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Psychology

Professors Aries, Baird, Demorest‡ , Hart‡, Sanderson†, Schulkind†, and Turgeon, Associate Professors McQuade (Chair) and Palmquist, Assistant Professors Cohen and Kneeland. Visiting Assistant Professor Totton and Visiting Lecturer O'Carroll.

Major Program. 

The Psychology major is designed to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the content of the discipline and the skills required to work within it.  Psychology majors are required to elect nine full courses, including Psychology 100 (Introduction), Psychology 122 (Statistics), and either Psychology 200 (Research Methods) or a lab class in psychology (as described below). None of these nine courses may be taken Pass/Fail. Psychology majors must complete both Psychology 100 and Psychology 122 (or place out of these classes, as described below) by the end of the sophomore year, and must complete Psychology 200 or a lab class in psychology by the end of junior year.  Students may not enroll in Psychology 100 if they scored a 4 or 5 on the Psychology Advanced Placement exam, 5 or better on the Psychology International Baccalaureate exam, or completed an introductory psychology course at another college or university. Starting with students in the class of 2025, we are no longer allowing students to place out of taking Psych 100 by taking AP Psych. Students may not enroll in PSYC 122 if they completed STAT 111 or 135, ECON 360, or a statistics course at another college or university. Students who place out of either of these courses must replace that course(s) with an additional course(s) to reach the nine courses required of the major.  Given the coronavirus pandemic, for students in the class of 2021, 2022, and 2023, the psychology major requires 8 courses (instead of 9) and 1 seminar (instead of 2), and any major requirements taken during spring 2020 or the 2020-2021 academic year may be taken pass/fail. 

To provide skills for understanding and conducting research in psychology, students must complete either a research methods class (PSYC 200) or a lab class in psychology. Lab course options include:

PSYC 204 Emotion PSYC 206: Psychology of Play PSYC 208: Creativity

To provide a thorough understanding of fundamental areas within psychology, students must choose at least one intermediate course from each of the three areas below:

Area 1:  Cognitive Neuroscience (PSYC 211), Behavioral Neuroscience (PSYC 212), Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior (PSYC 213) Area 2:  Developmental Psychology (PSYC 227), Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 233), Psychology of Aging (PSYC 236) Area 3:  Social Psychology (PSYC 220), Personality (PSYC 221), Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 228)

To provide vertical depth in the major, students must also choose one seminar from at least TWO of the following six areas. However, as of the class of 2020, the thesis counts toward the seminar requirement in the area of the thesis, such that students who write a thesis need to only take one seminar in a different area than their thesis.

Area 1:  Biological: Psychopharmacology (PSYC 325), Neurophysiology of Motivation (PSYC 356), Consciousness (PSYC 361), Human Neuroscience (PSYC 367) Area 2:  Clinical: History of Psychiatry (PSYC 357), Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology (PSYC 364), Psychology of Attachment (PSYC 365), Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice (PSYC 369) Area 3:  Cognitive: Music Cognition (PSYC 366), Autobiographical Memory (PSYC 368) Area 4:  Personality: Personality and Political Leadership (PSYC 338), Psychological Assessment (PSYC 353) Area 5:  Social: Stereotypes & Prejudice (PSYC 337), Close Relationships (PSYC 354), Psychology and the Law (PSYC 363) Area 6: Developmental: Development of Nonverbal Communication (PSYC 362)

Students may complete the required number of courses by taking additional distribution courses, lab classes, seminars, and/or by taking any of the following electives: Intergroup Dialogue on Race (PSYC 224), Sport Psychology (PSYC 235), Health Psychology (PSYC 247),  Social Norms, Social Change (COLQ 338). Special Topics classes (PSYC 490) and thesis work (PSYC 498/499D) also count as elective courses towards the major. Students who write a thesis get three-course credits. 

Departmental Honors Research.  A limited number of majors will engage in honors research under the direction of a faculty member during their senior year.   Honors research involves credit for three courses (usually one-course credit during the fall and two credits during the spring semester) and culminates in a thesis.  These three courses count towards the nine classes required for the major.  The thesis usually involves both a review of the previous literature pertinent to the selected area of inquiry and a report of the methods and results of a study designed and conducted by the student.  Any student interested in pursuing honors research in psychology should discuss possible topics with appropriate faculty before preregistration in the second semester of the junior year.

†On leave fall semester 2022 ‡ On leave spring semester 2023 *On leave 2022-2023

100 Introduction to Psychology

An introduction to the nature of psychological inquiry regarding the origins, variability, and change of human behavior. As such, the course focuses on the nature-nurture controversy, the processes associated with cognitive and emotional development, the role of personal characteristics and situational conditions in shaping behavior, and various approaches to psychotherapy.

Not open to five college students. Limited to 40 students in the fall semester (20 seats reserved for first-year students) and limited to first-year students in the spring semester. Fall semester: Professors Kneeland, Palmquist, and Totton.  Spring semester:  Professors Cohen and Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, January 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

122 Statistics and Experimental Design

An introduction to and critical consideration of experimental methodology in psychology. Topics will include the formation of testable hypotheses, the selection and implementation of appropriate procedures, the statistical description and analysis of experimental data, and the interpretation of results. Articles from the experimental journals and popular literature will illustrate and interrelate these topics and provide a survey of experimental techniques and content areas. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 30 students. Fall semester: Fall: McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

200 Research Methods

This course is designed to explore the principles of behavioral science research and the rationale underlying various research methodologies. The course will take a hands-on approach to research design, data collection, and data analysis. Students will learn how to understand and critically evaluate original research reports, independently design and execute psychological investigations, and write scientific reports in APA format. Topics include the reliability and validity of measures, content analysis, correlational designs, randomized experiments and causal inference, experimental control, and ethical considerations. Time in class will be split between lectures, small group exercises and design of research projects, and data analysis using SPSS.

Requisite: PSYC 122. Limited to 18 students. Fall semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

204 Emotion

This course will help students better understand how psychological science has been used to investigate a broad range of human emotions. During the semester, students will explore questions such as: What are emotions, and how can we study them? How do personal factors, like our culture or gender, influence the emotions we experience and express? Can we regulate our emotions, and what influences our ability to do so? What factors are associated with greater happiness and emotional well-being? Students in this course will read existing empirical and theoretical literature focusing on how psychologists scientifically study emotions. Working in small groups, students will develop and execute original research studies in the area of emotion. These research projects will include data collection, data analysis, and the written and oral presentation of study findings. The goal of this course is for students to explore the existing research centering on the study of emotion, and to develop empirical answers to the fundamental questions of when, how, and why we feel the ways we do.

Prerequisite: Psych 122 Statistics. Limited to 18. Offered Fall semester. Professor Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

206 Psychology of Play

(Offered as PSYC 206 and EDST 206) This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. To extend this understanding, the class will travel to the University of California-Irvine during spring break to explore how researchers there are creating community-based learning opportunities for children and families from diverse backgrounds living in the Santa Ana community. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. 

Requisite: PSYC 100. Limited to 15 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2020

208 Creativity

Students in this course will design and execute an original research project related to creativity. Psychologists have defined creative ideas as those that are original, useful, and surprising. Creativity can be observed in many contexts (e.g., the arts, science, athletics, politics, and business), and can refer both to ideas as well as the people and social environments that foster such ideas. The semester will begin with a careful reading of the literature which will help students develop individual research proposals; group projects will be selected from amongst these proposals. The rest of the semester will be devoted to conducting the group projects; this will include designing experimental procedures, developing stimuli, and data collection and analysis. Written and oral presentations will accompany each step in the process to enable students to receive and offer constructive feedback. The semester will culminate with oral and written presentations of the experimental projects.

Requisite: PSYC 122,  PSYC 135, or equivalent. Limited to 18 students.  Offered spring semester: Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

211 Cognitive Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 211 and NEUR 211) Historically, psychologists and neuroscientists have worked somewhat in parallel to one another. While psychologists have traditionally focused on how humans think, feel, and behave, neuroscientists have primarily focused exclusively on the workings of the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a relatively new discipline that lies at the intersection of these fields and seeks to understand the neurobiological processes that underlie cognition. This course serves as a broad introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience and will focus on a variety of questions, including the following: How does the brain obtain and process information about the environment via sight, taste, and touch? How does the brain support our capacity to learn and speak different languages? What happens to the brain when it is afflicted with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, amnesia, schizophrenia, and autism? This course will provide students with a foundational understanding of modern cognitive neuroscience and the ways in which researchers examine the relationship between the mind and the brain.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall 2022: Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

212 Behavioral Neuroscience

This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. PSYC 212 does not count as credit towards the neuroscience major. Students interested in the Neuroscience major should enroll in 213. Limited to 40 students.  Spring Semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

213 Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior

(Offered as PSYC 213 and NEUR 213) This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness. Laboratories will include basic neuroanatomy and behavioral experiments. Three class hours and three hours of laboratory per week.

Requisite: BIOL 191 or PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Cannot be taken if PSYC 212 has been taken because of substantial overlap between the two courses. Limited to 36 students. Spring semester. Professor Baird.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2024

220 Social Psychology

The individual’s behavior as it is influenced by other people and by the social environment. The major aim of this course is to provide an overview of the wide-ranging concerns characterizing social psychology from both a substantive and a methodological perspective. Topics include person perception, attitude change, interpersonal attraction, conformity, altruism, group dynamics, and prejudice. In addition to substantive issues, the course is designed to introduce students to the appropriate research data analysis procedures.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40. Preference to Amherst College students. Offered Fall semester.  Professor Sanderson.  Spring semester: Professor Totton.

 

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

221 Personality Psychology

This course examines how psychologists understand the patterns of experiencing and behaving that constitute an individual’s personality. Personality psychologists are concerned with the ways in which a person is like all other people in these patterns (common psychological processes), like some others (individual differences), and like no one else (uniqueness). In examining these questions, we study the “grand theories” of Freud, Skinner, and Rogers, as well as the contemporary models of traits and scripts. We explore what professional observations led to the major theoretical ideas in personality psychology, and we critically examine how these ideas have been tested in empirical research. Furthermore, we study the lives of the theorists to examine how their professional ideas were informed by their personal lives. Students will also take personality assessment devices throughout the semester as a way to better understand the models, and perhaps themselves as well.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

224 Intergroup Dialogue on Race

(Offered as PSYC 224 and EDST 224) This highly interactive course brings together students to examine the roles race and other intersecting identities play in their lives. Course work includes an interdisciplinary blend of scholarly readings, in-class dialogue, experiential learning activities, reflective writing, and an intergroup collaborative research project. Students in this course bring their own experiences with race into the classroom as a legitimate and valued source for learning. The course readings link students’ personal experiences around race to a socio-historical understanding of individual, institutional, and structural discrimination--to the ways social inequality is embedded in social institutions and individual consciousness, constraining life chances. Early in the course students engage in structured activities that develop trust among participants, and learn skills at intergroup dialogue--suspending judgment and listening for understanding--in order to create respectful, sustained dialogues around racial divisions.  Students engage in small mixed-race teams to research a racial inequality/inequity on campus. Students do reflective writing weekly linking their in-class experiences to the readings, as well as reflective writing at the end about their learning throughout the semester. The course exposes participants in a very intimate way to how classmates of different races see and experience the world, to the pain and trauma students of color may have undergone due to race, and to the privilege White students possess, whether or not they are aware of it.   Offered Fall semester.  Professors Hart and Aries.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022

227 Developmental Psychology

(Offered as PSYC 227 and EDST 227) A study of human development across the lifespan with an emphasis on the general characteristics of various stages of development from birth to adolescence and on the determinants of the developmental process. The class will explore: 1) prenatal development, 2) the development of motor skills, cognitive skills, language, emotional understanding, attachments, and morality, and 3) the role of family systems in development. Students will engage with this content using contemporary research and real-world applications.   

Requisite: PSYC 100 or 212 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students per section. Offered Fall semester: Professor O'Carroll.  Spring semester: Prof. Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

228 Clinical Psychology

A review of various forms of psychopathology including addictive, adjustment, anxiety, childhood, dissociative, impulse control, mood, organic, personality, psychophysiological, schizophrenic, and sexual disorders. Based on a review of contemporary research findings, lectures and discussion will focus on the most relevant approaches for understanding, diagnosing, and treating psychological disorders. The biopsychosocial model will serve as a basis for explaining the etiology of psychological disorders, and discussion will focus on empirically supported interventions for treating these conditions.

