Courses
PY-101 Introduction to Psychology (Fall & Spring; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) An overview of the content and methodology in the field. Topics such as the history of psychology, physiological psychology, learning and memory, perception, motivation, child development, personality and social foundations are considered
PY-199 Special Topics (Variable; Variable; 1.00-4.00 Credits; S) Allows the department to offer special topics not normally offered. Departments may offer more than one special topic. Prerequisites and fees vary by title.
PY-200 Political Psychology (Fall; Yearly; 4.00 Credits; IC,CW) This Interdisciplinary Colloquium examines the overlap between political science and psychology. Topics include how and why citizens from political attitudes, how elected officials make decisions, the influence of values, the structure of political beliefs and ideologies, how citizens interact with each other, political persuasion, and attitude change. Special attention will be given to using political psychology to understand contemporary politics. Prerequisites: Sophomore, Junior or Senior Standing.
PY-203 Abnormal Psychology (Spring; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) A brief consideration is given to the historical approaches to " mental illness, " followed by a consideration of present day classification, diagnostic measures, and therapy. Emphasis throughout is upon experimental data as applied to the various disorders. Prerequisite: PY 101.
PY-205 Social Psychology (Fall; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) The study of human interaction and interpersonal relationships, including selected areas of current research and theory such as social perception, interpersonal communication, attitude formation and change, conformity, aggression, and interpersonal attraction. Prerequisite: PY 101.
PY-207 Human Sexuality (Spring; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) Examines human sexuality from psychological and cultural perspectives. Topics include the physiology of sexual functions, conception and contraception, sexual behavior through the life span, sexual intercourse, sex and society, sex and the law, and sex and morality. Prerequisite: PY 101.
PY-208 Applied Psychology of War & Peace (Spring; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) Designed to serve students interested in applications of psychology to issues of war and peace. Selected specialties within psychology are surveyed and topics such as enemy images, conflicts escalation, decision making and negotiation are explored from a psychological perspective. Topics may vary from year to year. Prerequisites: PY101.
PY-238 Biopsychology (Fall; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S,N) Focuses on neurobiology and neuroanatomy as they relate to sensory processes, motivation, reinforcement, learning, and memory. Prerequisites: PY101 or BI111 or BI113 or permission.
PY-299 Special Topics (Variable; Variable; 1.00-4.00 Credits; S) Allows the department to offer special topics not normally offered. Departments may offer more than one special topic. Prerequisites vary by title.
PY-303 Learning & Conditioning (Fall; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) Explores the issue of how we are changed by experience, using primarily a behaviorist perspective, applied to animal and human data. Both theory and applied applications of theory will be considered. Prerequisite: PY 101.
PY-304 Cognitive Psychology (Fall; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) Explores an array of issues in human memory, primarily from a cognitive/information processing point of view. Major emphasis is on using research data to formulate answers to both theoretical and applied questions. Prerequisite: PY 101.
PY-305 Testing & Measurement (Fall; Even Years; 3.00 Credits; S) Emphasizes the theory, design, and evaluation of psychological tests. Special attention is paid to topics such as validity and reliability, practical issues involved in administration, scoring and interpreting selected psychological tests. Prerequisite: PY 101
PY-306 Learning & Conditioning Lab (Fall; Yearly; 1.00 Credit; S) This course will examine phenomena discussed in PY303 Learning and Conditioning using computer simulations. The purpose of the course is to give student applied experience with the concepts of both Palovian and operant conditioning. Emphasis is placed on the design, analysis and interpretation of classic experiments and phenomena in the psychology of learning and conditioning. Corequsite:PY303
PY-309 Research Methods in Psychology (Fall & Spring; Yearly; 4.00 Credits; CW,S) Examines issues in research design. A variety of topics are used to provide students experience with the design and execution of experiments as well as with the interpretation of research findings and the written presentation of research
PY-310 Foundations of Clinical and Counseling Psychology (Fall; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S,CW) Introduces students to the disciplines of clinical and counseling psychology. The course will emphasize the empirical evaluation of major models of psychotherapy, including cognitive, behavioral, humanistic, and psychodynamic theories. Discussions of legal and ethical issues will be included throughout the course. Also, the course will examine the professional opportunities and challenges for clinical and counseling psychologists working in the managed-care era. Prerequisites: PY101.
PY-321 Health Psychology (Spring; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S,CW) Course will examine empirical findings from disciplines of psychology, medicine, and public health. Course topics include research methods, stress and social support, health behavior and primary prevention, management of chronic/terminal illnesses, gender and cultural issues in health, and psychoneuroimmunology. An underlying theme will be to dispel health-related myths and fads that are so prevalent in the popular media. Prerequisites: PY101.
PY-340 Research in Psychology (Fall; Yearly; 2.00 Credits; S) Allows students to become involved in an ongoing research program. Students will be required to read primary literature from the specific field of investigation and become involved in execution of an ongoing experiment. Students will be expected to perform the activities relevant to the experiment, assist in the analysis of the data, and write an APA style paper based on the results of the experiment. Prerequisites: PY 101 and permission. See 340 for description for 341, 440 and 441. Repeatable up to 3 times.
PY-341 Research in Psychology (Spring; Yearly; 2.00 Credits; S) see 340 description.
