bases of perception, attention, memory, language, thought, motor control, development, adaptation, and consciousness. Prerequisite: PSYC-001. Fall.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course will be aimed at understanding the nature of human emotional and social experiences and behavior. We will begin by learning about the brain processes that underlie basic emotional processes. This will provide a foundation for considering what emotion isâhow do we define it? How do we measure it? We will next move into considering individual emotions, including basic emotions like anger, rage, fear and anxiety. We will then move into considering social emotions, like affiliation, love, and empathy, and the social processes that arise from emotion responses, including stereotyping and prejudice. Throughout, we will consider the neural substrates emotions, homologies in other species, and the psychiatric disorders that may arise when dysfunction arises in social and emotional processes.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course engages students in a critical examination of the interdisciplinary literature on early child development from the prenatal period up to school entry. The central debate about the role of early experience in development will provide a unifying theme for the course. The traditional domains of development (social, emotional, language, cognitive) will be addressed in the context of debates about nature-nurture, parenting and the role of the family, child care and early intervention, the influence of culture and the community, and the role of public policies. Research on children displaying both typical and atypical development, as well as those who experience environmental insults such as toxic exposures and child abuse, will be included. Prerequisite: PSYC-001. An Introductory Methods or Statistics class is highly recommended.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This seminar examines the psychology of emotion, emphasizing cognitive, social, and cultural aspects that have been studied from the perspective of social psychology. The course addresses questions such as the following: How do emotions affect thought, motivation, and social interaction? What determines whether they are functional or dysfunctional? In what ways are emotions influenced by culture? What is known about specific emotional states, such as shame, guilt, jealousy, or envy? The class is taught in a seminar format requires class attendance and participation. Readings will be at an advanced level, and multiple writing assignments will be required. Prerequisites: PSYC-001 and PSYC-140.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course examines psychological theories and research on the expression and elicitation of emotions by various art forms, such as music, literature, comedy, film, and painting. Topics will include the elicitation of emotions by representational and abstract arts, structural elements that affect emotions, the role of audience knowledge and expectations in producing emotions, the role of the social and cultural context, the appeal of negative emotions in the context of art, the functions of aesthetic emotions, the relation between aesthetic and nonaesthetic emotions, and artistic depiction of emotions. The class will strive to integrate psychology with the humanities, and will consider what artistic works and endeavors can teach psychologists about emotion. In addition to advanced readings in psychology, the course will require detailed study of a set of core artistic works from 19th century Europe, including a close reading of a novel and detailed analysis of "classical" music. Six papers are assigned. Prerequisites: PSYC-001, and permission of the instructor. In addition, students must have some background in music and literature. If you are interested in taking this class, you must meet with Prof. Parrott to discuss your interests and background.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Credits: 3
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course explores a portion of the accumulated evidence for a relativistic, rather than a universal, model of psychological disturbance. In this relativistic model, the experience and manifestation of mental illness is shaped primarily by indigenous beliefs and cultural value systems. Reading material will be drawn from the psychological, sociological, and anthropological literature using a wide variety of sources including books, empirical studies, theoretical essays, and ethnographies. Among the topics to be considered are cross-cultural differences in classification and epidemiology, the relation between culture and theories of psychopathology, culture-bound syndromes, cross-cultural perspectives on depression, aggression, eating disorders, and schizophrenia, and cultural variations in treatment and healing practices. Prerequisites: PSYC-001 and PSYC-151 or PSYC-241.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
Are humans innately selfish or empathic? What do we mean when we say "empathy?" Do selfish or empathic behaviors succeed best in the long term? What is a psychopath? In this seminar, we will explore these questions and others related to cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of empathy in interpersonal interactions. We will begin with an exploration of the multiple ways that empathy can be defined and conceptualized, with a focus on the differences among empathy, empathic accuracy, and perspective-taking. As the course continues, we will examine the neural structures that subserve empathic abilities, how the capacity for empathy develops during childhood, the relationship between empathy and both altruistic and aggressive behaviors, and psychopathologies associated with impaired empathic capacities. The course will be taught as a seminar, and all students are expected to participate. Readings will be drawn from recent and classic academic literature.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page
This course explores the impact of information technologies such as television, computers, videogames, and the Internet on children's social, cognitive, and physical development. Current social policy concerns are addressed. Prerequisites: PSYC 001 and PSYC 160 or PSYC 262 or permission of the instructor. Fall.
Score: 7.3368783 Details | Listing | Web page