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Courses
Courses numbered 200-299 are open only to undergraduates. Courses that
bear both a 200-level number and a 300-level number are open both to undergraduates
and graduates, with the parallel numbers indicating that undergraduates
and graduates are held to different requirements. Courses bearing only a
300-level number are open both to undergraduate and graduate students with
both groups being held to the same graduate-level requirements. Courses
at the 400 level are open only to graduates except by special permission
as warranted by an undergraduate's academic needs. Boldface letters in parentheses
refer to the areas noted in the preceding Summary of Requirements section.
L refers to courses with a laboratory.
200. Fundamentals of Psychology. This course is an introduction to the
basic concepts and research in the study of behavior. Principal topics are
sensation, perception, cognition, learning, motivation, and personality
theories. R. Butler. Autumn.
202. Introduction to Behavioral Research. This course is an introduction
to the concepts and methods used in behavioral research. The major topics
addressed are: the nature of behavioral research, testing of research ideas,
quantitative and qualitative techniques of data collection, artifacts in
behavioral research, analyzing and interpreting research data and ethical
considerations in research. Staff. Winter.
207. Introduction to Neurobiology (=BioSci 244, Biopsy 207). PQ:
Common Core biological sciences. This course is an introduction to the
diverse levels of analysis of the nervous system. Topics covered include
structure of the nervous system; basic cellular neurobiology, including
membrane properties, synaptic transmission, and transmitter-receptor systems;
sensory transduction; relationships between nerves and muscles; central
pattern generators; sensory systems; developmental neurobiology; and neuroethology.
Comparative aspects of neurobiology are stressed, and both vertebrate and
invertebrate examples are developed. D. Margoliash. Winter.
210. Introduction to Biopsychology. This survey course introduces students
to the history of biopsychology, general principles of neural organization,
methods and approaches of biopsychological investigation, and the mechanistic
and antecedent factors that govern neurobehavioral phenomena. Special emphasis
is given to the biological bases of motivation, emotional reactions, learning,
sensory processes, and reproduction. S. Grossman. Spring. (A)
211. Biological Bases of Behavior. This course is a survey of physiological
and neuroanatomical factors involved in learning, motivation, and emotion.
S. Grossman. Autumn. (A)
213. Introduction to Human Development II: Adolescence, Adulthood, and Aging
(=HumDev 308). PQ: Psych 241 or consent of instructor. The transitions
from youth to middle age to old age are considered, such as personality
change and changing concomitants of family, work, and other roles. The relations
between young and old, and the position of older persons in a changing society
are also studied. M. Csikszentmihalyi. Spring. (B)
215. Brain Asymmetry. PQ: A minimum of one course each in psychology,
biology, and statistics; courses exposing students to cognitive psychology,
developmental biology or genetics, and basic human neuroanatomy helpful
but not required. This course covers the evolution, development, manifestations,
and psychological consequences of cerebral asymmetry of function in the
human brain, as well as variations in patterns of asymmetry as a function
of gender, handedness, and psychological characteristics. This course includes
a brief review of the history of mind-brain concepts and basic coverage
of the functional anatomy of the human brain. J. Levy. Winter. (A)
225. Cognitive Development (=Educ 294/394). This course examines the
intellectual development of the child. Topics include the growth of the
child's understanding of the physical and social world and the development
of memory and thought processes. J. Huttenlocher. Spring.
227. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and LISP I (=ComSci 250). PQ:
ComSci 115-116. This course is an introduction to the theoretical, technical,
and philosophical issues of AI and looks at natural language processing,
planning, problem solving, diagnostic systems, naïve physics, and game
playing. LISP and LISP programming are introduced. K. Hammond, Staff.
Autumn.
228. Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and LISP II (=ComSci 251).
PQ: ComSci 250. This is a continuation of the issues and topics
introduced in ComSci 250. K. Hammond. Winter.
229. Self, Role, Niche, and Adaptation (=Educ 229). This course offers
psychological, cross-cultural, and ecological perspectives on person, identity,
relationship, role, and group. Readings are drawn from clinical, cognitive,
life span development, social, and neuroendocrinological psychology, and
from ecological biology, microsociology, and anthropology. An attempt is
made to differentiate psychological niche from ecological niche and to focus
on the former. F. Lighthall. Autumn.
230. Cultural Psychology (=HumDev 310). A discipline called cultural
psychology is emerging. It is not general psychology; it is not cross-cultural
psychology; it is not psychological anthropology; it is not ethnopsychology.