This course involves three exams. Typically there will be two empirical articles to read each week. Each week students will also respond to preparation questions on an individual and group basis. Students will read a memoir and write a 5-page paper. At the end of the semester, students will complete a 5-7 page research paper. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 Amherst college students. Offered Fall semester: Professor McQuade.  Spring semester: Prof. Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

233 Cognitive Psychology

This course will examine how the mind extracts information from the environment, stores it for later use, and then retrieves it when it becomes useful. Initially, we will discuss how our eyes, ears, and brain turn light and sound into colors, objects, speech, and music. Next, we will look at how memory is organized and how it is used to accomplish a variety of tasks. Several memory models will be proposed and evaluated: Is our brain a large filing cabinet? A sophisticated computer? We will then apply these principles to understand issues like intelligence, thinking, and problem-solving. Throughout the course, we will discuss how damage to various parts of the brain affects our ability to learn and remember.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Spring semester. Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

317 Neurobiology of Appetite

Although the ingestive act per se is clear and simple, understanding the multifarious influences that are distilled into the decision at any given moment to eat, or not to eat, remains a ponderous challenge for scientists. The obesity epidemic of the last several decades continues to spread across the globe, leading to a rise in metabolic diseases and more pressing need than ever to understand the neurobiological controls of eating and body weight. Through a broad survey of neurobiological research literature, we will explore how various neurobiological systems and behavioral processes influence eating and body weight, including metabolism, neural mechanisms of hunger and satiety, metabolic disorders, dieting, pica, failure to thrive, starvation, taste preference and aversion, obesity, anxiety and depression, food taboos, and all eating disorders. Strong emphasis will be placed on biological mechanisms and controlled laboratory research with both human and animal subjects.

Limited to 20 students. Open to juniors and seniors. Fall semester. Prof. Baird.  

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023

323 Risk and Resilience

This course will explore the roles of risk and resilience in early development. Using existing empirical research, we will examine: 1) how risks are manifested prenatally, in infancy, and in childhood, 2) how to support resilience in childhood, and 3) how to develop interventions to address risks and promote resilience. Over the course of the semester, students will complete four independent projects exploring teratogens, contaminated food, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and intervention development. Through reading, discussion, short writing assignments, and more in-depth independent projects, this course aims to help students understand risk and resilience in childhood, and learn how empirical research can be used to develop and evaluate potential interventions.

Fall semester. Professor Palmquist

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

325 Psychopharmacology

(Offered as PSYC 325 and NEUR 325) In this course we will examine the ways in which drugs act on the brain to alter behavior. We will review basic principles of brain function and mechanisms of drug action in the brain. We will discuss a variety of legal and illegal recreational drugs as well as the use of psychotherapeutic drugs to treat mental illness. Examples from the primary scientific literature will demonstrate the various methods used to investigate mechanisms of drug action, the biological and behavioral consequences of drug use, and the nature of efforts to prevent or treat drug abuse.

Requisite: PSYC 212/NEUR 213, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Not open to five college students. Spring semester. Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

331 Childhood and Adolescence

(Offered as PSYC 331 and EDST 331) This course will explore conceptualizations of childhood and adolescence in the United States today. Using both academic articles and media resources, the course will address topics such as early education and school readiness; play and extracurricular involvement; college access and attendance; mental health, self-esteem, and social media; and youth activism. We will use developmental psychology as the lens for most of our readings and discussion, although the course will integrate concepts from sociology, history, and education. We will also examine the roles of relationships (e.g., family, teachers, and peers) and contexts (e.g., policy, schools, and culture) on youth experience. In this reading-intensive course, students will be expected to engage in class discussions, write weekly response papers, conduct a youth interview and write an interview report, and develop a final presentation.

Requisite: PSYC 227. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor O'Carroll.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2022

337 Stereotypes and Prejudice

This advanced seminar provides students with an overview of the social psychological study of stereotyping and prejudice. Through weekly discussions of empirical and theoretical articles, students will examine stereotypes, microaggressions, systems of privilege, oppression, and institutionalized discrimination that influence and help maintain racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism and their psychological consequences on the individual and society. Students will be expected to actively participate, lead class discussions/activities, provide weekly critical discussion questions, and develop a final research proposal. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 and PSYC 220. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

338 Personality and Political Leadership

In this course we will examine how to apply psychological theories to understand the lives of political leaders. We begin this course with a consideration of the role of personality in political leadership. We then examine psychological theories that can be fruitfully applied to the study of individual lives. Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate existing psychobiographies of important figures and students will conduct their own psychobiographical analyses of figures of their choice.

Requisite: PSYC 220, 221, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

353 Psychological Assessment

This course examines methods used by psychologists to understand the  psychology of individual personalities. The primary focus is on three psychological assessment tools: the Early Memories Procedure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the traditional interview. Students will take these devices themselves, read the theory behind them, examine case studies by prominent psychologists using these devices, and conduct their own interpretations of responses given by college students and by psychotherapy patients. In the process, students should develop a good understanding of the complexity of the clinical thought process.  

Requisite: PSYC 221, 228, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, January 2021, January 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2023

354 Close Relationships

An introduction to the study of close relationships using social-psychological theory and research. Topics will include interpersonal attraction, love and romance, sexuality, relationship development, communication, jealousy, conflict and dissolution, selfishness and altruism, loneliness, and therapeutic interventions. This is an upper-level seminar for the major requirement that requires intensive participation in class discussion and many written assignments.

Requisite: PSYC 220. Open to seniors. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Sanderson.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

361 Consciousness and the Brain

(Offered as PSYC 361 and NEUR 361) Although curiosity about the nature of consciousness has animated the work of philosophers, artists and others, this course will approach the topic from a scientific perspective. How do electrochemical signals in our brain produce our experience of colors, sounds, tastes and our awareness of ourselves? We will read and discuss primary source scientific journal articles drawn from both psychology and neuroscience with a focus on questions including: What kinds of brain activity distinguish conscious from unconscious states? Can objects in the environment (e.g., advertisements) affect our behavior even if we are not consciously aware of those objects? Are there different types of consciousness? Is consciousness peculiar to human beings (does it require language?) or is consciousness experienced by other species, as well? Does science have the tools necessary to achieve a complete understanding of human consciousness? Overall, the goal of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the current states of the scientific study of consciousness.

Requisite: PSYC 211, PSYC 212, PSYC 233, or PSYC/NEUR 213. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

364 Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

This course examines the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Disorders discussed will include behavioral (e.g., Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder), anxiety (e.g., the phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), mood (e.g. Depression), and developmental (e.g. Autism). Using a developmental perspective, topics will focus on risk factors, theory and etiology, family and social influences, and evidence-based psycho-social treatments. Course readings will come predominantly from empirical research articles and will be discussed in-depth in class. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to provide written reaction papers, and to develop a final research proposal.

Requisite: PSYC 228. Open to juniors and seniors. Limited to 15 students.  Offered Spring semester.  Professor McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

367 Human Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 367 and NEUR 367) This course will be an in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in the field of human neuroscience. Topics include a rigorous examination of the methods neuroscientists use to study the human brain, how the brain changes throughout the lifespan, the ways in which researchers have developed brain/machine interfaces, and the neural processes that support decision-making. For each topic, we will read several empirical articles and discuss them with an emphasis on experimental design, factors that may be confounding the data, and interpretation of the data. Assignments will include weekly response papers, an oral presentation, in-class debates, and a research proposal. Overall, the goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the cutting edge of human neuroscience research and to increase their ability to think like scientists.

Requisite: PSYC 211 or PSYC 212 or PSYC/NEUR 213 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2024

369 Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice

This course will be an in-depth examination of major theoretical models of psychotherapy. The course will focus on theoretical models and empirical support for the second wave (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and third wave (e.g., Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) psychotherapies. Students will examine how different psychotherapeutic approaches conceptualize mental illness and approach the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Issues related to ethics and the empirical evaluation of treatment outcomes will also be discussed. Readings will come predominantly from theoretical and empirical research. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to compose weekly written responses to assigned readings, and to develop a final research proposal. Overall, the goal of the seminar is for students to learn to think like clinical scientists.

Requisite: Psychology 228. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Elizabeth Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023

490 Special Topics

This course is open to qualified students who desire to engage in independent reading on selected topics or conduct research projects. Preference will be given to those students who have done good work in one or more departmental courses beyond the introductory level. A full course.

Open to juniors and seniors with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

498D Senior Honors

A double course. Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval.

Fall semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

499, 499D Senior Departmental Honors

Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval. A double course.

Spring semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
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About Amherst College

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Psychology

Professors Aries, Baird, Demorest‡ , Hart‡, Sanderson†, Schulkind†, and Turgeon, Associate Professors McQuade (Chair) and Palmquist, Assistant Professors Cohen and Kneeland. Visiting Assistant Professor Totton and Visiting Lecturer O'Carroll.

Major Program. 

The Psychology major is designed to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the content of the discipline and the skills required to work within it.  Psychology majors are required to elect nine full courses, including Psychology 100 (Introduction), Psychology 122 (Statistics), and either Psychology 200 (Research Methods) or a lab class in psychology (as described below). None of these nine courses may be taken Pass/Fail. Psychology majors must complete both Psychology 100 and Psychology 122 (or place out of these classes, as described below) by the end of the sophomore year, and must complete Psychology 200 or a lab class in psychology by the end of junior year.  Students may not enroll in Psychology 100 if they scored a 4 or 5 on the Psychology Advanced Placement exam, 5 or better on the Psychology International Baccalaureate exam, or completed an introductory psychology course at another college or university. Starting with students in the class of 2025, we are no longer allowing students to place out of taking Psych 100 by taking AP Psych. Students may not enroll in PSYC 122 if they completed STAT 111 or 135, ECON 360, or a statistics course at another college or university. Students who place out of either of these courses must replace that course(s) with an additional course(s) to reach the nine courses required of the major.  Given the coronavirus pandemic, for students in the class of 2021, 2022, and 2023, the psychology major requires 8 courses (instead of 9) and 1 seminar (instead of 2), and any major requirements taken during spring 2020 or the 2020-2021 academic year may be taken pass/fail. 

To provide skills for understanding and conducting research in psychology, students must complete either a research methods class (PSYC 200) or a lab class in psychology. Lab course options include:

PSYC 204 Emotion PSYC 206: Psychology of Play PSYC 208: Creativity

To provide a thorough understanding of fundamental areas within psychology, students must choose at least one intermediate course from each of the three areas below:

Area 1:  Cognitive Neuroscience (PSYC 211), Behavioral Neuroscience (PSYC 212), Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior (PSYC 213) Area 2:  Developmental Psychology (PSYC 227), Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 233), Psychology of Aging (PSYC 236) Area 3:  Social Psychology (PSYC 220), Personality (PSYC 221), Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 228)

To provide vertical depth in the major, students must also choose one seminar from at least TWO of the following six areas. However, as of the class of 2020, the thesis counts toward the seminar requirement in the area of the thesis, such that students who write a thesis need to only take one seminar in a different area than their thesis.

Area 1:  Biological: Psychopharmacology (PSYC 325), Neurophysiology of Motivation (PSYC 356), Consciousness (PSYC 361), Human Neuroscience (PSYC 367) Area 2:  Clinical: History of Psychiatry (PSYC 357), Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology (PSYC 364), Psychology of Attachment (PSYC 365), Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice (PSYC 369) Area 3:  Cognitive: Music Cognition (PSYC 366), Autobiographical Memory (PSYC 368) Area 4:  Personality: Personality and Political Leadership (PSYC 338), Psychological Assessment (PSYC 353) Area 5:  Social: Stereotypes & Prejudice (PSYC 337), Close Relationships (PSYC 354), Psychology and the Law (PSYC 363) Area 6: Developmental: Development of Nonverbal Communication (PSYC 362)

Students may complete the required number of courses by taking additional distribution courses, lab classes, seminars, and/or by taking any of the following electives: Intergroup Dialogue on Race (PSYC 224), Sport Psychology (PSYC 235), Health Psychology (PSYC 247),  Social Norms, Social Change (COLQ 338). Special Topics classes (PSYC 490) and thesis work (PSYC 498/499D) also count as elective courses towards the major. Students who write a thesis get three-course credits. 

Departmental Honors Research.  A limited number of majors will engage in honors research under the direction of a faculty member during their senior year.   Honors research involves credit for three courses (usually one-course credit during the fall and two credits during the spring semester) and culminates in a thesis.  These three courses count towards the nine classes required for the major.  The thesis usually involves both a review of the previous literature pertinent to the selected area of inquiry and a report of the methods and results of a study designed and conducted by the student.  Any student interested in pursuing honors research in psychology should discuss possible topics with appropriate faculty before preregistration in the second semester of the junior year.

†On leave fall semester 2022 ‡ On leave spring semester 2023 *On leave 2022-2023

100 Introduction to Psychology

An introduction to the nature of psychological inquiry regarding the origins, variability, and change of human behavior. As such, the course focuses on the nature-nurture controversy, the processes associated with cognitive and emotional development, the role of personal characteristics and situational conditions in shaping behavior, and various approaches to psychotherapy.

Not open to five college students. Limited to 40 students in the fall semester (20 seats reserved for first-year students) and limited to first-year students in the spring semester. Fall semester: Professors Kneeland, Palmquist, and Totton.  Spring semester:  Professors Cohen and Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, January 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

122 Statistics and Experimental Design

An introduction to and critical consideration of experimental methodology in psychology. Topics will include the formation of testable hypotheses, the selection and implementation of appropriate procedures, the statistical description and analysis of experimental data, and the interpretation of results. Articles from the experimental journals and popular literature will illustrate and interrelate these topics and provide a survey of experimental techniques and content areas. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 30 students. Fall semester: Fall: McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

200 Research Methods

This course is designed to explore the principles of behavioral science research and the rationale underlying various research methodologies. The course will take a hands-on approach to research design, data collection, and data analysis. Students will learn how to understand and critically evaluate original research reports, independently design and execute psychological investigations, and write scientific reports in APA format. Topics include the reliability and validity of measures, content analysis, correlational designs, randomized experiments and causal inference, experimental control, and ethical considerations. Time in class will be split between lectures, small group exercises and design of research projects, and data analysis using SPSS.

