This course focuses on the application of psychological theory and methods to work behavior in industry and social service organizations. Research on job satisfaction, work motivation, personnel selection and training, decision making, and group processes within organizations are considered.
This course introduces the role of counseling and psychology in educational settings with a focus on K-12 schools. Students examine the specific roles and responsibilities of school counselors, school psychologists, and mental health counselors working in the school setting. Class discussions focus on the academic, career, and social emotional needs of school aged students and how these professionals promote culturally sustaining practices and support a safe, healthy learning environment.
This course considers human development from the beginning to the end of life. Students focus on the major biological, cognitive, and social changes that occur at each stage of development. Students examine the central questions, theoretical perspectives, research methods, and scientific findings that guide current understanding of human development. The course also emphasizes the ways in which individual development cannot be clearly understood without examining the social and cultural context in which individuals are embedded.
This course focuses on the development of individuals from adolescence through death. The domains of cognitive, physical, and psychosocial development are examined, with a particular emphasis on the multiple factors and contexts that influence development in each of these areas. Current theories and research are explored on a variety of topics relevant to adolescence and adulthood, including adolescent rebellion, identity development, midlife crisis, and caring for elderly parents.
This course focuses on the milestones of human development from conception through late childhood. It considers physical, cognitive, language, social, and emotional changes that occur during the first decade of life with special attention to various contexts of development. It addresses major theories as well as current research and methodology that explain how and why developmental change occurs. Implications for child-rearing, education, and social policymaking are also examined.
This course covers experimental design and research methodology, elementary and advanced techniques of data analysis, and basic issues in the philosophy of science. Laboratory and individual research is required.
Although many people believe that psychology is based on common sense, personal experience, or intuition about human behavior and mental processes, the discipline is actually founded on the results of scientifically conducted experiments and studies. Thus, learning the methods for how data are collected, analyzed, interpreted, and communicated form the foundation for an undergraduate degree in Psychology.
Humans are complex organisms, and psychology provides a rich, interdisciplinary understanding of the study of mental life, experience, and behavior. Through this course, students develop an appreciation for these complexities by focusing on individual and social behavior, as well as the physiological and neurological processes underlying them. Central to this course is an understanding of the diverse methods, experimental designs, foundational theories, and research used to inform the various subdisciplines in psychology.
This course explores how people make sense of themselves and others in the dynamic context of social interaction. Students read and discuss classic and current empirical research in the areas of self-perception, interpersonal perception, and intergroup perception.
Neuropsychology is the study of how the systems of the brain work together to support thought and behavior. Neuropsychologists often infer the function of a particular brain region by assessing the type of dysfunction expressed after damage to that brain area following a stroke or head trauma. In this course, students learn basic neuroanatomy, clinical assessments, and the functional delineations of the brain's cortex. Topics may include split brain patients, language disorders, perceptual agnosias, Parkinson's Disease, attentional neglect, phantom-limb syndrome, and memory loss.