31 - 40 of 88 results for: PSYC

How does fiction make us better at reading minds? Why do some TV shows get us to believe two contradictory things at once? And can cognitive biases be a writer's best friend? We'll think about these and other questions in the light of contemporary neuroscience and experimental psychology, with the help of Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison), Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert), season 1 of Westworld (Lisa Joy / Jonathan Nolan), and short readings from writers like Louise Glück, Jorge Luis Borges, Virginia Woolf, and Marcel Proust. We'll also ask what we see when we read; whether the language we speak affects the way we think; and why different people react differently to the same book. Plus: is free will a fiction, or were you just forced to say that?

Dr. William Dement created Sleep and Dreams in 1971, the world's first university course devoted to the science of sleep. Upon his retirement he selected Dr. Rafael Pelayo to be his successor, but he continued to participate in class until his passing in the summer of 2020. To honor his legacy in perpetuity, Dr.Pelayo renamed the course 'Dement's Sleep Dreams' as he had promised him he would. The goal is to retain the original spirit of the course as the content is continuously updated to reflect current state of sleep science. The course is designed to impart essential knowledge of the neuroscience of sleep and covers how sleep affects our daily lives. The course covers normal sleep and dreams, as well as common sleep disorders. Course content empowers students to make educated decisions concerning sleep and alertness for the rest of their lives and shapes students' attitudes about the importance of sleep. Students will keep track of their sleep patterns during the course. They will also participate in an outreach project to help improve awareness of the importance of sleep heath in our community. Undergraduates must enroll in PSYC 135, while graduate students should enroll in PSYC 235.

Considers the premises of the family-systems approach to intimate and family relationships, drawing on concepts from psychology, psychiatry, neurobiology, anthropology, and organizational behavior. Examines relationship formation and commitment, intimacy and sexuality, family development and structure, interpersonal conflict and communication, historical patterns and legacies, gender and power, and the cultural and larger systemic contexts of close relationships. Frameworks for assessing relationships and tools for changing romantic, family, and social relationships are examined in detail, and case examples illustrate the relationship change strategies of major contributors to the field. Highlights practical applications of the family-systems approach in educational, medical, business, and community settings. Students do not need to have a background in Psychology or Human Biology, and all student levels are welcome (including GSB, Law, Medicine, GSE for PSYC 239).

The first psychiatric hospitals in the world were established as early as the 8th century during the Islamic Golden Era. Despite the emergence of a highly sophisticated and interdisciplinary system of understanding the human psyche in early Islamic history, most students of modern psychology are unfamiliar with this rich history. This course will provide a historical and contemporary review of the Islamic intellectual heritage as it pertains to modern behavioral science and how mental illness was historically perceived and treated in the Muslim world. We will begin with a discussion of Islamic epistemology, reconcile issues such as secular vs sacred sources of knowledge and tackle the mind/body dilemma according to Islamic theology. We will then review holistic schemas of health and pathology in the Islamic religious tradition, the nature of the human being, elements of the human psyche, and principles of change leading to positive character reformation. As Stanford is the academic home of Muslim mental health research globally, we will benefit from talks by guest researchers and speakers, partake in field trips to community partners, and utilize group discussions to provide students with a deeper understanding of these topics.

How does AI make you feel? This course, led by two psychiatrists who are actively seeing patients and working with AI companies, will investigate the impact of generative AI on your/user mental health and the mental healthcare system. It will emphasize both the profound benefits of the technology while investigating its risks and poor outcomes. The class will cover topics ranging from the history of sentencing algorithms and current legal framework of AI and healthcare, to AI in organizations like NASA and the Department of Defense. It will round out this discussion by tapping into industry expertise to hear how the largest AI companies are thinking about mental health. It will help you understand how as a user of AI, you can protect yourself from harm and leverage the best of AI to improve your life and the life of others. Further, it will help you understand how to develop safe, effective, and inclusive AI that benefits society and humanity.

Prerequisite for HUMBIO 161: Must be a junior, senior, or graduate student to enroll. The neurochemistry and neurophysiology of changes in brain activity and conscious awareness are associated with changes in the sleep/wake state. Behavioral and neurobiological phenomena include sleep regulation, sleep homeostasis, circadian rhythms, sleep disorders, sleep function, and the molecular biology of sleep. Preference to seniors and graduate students.

The impact of climate change is far-reaching, extending beyond immediate and imminent ecological effects and into a range of human experiences, including physical and mental disease. This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to consider the interaction of climate change and mental health. Beginning with historical associations of nature and human well-being, we will use a variety of texts - some historic, some literary, some scientific - to explore the effects of nature on the human mind. Similarly, we will look at how human psychology influences our reactions to climate change, from grief, to climate change denialism, to action. The seminar has a significant out-of-doors component, including local ecosystem exploration, an applied study of 'nature therapy,' and field trips to sites where clinical work on the interaction of nature and mental health can be observed first-hand. This year we are fortunate to have received a Global Studies Course Innovation Award to support our field-trips, as well as the visit of several guests nationally known for their work in the areas of climate change and mental health.

This course is designed to teach undergraduate students skills for cultivating wellbeing and resilience in the face of commonly experienced stressors and difficulties. Stated simply, resilience is the ability to both survive and thrive. Resilience is not only about your ability to positively adapt in the face of adverse or challenging circumstances (survive), but also about learning the positive skills, strategies and routines that enable you to live a fulfilling and successful life (thrive). This course will introduce a personalized set of strategies and skills for self-care and optimize your academic and social experiences while at Stanford University and beyond.

The Neuroscience of Stress and Reward: Emotions, Behavior, and Neurocircuit Mechanisms is a new course for undergraduates to learn how core concepts of neurobiology apply to psychiatric disorders. For example- how do our brains translate thoughts and experiences into feelings of pain or pleasure? Why do some people struggle more than others with social isolation, addictive habits, or poor quality sleep? More importantly, what can we do about it? This is an advanced and expanded version of previous course PSYC 52N (searchable in CARTA). This course covers classic and contemporary studies from biology and psychiatry that explain the neurocircuit mechanisms responsible for regulating our emotions, behaviors, and mental health. We will first focus on foundational knowledge of neural systems, and then build to connect these aspects with the underlying neural basis of psychiatric conditions. Students will learn about neurotechnologies for manipulating and recording brain activity, and how these tools have been applied to advance science and medicine. Discussion sections will focus on ethical implications of mental health care treatment, experimental research, and the future of brain-computer interface technologies in society.