Requisite: PSYC 122. Limited to 18 students. Fall semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

204 Emotion

This course will help students better understand how psychological science has been used to investigate a broad range of human emotions. During the semester, students will explore questions such as: What are emotions, and how can we study them? How do personal factors, like our culture or gender, influence the emotions we experience and express? Can we regulate our emotions, and what influences our ability to do so? What factors are associated with greater happiness and emotional well-being? Students in this course will read existing empirical and theoretical literature focusing on how psychologists scientifically study emotions. Working in small groups, students will develop and execute original research studies in the area of emotion. These research projects will include data collection, data analysis, and the written and oral presentation of study findings. The goal of this course is for students to explore the existing research centering on the study of emotion, and to develop empirical answers to the fundamental questions of when, how, and why we feel the ways we do.

Prerequisite: Psych 122 Statistics. Limited to 18. Offered Fall semester. Professor Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

206 Psychology of Play

(Offered as PSYC 206 and EDST 206) This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. To extend this understanding, the class will travel to the University of California-Irvine during spring break to explore how researchers there are creating community-based learning opportunities for children and families from diverse backgrounds living in the Santa Ana community. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. 

Requisite: PSYC 100. Limited to 15 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2020

208 Creativity

Students in this course will design and execute an original research project related to creativity. Psychologists have defined creative ideas as those that are original, useful, and surprising. Creativity can be observed in many contexts (e.g., the arts, science, athletics, politics, and business), and can refer both to ideas as well as the people and social environments that foster such ideas. The semester will begin with a careful reading of the literature which will help students develop individual research proposals; group projects will be selected from amongst these proposals. The rest of the semester will be devoted to conducting the group projects; this will include designing experimental procedures, developing stimuli, and data collection and analysis. Written and oral presentations will accompany each step in the process to enable students to receive and offer constructive feedback. The semester will culminate with oral and written presentations of the experimental projects.

Requisite: PSYC 122,  PSYC 135, or equivalent. Limited to 18 students.  Offered spring semester: Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

211 Cognitive Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 211 and NEUR 211) Historically, psychologists and neuroscientists have worked somewhat in parallel to one another. While psychologists have traditionally focused on how humans think, feel, and behave, neuroscientists have primarily focused exclusively on the workings of the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a relatively new discipline that lies at the intersection of these fields and seeks to understand the neurobiological processes that underlie cognition. This course serves as a broad introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience and will focus on a variety of questions, including the following: How does the brain obtain and process information about the environment via sight, taste, and touch? How does the brain support our capacity to learn and speak different languages? What happens to the brain when it is afflicted with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, amnesia, schizophrenia, and autism? This course will provide students with a foundational understanding of modern cognitive neuroscience and the ways in which researchers examine the relationship between the mind and the brain.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall 2022: Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

212 Behavioral Neuroscience

This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. PSYC 212 does not count as credit towards the neuroscience major. Students interested in the Neuroscience major should enroll in 213. Limited to 40 students.  Spring Semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

213 Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior

(Offered as PSYC 213 and NEUR 213) This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness. Laboratories will include basic neuroanatomy and behavioral experiments. Three class hours and three hours of laboratory per week.

Requisite: BIOL 191 or PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Cannot be taken if PSYC 212 has been taken because of substantial overlap between the two courses. Limited to 36 students. Spring semester. Professor Baird.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2024

220 Social Psychology

The individual’s behavior as it is influenced by other people and by the social environment. The major aim of this course is to provide an overview of the wide-ranging concerns characterizing social psychology from both a substantive and a methodological perspective. Topics include person perception, attitude change, interpersonal attraction, conformity, altruism, group dynamics, and prejudice. In addition to substantive issues, the course is designed to introduce students to the appropriate research data analysis procedures.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40. Preference to Amherst College students. Offered Fall semester.  Professor Sanderson.  Spring semester: Professor Totton.

 

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

221 Personality Psychology

This course examines how psychologists understand the patterns of experiencing and behaving that constitute an individual’s personality. Personality psychologists are concerned with the ways in which a person is like all other people in these patterns (common psychological processes), like some others (individual differences), and like no one else (uniqueness). In examining these questions, we study the “grand theories” of Freud, Skinner, and Rogers, as well as the contemporary models of traits and scripts. We explore what professional observations led to the major theoretical ideas in personality psychology, and we critically examine how these ideas have been tested in empirical research. Furthermore, we study the lives of the theorists to examine how their professional ideas were informed by their personal lives. Students will also take personality assessment devices throughout the semester as a way to better understand the models, and perhaps themselves as well.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

224 Intergroup Dialogue on Race

(Offered as PSYC 224 and EDST 224) This highly interactive course brings together students to examine the roles race and other intersecting identities play in their lives. Course work includes an interdisciplinary blend of scholarly readings, in-class dialogue, experiential learning activities, reflective writing, and an intergroup collaborative research project. Students in this course bring their own experiences with race into the classroom as a legitimate and valued source for learning. The course readings link students’ personal experiences around race to a socio-historical understanding of individual, institutional, and structural discrimination--to the ways social inequality is embedded in social institutions and individual consciousness, constraining life chances. Early in the course students engage in structured activities that develop trust among participants, and learn skills at intergroup dialogue--suspending judgment and listening for understanding--in order to create respectful, sustained dialogues around racial divisions.  Students engage in small mixed-race teams to research a racial inequality/inequity on campus. Students do reflective writing weekly linking their in-class experiences to the readings, as well as reflective writing at the end about their learning throughout the semester. The course exposes participants in a very intimate way to how classmates of different races see and experience the world, to the pain and trauma students of color may have undergone due to race, and to the privilege White students possess, whether or not they are aware of it.   Offered Fall semester.  Professors Hart and Aries.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022

227 Developmental Psychology

(Offered as PSYC 227 and EDST 227) A study of human development across the lifespan with an emphasis on the general characteristics of various stages of development from birth to adolescence and on the determinants of the developmental process. The class will explore: 1) prenatal development, 2) the development of motor skills, cognitive skills, language, emotional understanding, attachments, and morality, and 3) the role of family systems in development. Students will engage with this content using contemporary research and real-world applications.   

Requisite: PSYC 100 or 212 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students per section. Offered Fall semester: Professor O'Carroll.  Spring semester: Prof. Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

228 Clinical Psychology

A review of various forms of psychopathology including addictive, adjustment, anxiety, childhood, dissociative, impulse control, mood, organic, personality, psychophysiological, schizophrenic, and sexual disorders. Based on a review of contemporary research findings, lectures and discussion will focus on the most relevant approaches for understanding, diagnosing, and treating psychological disorders. The biopsychosocial model will serve as a basis for explaining the etiology of psychological disorders, and discussion will focus on empirically supported interventions for treating these conditions.

This course involves three exams. Typically there will be two empirical articles to read each week. Each week students will also respond to preparation questions on an individual and group basis. Students will read a memoir and write a 5-page paper. At the end of the semester, students will complete a 5-7 page research paper. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 Amherst college students. Offered Fall semester: Professor McQuade.  Spring semester: Prof. Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

233 Cognitive Psychology

This course will examine how the mind extracts information from the environment, stores it for later use, and then retrieves it when it becomes useful. Initially, we will discuss how our eyes, ears, and brain turn light and sound into colors, objects, speech, and music. Next, we will look at how memory is organized and how it is used to accomplish a variety of tasks. Several memory models will be proposed and evaluated: Is our brain a large filing cabinet? A sophisticated computer? We will then apply these principles to understand issues like intelligence, thinking, and problem-solving. Throughout the course, we will discuss how damage to various parts of the brain affects our ability to learn and remember.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Spring semester. Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

317 Neurobiology of Appetite

Although the ingestive act per se is clear and simple, understanding the multifarious influences that are distilled into the decision at any given moment to eat, or not to eat, remains a ponderous challenge for scientists. The obesity epidemic of the last several decades continues to spread across the globe, leading to a rise in metabolic diseases and more pressing need than ever to understand the neurobiological controls of eating and body weight. Through a broad survey of neurobiological research literature, we will explore how various neurobiological systems and behavioral processes influence eating and body weight, including metabolism, neural mechanisms of hunger and satiety, metabolic disorders, dieting, pica, failure to thrive, starvation, taste preference and aversion, obesity, anxiety and depression, food taboos, and all eating disorders. Strong emphasis will be placed on biological mechanisms and controlled laboratory research with both human and animal subjects.

Limited to 20 students. Open to juniors and seniors. Fall semester. Prof. Baird.  

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023

323 Risk and Resilience

This course will explore the roles of risk and resilience in early development. Using existing empirical research, we will examine: 1) how risks are manifested prenatally, in infancy, and in childhood, 2) how to support resilience in childhood, and 3) how to develop interventions to address risks and promote resilience. Over the course of the semester, students will complete four independent projects exploring teratogens, contaminated food, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and intervention development. Through reading, discussion, short writing assignments, and more in-depth independent projects, this course aims to help students understand risk and resilience in childhood, and learn how empirical research can be used to develop and evaluate potential interventions.

Fall semester. Professor Palmquist

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

325 Psychopharmacology

(Offered as PSYC 325 and NEUR 325) In this course we will examine the ways in which drugs act on the brain to alter behavior. We will review basic principles of brain function and mechanisms of drug action in the brain. We will discuss a variety of legal and illegal recreational drugs as well as the use of psychotherapeutic drugs to treat mental illness. Examples from the primary scientific literature will demonstrate the various methods used to investigate mechanisms of drug action, the biological and behavioral consequences of drug use, and the nature of efforts to prevent or treat drug abuse.

Requisite: PSYC 212/NEUR 213, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Not open to five college students. Spring semester. Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

331 Childhood and Adolescence

(Offered as PSYC 331 and EDST 331) This course will explore conceptualizations of childhood and adolescence in the United States today. Using both academic articles and media resources, the course will address topics such as early education and school readiness; play and extracurricular involvement; college access and attendance; mental health, self-esteem, and social media; and youth activism. We will use developmental psychology as the lens for most of our readings and discussion, although the course will integrate concepts from sociology, history, and education. We will also examine the roles of relationships (e.g., family, teachers, and peers) and contexts (e.g., policy, schools, and culture) on youth experience. In this reading-intensive course, students will be expected to engage in class discussions, write weekly response papers, conduct a youth interview and write an interview report, and develop a final presentation.

Requisite: PSYC 227. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor O'Carroll.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2022

337 Stereotypes and Prejudice

This advanced seminar provides students with an overview of the social psychological study of stereotyping and prejudice. Through weekly discussions of empirical and theoretical articles, students will examine stereotypes, microaggressions, systems of privilege, oppression, and institutionalized discrimination that influence and help maintain racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism and their psychological consequences on the individual and society. Students will be expected to actively participate, lead class discussions/activities, provide weekly critical discussion questions, and develop a final research proposal. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 and PSYC 220. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

338 Personality and Political Leadership

In this course we will examine how to apply psychological theories to understand the lives of political leaders. We begin this course with a consideration of the role of personality in political leadership. We then examine psychological theories that can be fruitfully applied to the study of individual lives. Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate existing psychobiographies of important figures and students will conduct their own psychobiographical analyses of figures of their choice.

Requisite: PSYC 220, 221, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

353 Psychological Assessment

This course examines methods used by psychologists to understand the  psychology of individual personalities. The primary focus is on three psychological assessment tools: the Early Memories Procedure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the traditional interview. Students will take these devices themselves, read the theory behind them, examine case studies by prominent psychologists using these devices, and conduct their own interpretations of responses given by college students and by psychotherapy patients. In the process, students should develop a good understanding of the complexity of the clinical thought process.  

Requisite: PSYC 221, 228, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, January 2021, January 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2023

354 Close Relationships

An introduction to the study of close relationships using social-psychological theory and research. Topics will include interpersonal attraction, love and romance, sexuality, relationship development, communication, jealousy, conflict and dissolution, selfishness and altruism, loneliness, and therapeutic interventions. This is an upper-level seminar for the major requirement that requires intensive participation in class discussion and many written assignments.

Requisite: PSYC 220. Open to seniors. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Sanderson.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

361 Consciousness and the Brain

(Offered as PSYC 361 and NEUR 361) Although curiosity about the nature of consciousness has animated the work of philosophers, artists and others, this course will approach the topic from a scientific perspective. How do electrochemical signals in our brain produce our experience of colors, sounds, tastes and our awareness of ourselves? We will read and discuss primary source scientific journal articles drawn from both psychology and neuroscience with a focus on questions including: What kinds of brain activity distinguish conscious from unconscious states? Can objects in the environment (e.g., advertisements) affect our behavior even if we are not consciously aware of those objects? Are there different types of consciousness? Is consciousness peculiar to human beings (does it require language?) or is consciousness experienced by other species, as well? Does science have the tools necessary to achieve a complete understanding of human consciousness? Overall, the goal of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the current states of the scientific study of consciousness.

