Spring 2009: Psych 344: Cultural Psychology
(Undergraduate)
Winter 2008: Psych 470: Social, Cultural and Affective
Neuroscience (Graduate w/Lab component)
Spring 2008: Psych 101: Social and Emotional Brain
(Undergraduate Freshman Seminar)
Fall 2007: Psych 358: Memes, Genes and the Mind
(Undergraduate)
Fall 2006:
Psych 358: Social and Affective Neuroscience (Undergraduate)
Fall 2006: Psych 470: Social and Affective Neuroscience
(Graduate w/Lab component)
Spring 2009: Psych 344: Cultural Psychology (Undergraduate)
Tuesdays
& Thursdays, 2:30-3:20pm
What is
culture? How does culture shape psychological and neurobiological processes
across multiple time scales (e.g., generations, lifespan and contextual
situations)? In this course, we will explore how cultural psychologists use
theoretical and empirical methods to address the influence of our cultural
values, beliefs and practices on how we feel, how we
perceive things, how we reason and how we think about ourselves and others. We
will also examine how living in a multicultural world affects our psychological
and biological selves and how people adapt to new cultural environments through
various means, such as acculturation. Emphasis will be placed on understanding
and interpreting current research in this field as well as understanding how
this research connects to everyday experience.
Winter 2008: Psych 470: Social, Cultural and Affective
Neuroscience (Graduate w/Lab component)
Social,
cultural and affective neuroscience are interdisciplinary research areas that
bridge broad fields including cultural psychology, social/personality
psychology, cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, cognitive science
and behavioral genetics. Modern social, cultural and affective neuroscience
uses neuroscience and molecular biology techniques (e.g., neuroimaging,
neuropsychology, electrophysiology, genotyping) to
better understand the universal and culturally-specific neural bases of affective
and social processes, and how these processes interact with cognitive ones
(e.g., memory, attention, perception, cognitive control).
Research
in the universality and culturally-specific neural bases of social interaction
and emotion may have implications for a broad range of issues from
psychopathology and everyday well-being to intergroup
conflict, economic decision-making and understanding of atypical social
behaviors, especially autism, WilliamÕs syndrome and prosopagnosia.
The main goal of the course is to provide preparation for
consuming, collaborating on, and conducting social, cultural and affective
neuroscience research. Towards this
end, there are two sections of this graduate seminar: discussion and
hands-on lab. The discussion
section will provide a comprehensive and cutting-edge review of current
findings, concepts and theories within social, cultural and affective
neuroscience. We will read primary articles from the literature. Whenever possible, ongoing debates and
novel methodological approaches will be highlighted. The hands-on lab section
will provide an introduction into how neuroimaging
techniques, particularly functional neuroimaging (fMRI),may be used to investigate
social and affective processes as well as their interaction with cognition.
Specifically, we will learn basic neuroanatomy of
social interaction and emotion, how to design an fMRI
experiment, analyze fMRI data using a sample data
set, plan fMRI statistical analyses and read fMRI results.
Topics to be
covered will include the universal and culturally-specific neurobiological
bases of: 1) emotion: perception, expression & experience; 2) emotion,
stress and memory; 3) affective disorders; 4) moral reasoning & decision
making; 5) self perception & knowledge; 6) regulation of self and emotion;
7) personality & individual differences; 8) person perception & agency;
9) imitation, empathy & theory of mind; 10) fairness, reputation,
cooperation & competition; 11) social categories, stereotyping &
prejudice; 12) social relations: affiliation, attraction & aggression.
Spring 2008: Psych 101: Social and Emotional Brain
(Undergraduate Freshman Seminar)
Tuesdays
& Thursdays, 2:30-3:20pm, Tech Institute MG28
Our daily
social environment presents us with countless challenges that we successfully
navigate with ease. How does the human mind and brain give rise to our amazing
capacity for everyday social interaction and emotion? In this course, we
will explore a number of topics including how people perceive, experience,
express and regulate emotions in themselves and others, what happens when we
feel too much or too little emotion, how people make moral and financial
decisions, how people understand other peoples intentions and desires, and how
who we are affects how we perceive and interact with others. We will also
explore how the neuroscientific study of social
interaction and emotion may inform broad range of issues from health and
wellbeing to intergroup conflict and atypical social
behaviors including autism and Williams
syndrome.
Fall 2007: Psych 358: Memes, Genes and the Mind
(Undergraduate)
Tuesdays
& Thursdays, 9:30-10:50am, Tech Institute A110
This course provides an introduction
to a growing interdisciplinary research area examining the interplay of culture
(memes), genes and the mind. First we examine the historical divide between the
study of culture and biology. Then,
we integrate these two lines of inquiry by studying human behavior and
psychology as a byproduct of both cultural (i.e., ideas, practices, values, and
beliefs) and biological forces (i.e., genes, brain function). By integrating theory and methods from
cultural evolution and biological evolution, cultural psychology and
evolutionary psychology, we will strive to understand how human culture and
biology sustains ordinary and extraordinary human psychology and social
behavior. Finally, we will examine the implications of culture and biology
interactions for medical issues and population health.