This class will explore what it is. R. Shweder. Autumn. (C)
232. Introduction to Language Development (=Educ 242/442, HumDev
316, Ling 216/316). This course addresses the major issues involved
in first-language acquisition. We deal with the child's production and perception
of speech sounds (phonology), the acquisition of the lexicon (semantics),
the comprehension and production of structured word combinations (syntax),
and the ability to use language to communicate (pragmatics). S. Goldin-Meadow,
A. Woodward. Winter.
235. Introduction to Interaction Research. There have been three main
interests in recent research on interaction: (1) the expression of emotion,
(2) the process of interaction itself--how it is that participants are able
to accomplish interactions, and (3) the use of behaviors observed in interaction
as indices of the participants' enduring characteristics or transient states.
Selected examples of these major types of research are considered in terms
of their conceptual framework and their approach to studying the phenomenon
in question. The discussion focuses on the nature of interaction and on
approaches to studying it. S. Duncan. Winter.
236. Social Psychology of Space Use. This course examines the social
psychological facets of student life conjointly with the physical setting
within which it is embedded. Among the major topics examined are interaction,
status/roll issues, the shaping and sustenance of identity, and their interweave
with the physical aspects of settings. Participants will have the opportunity
to undertake minor projects that elaborate ways in which behavioral settings
structure possibilities for the potential matrix of human interactions that
facilitate/inhibit the building and sustenance of social networks. R.
Gorawara-Bhat. Autumn.
238. Problem Solving and Reasoning. This course covers cognitive research
of human problem solving by discussing problems such as riddles, algebra
word problems, medical diagnosis, or choosing a career. We analyze ways
people understand and solve problems and see how initial representation
can affect the solution process and therefore the difficulty of the problem.
We cover general and specific strategies people use in solving problems
and compare experts and beginners. We examine the conditions that enable
us to apply learned solutions to novel problems. We explore "getting
stuck" or having a sudden "creative insight." M. Bassock.
Winter. (B)
240. Introduction to Social Psychology. This examination of social
psychological theory and research is based upon both classic and contemporary
contributions. Among the major topics--conformity and rebellion, attitude
change process, social cognition, attribution and self, and group dynamics--are
further examined from a cross-cultural perspective. R. Gorawara-Bhat.
Spring. (C)
248. Seminar in the Social Psychology of National and International Politics.
PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing. This course reviews recent
and classic research utilizing social and depth-psychological approaches
with the intention of representing the main lines of inquiry in contemporary
political psychology. Among the topics treated are the psychodynamic study
of political leadership and of certain major political figures, including
Hitler, Gandhi, Nixon, and Daley; political socialization; determinants
and dynamics of party preference and electoral choice in the United States;
deterrence theory; a cognitive processing system and its interaction with
politics in the determination of arms policy; psychological factors in international
conflict and conciliation; and political change and revolution. M. Rosenberg.
Spring.
256. Introduction to Cognitive Psychology. Viewing the brain globally
as an information processing or computational system has revolutionized
the study and understanding of intelligence. This course introduces the
theory, methods, and empirical results that underlie this approach to psychology.
Topics include categorization, attention, memory, knowledge, language, and
thought. L. Barsalou. Autumn. (B)
259. Psychometric Theory I (=Educ 259/359). This course is an introduction
to the basic ideas of scientific measurement. Practical models for the construction
of fundamental objective measurement are deduced from the measurement theories
of Campbell, Thurstone, Guttman, Luce and Tukey, and Rasch. Applications
in educational and psychological research are discussed. Connections with
and improvements on contemporary educational test practice and psychometrics
are explained. Practical methods for identifying item bias, equating tests,
building item banks, setting standards, and diagnosing irregular test performance
are developed, explained, and illustrated. B. Wright, J. Linacre. Winter.
260. Psychometric Theory II (=Educ 260/360). This course is an introduction
to the practice of fundamental measurement in social science research. The
mathematical models on which the construction of fundamental measurement
is based are explained, discussed, and illustrated. Applications to educational
and psychological tests, survey questionnaires, attitude inventories, and
social surveys are studied. Students learn to use computer programs to construct
and calibrate variables and to make measures and set standards on these
variables. Students are helped to apply these methods to their own research
data and shown how to prepare their results for a lecture and for publication.
B. Wright, J. Linacre. Spring.
270. Judgment and Decision Making. PQ: Two quarters of calculus or
consent of instructor. This course is an overview of the psychology
of decision making and judgment processes. Specific topics are drawn from
the following areas: decision making when goals are in conflict, decision
making when the consequences of the decision are uncertain, and predictive
and evaluative judgments under conditions of uncertain and incomplete information.
Decision models prescribing "optimal" behavior are compared with
empirical data and theories of human performance. W. Goldstein. Autumn.
274. Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Contributions. PQ:
Consent of instructor. In this seminar, four or five major works are
closely examined with special attention to two questions: How do religious
experience and belief coordinate with individual psychodynamic processes?
How does religion serve in the psychological mediation of social change
and the restoration of social stability? Among the works read are William
James, The Varieties of Religious Experience; Sigmund Freud, The
Future of an Illusion; Erwin Goudenough, The Psychology of Religious
Experience; R. H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism;
and Kurt Samuelsson, Religion and Economic Action. M. Rosenberg. Autumn.
275. Introduction to the Psychology of Language. This course addresses
major topics in psycholinguistics and language acquisition: how people speak,
how people understand, and language systems. We consider issues such as
speech production and perception, the concept of meaning, the development
and organization of the mental lexicon, sentence processing, and conversational
rules. B. Keysar. Winter. (B)
276. Language and Thought (=Ling 276). PQ: Consent of instructor.
This course explores philosophical, linguistic, psychological, and cognitive
science views on language in thought and on thought in language. D. McNeill.
Autumn. (B)
280. Sensation and Perception (=Biopsy 280). This course centers on
visual and auditory phenomena. Aside from the basic sensory discriminations
(acuity, brightness, loudness, color, and pitch), more complex perceptual
events, such as movement and space, are discussed. The biological underpinnings
of these several phenomena are considered, as well as the role of learning
in perception. S. Shevell. Winter. (A)
285. Personality (=HumDev 315). This course presents an integrated multi-axial
approach to the understanding of persons through the synthesis of several
basic theoretical perspectives. The authors read include Goffman, Homans,
Sullivan, and Buber on personality and interpersonal relationships; Allport,
Freud, and Horney on personality organizations and dynamics; Piaget, Erikson,
Parsons, and White on personality development; and Simmel, Peters, Fiske,
and Mischel on methods of learning about other persons. D. Orlinky. Winter.
(C)
287. Connectionist Modeling I: Techniques. The first in a two-quarter
sequence, this course provides an introduction to the computational techniques
underlying the field of connectionist modeling. Topics include the Hopfield
nets, perceptrons, and recurrent layered networks, together with supervised
and unsupervised training algorithms for such networks. Facility in programming
and a grasp of basic calculus and linear algebra is helpful, but not required.
T. Regier. Winter.
288. Information Theory and Coding. PQ: Knowledge of elementary mathematics.
This course introduces students to the mathematical theory of information
with emphasis on coding, especially the development of efficient codes.
Topics include an introduction to coding, quantification of information
and its properties, Huffman codes, arithmetic codes, L-Z and other adaptive
coding techniques, and applications. A. Bookstein. Winter.
289. Life-History and Case-History: The Study of Biograph and Society (=Fndmtl
274, GS Hum 277). Reading Freud's case of the "Rat-Man" and
Erik Erikson's psychoanalytic biography of Martin Luther, together with
some recent discussion of the life-history in the social sciences and humanities,
this course considers the study of lives over time. Readings pose such questions
as how a life story is constructed, questions of "normal" and
"abnormal," the balance of vulnerability and coping with adversity
in the study of lives, and the interplay of biography and both social and
historical forces. Students may wish to do a life-history based on interviews
and psychological tests to study a historical figure for the course paper.
Papers relating issues discussed in this course to study of biography (or
autobiography) in the humanities or social sciences are also particularly
relevant to the topics of the course. B. Cohler. Spring.
291. Connectionist Modeling II: Applications. The second in a two-quarter
sequence, this course focuses on applications of connectionist modeling
techniques. A number of applications illustrating the use of the concepts
covered in the first course of this sequence are presented. Students are
expected to conceive, design, implement, and present a project applying
these modeling concepts. Facility in programming and a grasp of basic calculus
and linear algebra are helpful, but arrangements are made for interested
students who do not have this background. T. Regier. Spring.
293. Undergraduate Research. PQ: Students are required to submit
the College Reading and Research Course Form. Available for either Pass
or letter grading. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
294. Honors Paper Preparation. PQ: Students are required to submit
the College Reading and Research Course Form. Available for either Pass
or letter grading. This course is not a requirement for doing an honors
paper. It may be taken for one or two quarters, depending on the magnitude
of the project. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
296. Undergraduate Research in Biopsychology. PQ: Students are required
to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Available for either
Pass or letter grading. This course may be taken for one or two
quarters, depending on the size of the project. Staff. Autumn, Winter,
Spring.
310. Perspectives in Drug Abuse (=PhaPhy 329). This course provides
a broad overview of the major classes of abused drugs, including epidemiology,
pharmacology, etiological factors, and short- and long-term effects. H.
De Wit, L. Seiden, P. Vezina. Spring.
