Download RESEARCH SEMINAR COURSES – FALL 2014 PSYC 412.01

RESEARCH SEMINAR COURSES – FALL 2014
PSYC 412.01 – Research Seminar in Biological Psychology – Dr. Jennifer Mailloux
I’m freaking out! I’m pumped! I have butterflies! Generally, the experiences reflected
by these expressions indicate that the individual is feeling something that could be referred to as
anxiety, tension, or worry. Collectively, we can refer to these experiences as stress, and stress is
what we will study in this seminar. We will examine the different ways in which stress can be
conceptualized, as both a negative and positive experience. Then, we will examine how we can
operationally define different kinds of stress, both subjectively and objectively. Students will
use this knowledge to design a study measuring stress in a context of their choice and, especially
as they interpret the outcome of their research, learn the pros and cons of conceptualizing and
measuring stress in different ways.
PSYC 411-01 – Research Seminar in Abnormal, Personality and Social Psychology – Dr.
Christine McBride
This course will focus on relationships. From sibling relationships, to parent/child relationships
to dating and marriage, all relationships exist in a social context and are driven by an intrinsic
need for companionship. We will study various forms of relationships by examining how they
develop, how they are nurtured, and what tears them apart. We will read contemporary and
classic literature covering various theoretical perspectives, learn how researchers assess the
strength of relationships, and discuss how relationships vary across cultures.
PSYC 413.01—Research Seminar in Learning and Cognition—Steve Hampton
Consider the following: (1) If your grocery store put up a sign that says “Soup—40% Off” their
customers would buy significantly more cans if they added the phrase “Limit, 12 Cans Per
Customer.” (2) People answer the question “Does a chicken have 3 legs?” faster than they
answer the question “Does a chicken have four legs?” (3) When students answer the questions
“How many dates have you had in the last month?” followed by the question “How happy are
you these days?” the two answers are extremely highly correlated, more datesmore happy. If
you reverse the order of the questions there is no correlation between the answers! These are just
a few of the hundreds of examples of how humans think. This course will explore Thinking,
Fast and Slow the New York Times best seller by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, a
pioneer in the study of human thought, reasoning and decision making.