CRN

93051

Distribution

E

Course No.

PSY 103 A

Title

Introduction to Psychology

Professor

Frank Scalzo

Schedule

Tu Th            11:30 am - 12:50 pm     OLIN 203

The course is designed to be a broad survey of the academic discipline of psychology. The text for the course, and therefore the course, is organized around five main questions: How do humans (and, where relevant, other animals) act; how do they know; how do they interact; how do they develop; and how do they differ from each other? Students are responsible for learning the material in the text without an oral repetition of the material in class.

 

CRN

93854

Distribution

E

Course No.

PSY 103 B

Title

Introduction to Psychology

Professor

Barbara Luka

Schedule

Mon     1:30 pm – 2:50 pm  OLIN 204

Wed     1:30 pm – 2:50 pm  OLIN 304

The course is designed to be a broad survey of the academic discipline of psychology. The text for the course, and therefore the course, is organized around five main questions: How do humans (and, where relevant, other animals) act; how do they know; how do they interact; how do they develop; and how do they differ from each other? Students are responsible for learning the material in the text without an oral repetition of the material in class.

 

CRN

93382

Distribution

C/E

Course No.

PSY 113

Title

Introduction to Developmental Psychology: Adolescent Development

Professor

Nancy Darling

Schedule

Wed  Fri      11:30 am – 12:50 pm   PRE 128

This course explores the developmental processes that shape our lives between puberty and the end of college.  Adolescence is a time of transition, when children are prepared to take on the roles they will fill as adults.  It is also a time of rapid change: only in early infancy do minds, bodies, and abilities change as radically as they do during the teenage years.  Although each life unfolds in its own unique pattern, we will explore the ways in which biological, psychological, and sociological influences systematically combine to shape its course. This class will help you to develop an understanding of the concepts, methods, and research findings central to the study of adolescent development.

 

CRN

93052

Distribution

C/E

Course No.

PSY 141

Title

Introduction to Clinical Perspectives

Professor

Richard Gordon

Schedule

Mon Wed       1:30 pm -2:50 pm         OLIN 301

In this introductory course, we will attempt to understand the viewpoints and practices of the clinical psychologist through a variety of primary source readings.  These will include autobiographical writings, case histories, writings about the experiences of psychotherapists, and scientific evaluations of psychopathology and psychotherapy.  An effort will be made to understand the unique intersection of the personal and scientific that is at the core of clinical psychology.  Enrollment will be limited and a certain number of openings will be reserved for first-year students.

 

CRN

93050

Distribution

E/G

Course No.

PSY 203                                 Q Course

Title

Introduction  to Statistics and Research Design

Professor

Barton Meyers

Schedule

Tu Th            10:30 am - 12:30 pm     PRE 128

This course provides an introduction to the concepts and methods of statistics and is aimed at helping the student to gain a fundamental understanding of the tools needed to understand and conduct research in psychology.  Topics to be covered include frequency distributions and probability, descriptive statistics, simple correlation and regression, sampling distributions, t-tests and basic analysis of variance.  This course is the first of a two-course sequence in statistics and research methods that is required of all prospective psychology majors.  The course is ordinarily taken in the first semester of the sophomore year, and the student should have at least one previous psychology course.

 

CRN

93053

Distribution

A/E

Course No.

PSY 213

Title

Theories of Personality

Professor

Richard Gordon

Schedule

Mon Wed       10:00 am - 11:20 am     OLIN 301

Although building grand theories of personality has gone out of fashion in contemporary psychology, these systems play an important role in understanding the history of psychology and continue to provide central, although often implicit, frameworks for clinical thinking.  Moreover, personality theories have influenced knowledge in many other disciplines, including literary studies, anthropology, politics, history, and art criticism.  In this course we will review the major theories of personality, including but not limited to Freud, Jung, Erikson, Sullivan, Horney, Rogers, Eysenck and Kelly.  A central perspective of the course will be how the biography of the theorist as well as various historical and intellectual influences came to shape the theory.

 

CRN

93055

Distribution

E

Course No.