Topics to be
covered will include: 1) history of genetic and cultural theory; 2) foundations
of classical and molecular genetics; 3) principles of biological evolution;
4)principles of cultural evolution; 5) memes: units of cultural evolution;
6)dual inheritance theory (DIT); 7) cultural transmission; 8) imitation and
social learning; 9) cultural psychological approaches to mind and brain;
10)evolutionary psychological approaches to mind and brain; 11) principles of epigenesis; 12) culture and population health.
Emphasis
in this seminar will be placed on foundational topics and current debates
within cultural evolution, biological evolution and dual inheritance theory (DIT)
as well as how these theories relate to fundamental questions in evolutionary
psychology, neuroscience and cognitive science. Students will read primary scientific
articles and learn to critically evaluate the design, methods, and
interpretation of studies as well as learn how the methods of cultural
psychology, cognitive neuroscience and imaging genetics are best applied to
examine cultural-gene interactions in neural and mental processes. Students
will be strongly encouraged to direct this knowledge towards designing novel,
experiments that further our conceptual and empirical understanding within and
beyond these fields.
Fall 2006: Psych
358: Social and Affective Neuroscience (Undergraduate)
Tuesdays&
Thursdays, 9:30-10:50am, Tech PC Classroom
Our daily
social environment presents us with countless challenges that we successfully
navigate with ease. How does the human mind and brain give rise to our amazing
capacity for everyday social interaction and emotion? Social and affective neuroscience are
modern interdisciplinary fields that use neuroscience techniques (e.g., neuroimaging, neuropsychology,
electrophysiology) to better understand affective and social processes, and how
these processes interact with cognitive ones (e.g., memory, attention,
perception, cognitive control). A neuroscientific
understanding of social interaction and emotion may inform broad range of
issues from health and wellbeing to intergroup
conflict and atypical social behaviors including autism, WilliamÕs syndrome and
prosopagnosia.
Topics to be
covered will include: 1) emotion: perception, expression & experience;
2)emotion, stress and memory; 3) affective disorders; 4) moral reasoning
&decision making; 5) self perception & knowledge; 6) regulation of self
and emotion; 7) personality & individual differences; 8) person
perception& agency; 9) imitation, empathy & theory of mind; 10)
fairness, reputation, cooperation & competition; 11) social categories,
stereotyping& prejudice; 12) social relations: affiliation, attraction
& aggression.
Emphasis
in this seminar will be placed on foundational topics and current debates
within social and affective neuroscience as well as to the theoretical advances
that work within these fields may bring to bear on questions in nearly every
area of psychology including social psychology, cognitive neuroscience,
evolutionary psychology and cognitive science. Students will read primary
scientific articles and learn to critically evaluate the design, methods, and
interpretation of studies as well as learn how the methods of cognitive
neuroscience are best applied to examine affective and social processing.
Students will be strongly encouraged to direct this knowledge towards designing
novel, independent experiments that further ourconceptual
and empirical understanding within and beyond these fields.
Fall 2006: Psych 470: Social and Affective Neuroscience (Graduate w/Lab
component)
Wednesdays,2-4:50pm, Swift 210 and Tech PC Classroom (for Lab)
Social
and affective neuroscience are interdisciplinary research areas that bridge
broad fields including social/personality psychology, cognitive neuroscience,
evolutionary psychology, cognitive science and behavioral genetics. Modern
social and affective neuroscience uses neuroscience and molecular biology
techniques (e.g., neuroimaging, neuropsychology,
electrophysiology, genotyping) to better understand affective and social
processes, and how these processes interact with cognitive ones (e.g., memory,
attention, perception, cognitive control). Research in the neuroscience of
social interaction and emotion may have implications for a broad range of
issues from psychopathology and everyday well-being to intergroup
conflict, economic decision-making and understanding of atypical social
behaviors, especially autism, WilliamÕs syndrome and prosopagnosia.
The main goal of the course is to provide preparation for
consuming, collaborating on, and conducting social and affective neuroscience
research. Towards this end, there
are two sections of this graduate seminar: discussion and hands-on lab. The discussion section will
provide a comprehensive and cutting-edge review of current findings, concepts
and theories within social and affective neuroscience. We will read primary
articles from the literature. Whenever
possible, ongoing debates and novel methodological approaches will be
highlighted. The hands-on
lab section will provide an introduction into how neuroimaging
techniques, particularly functional neuroimaging (fMRI),may be used to investigate
social and affective processes as well as their interaction with cognition.
Specifically, we will learn basic neuroanatomy of
social interaction and emotion, how to design an fMRI
experiment, analyze fMRI data using a sample data
set, plan fMRI statistical analyses and read fMRI results.
Topics to be
covered will include: 1) emotion: perception, expression & experience; 2)
emotion, stress and memory; 3) affective disorders; 4) moral reasoning
&decision making; 5) self perception & knowledge; 6) regulation of self
and emotion; 7) personality & individual differences; 8) person
perception& agency; 9) imitation, empathy & theory of mind; 10)
fairness, reputation, cooperation & competition; 11) social categories,
stereotyping& prejudice; 12) social relations: affiliation, attraction
&aggression.