Requisite: PSYC 211, PSYC 212, PSYC 233, or PSYC/NEUR 213. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

364 Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

This course examines the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Disorders discussed will include behavioral (e.g., Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder), anxiety (e.g., the phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), mood (e.g. Depression), and developmental (e.g. Autism). Using a developmental perspective, topics will focus on risk factors, theory and etiology, family and social influences, and evidence-based psycho-social treatments. Course readings will come predominantly from empirical research articles and will be discussed in-depth in class. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to provide written reaction papers, and to develop a final research proposal.

Requisite: PSYC 228. Open to juniors and seniors. Limited to 15 students.  Offered Spring semester.  Professor McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

367 Human Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 367 and NEUR 367) This course will be an in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in the field of human neuroscience. Topics include a rigorous examination of the methods neuroscientists use to study the human brain, how the brain changes throughout the lifespan, the ways in which researchers have developed brain/machine interfaces, and the neural processes that support decision-making. For each topic, we will read several empirical articles and discuss them with an emphasis on experimental design, factors that may be confounding the data, and interpretation of the data. Assignments will include weekly response papers, an oral presentation, in-class debates, and a research proposal. Overall, the goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the cutting edge of human neuroscience research and to increase their ability to think like scientists.

Requisite: PSYC 211 or PSYC 212 or PSYC/NEUR 213 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2024

369 Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice

This course will be an in-depth examination of major theoretical models of psychotherapy. The course will focus on theoretical models and empirical support for the second wave (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and third wave (e.g., Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) psychotherapies. Students will examine how different psychotherapeutic approaches conceptualize mental illness and approach the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Issues related to ethics and the empirical evaluation of treatment outcomes will also be discussed. Readings will come predominantly from theoretical and empirical research. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to compose weekly written responses to assigned readings, and to develop a final research proposal. Overall, the goal of the seminar is for students to learn to think like clinical scientists.

Requisite: Psychology 228. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Elizabeth Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023

490 Special Topics

This course is open to qualified students who desire to engage in independent reading on selected topics or conduct research projects. Preference will be given to those students who have done good work in one or more departmental courses beyond the introductory level. A full course.

Open to juniors and seniors with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

498D Senior Honors

A double course. Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval.

Fall semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

499, 499D Senior Departmental Honors

Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval. A double course.

Spring semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
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Psychology

Professors Aries, Baird, Demorest‡ , Hart‡, Sanderson†, Schulkind†, and Turgeon, Associate Professors McQuade (Chair) and Palmquist, Assistant Professors Cohen and Kneeland. Visiting Assistant Professor Totton and Visiting Lecturer O'Carroll.

Major Program. 

The Psychology major is designed to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the content of the discipline and the skills required to work within it.  Psychology majors are required to elect nine full courses, including Psychology 100 (Introduction), Psychology 122 (Statistics), and either Psychology 200 (Research Methods) or a lab class in psychology (as described below). None of these nine courses may be taken Pass/Fail. Psychology majors must complete both Psychology 100 and Psychology 122 (or place out of these classes, as described below) by the end of the sophomore year, and must complete Psychology 200 or a lab class in psychology by the end of junior year.  Students may not enroll in Psychology 100 if they scored a 4 or 5 on the Psychology Advanced Placement exam, 5 or better on the Psychology International Baccalaureate exam, or completed an introductory psychology course at another college or university. Starting with students in the class of 2025, we are no longer allowing students to place out of taking Psych 100 by taking AP Psych. Students may not enroll in PSYC 122 if they completed STAT 111 or 135, ECON 360, or a statistics course at another college or university. Students who place out of either of these courses must replace that course(s) with an additional course(s) to reach the nine courses required of the major.  Given the coronavirus pandemic, for students in the class of 2021, 2022, and 2023, the psychology major requires 8 courses (instead of 9) and 1 seminar (instead of 2), and any major requirements taken during spring 2020 or the 2020-2021 academic year may be taken pass/fail. 

To provide skills for understanding and conducting research in psychology, students must complete either a research methods class (PSYC 200) or a lab class in psychology. Lab course options include:

PSYC 204 Emotion PSYC 206: Psychology of Play PSYC 208: Creativity

To provide a thorough understanding of fundamental areas within psychology, students must choose at least one intermediate course from each of the three areas below:

Area 1:  Cognitive Neuroscience (PSYC 211), Behavioral Neuroscience (PSYC 212), Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior (PSYC 213) Area 2:  Developmental Psychology (PSYC 227), Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 233), Psychology of Aging (PSYC 236) Area 3:  Social Psychology (PSYC 220), Personality (PSYC 221), Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 228)

To provide vertical depth in the major, students must also choose one seminar from at least TWO of the following six areas. However, as of the class of 2020, the thesis counts toward the seminar requirement in the area of the thesis, such that students who write a thesis need to only take one seminar in a different area than their thesis.

Area 1:  Biological: Psychopharmacology (PSYC 325), Neurophysiology of Motivation (PSYC 356), Consciousness (PSYC 361), Human Neuroscience (PSYC 367) Area 2:  Clinical: History of Psychiatry (PSYC 357), Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology (PSYC 364), Psychology of Attachment (PSYC 365), Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice (PSYC 369) Area 3:  Cognitive: Music Cognition (PSYC 366), Autobiographical Memory (PSYC 368) Area 4:  Personality: Personality and Political Leadership (PSYC 338), Psychological Assessment (PSYC 353) Area 5:  Social: Stereotypes & Prejudice (PSYC 337), Close Relationships (PSYC 354), Psychology and the Law (PSYC 363) Area 6: Developmental: Development of Nonverbal Communication (PSYC 362)

Students may complete the required number of courses by taking additional distribution courses, lab classes, seminars, and/or by taking any of the following electives: Intergroup Dialogue on Race (PSYC 224), Sport Psychology (PSYC 235), Health Psychology (PSYC 247),  Social Norms, Social Change (COLQ 338). Special Topics classes (PSYC 490) and thesis work (PSYC 498/499D) also count as elective courses towards the major. Students who write a thesis get three-course credits. 

Departmental Honors Research.  A limited number of majors will engage in honors research under the direction of a faculty member during their senior year.   Honors research involves credit for three courses (usually one-course credit during the fall and two credits during the spring semester) and culminates in a thesis.  These three courses count towards the nine classes required for the major.  The thesis usually involves both a review of the previous literature pertinent to the selected area of inquiry and a report of the methods and results of a study designed and conducted by the student.  Any student interested in pursuing honors research in psychology should discuss possible topics with appropriate faculty before preregistration in the second semester of the junior year.

†On leave fall semester 2022 ‡ On leave spring semester 2023 *On leave 2022-2023

100 Introduction to Psychology

An introduction to the nature of psychological inquiry regarding the origins, variability, and change of human behavior. As such, the course focuses on the nature-nurture controversy, the processes associated with cognitive and emotional development, the role of personal characteristics and situational conditions in shaping behavior, and various approaches to psychotherapy.

Not open to five college students. Limited to 40 students in the fall semester (20 seats reserved for first-year students) and limited to first-year students in the spring semester. Fall semester: Professors Kneeland, Palmquist, and Totton.  Spring semester:  Professors Cohen and Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, January 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

122 Statistics and Experimental Design

An introduction to and critical consideration of experimental methodology in psychology. Topics will include the formation of testable hypotheses, the selection and implementation of appropriate procedures, the statistical description and analysis of experimental data, and the interpretation of results. Articles from the experimental journals and popular literature will illustrate and interrelate these topics and provide a survey of experimental techniques and content areas. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 30 students. Fall semester: Fall: McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

200 Research Methods

This course is designed to explore the principles of behavioral science research and the rationale underlying various research methodologies. The course will take a hands-on approach to research design, data collection, and data analysis. Students will learn how to understand and critically evaluate original research reports, independently design and execute psychological investigations, and write scientific reports in APA format. Topics include the reliability and validity of measures, content analysis, correlational designs, randomized experiments and causal inference, experimental control, and ethical considerations. Time in class will be split between lectures, small group exercises and design of research projects, and data analysis using SPSS.

Requisite: PSYC 122. Limited to 18 students. Fall semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

204 Emotion

This course will help students better understand how psychological science has been used to investigate a broad range of human emotions. During the semester, students will explore questions such as: What are emotions, and how can we study them? How do personal factors, like our culture or gender, influence the emotions we experience and express? Can we regulate our emotions, and what influences our ability to do so? What factors are associated with greater happiness and emotional well-being? Students in this course will read existing empirical and theoretical literature focusing on how psychologists scientifically study emotions. Working in small groups, students will develop and execute original research studies in the area of emotion. These research projects will include data collection, data analysis, and the written and oral presentation of study findings. The goal of this course is for students to explore the existing research centering on the study of emotion, and to develop empirical answers to the fundamental questions of when, how, and why we feel the ways we do.

Prerequisite: Psych 122 Statistics. Limited to 18. Offered Fall semester. Professor Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

206 Psychology of Play

(Offered as PSYC 206 and EDST 206) This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. To extend this understanding, the class will travel to the University of California-Irvine during spring break to explore how researchers there are creating community-based learning opportunities for children and families from diverse backgrounds living in the Santa Ana community. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. 

Requisite: PSYC 100. Limited to 15 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2020

208 Creativity

Students in this course will design and execute an original research project related to creativity. Psychologists have defined creative ideas as those that are original, useful, and surprising. Creativity can be observed in many contexts (e.g., the arts, science, athletics, politics, and business), and can refer both to ideas as well as the people and social environments that foster such ideas. The semester will begin with a careful reading of the literature which will help students develop individual research proposals; group projects will be selected from amongst these proposals. The rest of the semester will be devoted to conducting the group projects; this will include designing experimental procedures, developing stimuli, and data collection and analysis. Written and oral presentations will accompany each step in the process to enable students to receive and offer constructive feedback. The semester will culminate with oral and written presentations of the experimental projects.

Requisite: PSYC 122,  PSYC 135, or equivalent. Limited to 18 students.  Offered spring semester: Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

211 Cognitive Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 211 and NEUR 211) Historically, psychologists and neuroscientists have worked somewhat in parallel to one another. While psychologists have traditionally focused on how humans think, feel, and behave, neuroscientists have primarily focused exclusively on the workings of the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a relatively new discipline that lies at the intersection of these fields and seeks to understand the neurobiological processes that underlie cognition. This course serves as a broad introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience and will focus on a variety of questions, including the following: How does the brain obtain and process information about the environment via sight, taste, and touch? How does the brain support our capacity to learn and speak different languages? What happens to the brain when it is afflicted with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, amnesia, schizophrenia, and autism? This course will provide students with a foundational understanding of modern cognitive neuroscience and the ways in which researchers examine the relationship between the mind and the brain.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall 2022: Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

212 Behavioral Neuroscience

This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. PSYC 212 does not count as credit towards the neuroscience major. Students interested in the Neuroscience major should enroll in 213. Limited to 40 students.  Spring Semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

213 Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior

(Offered as PSYC 213 and NEUR 213) This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness. Laboratories will include basic neuroanatomy and behavioral experiments. Three class hours and three hours of laboratory per week.

Requisite: BIOL 191 or PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Cannot be taken if PSYC 212 has been taken because of substantial overlap between the two courses. Limited to 36 students. Spring semester. Professor Baird.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2024

220 Social Psychology

The individual’s behavior as it is influenced by other people and by the social environment. The major aim of this course is to provide an overview of the wide-ranging concerns characterizing social psychology from both a substantive and a methodological perspective. Topics include person perception, attitude change, interpersonal attraction, conformity, altruism, group dynamics, and prejudice. In addition to substantive issues, the course is designed to introduce students to the appropriate research data analysis procedures.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40. Preference to Amherst College students. Offered Fall semester.  Professor Sanderson.  Spring semester: Professor Totton.