322. Seminar: Development of Desire. This seminar covers theories and
findings of "desire" as broadly construed in social, sexual, and
emotion development across time/space. G. Herdt. Spring.
327. Neuropsychopharmacology (=BioSci 268, Neurbi 327, PhaPhy 327).
PQ: BioSci 200 or BchMB 301, or consent of instructor. This course
studies the effects of pharmacological agents on behavior with an emphasis
on physiological and biochemical mechanisms. A lab component is included.
L. Seiden, H. De Wit, P. Vezina. Autumn.
333. Cognition, Learning, and Development (=Educ 316, HumDev 333). This
course focuses on theories of development and the basic mechanisms that
cause change in memory, understanding, and thinking. In the last ten years,
studies of socialization and enculturation have challenged many tenets of
prevailing theories of development and learning. The readings and discussion
in this course are devoted to a study of both infancy and adulthood over
different contexts and different cultures. In particular, we examine how
people at all ages think about, remember, and operate on diverse sets of
information from their environment. The social context of thinking is especially
important, as is the transition from infancy to toddlerhood, when expressive
systems expand and gain complexity. N. Stein, T. Trabasso. Spring.
(B)
343. Topics in Early Socialization. This course focuses on the relationship
between the child's interaction with others and various aspects of socialization.
The emphasis is on studies of the child's natural (as opposed to experimentally
arranged) interactions with others, primarily during the first two years.
Among the topics considered are the process of interaction itself, the nature
of the child's early interaction abilities, conflict, discipline, peer interaction,
self-regulation, emotion, gender issues, moral development, and problematic
parent-child interaction. Research methods and conceptual foundations of
readings are analyzed in class discussion. S. Duncan. Autumn.
345. Conflict in Early Parent-Child Relationships. Interaction processes
in conflicts between parents and young children are examined. Conceptual
and methodological issues are considered, including theories of conflict,
theories of face-to-face interaction, research approaches to interaction,
and studies of family conflicts of various sorts. Conflictual interaction
is related to topics of interest in developmental psychology such as compliance,
negotiation, discipline, socialization, and self-control. Videotapes made
in the homes of families are used to illustrate conflicts. S. Duncan.
Spring.
347. The Development of Emotional and Social Understanding. This course
focuses on the development of emotional and social understanding from infancy
through adolescence. We discuss the following questions: How do we conceptualize
and define emotional understanding? How are emotions linked to thinking,
language, and body expression? How are moods and emotions related? Are there
temperamental differences that predispose individuals to act in certain
ways? How good is emotional memory? What is the role of emotional understanding
and expressiveness in young children's developing memory and theory of the
mind? N. Stein. Autumn.
369. Neuropsychopharmacology II (=Biopsy 369, PhaPhy 328). This is the
second of a two-quarter series examining the effects of drugs on the central
nervous system and behavior. This course is designed to cover the major
classes of therapeutic and abused drugs and their effects on the central
nervous system and behavior. H. De Wit, L. Seiden, P. Vezina. Winter.
371. Seminar on Issues in Language and Communication. PQ: Consent
of instructor. B. Keysar. Winter.
373. Experimental Design (=Biopsy 373). This course covers topics in
research design and analysis, including multifactor, completely randomized
procedures and techniques for analyzing data sets with unequal cell frequencies.
Emphasis is on principles, not algorithms, for experimental design and analysis.
S. Shevell. Spring.
376. Psychology of Language (=Ling 376). PQ: One year of linguistics
or consent of instructor. Topics include language production and comprehension,
language acquisition and thought, language use, gestures, language in nonhuman
species, and language in artificial systems. D. McNeill. Spring.
384. Anthropology of Sexual Cultures (=HumDev 384). This course is a
basic introduction for the advanced study of theories and accounts of sexual
cultures, practices, and ideologies across history and societies, the eighteenth
to the twentieth century, and Western culture and non-Western groups. G.
Herdt. Winter.
385. Cognitive Neuropsychology (=Biopsy 385). This seminar surveys basic
studies that provide a foundation for cognitive neuropsychology including
research on brain damage, single-unit recording, evoked potentials, PET
and fMRI scanning, and computational modeling. H. Nusbaum. Autumn.
470-471. Language in Culture I, II (=Anthro 372-1,-2; Ling 311-312).
PQ: Consent of instructor. Must be taken in sequence. This two-quarter
course presents the major issues of anthropological interests in linguistics,
including the formal structure of semiotic systems, the ethnographically
crucial incorporation of linguistic forms into cultural systems, and the
methods for empirical investigation of "functional" semiotic structure
and history. M. Silverstein, Autumn; S. Gal, Winter.
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