Global Arc

This course provides a deep dive into the science of emotion. We will engage with primary readings on dominant theories, historical perspectives, ongoing debates, methods of study, recent innovations, and translational applications in this field. We will assess the strengths and weaknesses of different methods for generating both basic scientific understanding of emotions and translational impact. Students will play a substantial role in co-creating course discussions through in-class presentations, and the final will be a high-level research paper that aims to move the field forward through either a theoretical synthesis or study proposal.

One way to understand the various patterns and processes in our world is to think of them as "systems" (e.g., the criminal justice system, neural systems, economic systems, etc.). There's lot of talk about these systems ("blame the system"; "you can't beat the system") and efforts to change them, but not a lot of understanding about how systems actually work. We will bridge this knowledge gap by learning about what all systems have in common, how they respond to change and why it is difficult to change them in predictable ways.

This course provides broad foundation in research and quantitative skills and knowledge often used in healthcare settings, with a focus on studies that focus on improving human health. It will serve as a basis for other research or quantitative courses across psychology and health sciences at Princeton. We will cover the basics of conducting human subjects research, experimental and interventional design, how to generate and test hypotheses, as well as basic statistical analysis techniques. This course would be relevant to anyone interested in psychology, pre-med/health, and those who want to become savvier consumers of health research.

Empirical research is at the core of our work as psychological scientists. The primary goal of your independent work is to make sure you learn how to understand, conduct, and communicate empirical research. The yearlong thesis course aims to assist you in attaining this goal via assignments that promote consistent investment in and attention to the thesis throughout the academic year. PSY majors will complete PSY 498 in the fall (graded P/D/F) and PSY 499 (letter graded) in the spring. In the fall, seniors submit a thesis progress & planning form and partial draft; students must receive a passing grade in PSY 498 to enroll in PSY 499.

Empirical research is at the core of our work as psychological scientists. The primary goal of your independent work is to make sure you learn how to understand, conduct, and communicate empirical research. The yearlong thesis course aims to assist you in attaining this goal via assignments that promote consistent investment in and attention to the thesis throughout the academic year. PSY majors will complete PSY 498 in the fall (graded P/D/F) and PSY 499 (letter graded) in the spring. In the spring, seniors submit a thesis draft partway through the semester and then their final thesis.

Conversation is one of the most ubiquitous and distinctly human behaviors. From infancy to old age, humans converse constantly. Through these exchanges we learn about the world, build social connections, and update beliefs and behaviors. Conversations represent a crucial frontier in the scientific quest to understand the human mind and the societal imperative to help people thrive. Grounded in work from psychology, this course explores questions about the why, what, and how of naturalistic human communication.

Empirical research is at the core of our work as psychological scientists. The primary goal of your independent work is to make sure you learn how to understand, conduct, and communicate scholarly research. The yearlong JP course sequence aims to assist you in attaining this goal via assignments that promote consistent investment in and attention to junior independent work throughout the academic year. PSY majors will complete PSY 398 in the fall and PSY 399 in the spring. In PSY 398, juniors give a presentation and submit a final fall paper.

Empirical research is at the core of our work as psychological scientists. The primary goal of your independent work is to make sure you learn how to understand, conduct, and communicate scholarly research. The yearlong JP course sequence aims to assist you in attaining this goal via assignments that promote consistent investment in and attention to junior independent work throughout the academic year. PSY majors will complete PSY 398 in the fall and PSY 399 in the spring. In PSY 399, juniors give a presentation and submit a final spring paper.

This course teaches listening, note-taking, and writing skills in the context of studying social norms and normalization via the non-fiction book, "Social Gravity," which features many real-life stories and unusual kinds of psychology experiments. Each class, the professor will read aloud from the text while students take notes in a notebook, leaving phones and laptops to the side. The class will also feature guest appearances from podcast and radio journalists, activities for practicing listening and note-writing techniques, and writing instruction to help students write in a way that stimulates attention and imagination.

Can machines be moral? As powerful institutions increasingly deploy automated machine systems for consequential decision-making, this question is no longer confined to the realm of science fiction. In this course, we will critically analyze the proposal that human moral values can be programmed into machines. We will engage with scholarship from psychology, philosophy, computer science, and science and technology studies as well as popular film and fiction investigating the nature of human morality, whether it can be implemented in machines, and the cultural impacts of such proposals.