Courses

Spring 2024

Asian-American Psyches: Model Minority, Microaggressions and Mental Health (CD or SA)
Subject associations
ASA 238 / PSY 205

This course will analyze and evaluate through a psychological lens the psychosocial causes and consequences of significant current events that impact different Asian groups in the U.S., such as pandemic-spurred anti-Asian sentiment and educational policy (e.g., the debate over magnet schools moving to lottery systems rather than test based), as well as long-standing "everyday" experiences common to Asian Americans (e.g., navigating biculturalism, microaggressions and model minority stereotypes) that may impact identity and mental health.

Instructors
Shirley S. Wang
Cognitive Psychology (SEN)
Subject associations
PSY 255 / CGS 255

The course will survey discoveries and progress made over the past 50 years of research, from classic experimental findings and fundamental theoretical principles to the cutting edge of research that lies increasingly at the interface of psychology with neuroscience (neural mechanisms underlying cognitive processes), computer science (artificial intelligence and machine learning), and mathematics (formal models of complex processes). Topics will include perception, attention, memory, decision making, reasoning, problem solving, language, and cognitive control.

Instructors
Jordan A. Taylor
Cyborg Psychology (EC)
Subject associations
PSY 409

Cyborgs are created when biological brains are enhanced with technology. This course will explore a wide range of mind-machine interactions. Are search engines changing the structure of human memory? Is your laptop or smartphone part of your mind? Are human brains flexible enough to update motor and sensory systems, expanding the self to include artificial limbs, exoskeletons, remote-control devices, night vision, wearable computing, etc.? How do experiences in virtual reality impact psychology? As technology advances we are all becoming cyborgs. Now is an exciting time to study the interactive interface of technology and mind.

Instructors
Justin A. Junge
Deep Learning as a Cognitive Model for Social Neuroscience (EC)
Subject associations
PSY 337 / NEU 337

This course explores the neural foundations of social cognition in natural contexts. Highly controlled lab experiments fail to capture and model the complexity of social interaction in the real world. Recent advances in artificial neural networks provide an alternative computational framework to model cognition in natural contexts. In the course, we will review and critically evaluate deep learning models related to visual perception, speech, language, and social cognition, juxtaposing them against conventional cognitive models.

Instructors
Uri Hasson
Educational Psychology (EC)
Subject associations
PSY 307 / TPP 307

Principles of psychology relevant to the theory and practice of education. Through selected readings, discussion, and classroom observations, students study theories of development, learning, cognition (including literacy), and motivation, as well as individual and group differences in these areas; assessment; and the social psychology of the classroom. The course focuses on how learning by children and adolescents at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels is influenced by their own characteristics and experiences and the various contexts in which they learn: family, school, community and culture.

Instructors
Mark Glat

Crosslisted Courses

Asian-American Psyches: Model Minority, Microaggressions and Mental Health (CD or SA)
Subject associations
ASA 238 / PSY 205
Cognitive Psychology (SEN)
Subject associations
PSY 255 / CGS 255
Deep Learning as a Cognitive Model for Social Neuroscience (EC)
Subject associations
PSY 337 / NEU 337
Educational Psychology (EC)
Subject associations
PSY 307 / TPP 307
Foundations of Psychological Thought (EC or HA)
Subject associations
PSY 210 / HUM 210
Freud's Empirical Studies: The Individual and Society (EC or SA)
Subject associations
PSY 465 / HUM 465