Courses

• CAS PS 504: Trends in Contemporary Psychology
  Various contemporary trends in psychology presented. Content varies: consult department for emphasis and topics.
• CAS PS 510: The Psychology of Decision Making: Implications for Business and Public Policy
  Examines how psychology affects decisions and behavior in the real world. Integrates approaches from experimental psychology and behavioral economics with a focus on implications for policies, program design and business.
• CAS PS 521: Animal Models in Behavioral Neuroscience
  Examines the modern behavioral approaches and wide range of species across the animal kingdom used to model human behavior and neural function. Lectures present background material, and students lead discussion of primary research articles. Also offered as CAS NE 521.
• CAS PS 528: Human Brain Mapping
  Localization in the brain of human mental functions and the study of their neural mechanisms. Topics include methods (fMRI, PET, TMS, ERP), memory, perception, recognition, attention, and executive processes. Also offered as CAS NE 528.
• CAS PS 529: Neuroplasticity: Enabling the Brain to Heal Itself
  Review of neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the astounding reorganizational capacity of the brain. Critical examination of ways to promote this plasticity: early childhood experiences, positive thinking, meditation, exercise, visualization, physical therapy, computerized re-training, and sensory and motor prostheses. Also offered as CAS NE 529.
• CAS PS 530: Neural Models of Memory Function
  Computational models of neurobiological mechanisms for memory function and spatial navigation, with a particular emphasis on cellular and circuit models of the hippocampus and related cortical structures. Also offered as CAS NE 530.
• CAS PS 541: Social Development
  An examination of the development of social cognition and competence. Topics include: innate and early-emerging social knowledge, attachment, moral development and cooperation, theory of mind, group biases, and social learning.
• CAS PS 542: Child Development and Public Policy
  Impact of law and government institutions on the development of children in the United States. Federal and state policy toward social services, education, and welfare; laws concerning the family, custody, child abuse, delinquency, and the rights and disabilities of minors.
• CAS PS 544: Developmental Neuropsychology
  Study of the neural mechanisms underlying behavioral development. Topics include the plasticity of the developing brain in response to deprivation or damage and mechanisms underlying specific syndromes (e.g., aphasia, dyslexia, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, autism, and Tourette's syndrome). Also offered as CAS NE 544.
• CAS PS 545: Language Development
  Language development in children. The acquisition of phonological, morphological, and syntactic systems; the role of both parent and child in the acquisition of communicative competence.
• CAS PS 546: Cognitive Development
  Cognitive development from birth through early adolescence. Relationship of cognition to other traditional areas of psychology (e.g., perception, language, learning, memory, physiology, and psychopathology).
• CAS PS 549: Developmental Psychopathology
  Developmental deviations and psychological disorders of childhood. Examination of assessment techniques, treatment theories, and prevention methods. Developmental etiologies of neurotic and psychotic disturbances, effects of family patterns on the character of parent-child pathology, influence of childhood pathology on adult functioning.
• CAS PS 550: Childhood Adversity: Risk and Resilience
  Consideration of why some children overcome adversity while others have maladaptive outcomes. Concepts of risk and resilience are applied to contexts of childhood adversity: poverty, maltreatment, homelessness, orphanages, and natural disasters. Discussion of implications for prevention, intervention, and policy.
• CAS PS 554: Senior Seminar in Forensic Psychology
  Examines scope, empirical foundations, and ethical issues of forensic psychology. Topics include eyewitness testimony; use of hypnosis, polygraphs, and criminal profiling; scientific jury selection; risk assessment; child abuse evaluations; determinations of insanity, competency, and child custody.
• CAS PS 560: Cross-Cultural Psychology
  Comparative study of psychological variables under different cultural conditions in order to identify universal aspects of human behavior, and to identify cultural influences on behavior. Applications to psychotherapy, public health, child development, education, business, and foreign relations.
• CAS PS 561: The Psychology of Poverty, Wealth, and Economic Inequality
  Explores the impact of poverty, wealth, and economic inequality on individuals, families, and communities and considers how individuals think about, explain, and experience poverty, wealth, and economic inequality. Experimental, survey, interview, and epidemiological research considered.
• CAS PS 572: Psychology of Women
  Consideration of research topics in the psychology of women. Topics covered include various stages in the life cycle, women's work and family lives, aspects of victimization, and women's position in the larger society.
• CAS PY 103: Cinema Physica
  Conceptual introduction to physical law as portrayed in film. Quantitative understanding using simple estimates, elementary physics, and dimensional analysis. Kinematics; forces; conservation laws; heat and temperature; atoms, molecules and materials. Sample films: Speed; Armageddon; Independence Day; X-Men; The Sixth Sense; Contact. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS.
• CAS PY 104: Physics of Health Sciences
  Recommended for students majoring in athletic training, physical therapy, or speech, language & hearing sciences. A one-semester physics course for students who do not require a two-semester sequence. Cannot be taken for credit in addition to CAS PY105 or PY106. Students considering application to medical, dental, or veterinary schools should take PY 105/106 or another two-semester sequence instead of PY 104.
• CAS PY 105: Elementary Physics 1
  The CAS PY 105/106 sequence satisfies premedical requirements; presupposes knowledge of algebra and trigonometry. Principles of classical and modern physics, mechanics, conservation laws, and heat. Students must register for three sections: a lecture section, a discussion section, and a laboratory section. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS.

Back to full list of College of Arts & Sciences