PSY 228

Title

Introduction  to Cognitive Psychology

Professor

Barbara Luka

Schedule

Tu Th            8:30 am -9:50 am         OLIN 201

How do people acquire information?  And once information is acquired, what happens to it?  Does it sit, still, in the mind/brain?  Or does it change, either knowingly or unknowingly?  If information in the brain changes with time, how might that change come about and to what end? This course is about how people perceive, remember, and think about information.  The major topics that will be covered include object recognition, memory, concept formation, language, visual knowledge, judgment, reasoning, problem solving, and conscious and unconscious thought.  In addition, we will consider the neural underpinnings of these topics where possible.

Prerequisite:  Psychology 103 and sophomore standing.

 

CRN

93058

Distribution

C

Course No.

PSY 235

Title

Counseling  from a Multicultural Perspective

Professor

Christie Achebe

Schedule

Mon Wed       8:30 am -9:50 am         OLIN 307

Cross-listed:  AADS, CCSRE

The contemporary demographic profile of the major communities and school systems in America is one of rapid change and growing diversity especially in language, ethnic origin, socioeconomic status, religion, family, spirituality, disability, gender, sexual orientation etc. This trend is expected to continue unabated into the next millennium. While there is no doubt that some mental health needs are commonly shared, how they are met often resonates in unique ways within and among this diversity. Such a scenario must sit uneasily with any mental health professional no matter how well meaning, who is only versed in the traditional mono-cultural approach to helping. Against this backdrop, the course (1)explores the history, aims and assumptions of traditional counseling,  (2)examines some innovative approaches to diversity -sensitive practices with African Americans, Latina/o ,Asian Americans, Native American Indians and Whites;  (3)broadens students' counseling repertoire with the attitudes/beliefs, knowledge and skills needed to both effectively and sensitively meet the needs of all  variations of clients in diverse human service settings.

 

CRN

93056

Distribution

C/E

Course No.

PSY 252

Title

Drugs and Human Behavior

Professor

Frank Scalzo

Schedule

Mon Wed       10:00 am - 11:20 am     OLIN 205

This course will explore the biological bases for the behavioral effects of several psychoactive substances including therapeutic compounds, such as antipsychotics and antidepressants, and drugs of abuse.  The course will focus on mechanisms of drug action and physiological and behavioral effects.  Broader societal issues such as drug addiction, drug policies and drug testing, and controversial therapeutic interventions will be discussed in relation to selected compounds.

Prerequisite: An introductory Psychology or Biology course, or consent of the instructor.

 

CRN

93057

Distribution

A/C

Course No.

PSY 261

Title

Introduction  to Counseling Psychology

Professor

Christie Achebe

Schedule

Tu Th            8:30 am -9:50 am         OLIN 307

Counseling Psychology has been described as the most broadly based applied specialty of the American Psychological Association (APA), whose “practitioners focus on the broadest array of professional psychological activities of any specialty.”  This course untangles this claim by exploring the following questions.  What is counseling psychology?  What are its defining features and roots, areas of overlap with and dissimilarities to other psychological specialties?   Who is a counseling psychologist, how and where is she/he trained and what is the range of activities referred to above?  Our comprehensive overview of the field will cover the historical beginnings of the field, highlighting counseling psychologists’ scientist-practitioner basis.  It will address the four paradigms that comprise the fundamental approaches to counseling (the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic/experiential and the “fourth force” of multiculturalism.  We will also examine counseling techniques, assessment in counseling, career development and interventions, group procedures and consultation.

 

CRN

93060

Distribution

A/E

Course No.

PSY 311

Title

Theories of Development: From Idea to Practice

Professor

Nancy Darling

Schedule

Fri                 8:30 am -10:50 am       ASP 302

The assumptions we make when approaching research fundamentally shape how we read the scientific literature, how we design studies, and how we interpret results.  This course is designed to give you a broad basis for understanding theoretical approaches to the study of human development and to help you use theory effectively in the evaluation and design of original research.  The course has five goals (1) To gain knowledge of six major theoretical approaches to development; (2) To develop a clear understanding of the role of theory in empirical research; (3) To learn to evaluate empirical research in light of the link between theory and method; (4) To develop your ability to use theory in the conceptualization, design, and interpretation of your own research; and (5) To improve your ability to communicate your ideas effectively.  Specific topics will include Kuhn and the process of scientific inference, Piaget, Freud and his legacy, attachment theory, learning theory and its derivatives, lifespan/lifecourse theories, and ecological systems theory.  We will move back and forth between reading theoretical treatments and the empirical literature.  The primary focus of discussions will be on understanding key elements of each theory and the fit between theory and the way each theory has been operationalized and tested in the empirical literature.  Although the focus of this course is on developmental psychology, this course is broadly conceptualized as an introduction to the philosophy and practice of science and a further extension of your understanding of research design and methods.  This course is designed for upper-level psychology students, but students from all backgrounds who are comfortable reading primary source empirical journal articles and have a background in research methods and quantitative approaches are welcome.

