98027

PSY DEV   Independent Research in Developmental Psychology

Sarah Lopez-Duran

. . . Th .

2:30-4:30 pm

TBA

LSCI

Cross-listed: Cognitive Science   (2 credits)  In this course, students will participate in laboratory research in child developmental psychology. Special emphasis will be placed on 3- to 5-year olds' social cognition, perspective-taking, and memory in the context of games. The majority of time in this course will consist of independent laboratory work and research, and students will work with young children, parents, and members of the community to initiate research protocols in our Preston-based laboratory . There will be a weekly laboratory meeting, readings, assignments, two short papers (a literature review and a summary of your empirical project) and student presentations. Open to first-year, second-year and junior students with consent of the instructor. (This course may be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits and must be taken twice to fulfill the Laboratory Science distribution requirement.)  

 

98028

PSY NEU   Independent Research in Neuroscience

Frank Scalzo

. . . Th .

2:30-4:30 pm

PRE 101

LSCI

(2 credits)  In this course, students will participate in laboratory research in developmental psychopharmacology, behavioral neuroscience, neuroanatomy and/or neurobehavioral teratology using the zebrafish as an animal model. 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 and research. There will be a weekly laboratory meeting, readings, assignments, two short papers (a literature review and a summary of your empirical project) and student presentations. Open to first-year, second-year and junior students with consent of the instructor (this course may be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits and must be taken twice to fulfill the Laboratory Science distribution requirement). 

 

98031

PSY SOC   Independent  Research in

Social Psych

Kristin Lane

. . . Th .

2:30-4:30 pm

RKC 200

LSCI

(2 credits)  This course provides hands-on experience in the practice of Social Psychology. Students will work individually and in teams on ongoing and student-initiated research projects in the Social Psychology Laboratory. The realm of topics to be studied includes the roots of unconscious bias, perceptions and judgments of social distance, and the gender disparity in the sciences.  Students will participate in all phases of the research process, including developing stimuli, programming studies, conducting experimental sessions, and coding and analyzing research data. Requirements include attendance at weekly lab meetings, two papers, a lab presentation, and other assignments throughout the semester.  Enrollment is open to first-, second-, and third-year students with the permission of the instructor. Students are expected to enroll for two consecutive semesters. (This course may be taken for a maximum of eight credits and must be taken twice to fulfill the Laboratory Science distribution requirement.)   

 

98030

PSY 103 A  Introduction to Psychology

Frank Scalzo

. T . Th .

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 202

SSCI

98026

PSY 103 B  Introduction to Psychology

Sarah Lopez-Duran

. T . Th .

9:00- 10:20 am

OLIN 202

SSCI

98029

PSY 103 C  Introduction to Psychology

Frank Scalzo

. . W . F

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 204

SSCI

98922

PSY 103 D  Introduction to Psychology

Sarah Lopez-Duran

M . W  . .

9:00-10:20 am

RKC 101

SSCI

Cross-listed: Cognitive Science   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.    

 

98509

PSY / CMSC 131   Cognitive Science

Sven Anderson

. T . Th .

1:00 -2:20 pm

RKC 103

SSCI

Cross-listed: Cognitive Science, Philosophy, Psychology   How do brains make minds?  Can computers think?  Is my dog conscious?  Cognitive science assumes that the brain is some sort of computational engine, and, beginning with that premise, attempts to find answers to such questions.  This course will be taught by faculty from biology, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology, who will combine their different approaches to explore how humans and other intelligent systems feel, perceive, reason, plan, and act.  In particular, the course will focus on the fundamental importance of language, signaling, and representation at many levels, from the neural to the organismal.  Laboratories will provide students with hands-on experience analyzing neural and behavioral data as well as with computational modeling.  Prerequisites: pre-calculus or its equivalent and a willingness to engage a broad variety of ideas and approaches from the natural, mathematical, and social sciences. 

 

98032

PSY 203   Introduction to Statistics for Psychology

Kristin Lane

M . W . .

Lab A:. T .

Lab B: . T

10:30- 11:50 am

9:30 – 11:30 am

1:00 – 3:00 pm

HDR 101A

HDR 101A

HDR 101A

MATC

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. The course will focus on the interpretation and communication of statistics, and we will work with the SPSS software package to analyze data.  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.   Students must register for the lecture and one lab section, and plan to attend that lab section.   

 

98042

PSY 242  Theoretical Exploration of

Helping Skills

Christie Achebe

. T . Th .

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 307

SSCI

Cross-listed:  Africana Studies  This course examines the basic helping skills that undergird the foundation of most psychological and interpersonal interventions as well as the theoretical foundations from which they are derived. Using a three stage, research based process model of EXPLORATION, INSIGHT,and ACTION this course will highlight and relate the facilitative skills of each stage to the theory/ies that inform them. Barriers to their implementation will also be examined. With laboratory exercises, videos and discussions, the course may be useful in Self-improvement, friendship, family, dormitory, crises and mental health situations. Open to sophomore II and upper college students only.   

 

98044

PSY 245   Personality

Beth Gershuny

M . W . .