PY-350 Developmental Psychology (Fall; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) This course is designed to integrate core topics in the discipline of developmental psychology with current key issues in society. Consequently, students will have the opportunity to analyze scientific literature and make connections to current, everyday life issues. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to explore developmental theory and its connection to public policy, known as " best practices " in parenting and education and consider developmental theory's influence on current trends in our broader society. Prerequisites: PY101 or ED120 or ED130.
PY-399 Special Topics (Variable; Variable; 1.00-4.00 Credits; S) Occasional offerings in which a group of students and a professor explore an area of specialized interest in a seminar format. Recent offerings have been: " Applied Psychology: Issues of War and Peace " and " Psychological Theory. " Note: abbreviated ST: (title); students may take each ST: course for credit.
PY-401 Comparative Psychology (Spring; Odd Years; 3.00 Credits; S,N,CS) Comparative Psychology examines the continuity of behavioral and psychological mechanisms between nonhuman animals and humans suggested by evolutionary theory. Attention is paid to the comparison between human and nonhuman animals on traditionally human characteristics, including self-recognition, language, culture, tool use, and several other characteristics. Prerequisites: PY101 or BI113 and Junior or Senior standing or permission of the instructor.
PY-402 Evolutionary Psychology (Spring; Even Years; 3.00 Credits; S,N,CS) This course uses the lens of modern evolutionary theory to understand human behavior. We will look for the influence of human evolutionary history on several modern human behaviors including, among others, dating and marriage, aggression, altruism, child-rearing, and behavioral differences between the sexes. Prerequisites: PY101 or BI113 and Junior or Senior standing or permission of the instructor.
PY-403 Judgment & Decision (Spring; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the methodological skills and topics necessary for conducting, understanding, and applying research in judgment and decision making. Assignments include written and oral reports. You should gain a better understanding of the capabilities and limitations of human judgment through this course. Prerequisites: PY101 and PY304.
PY-404 Education & School Psychology (Spring; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) This course serves as an introduction to the fields of educational and school psychology. A primary focus of the course is the prevention and remediation of emotional, behavioral, and academic difficulties in a school setting. Factors impacting student development and learning are aslo explored. Prerequsites: PY101.
PY-406 Adv.Stats for Psychology (Fall; Odd Years; 4.00 Credits; Q,S) An examination of statistics useful in social science research that builds on the base provided by Statistics for Social Science. Techniques that are examined include factorial analysis of variance, multiple correlation and regression. Students not already acquainted with the computer are introduced to SPSS. Prerequisite: ND.SS 214.
PY-409E Clinical Psychology (Fall; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S,CW) Provides and overview of the scientific disipline of clinical psychology. This course examines the historical foundations of clinical psychology and scientific methodologies utilized by behavioral scientists. In addition, this course examines the process of psychological assessment and the major theoretical models of psychological therapy: behavioral/cognitive, psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic, and existential/humanistic. Discussion of legal and ethical issues will occur throughout the course. Prerequisites: PY203 and PY309.
PY-411 Psychology and the Law (Spring; Yearly; 3.00 Credits; S) This course explores the interface between psychology and the legal system. Students will be given an introduction to the legal decision-making process and how it differs from scientific methods of inquiry. Following the introduction, this course will emphasize how psychological theories can enhance our understanding of the legal system and how the legal system can be informed by psychological science. Prerequisites: PY101.
PY-415 Capstone in Psychology (Fall & Spring; Yearly; 2.00 Credits; S,CW) The purpose of this course is to assess the skills students acquire during their undergraduate career in the Psychology Department. Students will be expected to produce a written professional work. The specific form of this work will be determined in consultation with the instructor of the seminar course in which a student is concurrently enrolled. Prerequisites: PY101 and PY309 and ND.SS214 (or equivalents B305 or MA220 and MA320). Corequisites: PY401 or PY402 or PY403 or PY404 or PY411 or PY412 and permission of the instructor.
PY-450 Senior Research in Psychology I (Fall; Yearly; 2.00 Credits; CW,S) Emphasizes the design and execution of an individual research project on a topic chosen in consultation with faculty. Students are expected to become conversant with the relevant primary literature, design and conduct the research, perform appropriate statistical analyses and present a final paper in APA style. Note: listed as Research: (title); may be taken multiple times for credit. Prerequisite: PY301 or PY309 and permission.
PY-451 Senior Research inPsychology II (Spring; Yearly; 2.00 Credits; CW,S) See PY450.
PY-490 Psychology Internship (Fall & Spring; Yearly; 2.00-4.00 Credits; S) (see the chapter, " Special Programs " under Internships.) Corequisite: PY 495. Prerequisite: permission and Jr. or Sr. Standing..
PY-495 Psychology Int. Sem. (Fall & Spring; Yearly; 2.00 Credits; S) Requires students to reflect on the internship experience and /or pursue research related to the placement. Corequisite: PY 490. Prerequisite: permission.
PY-499 Special Topics (Variable; Variable; 2.00 Credits) Allows the department to offer special topics not normally offered. Departments may offer more than one special topic. Prerequisites vary by title.
PY-TUT Psychology Teaching Assistant (Variable; Variable; 1.00-5.00 Credits; S) See catalog.