Psychology

[136]    Topics in Sex and Gender    An introductory-level examination of psychological research and theory on topics in sex and gender. Both traditional and current perspectives reviewed. Focus topics are drawn from research literatures in the area of sex/gender, including sexuality, gender roles, gender identity, social behaviors, stereotypes, health, and cognition. Priority to non-psychology majors and minors. Cannot be counted toward the psychology major or minor. Three credit hours.    

214f    Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology I    Discussion of techniques used in conducting behavioral research. Includes literature survey, hypothesis formulation, control techniques, and research design as well as descriptive and inferential statistics. Lecture and laboratory. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.  Q.    ARTERBERRY

215s    Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology II    Continuation of Psychology 214. Topics include design, analysis, and interpretation of complex factorial studies, consideration of advanced methodological issues in design of experiments, and written communication of experimental research. Laboratory culminates with a completed original research project. Lecture and laboratory. Prerequisite: Psychology 214. Four credit hours.    ARTERBERRY

232s    Cognitive Psychology    Study of human cognition; how stimulus information is transformed, stored, retrieved, and used. Emphasis on theoretical models grounded in empirical support. Topics include pattern recognition, attention, memory, reasoning, language processes, decision making, and problem solving, with integration of recent evidence from neuroscientific discoveries Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    COANE

233s    Biological Basis of Behavior     Brain structure and function are central in this examination of behavior. Topics include sensation and perception, learning and memory, movement, hunger, thirst, sex, emotion, reward, and sleep. Historical perspectives, landmark discoveries, and current approaches in the study of brain-behavior relations are presented. Relevant pathologies of the human brain are considered from the standpoint of a psychologist. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    GLENN

251f    Personality Psychology    An examination of major theories and issues in the study of personality. Theories considered include psychodynamic, trait, and social-cognitive approaches. Issues addressed include the origins and development of personality, and how personality characteristics and situational factors jointly influence behavior. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    SOTO

253s    Social Psychology    An examination of major topics and current issues and research in social psychology. Includes self-perception, social cognition, attitudes, interpersonal attraction, social influence, altruism, aggression, group processes, decision making, and various special applied topics such as social psychology and business, health, and the legal system. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    PITTMAN

[254]    Abnormal Psychology    An examination of major paradigms, current issues, and research in abnormal psychology. Includes definitions and conceptualizations of abnormality, diagnostic classification, epidemiology, etiology, and clinical intervention strategies as applied to the major categories of mental disorder. Special topics such as the cross-cultural study of psychopathology, the legal implications of diagnostic classifications, and the importance of co-morbidity in the study of psychopathology are addressed. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    

255s    Child Development    Principles of psychological development from conception through preadolescence, from a biological, sociocultural, and psychodynamic perspective. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    RAAG

256f    Adolescent and Adult Development    Principles of psychological development from adolescence through senescence. Focus is on the individual's typical attempts to cope with changes in physical structure, social roles, and personal identity. Emphasis is on the application of theoretical concepts to research findings. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    RAAG

[258]    Cultural Psychology     An examination of current theories and research on psychology of culture and ethnicity. Examines the ways in which sociocultural context influences and is influenced by psychological processes such as self, agency, motivation, emotion, cognition, and relationships. Includes empirical methods in cultural psychology. Special topics such as culture and development, culture and psychopathology, race and culture, acculturation and biculturalism are addressed. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    

272fs    Sensation and Perception    The major human senses (vision, audition, somesthesis, taste, smell) studied as physiological systems and as intermediaries between the physical and perceived environments. Lecture and integrated laboratory. Prerequisite: Psychology 111. Four credit hours.    HARRISON

335s    Developmental Psychology Seminar    An examination of research and theory in developmental psychology, with an emphasis on current issues. Topics may include nonverbal behaviors, facial expressions, social development, cognitive development, gender development, infancy, adolescence, or aging. Prerequisite: Psychology 255 and permission of the instructor. Four credit hours.    RAAG

336f    Seminar in Experimental Social Psychology    Critical examination of various areas of research in social psychology, with an emphasis on current issues. Discussion topics may include attitude structure and change, cognitive dissonance, group dynamics, health beliefs and behavior, justice, reasoning, self-presentation, social cognition, and stereotypes. Formerly listed as Psychology 356. Prerequisite: Psychology 215 and 253, and concurrent enrollment in 337. Four credit hours.    PITTMAN

337f    Collaborative Research in Social Psychology    Laboratory involving collaborative empirical research projects on topics discussed in Psychology 336. Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Psychology 336. One credit hour.    PITTMAN

339s    Seminar in Personality Psychology    Critical examination of various areas of research in personality psychology, with an emphasis on current issues. Discussion topics may include personality structure, personality development, and relations of personality characteristics with social (e.g., relationships, careers) and biological (e.g., health) factors. Prerequisite: Psychology 215 and either 251, 253, or 254, and concurrent enrollment in Psychology 340. Four credit hours.    SOTO

340s    Collaborative Research in Personality Psychology    Collaborative empirical research projects on topics discussed in Psychology 339. Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Psychology 339. One credit hour.    SOTO

341s    Seminar in Memory    Critical examination of various areas of research in memory, with an emphasis on current issues. Discussion topics may include false memories and memory distortion, interactions between episodic and semantic memory, memory changes as a function of age, and memory deficits due to disease and brain trauma. Prerequisite: Psychology 215 and 232, and concurrent enrollment in Psychology 342. Four credit hours.    COANE

342s    Collaborative Research in Memory    Collaborative empirical research projects on topics discussed in Psychology 341. Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Psychology 341. One credit hour.    COANE

[343]    Seminar in Emotion Theory and Research    Critical examination of various areas of research in emotion, with an emphasis on current issues. Discussion topics may include models of emotion, emotion antecedents and appraisal, emotional response (facial behavior, subjective report, physiological arousal, neural substrates), emotion regulation, emotional dysfunction, and culture and emotion. Prerequisite: Psychology 215 and either 253 or 254, and concurrent enrollment in Psychology 344. Four credit hours.    