 

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

221 Personality Psychology

This course examines how psychologists understand the patterns of experiencing and behaving that constitute an individual’s personality. Personality psychologists are concerned with the ways in which a person is like all other people in these patterns (common psychological processes), like some others (individual differences), and like no one else (uniqueness). In examining these questions, we study the “grand theories” of Freud, Skinner, and Rogers, as well as the contemporary models of traits and scripts. We explore what professional observations led to the major theoretical ideas in personality psychology, and we critically examine how these ideas have been tested in empirical research. Furthermore, we study the lives of the theorists to examine how their professional ideas were informed by their personal lives. Students will also take personality assessment devices throughout the semester as a way to better understand the models, and perhaps themselves as well.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

224 Intergroup Dialogue on Race

(Offered as PSYC 224 and EDST 224) This highly interactive course brings together students to examine the roles race and other intersecting identities play in their lives. Course work includes an interdisciplinary blend of scholarly readings, in-class dialogue, experiential learning activities, reflective writing, and an intergroup collaborative research project. Students in this course bring their own experiences with race into the classroom as a legitimate and valued source for learning. The course readings link students’ personal experiences around race to a socio-historical understanding of individual, institutional, and structural discrimination--to the ways social inequality is embedded in social institutions and individual consciousness, constraining life chances. Early in the course students engage in structured activities that develop trust among participants, and learn skills at intergroup dialogue--suspending judgment and listening for understanding--in order to create respectful, sustained dialogues around racial divisions.  Students engage in small mixed-race teams to research a racial inequality/inequity on campus. Students do reflective writing weekly linking their in-class experiences to the readings, as well as reflective writing at the end about their learning throughout the semester. The course exposes participants in a very intimate way to how classmates of different races see and experience the world, to the pain and trauma students of color may have undergone due to race, and to the privilege White students possess, whether or not they are aware of it.   Offered Fall semester.  Professors Hart and Aries.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022

227 Developmental Psychology

(Offered as PSYC 227 and EDST 227) A study of human development across the lifespan with an emphasis on the general characteristics of various stages of development from birth to adolescence and on the determinants of the developmental process. The class will explore: 1) prenatal development, 2) the development of motor skills, cognitive skills, language, emotional understanding, attachments, and morality, and 3) the role of family systems in development. Students will engage with this content using contemporary research and real-world applications.   

Requisite: PSYC 100 or 212 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students per section. Offered Fall semester: Professor O'Carroll.  Spring semester: Prof. Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

228 Clinical Psychology

A review of various forms of psychopathology including addictive, adjustment, anxiety, childhood, dissociative, impulse control, mood, organic, personality, psychophysiological, schizophrenic, and sexual disorders. Based on a review of contemporary research findings, lectures and discussion will focus on the most relevant approaches for understanding, diagnosing, and treating psychological disorders. The biopsychosocial model will serve as a basis for explaining the etiology of psychological disorders, and discussion will focus on empirically supported interventions for treating these conditions.

This course involves three exams. Typically there will be two empirical articles to read each week. Each week students will also respond to preparation questions on an individual and group basis. Students will read a memoir and write a 5-page paper. At the end of the semester, students will complete a 5-7 page research paper. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 Amherst college students. Offered Fall semester: Professor McQuade.  Spring semester: Prof. Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

233 Cognitive Psychology

This course will examine how the mind extracts information from the environment, stores it for later use, and then retrieves it when it becomes useful. Initially, we will discuss how our eyes, ears, and brain turn light and sound into colors, objects, speech, and music. Next, we will look at how memory is organized and how it is used to accomplish a variety of tasks. Several memory models will be proposed and evaluated: Is our brain a large filing cabinet? A sophisticated computer? We will then apply these principles to understand issues like intelligence, thinking, and problem-solving. Throughout the course, we will discuss how damage to various parts of the brain affects our ability to learn and remember.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Spring semester. Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

317 Neurobiology of Appetite

Although the ingestive act per se is clear and simple, understanding the multifarious influences that are distilled into the decision at any given moment to eat, or not to eat, remains a ponderous challenge for scientists. The obesity epidemic of the last several decades continues to spread across the globe, leading to a rise in metabolic diseases and more pressing need than ever to understand the neurobiological controls of eating and body weight. Through a broad survey of neurobiological research literature, we will explore how various neurobiological systems and behavioral processes influence eating and body weight, including metabolism, neural mechanisms of hunger and satiety, metabolic disorders, dieting, pica, failure to thrive, starvation, taste preference and aversion, obesity, anxiety and depression, food taboos, and all eating disorders. Strong emphasis will be placed on biological mechanisms and controlled laboratory research with both human and animal subjects.

Limited to 20 students. Open to juniors and seniors. Fall semester. Prof. Baird.  

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023

323 Risk and Resilience

This course will explore the roles of risk and resilience in early development. Using existing empirical research, we will examine: 1) how risks are manifested prenatally, in infancy, and in childhood, 2) how to support resilience in childhood, and 3) how to develop interventions to address risks and promote resilience. Over the course of the semester, students will complete four independent projects exploring teratogens, contaminated food, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and intervention development. Through reading, discussion, short writing assignments, and more in-depth independent projects, this course aims to help students understand risk and resilience in childhood, and learn how empirical research can be used to develop and evaluate potential interventions.

Fall semester. Professor Palmquist

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

325 Psychopharmacology

(Offered as PSYC 325 and NEUR 325) In this course we will examine the ways in which drugs act on the brain to alter behavior. We will review basic principles of brain function and mechanisms of drug action in the brain. We will discuss a variety of legal and illegal recreational drugs as well as the use of psychotherapeutic drugs to treat mental illness. Examples from the primary scientific literature will demonstrate the various methods used to investigate mechanisms of drug action, the biological and behavioral consequences of drug use, and the nature of efforts to prevent or treat drug abuse.

Requisite: PSYC 212/NEUR 213, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Not open to five college students. Spring semester. Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

331 Childhood and Adolescence

(Offered as PSYC 331 and EDST 331) This course will explore conceptualizations of childhood and adolescence in the United States today. Using both academic articles and media resources, the course will address topics such as early education and school readiness; play and extracurricular involvement; college access and attendance; mental health, self-esteem, and social media; and youth activism. We will use developmental psychology as the lens for most of our readings and discussion, although the course will integrate concepts from sociology, history, and education. We will also examine the roles of relationships (e.g., family, teachers, and peers) and contexts (e.g., policy, schools, and culture) on youth experience. In this reading-intensive course, students will be expected to engage in class discussions, write weekly response papers, conduct a youth interview and write an interview report, and develop a final presentation.

Requisite: PSYC 227. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor O'Carroll.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2022

337 Stereotypes and Prejudice

This advanced seminar provides students with an overview of the social psychological study of stereotyping and prejudice. Through weekly discussions of empirical and theoretical articles, students will examine stereotypes, microaggressions, systems of privilege, oppression, and institutionalized discrimination that influence and help maintain racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism and their psychological consequences on the individual and society. Students will be expected to actively participate, lead class discussions/activities, provide weekly critical discussion questions, and develop a final research proposal. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 and PSYC 220. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

338 Personality and Political Leadership

In this course we will examine how to apply psychological theories to understand the lives of political leaders. We begin this course with a consideration of the role of personality in political leadership. We then examine psychological theories that can be fruitfully applied to the study of individual lives. Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate existing psychobiographies of important figures and students will conduct their own psychobiographical analyses of figures of their choice.

Requisite: PSYC 220, 221, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

353 Psychological Assessment

This course examines methods used by psychologists to understand the  psychology of individual personalities. The primary focus is on three psychological assessment tools: the Early Memories Procedure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the traditional interview. Students will take these devices themselves, read the theory behind them, examine case studies by prominent psychologists using these devices, and conduct their own interpretations of responses given by college students and by psychotherapy patients. In the process, students should develop a good understanding of the complexity of the clinical thought process.  

Requisite: PSYC 221, 228, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, January 2021, January 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2023

354 Close Relationships

An introduction to the study of close relationships using social-psychological theory and research. Topics will include interpersonal attraction, love and romance, sexuality, relationship development, communication, jealousy, conflict and dissolution, selfishness and altruism, loneliness, and therapeutic interventions. This is an upper-level seminar for the major requirement that requires intensive participation in class discussion and many written assignments.

Requisite: PSYC 220. Open to seniors. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Sanderson.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

361 Consciousness and the Brain

(Offered as PSYC 361 and NEUR 361) Although curiosity about the nature of consciousness has animated the work of philosophers, artists and others, this course will approach the topic from a scientific perspective. How do electrochemical signals in our brain produce our experience of colors, sounds, tastes and our awareness of ourselves? We will read and discuss primary source scientific journal articles drawn from both psychology and neuroscience with a focus on questions including: What kinds of brain activity distinguish conscious from unconscious states? Can objects in the environment (e.g., advertisements) affect our behavior even if we are not consciously aware of those objects? Are there different types of consciousness? Is consciousness peculiar to human beings (does it require language?) or is consciousness experienced by other species, as well? Does science have the tools necessary to achieve a complete understanding of human consciousness? Overall, the goal of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the current states of the scientific study of consciousness.

Requisite: PSYC 211, PSYC 212, PSYC 233, or PSYC/NEUR 213. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

364 Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

This course examines the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Disorders discussed will include behavioral (e.g., Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder), anxiety (e.g., the phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), mood (e.g. Depression), and developmental (e.g. Autism). Using a developmental perspective, topics will focus on risk factors, theory and etiology, family and social influences, and evidence-based psycho-social treatments. Course readings will come predominantly from empirical research articles and will be discussed in-depth in class. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to provide written reaction papers, and to develop a final research proposal.

Requisite: PSYC 228. Open to juniors and seniors. Limited to 15 students.  Offered Spring semester.  Professor McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

367 Human Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 367 and NEUR 367) This course will be an in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in the field of human neuroscience. Topics include a rigorous examination of the methods neuroscientists use to study the human brain, how the brain changes throughout the lifespan, the ways in which researchers have developed brain/machine interfaces, and the neural processes that support decision-making. For each topic, we will read several empirical articles and discuss them with an emphasis on experimental design, factors that may be confounding the data, and interpretation of the data. Assignments will include weekly response papers, an oral presentation, in-class debates, and a research proposal. Overall, the goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the cutting edge of human neuroscience research and to increase their ability to think like scientists.

Requisite: PSYC 211 or PSYC 212 or PSYC/NEUR 213 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2024

369 Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice

This course will be an in-depth examination of major theoretical models of psychotherapy. The course will focus on theoretical models and empirical support for the second wave (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and third wave (e.g., Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) psychotherapies. Students will examine how different psychotherapeutic approaches conceptualize mental illness and approach the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Issues related to ethics and the empirical evaluation of treatment outcomes will also be discussed. Readings will come predominantly from theoretical and empirical research. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to compose weekly written responses to assigned readings, and to develop a final research proposal. Overall, the goal of the seminar is for students to learn to think like clinical scientists.

Requisite: Psychology 228. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Elizabeth Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023

490 Special Topics

This course is open to qualified students who desire to engage in independent reading on selected topics or conduct research projects. Preference will be given to those students who have done good work in one or more departmental courses beyond the introductory level. A full course.

Open to juniors and seniors with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

498D Senior Honors

A double course. Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval.

Fall semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

499, 499D Senior Departmental Honors

Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval. A double course.

Spring semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
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Psychology

Professors Aries, Baird, Demorest‡ , Hart‡, Sanderson†, Schulkind†, and Turgeon, Associate Professors McQuade (Chair) and Palmquist, Assistant Professors Cohen and Kneeland. Visiting Assistant Professor Totton and Visiting Lecturer O'Carroll.

Major Program. 

The Psychology major is designed to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the content of the discipline and the skills required to work within it.  Psychology majors are required to elect nine full courses, including Psychology 100 (Introduction), Psychology 122 (Statistics), and either Psychology 200 (Research Methods) or a lab class in psychology (as described below). None of these nine courses may be taken Pass/Fail. Psychology majors must complete both Psychology 100 and Psychology 122 (or place out of these classes, as described below) by the end of the sophomore year, and must complete Psychology 200 or a lab class in psychology by the end of junior year.  Students may not enroll in Psychology 100 if they scored a 4 or 5 on the Psychology Advanced Placement exam, 5 or better on the Psychology International Baccalaureate exam, or completed an introductory psychology course at another college or university. Starting with students in the class of 2025, we are no longer allowing students to place out of taking Psych 100 by taking AP Psych. Students may not enroll in PSYC 122 if they completed STAT 111 or 135, ECON 360, or a statistics course at another college or university. Students who place out of either of these courses must replace that course(s) with an additional course(s) to reach the nine courses required of the major.  Given the coronavirus pandemic, for students in the class of 2021, 2022, and 2023, the psychology major requires 8 courses (instead of 9) and 1 seminar (instead of 2), and any major requirements taken during spring 2020 or the 2020-2021 academic year may be taken pass/fail. 

To provide skills for understanding and conducting research in psychology, students must complete either a research methods class (PSYC 200) or a lab class in psychology. Lab course options include:

PSYC 204 Emotion PSYC 206: Psychology of Play PSYC 208: Creativity

To provide a thorough understanding of fundamental areas within psychology, students must choose at least one intermediate course from each of the three areas below:

Area 1:  Cognitive Neuroscience (PSYC 211), Behavioral Neuroscience (PSYC 212), Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior (PSYC 213) Area 2:  Developmental Psychology (PSYC 227), Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 233), Psychology of Aging (PSYC 236) Area 3:  Social Psychology (PSYC 220), Personality (PSYC 221), Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 228)

To provide vertical depth in the major, students must also choose one seminar from at least TWO of the following six areas. However, as of the class of 2020, the thesis counts toward the seminar requirement in the area of the thesis, such that students who write a thesis need to only take one seminar in a different area than their thesis.

