Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• CAS PS 473: Introduction to Clinical Psychology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPS371) and PS junior or senior standing. - Introduction to current diagnostic and treatment techniques in clinical psychology from empirical, applied, and theoretical perspectives. Topics covered include clinical interviewing, psychological testing, and a comparison of humanistic, analytic, and systems approaches to therapy.
  
• CAS PS 491: Directed Study in Psychology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: PS junior or senior standing. - Individual instruction and directed research in a selected topic. Application required - additional information/application available on the psychology department web site at www.bu.edu/psych/undergraduate.
• CAS PS 492: Directed Study in Psychology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: PS junior or senior standing. - Individual instruction and directed research in a selected topic. Application required - additional information/application available on the psychology department web site at www.bu.edu/psych/undergraduate.
• CAS PS 504: Trends in Contemporary Psychology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: four principal courses in psychology, or consent of instructor. - Various contemporary trends in psychology presented. Content varies: consult department for emphasis and topics.
• CAS PS 512: The Political Psychology of Group-Based Politics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: PS junior standing and one previous course in political science or soc ial psychology; or consent of instructor. - The study of political psychology, integrating political science and social and cognitive psychology as it informs the dynamics of group-based politics, including especially race, gender, class, and political party affiliation.
• CAS PS 521: Animal Models in Behavioral Neuroscience
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: PS junior standing and either CAS PS 231 or CAS NE 101. Strongly recom mended: CAS NE 102 and either CAS PS 337 or PS 338. - 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
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS PS 336 or CAS PS 339/NE 202. - 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 530: Neural Models of Memory Function
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: a course in neuroscience or physiological psychology or consent of the instructor. - 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 531: Imaging and Manipulating Memories
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS PS231 or NE 101 or PS/NE 337 or PS339/NE202 or BI325/NE203; or con sent of instructor. - The nature of memory engrams, the physical manifestations of experiences in the brain, will be explored at the systems neuroscience level by surveying primary literature.
• CAS PS 532: Neurobiology of Motivation, Decision Making, and Learning
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS NE101 or PS231; one upper level NE course or BI108 and BI325; or i nstructor consent; majors must complete PS211, PS/NE212, or MA115 & MA 116; minors must complete PS211, PS/NE212, or MA115. - Exploration of the molecular and neural circuit mechanisms responsible for driving movement, selecting actions, and evaluating outcomes to drive adaptive learning. Examination of how disorders of motivation and decision making arise from the disruption of different neural circuits.
• CAS PS 541: Social Development
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPS241) - 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 544: Developmental Neuropsychology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPS241) or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - 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 546: Cognitive Development
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPS241) - 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
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPS241 & CASPS371) - 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
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPS241) - 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 560: Cross-Cultural Psychology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASPS 101 and PS senior standing. - 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
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: PS senior standing. - 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 PY 104: Physics of Health Sciences
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: some knowledge of algebra and trigonometry. - PY104 is a one semester introduction to the basic physics concepts that relate to the health sciences. Material covered is selected from a range of topics, such as include Kinematics and Dynamics, Newton's Laws, Statics, Momentum, Work and Energy, Mechanical Waves, Electric Charge and Force, Capacitance and Resistance, Electric Circuits, and Properties of Electromagnetic Waves, Atomic and Nuclear Physics, and Medical Imaging. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • Scientific Inquiry I
• CAS PY 105: Physics 1
  The CAS PY 105/106 sequence satisfies premedical requirements. PY105 covers some of the basic principles underlying the physics of everyday life, including forces and motion, momentum and energy, harmonic motion, rotation, and heat and thermodynamics. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Quantitative Reasoning I
  • Scientific Inquiry I
• CAS PY 106: Physics 2
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPY105) or equivalent. - The CAS PY 105/106 sequence satisfies premedical requirements. PY106 covers some of the basic principles underlying the physics of everyday life, including electricity and magnetism, direct-current circuits, waves, optics, and modern physics. Carries natural science divisional credit (with lab) in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning II, Critical Thinking.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • Scientific Inquiry II