Global Arc

Principles of psychology relevant to the theory and practice of education. Through selected readings, discussion, and classroom observations, students study theories of development, learning, cognition (including literacy), and motivation, as well as individual and group differences in these areas; assessment; and the social psychology of the classroom. The course focuses on how learning by children and adolescents at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels is influenced by their own characteristics and experiences and the various contexts in which they learn: family, school, community and culture. One three-hour seminar.

Music is universal to all cultures, but mysterious because it communicates emotions without recourse to pictures or propositions. Its creation and perception depend on properties of the human mind that the course aims to explain. It focuses on tonal music - from the Baroque to rock, but it also considers atonal music, jazz, and music from other cultures. It describes the cognitive structures underlying the perception of rhythm and meter, melody, consonance and dissonance, harmony, and polyphony; and it aims to elucidate their role in composition and improvisation. It considers their computational modeling and their experimental investigation.

The cognitive processes underlying the use and understanding of language, and in learning to speak. Topics include speech production and perception, grammar and meaning, knowledge and words, and pragmatic aspects of language. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

The study of human problem solving, reasoning, and decision making. Phenomena of interest include thinking in everyday situations and contexts as well as in more specialized areas, such as logic, mathematics, and the sciences. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Prerequisite: 255 or instructor's permission.

An examination of the fundamental theories of belief and decision, from both the normative and descriptive perspectives. Utility, logic, probability, and abduction will be considered, with additional topics drawn from computability theory and from collective choice. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Considers how one infers the motives, dispositions, and abilities of other persons. Next examines how these inferential processes are used to draw inferences about oneself. Students will design an original experiment (with consultation). Two lectures, one preceptorial. Prerequisite: 252 or instructor's permission.

An examination of the various methods by which social psychologists conduct research, including laboratory and field experiments, quasi-experiments, survey research, and naturalistic observation. Over the course of the semester, students will design and conduct social psychological research using these methods. Although valuable for all psychology majors, this course will be particularly useful for those who anticipate completing a senior thesis based on empirical research. Prerequisites: 251 or permission of instructor. One three-hour seminar.

An overview and examination of the cognitive science of human values and applications to contemporary global challenges. Interdisciplinary course highlighting research from cognitive neuroscience, psychology, behavioral economics, data science, and public health. Topics include utility and value, reinforcement learning, risky decision making, time preferences and self-control, social decision making, and applications to pandemics, polarization, technology, and the climate crisis.

Attention is a fundamental cognitive process that enables us to select info that is relevant for ongoing behavior. Course reviews the cognitive neuroscience of selective attention starting from theoretical foundations provided by cognitive psychology to the neural underpinnings identified by systems neuroscience, and also includes an intro to the pathology of attention disorders. It presents a hands-on science experience by drawing on current lab research, focusing on the design and analyses of 'real' experiments, with opportunities to attend ongoing behavioral, physiology, and functional imaging studies.

The objectives of this course are to understand the psychosocial processes that influence health and health care delivery. Topics to be examined are the psychophysiological and sociocultural bases of health and illness; pain and healing; adaptation to chronic illness; stress; personality and illness; quality of life; death, dying, and grief; substance use; health promoting behaviors; patient adherence; physician-patient communication; health care; and medical ethics and utilization.