Area 1:  Biological: Psychopharmacology (PSYC 325), Neurophysiology of Motivation (PSYC 356), Consciousness (PSYC 361), Human Neuroscience (PSYC 367) Area 2:  Clinical: History of Psychiatry (PSYC 357), Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology (PSYC 364), Psychology of Attachment (PSYC 365), Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice (PSYC 369) Area 3:  Cognitive: Music Cognition (PSYC 366), Autobiographical Memory (PSYC 368) Area 4:  Personality: Personality and Political Leadership (PSYC 338), Psychological Assessment (PSYC 353) Area 5:  Social: Stereotypes & Prejudice (PSYC 337), Close Relationships (PSYC 354), Psychology and the Law (PSYC 363) Area 6: Developmental: Development of Nonverbal Communication (PSYC 362)

Students may complete the required number of courses by taking additional distribution courses, lab classes, seminars, and/or by taking any of the following electives: Intergroup Dialogue on Race (PSYC 224), Sport Psychology (PSYC 235), Health Psychology (PSYC 247),  Social Norms, Social Change (COLQ 338). Special Topics classes (PSYC 490) and thesis work (PSYC 498/499D) also count as elective courses towards the major. Students who write a thesis get three-course credits. 

Departmental Honors Research.  A limited number of majors will engage in honors research under the direction of a faculty member during their senior year.   Honors research involves credit for three courses (usually one-course credit during the fall and two credits during the spring semester) and culminates in a thesis.  These three courses count towards the nine classes required for the major.  The thesis usually involves both a review of the previous literature pertinent to the selected area of inquiry and a report of the methods and results of a study designed and conducted by the student.  Any student interested in pursuing honors research in psychology should discuss possible topics with appropriate faculty before preregistration in the second semester of the junior year.

†On leave fall semester 2022 ‡ On leave spring semester 2023 *On leave 2022-2023

100 Introduction to Psychology

An introduction to the nature of psychological inquiry regarding the origins, variability, and change of human behavior. As such, the course focuses on the nature-nurture controversy, the processes associated with cognitive and emotional development, the role of personal characteristics and situational conditions in shaping behavior, and various approaches to psychotherapy.

Not open to five college students. Limited to 40 students in the fall semester (20 seats reserved for first-year students) and limited to first-year students in the spring semester. Fall semester: Professors Kneeland, Palmquist, and Totton.  Spring semester:  Professors Cohen and Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, January 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

122 Statistics and Experimental Design

An introduction to and critical consideration of experimental methodology in psychology. Topics will include the formation of testable hypotheses, the selection and implementation of appropriate procedures, the statistical description and analysis of experimental data, and the interpretation of results. Articles from the experimental journals and popular literature will illustrate and interrelate these topics and provide a survey of experimental techniques and content areas. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 30 students. Fall semester: Fall: McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

200 Research Methods

This course is designed to explore the principles of behavioral science research and the rationale underlying various research methodologies. The course will take a hands-on approach to research design, data collection, and data analysis. Students will learn how to understand and critically evaluate original research reports, independently design and execute psychological investigations, and write scientific reports in APA format. Topics include the reliability and validity of measures, content analysis, correlational designs, randomized experiments and causal inference, experimental control, and ethical considerations. Time in class will be split between lectures, small group exercises and design of research projects, and data analysis using SPSS.

Requisite: PSYC 122. Limited to 18 students. Fall semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

204 Emotion

This course will help students better understand how psychological science has been used to investigate a broad range of human emotions. During the semester, students will explore questions such as: What are emotions, and how can we study them? How do personal factors, like our culture or gender, influence the emotions we experience and express? Can we regulate our emotions, and what influences our ability to do so? What factors are associated with greater happiness and emotional well-being? Students in this course will read existing empirical and theoretical literature focusing on how psychologists scientifically study emotions. Working in small groups, students will develop and execute original research studies in the area of emotion. These research projects will include data collection, data analysis, and the written and oral presentation of study findings. The goal of this course is for students to explore the existing research centering on the study of emotion, and to develop empirical answers to the fundamental questions of when, how, and why we feel the ways we do.

Prerequisite: Psych 122 Statistics. Limited to 18. Offered Fall semester. Professor Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

206 Psychology of Play

(Offered as PSYC 206 and EDST 206) This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. To extend this understanding, the class will travel to the University of California-Irvine during spring break to explore how researchers there are creating community-based learning opportunities for children and families from diverse backgrounds living in the Santa Ana community. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. 

Requisite: PSYC 100. Limited to 15 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2020

208 Creativity

Students in this course will design and execute an original research project related to creativity. Psychologists have defined creative ideas as those that are original, useful, and surprising. Creativity can be observed in many contexts (e.g., the arts, science, athletics, politics, and business), and can refer both to ideas as well as the people and social environments that foster such ideas. The semester will begin with a careful reading of the literature which will help students develop individual research proposals; group projects will be selected from amongst these proposals. The rest of the semester will be devoted to conducting the group projects; this will include designing experimental procedures, developing stimuli, and data collection and analysis. Written and oral presentations will accompany each step in the process to enable students to receive and offer constructive feedback. The semester will culminate with oral and written presentations of the experimental projects.

Requisite: PSYC 122,  PSYC 135, or equivalent. Limited to 18 students.  Offered spring semester: Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

211 Cognitive Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 211 and NEUR 211) Historically, psychologists and neuroscientists have worked somewhat in parallel to one another. While psychologists have traditionally focused on how humans think, feel, and behave, neuroscientists have primarily focused exclusively on the workings of the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a relatively new discipline that lies at the intersection of these fields and seeks to understand the neurobiological processes that underlie cognition. This course serves as a broad introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience and will focus on a variety of questions, including the following: How does the brain obtain and process information about the environment via sight, taste, and touch? How does the brain support our capacity to learn and speak different languages? What happens to the brain when it is afflicted with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, amnesia, schizophrenia, and autism? This course will provide students with a foundational understanding of modern cognitive neuroscience and the ways in which researchers examine the relationship between the mind and the brain.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall 2022: Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

212 Behavioral Neuroscience

This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. PSYC 212 does not count as credit towards the neuroscience major. Students interested in the Neuroscience major should enroll in 213. Limited to 40 students.  Spring Semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

213 Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior

(Offered as PSYC 213 and NEUR 213) This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness. Laboratories will include basic neuroanatomy and behavioral experiments. Three class hours and three hours of laboratory per week.

Requisite: BIOL 191 or PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Cannot be taken if PSYC 212 has been taken because of substantial overlap between the two courses. Limited to 36 students. Spring semester. Professor Baird.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2024

220 Social Psychology

The individual’s behavior as it is influenced by other people and by the social environment. The major aim of this course is to provide an overview of the wide-ranging concerns characterizing social psychology from both a substantive and a methodological perspective. Topics include person perception, attitude change, interpersonal attraction, conformity, altruism, group dynamics, and prejudice. In addition to substantive issues, the course is designed to introduce students to the appropriate research data analysis procedures.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40. Preference to Amherst College students. Offered Fall semester.  Professor Sanderson.  Spring semester: Professor Totton.

 

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

221 Personality Psychology

This course examines how psychologists understand the patterns of experiencing and behaving that constitute an individual’s personality. Personality psychologists are concerned with the ways in which a person is like all other people in these patterns (common psychological processes), like some others (individual differences), and like no one else (uniqueness). In examining these questions, we study the “grand theories” of Freud, Skinner, and Rogers, as well as the contemporary models of traits and scripts. We explore what professional observations led to the major theoretical ideas in personality psychology, and we critically examine how these ideas have been tested in empirical research. Furthermore, we study the lives of the theorists to examine how their professional ideas were informed by their personal lives. Students will also take personality assessment devices throughout the semester as a way to better understand the models, and perhaps themselves as well.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

224 Intergroup Dialogue on Race

(Offered as PSYC 224 and EDST 224) This highly interactive course brings together students to examine the roles race and other intersecting identities play in their lives. Course work includes an interdisciplinary blend of scholarly readings, in-class dialogue, experiential learning activities, reflective writing, and an intergroup collaborative research project. Students in this course bring their own experiences with race into the classroom as a legitimate and valued source for learning. The course readings link students’ personal experiences around race to a socio-historical understanding of individual, institutional, and structural discrimination--to the ways social inequality is embedded in social institutions and individual consciousness, constraining life chances. Early in the course students engage in structured activities that develop trust among participants, and learn skills at intergroup dialogue--suspending judgment and listening for understanding--in order to create respectful, sustained dialogues around racial divisions.  Students engage in small mixed-race teams to research a racial inequality/inequity on campus. Students do reflective writing weekly linking their in-class experiences to the readings, as well as reflective writing at the end about their learning throughout the semester. The course exposes participants in a very intimate way to how classmates of different races see and experience the world, to the pain and trauma students of color may have undergone due to race, and to the privilege White students possess, whether or not they are aware of it.   Offered Fall semester.  Professors Hart and Aries.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022

227 Developmental Psychology

(Offered as PSYC 227 and EDST 227) A study of human development across the lifespan with an emphasis on the general characteristics of various stages of development from birth to adolescence and on the determinants of the developmental process. The class will explore: 1) prenatal development, 2) the development of motor skills, cognitive skills, language, emotional understanding, attachments, and morality, and 3) the role of family systems in development. Students will engage with this content using contemporary research and real-world applications.   

Requisite: PSYC 100 or 212 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students per section. Offered Fall semester: Professor O'Carroll.  Spring semester: Prof. Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

228 Clinical Psychology

A review of various forms of psychopathology including addictive, adjustment, anxiety, childhood, dissociative, impulse control, mood, organic, personality, psychophysiological, schizophrenic, and sexual disorders. Based on a review of contemporary research findings, lectures and discussion will focus on the most relevant approaches for understanding, diagnosing, and treating psychological disorders. The biopsychosocial model will serve as a basis for explaining the etiology of psychological disorders, and discussion will focus on empirically supported interventions for treating these conditions.

This course involves three exams. Typically there will be two empirical articles to read each week. Each week students will also respond to preparation questions on an individual and group basis. Students will read a memoir and write a 5-page paper. At the end of the semester, students will complete a 5-7 page research paper. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 Amherst college students. Offered Fall semester: Professor McQuade.  Spring semester: Prof. Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

233 Cognitive Psychology

This course will examine how the mind extracts information from the environment, stores it for later use, and then retrieves it when it becomes useful. Initially, we will discuss how our eyes, ears, and brain turn light and sound into colors, objects, speech, and music. Next, we will look at how memory is organized and how it is used to accomplish a variety of tasks. Several memory models will be proposed and evaluated: Is our brain a large filing cabinet? A sophisticated computer? We will then apply these principles to understand issues like intelligence, thinking, and problem-solving. Throughout the course, we will discuss how damage to various parts of the brain affects our ability to learn and remember.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Spring semester. Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

317 Neurobiology of Appetite

Although the ingestive act per se is clear and simple, understanding the multifarious influences that are distilled into the decision at any given moment to eat, or not to eat, remains a ponderous challenge for scientists. The obesity epidemic of the last several decades continues to spread across the globe, leading to a rise in metabolic diseases and more pressing need than ever to understand the neurobiological controls of eating and body weight. Through a broad survey of neurobiological research literature, we will explore how various neurobiological systems and behavioral processes influence eating and body weight, including metabolism, neural mechanisms of hunger and satiety, metabolic disorders, dieting, pica, failure to thrive, starvation, taste preference and aversion, obesity, anxiety and depression, food taboos, and all eating disorders. Strong emphasis will be placed on biological mechanisms and controlled laboratory research with both human and animal subjects.

Limited to 20 students. Open to juniors and seniors. Fall semester. Prof. Baird.  

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023

323 Risk and Resilience

This course will explore the roles of risk and resilience in early development. Using existing empirical research, we will examine: 1) how risks are manifested prenatally, in infancy, and in childhood, 2) how to support resilience in childhood, and 3) how to develop interventions to address risks and promote resilience. Over the course of the semester, students will complete four independent projects exploring teratogens, contaminated food, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and intervention development. Through reading, discussion, short writing assignments, and more in-depth independent projects, this course aims to help students understand risk and resilience in childhood, and learn how empirical research can be used to develop and evaluate potential interventions.

Fall semester. Professor Palmquist

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

325 Psychopharmacology

(Offered as PSYC 325 and NEUR 325) In this course we will examine the ways in which drugs act on the brain to alter behavior. We will review basic principles of brain function and mechanisms of drug action in the brain. We will discuss a variety of legal and illegal recreational drugs as well as the use of psychotherapeutic drugs to treat mental illness. Examples from the primary scientific literature will demonstrate the various methods used to investigate mechanisms of drug action, the biological and behavioral consequences of drug use, and the nature of efforts to prevent or treat drug abuse.

Requisite: PSYC 212/NEUR 213, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Not open to five college students. Spring semester. Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

331 Childhood and Adolescence

(Offered as PSYC 331 and EDST 331) This course will explore conceptualizations of childhood and adolescence in the United States today. Using both academic articles and media resources, the course will address topics such as early education and school readiness; play and extracurricular involvement; college access and attendance; mental health, self-esteem, and social media; and youth activism. We will use developmental psychology as the lens for most of our readings and discussion, although the course will integrate concepts from sociology, history, and education. We will also examine the roles of relationships (e.g., family, teachers, and peers) and contexts (e.g., policy, schools, and culture) on youth experience. In this reading-intensive course, students will be expected to engage in class discussions, write weekly response papers, conduct a youth interview and write an interview report, and develop a final presentation.

