Courses

Commonly Taught

General Psychology, PSY101

In this class, we explore the building and pruning of neural networks and the influence of our environment. We test our abilities to sense and perceive, learn and remember, feel, think, and understand. We examine social and cultural influences on our lives and the people we become, and how we can influence these things in turn.

Foundations of Behavioral Research, PSY314W

In this writing-intensive class, we first learn to identify hypotheses, procedures, research designs, operationalizations, statistical methods, and validity issues in published works. Then we get our hands dirty: In teams of 3-4, students plan, design, and conduct a series of research projects, each culminating in an APA-style research paper.

Cognition, PSY307

In this course, we take a deep dive into the way the brain is built and how it works. We do a series of experiments testing the limits of our short-term and long-term memories, our capability to pay attention, the degree of our perceptual abilities, and our amazing capacity for language. We talk about learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision making strategies. In short, your brain will learn its own limitations, and how to harness its power.

Motivation, PSY324

In this course, we examine why we do the things we do. Often, it’s biological. We will eat because we are hungry. Other times, it is learned: we eat because it is lunchtime. And sometimes we do things because we think we should; we eat carrots because they are healthy, and eschew the chocolate bar (except when we’re tired, or sad, or feeling celebratory… then we eat the chocolate!). Join this course to understand why you still look at your phone right before bed even though you know it hampers your sleep; why you don’t exercise even though you want to be healthy; why you procrastinate even though you know it could hurt your grade.