Global Arc

This course examines how social, behavioral and cultural factors influence human behavior and the conceptualization of mental health and psychopathology, with a focus on current, controversial topics. Students will examine the ways their understanding of mental and physical health and well-being are shaped by their own values and assumptions, as well as societal constructs and structures such as the health care system. The class is designed to promote cultural competence in diagnosis, treatment and research strategies.

An examination of various topics in social and personality psychology not emphasized in other courses. The topic and prerequisites will vary from year to year.

Survey of the growth of ideas on the role of the brain in sensation, cognition, movement and mental disease, particularly in classical antiquity and 18th century to 20th century Europe. Course is composed of lectures, discussion and student presentations.

Attitudes matter. Throughout the history of the world, people have taken extraordinary steps to support a set of attitudes and beliefs that helped to bring about a better world. Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King led societies to new views of human dignity by their written words and their behaviors. Every day, people advocate for their ideals. They persuade and organize in the service of bringing about a world that is closer to the paragon in which they believe.

This course explores how social psychological theory and research have been used in the interest of social change, and how social change has inspired theoretical or methodological developments in social psychology. To do so, it explores major ideas, theories, and findings of social psychology and their applied status. The course is organized around topics of social stasis and change, including conflict and peace, gender and sexuality, authority and legitimacy, identity and culture, environmental behavior, health, and economics.

The adult human brain is an amazing system: With areas of cognitive specialization that are robustly interconnected and work together in networks to support our quick and adaptive behavior. In contrast, young infants have markedly slower neural responses and few long-range connections between brain regions. We will read the primary literature and discuss pivotal questions in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience: To what extent are infants born with cognitive or neural specialization or does specialization develop? How do babies and children learn? How much does experience matter in neural and cognitive development?

An introduction to the main principles of organization of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). We will compare monkey and human PPCs, covering topics including encoding of eye movements, number and visual motion representations, processing of object information, and attentional functions. We will emphasize the pathology resulting from damage to PPC by discussing syndromes like optic ataxia and hemispatial neglect. We will present a 'hands on' science experience by drawing on current lab research, focusing on the design and analyses of 'real' experiments on the PPC with opportunities to attend ongoing functional imaging studies.

The phenomenology and underlying neurobiology of the states of sleep and waking are examined. A byproduct of doing so exposes students to a broad range of current research in the field of neurobiology and behavior. Experimental results and theories, ranging from the molecular and genetic to human brain imaging, are critically examined and discussed. Topics include brain mechanisms mediating sleep and waking, diseases of sleep, ontogeny and phylogeny of sleep, theories of functions and uses of sleep, dreams, drugs affecting sleep and waking, circadian rhythms, other states of consciousness, and the issue of consciousness itself.

Cyborgs are created when biological brains are enhanced with technology. This course will explore a wide range of mind-machine interactions. Are search engines changing the structure of human memory? Is your laptop or smartphone part of your mind? Are human brains flexible enough to update motor and sensory systems, expanding the self to include artificial limbs, exoskeletons, remote-control devices, night vision, wearable computing, etc.? How do experiences in virtual reality impact psychology? As technology advances we are all becoming cyborgs. Now is an exciting time to study the interactive interface of technology and mind.

This course focuses on clinical depression as a model topic for scientific discourse. Depression is a subject of growing individual and societal importance, and it is an ideal topic because it intersects such a broad range of issues. Our work will emphasize a neurobiological approach, with topics ranging from the molecular to the clinical. Prerequisites: 208 or 258, or EEB 211, or MOL 214, and instructor's permission. One three-hour seminar.