PSYCH 122: Language Neuroscience Seminar (LINGUIST 247N, PSYCH 222)
What are the neural representations and computations that give humans the amazing and unique ability to use language? This seminar course provides an overview of the field of cognitive neuroscience of language, examining the landmark empirical discoveries that have shaped our understanding of language comprehension and production in the brain. Lectures cover all aspects of language processing, from early sensory perception, to recognizing individual words, to processing complex to higher level semantic and syntactic structures. We will discuss findings from different neuroimaging methods, as well as insight from individuals with language processing disorders.
Last offered: Autumn 2024
| Units: 3
PSYCH 124: What Makes You Tick? An Introduction to Affective Science (PHIL 124P)
Why do we do what we do? In this course, we'll systematically examine the forces that energize and direct behavior. Our focus will be on topics such as motivation, emotion, and emotion regulation, and we will consider the role of affective processes in personality, psychopathology, behavior stability and change, non-human animals, and artificial agents. The course will adopt an interdisciplinary perspective. Prerequisite: Psychology 1.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Gross, J. (PI)
;
Petrova, K. (TA)
PSYCH 125: Research Methods in Psychology
This course will provide an introduction to the methods used in psychological science. Topics discussed in the course will include: the nature of theories and experimentation in psychology, causal inference and experimentation, the role of measurement in psychological science, the design of experiments, sampling, strategies for data collection, study reporting, and data visualization. Prerequisite:
Psych 10 or equivalent.
Last offered: Winter 2024
| Units: 4
PSYCH 131A: How to Think Like a Shrink (PSYC 230)
This course will teach you how to think (or experience) yourself and the communities around you as a therapist does. That means coming to understand why therapists focus on early life relationships and learning, why we privilege emotions, and why we see the seeming contradictions in our lives as places for deeper understanding. In class discussions, we will consider questions such as: How do our early experiences in relationships affect the ones we create later? Why are we more likely to segregate and point fingers when we are afraid? How can we make better use of our precious capacity for attention? What good might come from anger, sadness or guilt? Projects will include looking at how the psychological phenomena we will learn about play out in public spheres and personal ones. This is not a class about mental health, but rather about the intricacy of our feeling and thinking minds. The course will be discussion-based with a focus on experiential learning, and include weekly projects
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This course will teach you how to think (or experience) yourself and the communities around you as a therapist does. That means coming to understand why therapists focus on early life relationships and learning, why we privilege emotions, and why we see the seeming contradictions in our lives as places for deeper understanding. In class discussions, we will consider questions such as: How do our early experiences in relationships affect the ones we create later? Why are we more likely to segregate and point fingers when we are afraid? How can we make better use of our precious capacity for attention? What good might come from anger, sadness or guilt? Projects will include looking at how the psychological phenomena we will learn about play out in public spheres and personal ones. This is not a class about mental health, but rather about the intricacy of our feeling and thinking minds. The course will be discussion-based with a focus on experiential learning, and include weekly projects that will have you playing detective in your own life. Prerequisites include a high degree of honesty (or the desire for this), creativity and an interest in the human experience. At the end of the seminar, I hope you will have a greater appreciation for the complexity of your mind and reactions, and the psychology of everyday life -- personal relationships, group functioning, tiffs between political parties. My aim is to have you learn to both take yourself very seriously and not seriously at all. This course will provide no answers, however I hope it will open channels of thought and discussion, and make your own life a little richer. Enrollment preference given to juniors and seniors.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 2
Instructors:
Tversky, D. (PI)
PSYCH 131S: The Developing Mind: How Humans Learn, Think, and Communicate
How do humans, from infants to adolescents, learn to think, speak, and understand themselves and others? What makes human connection unique among species? This course explores learning, language/communication, and development as windows into the human mind. Students will examine how we acquire words and ideas, how adolescents and adults learn new skills, how memory, social understanding, and empathy emerge, and how culture and neurodiversity shape thought.Through discussions, data-driven activities, and a community-engaged project, students will connect psychological research to real-world contexts and to their own experiences as learners and thinkers. They will gain practical skills in critical analysis, research interpretation, and science presentation, while reflecting on what makes human understanding and interaction distinctive.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Abdelrahim, S. (PI)
PSYCH 132: Language and Thought (SYMSYS 132)
Languages vary tremendously in how they allow us to express ourselves. In some languages, you have to say when an event happened (past, present, future, etc.), while in others it is obligatory to say how you know about the event (you saw it, you heard about it), or what genders its participants were. In addition, languages just feel different from one another - some feel poetic while others feel brutal. Some things just don't sound right in certain languages, and some translations are harder than others to pull off. But are these differences meaningful? Do differences across languages cause substantive changes in the cognition of their speakers? We'll read some of the burgeoning research literature on these questions and consider how they can be answered with new empirical tools.
Last offered: Spring 2019
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
PSYCH 132S: Who Are We Becoming? The Psychology of Behavior Change
Why do so many efforts to change behavior in ourselves and others fail? This course explores a psychologically wise approach rooted in social psychology: the idea that our behavior is shaped not by willpower or biology but by the meanings we construct about ourselves, others, and the situations we face. You'll learn how small, well-timed psychological interventions can lead to better interpretations that drive lasting, meaningful change. Through a hands-on project focused on adolescent substance use and in partnership with the national organization 'Know Drugs', students will design psychologically wise solutions with real-world impact. Open to students from all majors; no background in psychology required.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Hashemi, R. (PI)
PSYCH 134: Brain and Decision Making (PSYCH 232)
This seminar explores how emerging findings at the interface of neuroscience, psychology, and economics combine to inform our understanding of how the brain makes decisions. Topics include neural processes related to reward, punishment, probability, risk, time, reflection, and social interaction, as well as theoretical implications and practical applications. We will briefly touch on the possibility of extending individual brain and behavioral data down to physiological and up to aggregate levels of analysis.Because the course involves interdisciplinary material, it takes the format of a research seminar with background discussions, and is targeted at graduate students and advanced undergraduates who aim to conduct related research. Goals include: (1) building familiarity with relevant neuroscience, psychology, and economics concepts; (2) increasing awareness of key relevant literature; and (3) preparation to conduct and advance innovative interdisciplinary research.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Knutson, B. (PI)
PSYCH 136: The Psychology of Scarcity: Its Implications for Psychological Functioning and Education (CSRE 136U, PSYCH 236A)
This course brings together several literatures on the psychological, neurological, behavioral and learning impact of scarcities, especially those of money (poverty) time and food. It will identify the known psychological hallmarks of these scarcities and explore their implications for psychological functioning, well-being and education--as well as, how they can be dealt with by individuals and in education.
Last offered: Spring 2021
| Units: 3
PSYCH 138: Wise Interventions (PSYCH 238, PUBLPOL 238)
Classic and contemporary psychological interventions; the role of psychological factors in social reforms for social problems involving healthcare, the workplace, education, intergroup, relations, and the law. Topics include theories of intervention, the role of laboratory research, evaluation, and social policy. This course can be taken for either 3 or 5 units. Three units: does not satisfy the WIM requirement, enroll in lecture only as no discussion section is required. Five units: does satisfy the WIM requirement and enrollment in lecture plus discussion section is required.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
Instructors:
Walton, G. (PI)
;
Blakey, W. (TA)
;
Dhingra, M. (TA)
;
King, S. (TA)
;
Lim (Chun Hui), C. (TA)
;
Proshan, J. (TA)