An introduction to basic research approaches in psychology, including observational studies, correlational studies, true experiments, and quasi-experiments. Ethics, sampling, measurement, and data analysis are considered. Intended for psychology majors or for students planning to major in psychology. Weekly laboratory sessions focus on the process of scientific inquiry, giving students experience in the application of class principles.
An intermediate-level course focusing on a topic or sub-discipline within psychology. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic differs.
An in-depth examination of selected topics within the realm of cognitive psychology. Particular topic(s) may vary across semesters, and range from traditionally studied aspects of cognition (e.g., attention, memory, language, decision-making) to more integrative themes (e.g., beliefs, framing, social change). Key concepts and theories, empirical approaches and evidence, and real-world applications and implications are considered. A laboratory component in which students pursue a question of interest to them within the focal topic(s) of the course provides valuable hands-on experience in designing and conducting research, analyzing and interpreting data, and effectively communicating results and implications.
An in-depth examination of selected topics within the realm of cognitive psychology. Particular topic(s) may vary across semesters, and range from traditionally studied aspects of cognition (e.g., attention, memory, language, decision-making) to more integrative themes (e.g., beliefs, framing, social change). Key concepts and theories, empirical approaches and evidence, and real-world applications and implications are considered. A laboratory component in which students pursue a question of interest to them within the focal topic(s) of the course provides valuable hands-on experience in designing and conducting research, analyzing and interpreting data, and effectively communicating results and implications.
This course will be an examination of gender differences and similarities in behavior, major theories of gender, and the role that gender plays in interacting with others. Students will design, implement, analyze, and present original research in the area of gender.
This course will be an examination of gender differences and similarities in behavior, major theories of gender, and the role that gender plays in interacting with others. Students will design, implement, analyze, and present original research in the area of gender.
This course explores the psychological study of religion and spirituality as a science and examines the multifaceted ways religions impact meaning-making and identity in everyday life. Various psychological schools of thought related to the experience and practice of religion and spirituality are considered, and psychological theories involving religious beliefs, practices, and experiences are explored from an empirical and data-informed perspective. This course also engages the dialogue between psychology and religion regarding the human condition and culture.
An exploration of Latinx Psychology with a specific focus on the United States. Themes and issues relevant to and impacting upon Latinx Psychology including cultural strengths, identity, immigration, acculturation, colonialism, prejudice/stereotype, intersectionality, and mental health will be studied through first-person accounts, media, and scientific literature.
A study of the major conceptual approaches that are adopted as clinicians assess, define, and conduct clinical interventions. Topics addressed include the nature of the client-therapist relationship, results from empirical investigation of therapeutic outcomes, ethical dilemmas faced in clinical practice and research, and problems peculiar to subspecialties such as forensic psychology and community psychology.
An examination of current scientific study of consciousness and the cognitive unconscious, including neural correlates of conscious actions, the emergence of consciousness in evolution, and related topics. The course emphasizes how scientific results inform understanding of the mind-body problem, the tenability of competing philosophical and neurobiological approaches to consciousness, the extent to which methods of psychology and neuroscience can provide new insights into the nature of consciousness, and how these issues take on a new form in the philosophy of artificial intelligence.
Selected topics in psychology, typically incorporating relevant primary literature. Prerequisites vary by topic.
Selected topics in psychology, typically incorporating relevant primary literature. Prerequisites vary by topic.
Religious Studies
This course addresses topics related to the field of religious studies not addressed in other courses and is offered depending on interest. Prerequisites vary with topic. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic differs.
This course addresses topics related to the field of religious studies not addressed in other courses and is offered depending on interest. Prerequisites vary with topic. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic differs.
Through the lens of sociology of religion, this course examines contemporary religious and social movements and kin-formation in a time of climate-change disruption such as Mormon family prepping, eco-poetics, dominionism, eco-communalism, survivalist culture, climate migration, and Extinction Rebellion. In what ways are the social, political, and economic reverberations of climate breakdown affecting the social imaginary? In light of ongoing perturbations of Earth-system stability, how are notions and practices of kinship and communal belonging being reconfigured?
An introduction to the major religious traditions of Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Shintoism and their views of reality and humanity. Not open for credit to students who have received credit for RELG 164.
Introduces and explores new religious movements, sectarian spin-offs, and alternative communities in the U.S. that have tested the parameters of acceptable "religion" at different moments in history. Particular attention is given to intersectional dynamics. The class questions the politics and practices of labeling, especially the language of "cults," and centers on specific historical case studies in order to illustrate and analyze major theoretical and methodological challenges in and for the study of religion(s). It considers what draws people to create and join new religious movements, the distinctive worlds such groups endeavor to build, and the controversies that have historically attended them.
This seminar examines the history and methodological development of the discipline of religious studies. After surveying the discipline's inception in textual studies in the late Enlightenment period, the course examines its connections to earlier theological traditions, and the branching out into sociological, hermeneutical, and phenomenological approaches in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The seminar aims to acquaint junior majors with the complexities involved in studying religious phenomena, as well as with the categories and frameworks that constitute the contemporary multi-disciplinary field of religious studies.
A study of “religious freedom” discourse, its histories, and political consequences. Readings emphasize case law in the U.S., though with an eye to its comparative context, as well as the theoretical and methodological questions that studies of “religious freedom” offer the broader study of religion.
Rhetoric
Study of the principles, precepts, and strategies of informative, persuasive, and ceremonial speaking. Emphasis is placed on assessing the rhetorical situation and researching, composing, practicing, and delivering a speech. Ethical, political, and social questions raised by speaking in public are considered. Students deliver speeches, practice effective listening, and serve as speech critics and interlocutors.