Requisite: PSYC 227. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor O'Carroll.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2022

337 Stereotypes and Prejudice

This advanced seminar provides students with an overview of the social psychological study of stereotyping and prejudice. Through weekly discussions of empirical and theoretical articles, students will examine stereotypes, microaggressions, systems of privilege, oppression, and institutionalized discrimination that influence and help maintain racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism and their psychological consequences on the individual and society. Students will be expected to actively participate, lead class discussions/activities, provide weekly critical discussion questions, and develop a final research proposal. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 and PSYC 220. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

338 Personality and Political Leadership

In this course we will examine how to apply psychological theories to understand the lives of political leaders. We begin this course with a consideration of the role of personality in political leadership. We then examine psychological theories that can be fruitfully applied to the study of individual lives. Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate existing psychobiographies of important figures and students will conduct their own psychobiographical analyses of figures of their choice.

Requisite: PSYC 220, 221, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

353 Psychological Assessment

This course examines methods used by psychologists to understand the  psychology of individual personalities. The primary focus is on three psychological assessment tools: the Early Memories Procedure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the traditional interview. Students will take these devices themselves, read the theory behind them, examine case studies by prominent psychologists using these devices, and conduct their own interpretations of responses given by college students and by psychotherapy patients. In the process, students should develop a good understanding of the complexity of the clinical thought process.  

Requisite: PSYC 221, 228, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, January 2021, January 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2023

354 Close Relationships

An introduction to the study of close relationships using social-psychological theory and research. Topics will include interpersonal attraction, love and romance, sexuality, relationship development, communication, jealousy, conflict and dissolution, selfishness and altruism, loneliness, and therapeutic interventions. This is an upper-level seminar for the major requirement that requires intensive participation in class discussion and many written assignments.

Requisite: PSYC 220. Open to seniors. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Sanderson.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

361 Consciousness and the Brain

(Offered as PSYC 361 and NEUR 361) Although curiosity about the nature of consciousness has animated the work of philosophers, artists and others, this course will approach the topic from a scientific perspective. How do electrochemical signals in our brain produce our experience of colors, sounds, tastes and our awareness of ourselves? We will read and discuss primary source scientific journal articles drawn from both psychology and neuroscience with a focus on questions including: What kinds of brain activity distinguish conscious from unconscious states? Can objects in the environment (e.g., advertisements) affect our behavior even if we are not consciously aware of those objects? Are there different types of consciousness? Is consciousness peculiar to human beings (does it require language?) or is consciousness experienced by other species, as well? Does science have the tools necessary to achieve a complete understanding of human consciousness? Overall, the goal of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the current states of the scientific study of consciousness.

Requisite: PSYC 211, PSYC 212, PSYC 233, or PSYC/NEUR 213. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

364 Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

This course examines the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Disorders discussed will include behavioral (e.g., Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder), anxiety (e.g., the phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), mood (e.g. Depression), and developmental (e.g. Autism). Using a developmental perspective, topics will focus on risk factors, theory and etiology, family and social influences, and evidence-based psycho-social treatments. Course readings will come predominantly from empirical research articles and will be discussed in-depth in class. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to provide written reaction papers, and to develop a final research proposal.

Requisite: PSYC 228. Open to juniors and seniors. Limited to 15 students.  Offered Spring semester.  Professor McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

367 Human Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 367 and NEUR 367) This course will be an in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in the field of human neuroscience. Topics include a rigorous examination of the methods neuroscientists use to study the human brain, how the brain changes throughout the lifespan, the ways in which researchers have developed brain/machine interfaces, and the neural processes that support decision-making. For each topic, we will read several empirical articles and discuss them with an emphasis on experimental design, factors that may be confounding the data, and interpretation of the data. Assignments will include weekly response papers, an oral presentation, in-class debates, and a research proposal. Overall, the goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the cutting edge of human neuroscience research and to increase their ability to think like scientists.

Requisite: PSYC 211 or PSYC 212 or PSYC/NEUR 213 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2024

369 Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice

This course will be an in-depth examination of major theoretical models of psychotherapy. The course will focus on theoretical models and empirical support for the second wave (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and third wave (e.g., Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) psychotherapies. Students will examine how different psychotherapeutic approaches conceptualize mental illness and approach the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Issues related to ethics and the empirical evaluation of treatment outcomes will also be discussed. Readings will come predominantly from theoretical and empirical research. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to compose weekly written responses to assigned readings, and to develop a final research proposal. Overall, the goal of the seminar is for students to learn to think like clinical scientists.

Requisite: Psychology 228. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Elizabeth Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023

490 Special Topics

This course is open to qualified students who desire to engage in independent reading on selected topics or conduct research projects. Preference will be given to those students who have done good work in one or more departmental courses beyond the introductory level. A full course.

Open to juniors and seniors with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

498D Senior Honors

A double course. Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval.

Fall semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

499, 499D Senior Departmental Honors

Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval. A double course.

Spring semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
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Amherst College Courses

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Psychology

Professors Aries, Baird, Demorest‡ , Hart‡, Sanderson†, Schulkind†, and Turgeon, Associate Professors McQuade (Chair) and Palmquist, Assistant Professors Cohen and Kneeland. Visiting Assistant Professor Totton and Visiting Lecturer O'Carroll.

Major Program. 

The Psychology major is designed to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the content of the discipline and the skills required to work within it.  Psychology majors are required to elect nine full courses, including Psychology 100 (Introduction), Psychology 122 (Statistics), and either Psychology 200 (Research Methods) or a lab class in psychology (as described below). None of these nine courses may be taken Pass/Fail. Psychology majors must complete both Psychology 100 and Psychology 122 (or place out of these classes, as described below) by the end of the sophomore year, and must complete Psychology 200 or a lab class in psychology by the end of junior year.  Students may not enroll in Psychology 100 if they scored a 4 or 5 on the Psychology Advanced Placement exam, 5 or better on the Psychology International Baccalaureate exam, or completed an introductory psychology course at another college or university. Starting with students in the class of 2025, we are no longer allowing students to place out of taking Psych 100 by taking AP Psych. Students may not enroll in PSYC 122 if they completed STAT 111 or 135, ECON 360, or a statistics course at another college or university. Students who place out of either of these courses must replace that course(s) with an additional course(s) to reach the nine courses required of the major.  Given the coronavirus pandemic, for students in the class of 2021, 2022, and 2023, the psychology major requires 8 courses (instead of 9) and 1 seminar (instead of 2), and any major requirements taken during spring 2020 or the 2020-2021 academic year may be taken pass/fail. 

To provide skills for understanding and conducting research in psychology, students must complete either a research methods class (PSYC 200) or a lab class in psychology. Lab course options include:

PSYC 204 Emotion PSYC 206: Psychology of Play PSYC 208: Creativity

To provide a thorough understanding of fundamental areas within psychology, students must choose at least one intermediate course from each of the three areas below:

Area 1:  Cognitive Neuroscience (PSYC 211), Behavioral Neuroscience (PSYC 212), Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior (PSYC 213) Area 2:  Developmental Psychology (PSYC 227), Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 233), Psychology of Aging (PSYC 236) Area 3:  Social Psychology (PSYC 220), Personality (PSYC 221), Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 228)

To provide vertical depth in the major, students must also choose one seminar from at least TWO of the following six areas. However, as of the class of 2020, the thesis counts toward the seminar requirement in the area of the thesis, such that students who write a thesis need to only take one seminar in a different area than their thesis.

Area 1:  Biological: Psychopharmacology (PSYC 325), Neurophysiology of Motivation (PSYC 356), Consciousness (PSYC 361), Human Neuroscience (PSYC 367) Area 2:  Clinical: History of Psychiatry (PSYC 357), Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology (PSYC 364), Psychology of Attachment (PSYC 365), Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice (PSYC 369) Area 3:  Cognitive: Music Cognition (PSYC 366), Autobiographical Memory (PSYC 368) Area 4:  Personality: Personality and Political Leadership (PSYC 338), Psychological Assessment (PSYC 353) Area 5:  Social: Stereotypes & Prejudice (PSYC 337), Close Relationships (PSYC 354), Psychology and the Law (PSYC 363) Area 6: Developmental: Development of Nonverbal Communication (PSYC 362)

Students may complete the required number of courses by taking additional distribution courses, lab classes, seminars, and/or by taking any of the following electives: Intergroup Dialogue on Race (PSYC 224), Sport Psychology (PSYC 235), Health Psychology (PSYC 247),  Social Norms, Social Change (COLQ 338). Special Topics classes (PSYC 490) and thesis work (PSYC 498/499D) also count as elective courses towards the major. Students who write a thesis get three-course credits. 

Departmental Honors Research.  A limited number of majors will engage in honors research under the direction of a faculty member during their senior year.   Honors research involves credit for three courses (usually one-course credit during the fall and two credits during the spring semester) and culminates in a thesis.  These three courses count towards the nine classes required for the major.  The thesis usually involves both a review of the previous literature pertinent to the selected area of inquiry and a report of the methods and results of a study designed and conducted by the student.  Any student interested in pursuing honors research in psychology should discuss possible topics with appropriate faculty before preregistration in the second semester of the junior year.

†On leave fall semester 2022 ‡ On leave spring semester 2023 *On leave 2022-2023

100 Introduction to Psychology

An introduction to the nature of psychological inquiry regarding the origins, variability, and change of human behavior. As such, the course focuses on the nature-nurture controversy, the processes associated with cognitive and emotional development, the role of personal characteristics and situational conditions in shaping behavior, and various approaches to psychotherapy.

Not open to five college students. Limited to 40 students in the fall semester (20 seats reserved for first-year students) and limited to first-year students in the spring semester. Fall semester: Professors Kneeland, Palmquist, and Totton.  Spring semester:  Professors Cohen and Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, January 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

122 Statistics and Experimental Design

An introduction to and critical consideration of experimental methodology in psychology. Topics will include the formation of testable hypotheses, the selection and implementation of appropriate procedures, the statistical description and analysis of experimental data, and the interpretation of results. Articles from the experimental journals and popular literature will illustrate and interrelate these topics and provide a survey of experimental techniques and content areas. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 30 students. Fall semester: Fall: McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

200 Research Methods

This course is designed to explore the principles of behavioral science research and the rationale underlying various research methodologies. The course will take a hands-on approach to research design, data collection, and data analysis. Students will learn how to understand and critically evaluate original research reports, independently design and execute psychological investigations, and write scientific reports in APA format. Topics include the reliability and validity of measures, content analysis, correlational designs, randomized experiments and causal inference, experimental control, and ethical considerations. Time in class will be split between lectures, small group exercises and design of research projects, and data analysis using SPSS.

Requisite: PSYC 122. Limited to 18 students. Fall semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

204 Emotion

This course will help students better understand how psychological science has been used to investigate a broad range of human emotions. During the semester, students will explore questions such as: What are emotions, and how can we study them? How do personal factors, like our culture or gender, influence the emotions we experience and express? Can we regulate our emotions, and what influences our ability to do so? What factors are associated with greater happiness and emotional well-being? Students in this course will read existing empirical and theoretical literature focusing on how psychologists scientifically study emotions. Working in small groups, students will develop and execute original research studies in the area of emotion. These research projects will include data collection, data analysis, and the written and oral presentation of study findings. The goal of this course is for students to explore the existing research centering on the study of emotion, and to develop empirical answers to the fundamental questions of when, how, and why we feel the ways we do.

Prerequisite: Psych 122 Statistics. Limited to 18. Offered Fall semester. Professor Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

206 Psychology of Play

(Offered as PSYC 206 and EDST 206) This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. To extend this understanding, the class will travel to the University of California-Irvine during spring break to explore how researchers there are creating community-based learning opportunities for children and families from diverse backgrounds living in the Santa Ana community. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. 

Requisite: PSYC 100. Limited to 15 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2020

208 Creativity

Students in this course will design and execute an original research project related to creativity. Psychologists have defined creative ideas as those that are original, useful, and surprising. Creativity can be observed in many contexts (e.g., the arts, science, athletics, politics, and business), and can refer both to ideas as well as the people and social environments that foster such ideas. The semester will begin with a careful reading of the literature which will help students develop individual research proposals; group projects will be selected from amongst these proposals. The rest of the semester will be devoted to conducting the group projects; this will include designing experimental procedures, developing stimuli, and data collection and analysis. Written and oral presentations will accompany each step in the process to enable students to receive and offer constructive feedback. The semester will culminate with oral and written presentations of the experimental projects.