1:30-2:50 pm

OLIN 204

SSCI

This course is designed to provide a broad overview of the major historical and contemporary psychological theories of personality and their applications.  Theories covered in this course will include, but will not be limited to, psychoanalytic, neo-analytic, existential, humanist, behavioral, cognitive, and trait.  Through the common threads and unique lenses of each theory, this course will repeatedly grapple with the questions of “Who are we, and why?”  Particular focus will be given to the applications of personality theory to the understanding of health and behavior (i.e., clinical applications), and ultimately Axis II personality disorders will be considered. 

 

98043

PSY 261   Theories of Counseling

Christie Achebe

. T . Th .

1:00-2:20 pm

PRE 101

SSCI

Cross-listed:  SRE  This course is an overview of selected counseling models whose attraction is their potentiality for wide application to normal developmental issues, by counselors and social workers and for teaching self-counseling skills. We shall examine them in the context of their historical or intellectual origins. In particular we shall look out for what they deal with best (their focus of convenience) and aspects which have been kept outside their scope (range of convenience- especially in the context of the increasing diversity in the demographics of our schools. Approaches to be explored will include: Psychoanalytic (Sigmund Freud), person-centered (Carl Rogers), Adlerian therapy (Alfred Adler), reality therapy (William Glasser), behavior therapy (Lazarus), cognitive behavior therapy (Albert Ellis), and family systems (Minuchin).     

 

98045

PSY 264   Adult Psychopathology

Beth Gershuny

. T . Th .

10:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 203

SSCI

This course is designed to examine various forms of adult psychopathology (i.e., psychological disorders) within the contexts of theoretical conceptualizations, research, and treatment.  Etiology and pathogenesis of symptoms (both core and associated), diagnostic classifications, and treatment applications will be addressed.  Adult forms of psychopathology that will receive the primary emphasis of study include the anxiety, mood, psychotic, and substance-related disorders.  Prerequisites Introduction  to General Psychology or permission of instructor.

 

98033

PSY 337   Psychology  of Prejudice and Stereotyping

Kristin Lane

. . W . .

1:30-3:50 pm

OLIN 303

SSCI/DIFF

Cross-listed: SRE, related interest:  Human Rights   This course focuses on the empirical study of intergroup relations. It is designed to provide an overview of the social psychological study of issues in prejudice and stereotyping. The bulk of the course will examine the cognitive, affective, and motivational origins of stereotyping and prejudice, but we will also explore the experience of being a target of prejudice – how are members of disadvantaged groups affected by cultural stereotypes and prejudice? A broad range of social groups will be considered, including gender and ethnicity. Finally, we will discuss scientifically-based means of prejudice reduction.    

 

98034

PSY 343   The Medication of Distress

Richard Gordon

. T . . .

9:30- 11:50 am

OLIN 309

SSCI

Cross-listed: STS   This course will examine the remarkable rise in the use of psychotropic medications to deal with a wide spectrum of human behavioral difficulties. The increased use of medication cannot be understood apart from the development of a biological / neuroscience perspective on human psychological disorders. After a look at the historical origins of modern medication in the antipsychotic, antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs in the 1950s, this course will focus on three disorders in which medications have played a central role: depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and attention-deficit disorder.   Contrasting viewpoints on the nature, origins and treatment of these disorders will be emphasized.  The social implications of the new medical perspective on problems that were previously viewed as primarily psychological as well as the impact of the enormous influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the use of medication will be critically examined. In addition there will be some commentary on the psychotherapy / medication dichotomy that is dividing the mental health field.  Prerequisites:  Moderated in psychology or permission of the instructor.  

 

98035

PSY 348   The Man and Experiment that Shocked the World: The Work and Legacy of Stanley Milgram

Stuart Levine

M . . . .

3:00-6:00 pm

Library

SSCI

Cross-listed:   Science, Technology & Society ; related interest: Human Rights  The title for this course is taken from the title of a recent biography of Stanley Milgram authored by Thomas Blass, a professor of social psychology at the University of Maryland Baltimore County campus. It has now been forty years since the original work of Stanley Milgram demonstrated the remarkable and unpredicted finding that large numbers of individuals in multiple samples of American men and women studied were willing to punish another person when ordered to do so by an experimenter. The prominence of the initial work and the continued salience of such study in social psychology cannot be over-stated. In a review of the personal and situational determinants of obedient behavior in the "Milgram design" format, Thomas Blass (1991) lists as many as 200 references. It could well be that 100 more have appeared since the Blass review. Beside the volume of studies conducted and the attempts at review and theorizing, the domain of the "Milgram" study is worthy of continuing interest not only because of the vastness of both criticism and praise to which the work was subjected but because of events of our current time. These suggest that the continuing study of obedience phenomena is necessary and that social scientists should likely find a way to safely and ethically investigate the conditions which promote destructive obedience. This is an upper college seminar which serves as a Research Conference for psychology majors but is not limited to psychology or even social studies majors. The single criterion for membership is a willingness to read with care. A portion of the work contained in the body of the obedience literature will be reviewed from the perspective of trying to assess the continuing status of the phenomenon and the explanations and understandings that have been brought to light.