[344]    Collaborative Research in Emotion    Laboratory involving collaborative empirical research projects on topics discussed in Psychology 343. Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Psychology 343. One credit hour.    

345s    Seminar in Perception and Action    Critical examination of various areas of research in human movement and coordination, with an emphasis on the role of action for understanding cognition, perception, and social interaction. Discussion topics may include classical explanations of human movement and motor control, perception and action, mimicry and imitation, affordances, dynamical systems theory, locomotion and postural control, intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination, social action, and the adaptive properties of movement variability and noise. Prerequisite: Psychology 215 and either 232 or 272, and concurrent enrollment in Psychology 346. Four credit hours.    HARRISON

346s    Collaborative Research in Perception and Action    Course involving collaborative empirical research projects on topics discussed in Psychology 345. Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Psychology 345. One credit hour.    HARRISON

347f    Seminar in Cognitive Development    Intensive study of one or more areas of cognitive development. Current theories and empirical research will be explored with an emphasis on the unique characteristics of research with children. Discussion topics may include memory development, children's information processing, acquisition and organization of knowledge, and the social context of cognitive development. Prerequisite: Psychology 215, and either 232 or 255, and concurrent enrollment in 348. Four credit hours.    ARTERBERRY

348f    Collaborative Research in Cognitive Development     Collaborative empirical research projects on topics discussed in Psychology 346. Empirical work includes working in a local preschool or daycare center. Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Psychology 347. One credit hour.    ARTERBERRY

349f    Seminar in Neural Plasticity and Behavior     An in-depth analysis of the interplay between brain and behavior, with an emphasis on how brain plasticity contributes to behavioral change, particularly learning and memory. Discussion topics may include developmental and lifespan changes in neural plasticity, classic and current views of the neurobiological basis of learning and memory, experiential effects on brain, and modulation of brain and behavior by exogenous and endogenous factors. Prerequisite: Psychology 215 and 233, and concurrent enrollment in Psychology 350. Four credit hours.    GLENN

350f    Collaborative Research in Neural Plasticity    Course involving collaborative empirical research projects on topics discussed in Psychology 349. Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in Psychology 349. One credit hour.    GLENN

352f    Sex and Gender Seminar    An examination of the human experience from the perspective of research and theory on sex and gender. Topics include biological processes, social behavior, personality, cognition, health, stereotypes, gender roles, gender identity, and sexuality. Emphasis on sex-based and gender-based behaviors from a developmental perspective, with a focus on how sex and gender intersect with other facets of identity such as race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and social class. Prerequisite: Psychology 255 and permission of the instructor. Four credit hours.    RAAG

374s    Seminar: Psychology and Neuroscience     The neural bases of abnormal human behavior and cognition, with integration of data from clinical neuropsychology and behavioral neurology. Topics include brain imaging technologies, neuropsychological evaluation, brain dysfunction and mental illness, neurotransmitters and behavior, developmental disorders, dementias and memory disorders, degenerative diseases, infectious diseases, seizures, traumatic brain injury, disorders of communication, and emotional-motivational dysfunction. Emphasis on the way disorders of the nervous system aid in understanding normal psychological processes. Prerequisite: Psychology 233. Four credit hours.    GLENN

416fs    Senior Empirical Research    A senior independent empirical project conducted in one semester that addresses a question about human or animal behavior or mental processes. Students will be expected to carry out all phases of a research investigation, including a literature review, study design, data collection and analyses, and writing a final report. Prerequisite: Psychology 214, content area courses relevant to the research topic, and permission of the department. Three credit hours.    COANE, GLENN, RAAG

420fs    Senior Integrative Seminar    An integrative experience for students majoring in psychology, organized around the department research colloquium series. Students read background papers provided by each speaker before each colloquium presentation, attend the research presentations from invited guest lecturers on current topics of interest in all areas of psychology, and meet in a seminar session after each colloquium presentation. Prerequisite: Senior standing in psychology and permission of the instructor. Three credit hours.    ARTERBERRY, SOTO

483f, 484s    Honors Research I    Under faculty supervision, students prepare a proposal and carry out an independent, empirical project culminating in the preparation of a paper of publishable quality and a formal presentation. A 3.50 major average at the end of the senior year is a condition of successful completion of this program. Application required during junior year. Prerequisite: A 3.50 major average at the end of the junior year and permission of the department. Four credit hours.    FACULTY

491f, 492s    Independent Study    Individual projects, under faculty supervision, in areas in which the student has demonstrated the interest and competence necessary for independent work. Cannot be counted toward the psychology major or minor. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. One to four credit hours.    FACULTY