 

CRN

93671

Distribution

E

Course No.

PSY 356

Title

Psycholinguistics

Professor

Barbara Luka

Schedule

Th      1:30 pm – 3:50 pm   OLIN 301

This course integrates topics in linguistics, psychology, computer science, and neuroscience. We will examine recent research addressing the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language. We will also begin to examine the neurological bases of language. Individuals enrolled in the course should have some background in cognitive psychology and psychological research methods.

 

CRN

93061

Distribution

C/E

Course No.

PSY 382

Title

The Psychology of Social Influence - Conformity, Norm Formation, Obedience and Resistance

Professor

Stuart Levine

Schedule

Mon               3:00 pm -6:00 pm         LC 118

It has been fifty years since the pioneering works of Soloman Asch and Muzafer Sherif, and it has been forty since the profound and controversial investigation of Stanley Milgram.  During the intervening years and extending to the very present, social psychologists have learned much about the facts and dynamics of conformity, norm formation, obedience and resistance to social influence.  Because of the significance of the topic it is not surprising that a vast number of studies have been conducted to clarify and extend the work of Asch, Sherif and Milgram.  Indeed, investigators still explore the conditions under which each behavioral form is either minimized or minimized.  Also observed has been the formulation of so-called theories of the middle range that attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of the behaviors under scrutiny.  This conference is designed primarily for moderated psychology majors who therefore have considerable background in reading original contributions to the social science literature.  However, social studies majors from disciplines other than psychology who have the appropriate background and maintain an interest is social science research may also enroll with the permission of the instructor.  Students will do multiple class presentations throughout the semester.  These will be taken from the body of research on each topic and from attempts at theory designed to understand social influence processes.  Enrollment in the conference will be limited to 8 students and admission to the conference will be by permission of the instructor and dependent on a student's interest in reading primary works and a willingness to seriously attend to that task.

 

CRN

93059

Distribution

E

Course No.

PSY 391

Title

The Psychobiology of Stress and Mental Illness

Professor

Frank Scalzo

Schedule

Wed               1:30 pm -3:50 pm         OLIN 310

Recent advances in the understanding of the neurobiology and physiology of stress have changed the way stress is viewed, both as a primary phenomenon and as a secondary factor that precipitates or causes a variety of psychiatric disorders. The latter include phobias, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and schizophrenia. This research conference will examine recent findings on the mechanisms and biological consequences of stress and will explore links between these effects and psychiatric disorders as reported in journal articles. Students will be expected to read and develop critiques of these articles as well as make class presentations.  This seminar is intended for students who have moderated in psychology or biology, but is open to students with suitable background. 

 

CRN

93176

Distribution

E

Course No.

PSY NEU

Title

Independent Research in Neuroscience

Professor

Frank Scalzo

Schedule

TBA

2 credits In this course, students will participate in laboratory research in developmental psychopharmacology, neurochemistry, neuroanatomy and/or neurobehavioral teratology. Within these general fields, specific roles of neurotransmitter systems in normal behavioral development and the neurobehavioral effects of chemical insults during early development will be investigated.  The majority of time in this course will consist of independent laboratory work.  In addition, there will be weekly laboratory meetings, readings, and student presentations.  Open to all students with consent of instructor.

 

CRN

93381

Distribution

E

Course No.

PSY DEV

Title

Research Practicum in Developmental Psychology

Professor

Nancy Darling

Schedule

TBA

2 credits  The Research Practicum in Developmental Psychology is designed to give students a fuller understanding of adolescent and adult development, the research process, and how research methods and statistics are applied in collecting and analyzing data.  Students enrolled in this course will participate in ongoing research in developmental psychology that involves interview, observational, and questionnaire methodologies. Although the majority of student time will be spent in supervised laboratory work, each student will also be expected to participate in weekly laboratory meetings, undertake library research, and carry out an independent research project. Open to all students with consent of the instructor.