Requisite: PSYC 122,  PSYC 135, or equivalent. Limited to 18 students.  Offered spring semester: Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

211 Cognitive Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 211 and NEUR 211) Historically, psychologists and neuroscientists have worked somewhat in parallel to one another. While psychologists have traditionally focused on how humans think, feel, and behave, neuroscientists have primarily focused exclusively on the workings of the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a relatively new discipline that lies at the intersection of these fields and seeks to understand the neurobiological processes that underlie cognition. This course serves as a broad introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience and will focus on a variety of questions, including the following: How does the brain obtain and process information about the environment via sight, taste, and touch? How does the brain support our capacity to learn and speak different languages? What happens to the brain when it is afflicted with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, amnesia, schizophrenia, and autism? This course will provide students with a foundational understanding of modern cognitive neuroscience and the ways in which researchers examine the relationship between the mind and the brain.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall 2022: Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

212 Behavioral Neuroscience

This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. PSYC 212 does not count as credit towards the neuroscience major. Students interested in the Neuroscience major should enroll in 213. Limited to 40 students.  Spring Semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

213 Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior

(Offered as PSYC 213 and NEUR 213) This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness. Laboratories will include basic neuroanatomy and behavioral experiments. Three class hours and three hours of laboratory per week.

Requisite: BIOL 191 or PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Cannot be taken if PSYC 212 has been taken because of substantial overlap between the two courses. Limited to 36 students. Spring semester. Professor Baird.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2024

220 Social Psychology

The individual’s behavior as it is influenced by other people and by the social environment. The major aim of this course is to provide an overview of the wide-ranging concerns characterizing social psychology from both a substantive and a methodological perspective. Topics include person perception, attitude change, interpersonal attraction, conformity, altruism, group dynamics, and prejudice. In addition to substantive issues, the course is designed to introduce students to the appropriate research data analysis procedures.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40. Preference to Amherst College students. Offered Fall semester.  Professor Sanderson.  Spring semester: Professor Totton.

 

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

221 Personality Psychology

This course examines how psychologists understand the patterns of experiencing and behaving that constitute an individual’s personality. Personality psychologists are concerned with the ways in which a person is like all other people in these patterns (common psychological processes), like some others (individual differences), and like no one else (uniqueness). In examining these questions, we study the “grand theories” of Freud, Skinner, and Rogers, as well as the contemporary models of traits and scripts. We explore what professional observations led to the major theoretical ideas in personality psychology, and we critically examine how these ideas have been tested in empirical research. Furthermore, we study the lives of the theorists to examine how their professional ideas were informed by their personal lives. Students will also take personality assessment devices throughout the semester as a way to better understand the models, and perhaps themselves as well.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

224 Intergroup Dialogue on Race

(Offered as PSYC 224 and EDST 224) This highly interactive course brings together students to examine the roles race and other intersecting identities play in their lives. Course work includes an interdisciplinary blend of scholarly readings, in-class dialogue, experiential learning activities, reflective writing, and an intergroup collaborative research project. Students in this course bring their own experiences with race into the classroom as a legitimate and valued source for learning. The course readings link students’ personal experiences around race to a socio-historical understanding of individual, institutional, and structural discrimination--to the ways social inequality is embedded in social institutions and individual consciousness, constraining life chances. Early in the course students engage in structured activities that develop trust among participants, and learn skills at intergroup dialogue--suspending judgment and listening for understanding--in order to create respectful, sustained dialogues around racial divisions.  Students engage in small mixed-race teams to research a racial inequality/inequity on campus. Students do reflective writing weekly linking their in-class experiences to the readings, as well as reflective writing at the end about their learning throughout the semester. The course exposes participants in a very intimate way to how classmates of different races see and experience the world, to the pain and trauma students of color may have undergone due to race, and to the privilege White students possess, whether or not they are aware of it.   Offered Fall semester.  Professors Hart and Aries.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022

227 Developmental Psychology

(Offered as PSYC 227 and EDST 227) A study of human development across the lifespan with an emphasis on the general characteristics of various stages of development from birth to adolescence and on the determinants of the developmental process. The class will explore: 1) prenatal development, 2) the development of motor skills, cognitive skills, language, emotional understanding, attachments, and morality, and 3) the role of family systems in development. Students will engage with this content using contemporary research and real-world applications.   

Requisite: PSYC 100 or 212 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students per section. Offered Fall semester: Professor O'Carroll.  Spring semester: Prof. Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

228 Clinical Psychology

A review of various forms of psychopathology including addictive, adjustment, anxiety, childhood, dissociative, impulse control, mood, organic, personality, psychophysiological, schizophrenic, and sexual disorders. Based on a review of contemporary research findings, lectures and discussion will focus on the most relevant approaches for understanding, diagnosing, and treating psychological disorders. The biopsychosocial model will serve as a basis for explaining the etiology of psychological disorders, and discussion will focus on empirically supported interventions for treating these conditions.

This course involves three exams. Typically there will be two empirical articles to read each week. Each week students will also respond to preparation questions on an individual and group basis. Students will read a memoir and write a 5-page paper. At the end of the semester, students will complete a 5-7 page research paper. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 Amherst college students. Offered Fall semester: Professor McQuade.  Spring semester: Prof. Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

233 Cognitive Psychology

This course will examine how the mind extracts information from the environment, stores it for later use, and then retrieves it when it becomes useful. Initially, we will discuss how our eyes, ears, and brain turn light and sound into colors, objects, speech, and music. Next, we will look at how memory is organized and how it is used to accomplish a variety of tasks. Several memory models will be proposed and evaluated: Is our brain a large filing cabinet? A sophisticated computer? We will then apply these principles to understand issues like intelligence, thinking, and problem-solving. Throughout the course, we will discuss how damage to various parts of the brain affects our ability to learn and remember.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Spring semester. Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

317 Neurobiology of Appetite

Although the ingestive act per se is clear and simple, understanding the multifarious influences that are distilled into the decision at any given moment to eat, or not to eat, remains a ponderous challenge for scientists. The obesity epidemic of the last several decades continues to spread across the globe, leading to a rise in metabolic diseases and more pressing need than ever to understand the neurobiological controls of eating and body weight. Through a broad survey of neurobiological research literature, we will explore how various neurobiological systems and behavioral processes influence eating and body weight, including metabolism, neural mechanisms of hunger and satiety, metabolic disorders, dieting, pica, failure to thrive, starvation, taste preference and aversion, obesity, anxiety and depression, food taboos, and all eating disorders. Strong emphasis will be placed on biological mechanisms and controlled laboratory research with both human and animal subjects.

Limited to 20 students. Open to juniors and seniors. Fall semester. Prof. Baird.  

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023

323 Risk and Resilience

This course will explore the roles of risk and resilience in early development. Using existing empirical research, we will examine: 1) how risks are manifested prenatally, in infancy, and in childhood, 2) how to support resilience in childhood, and 3) how to develop interventions to address risks and promote resilience. Over the course of the semester, students will complete four independent projects exploring teratogens, contaminated food, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and intervention development. Through reading, discussion, short writing assignments, and more in-depth independent projects, this course aims to help students understand risk and resilience in childhood, and learn how empirical research can be used to develop and evaluate potential interventions.

Fall semester. Professor Palmquist

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

325 Psychopharmacology

(Offered as PSYC 325 and NEUR 325) In this course we will examine the ways in which drugs act on the brain to alter behavior. We will review basic principles of brain function and mechanisms of drug action in the brain. We will discuss a variety of legal and illegal recreational drugs as well as the use of psychotherapeutic drugs to treat mental illness. Examples from the primary scientific literature will demonstrate the various methods used to investigate mechanisms of drug action, the biological and behavioral consequences of drug use, and the nature of efforts to prevent or treat drug abuse.

Requisite: PSYC 212/NEUR 213, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Not open to five college students. Spring semester. Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

331 Childhood and Adolescence

(Offered as PSYC 331 and EDST 331) This course will explore conceptualizations of childhood and adolescence in the United States today. Using both academic articles and media resources, the course will address topics such as early education and school readiness; play and extracurricular involvement; college access and attendance; mental health, self-esteem, and social media; and youth activism. We will use developmental psychology as the lens for most of our readings and discussion, although the course will integrate concepts from sociology, history, and education. We will also examine the roles of relationships (e.g., family, teachers, and peers) and contexts (e.g., policy, schools, and culture) on youth experience. In this reading-intensive course, students will be expected to engage in class discussions, write weekly response papers, conduct a youth interview and write an interview report, and develop a final presentation.

Requisite: PSYC 227. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor O'Carroll.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2022

337 Stereotypes and Prejudice

This advanced seminar provides students with an overview of the social psychological study of stereotyping and prejudice. Through weekly discussions of empirical and theoretical articles, students will examine stereotypes, microaggressions, systems of privilege, oppression, and institutionalized discrimination that influence and help maintain racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism and their psychological consequences on the individual and society. Students will be expected to actively participate, lead class discussions/activities, provide weekly critical discussion questions, and develop a final research proposal. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 and PSYC 220. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

338 Personality and Political Leadership

In this course we will examine how to apply psychological theories to understand the lives of political leaders. We begin this course with a consideration of the role of personality in political leadership. We then examine psychological theories that can be fruitfully applied to the study of individual lives. Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate existing psychobiographies of important figures and students will conduct their own psychobiographical analyses of figures of their choice.

Requisite: PSYC 220, 221, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

353 Psychological Assessment

This course examines methods used by psychologists to understand the  psychology of individual personalities. The primary focus is on three psychological assessment tools: the Early Memories Procedure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the traditional interview. Students will take these devices themselves, read the theory behind them, examine case studies by prominent psychologists using these devices, and conduct their own interpretations of responses given by college students and by psychotherapy patients. In the process, students should develop a good understanding of the complexity of the clinical thought process.  

Requisite: PSYC 221, 228, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, January 2021, January 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2023

354 Close Relationships

An introduction to the study of close relationships using social-psychological theory and research. Topics will include interpersonal attraction, love and romance, sexuality, relationship development, communication, jealousy, conflict and dissolution, selfishness and altruism, loneliness, and therapeutic interventions. This is an upper-level seminar for the major requirement that requires intensive participation in class discussion and many written assignments.

Requisite: PSYC 220. Open to seniors. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Sanderson.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

361 Consciousness and the Brain

(Offered as PSYC 361 and NEUR 361) Although curiosity about the nature of consciousness has animated the work of philosophers, artists and others, this course will approach the topic from a scientific perspective. How do electrochemical signals in our brain produce our experience of colors, sounds, tastes and our awareness of ourselves? We will read and discuss primary source scientific journal articles drawn from both psychology and neuroscience with a focus on questions including: What kinds of brain activity distinguish conscious from unconscious states? Can objects in the environment (e.g., advertisements) affect our behavior even if we are not consciously aware of those objects? Are there different types of consciousness? Is consciousness peculiar to human beings (does it require language?) or is consciousness experienced by other species, as well? Does science have the tools necessary to achieve a complete understanding of human consciousness? Overall, the goal of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the current states of the scientific study of consciousness.

Requisite: PSYC 211, PSYC 212, PSYC 233, or PSYC/NEUR 213. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

364 Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

This course examines the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Disorders discussed will include behavioral (e.g., Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder), anxiety (e.g., the phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), mood (e.g. Depression), and developmental (e.g. Autism). Using a developmental perspective, topics will focus on risk factors, theory and etiology, family and social influences, and evidence-based psycho-social treatments. Course readings will come predominantly from empirical research articles and will be discussed in-depth in class. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to provide written reaction papers, and to develop a final research proposal.

Requisite: PSYC 228. Open to juniors and seniors. Limited to 15 students.  Offered Spring semester.  Professor McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

367 Human Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 367 and NEUR 367) This course will be an in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in the field of human neuroscience. Topics include a rigorous examination of the methods neuroscientists use to study the human brain, how the brain changes throughout the lifespan, the ways in which researchers have developed brain/machine interfaces, and the neural processes that support decision-making. For each topic, we will read several empirical articles and discuss them with an emphasis on experimental design, factors that may be confounding the data, and interpretation of the data. Assignments will include weekly response papers, an oral presentation, in-class debates, and a research proposal. Overall, the goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the cutting edge of human neuroscience research and to increase their ability to think like scientists.

Requisite: PSYC 211 or PSYC 212 or PSYC/NEUR 213 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2024

369 Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice

This course will be an in-depth examination of major theoretical models of psychotherapy. The course will focus on theoretical models and empirical support for the second wave (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and third wave (e.g., Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) psychotherapies. Students will examine how different psychotherapeutic approaches conceptualize mental illness and approach the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Issues related to ethics and the empirical evaluation of treatment outcomes will also be discussed. Readings will come predominantly from theoretical and empirical research. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to compose weekly written responses to assigned readings, and to develop a final research proposal. Overall, the goal of the seminar is for students to learn to think like clinical scientists.

Requisite: Psychology 228. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Elizabeth Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023

490 Special Topics

This course is open to qualified students who desire to engage in independent reading on selected topics or conduct research projects. Preference will be given to those students who have done good work in one or more departmental courses beyond the introductory level. A full course.

Open to juniors and seniors with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

498D Senior Honors

A double course. Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval.

Fall semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

499, 499D Senior Departmental Honors

Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval. A double course.

Spring semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
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Psychology

Professors Aries, Baird, Demorest‡ , Hart‡, Sanderson†, Schulkind†, and Turgeon, Associate Professors McQuade (Chair) and Palmquist, Assistant Professors Cohen and Kneeland. Visiting Assistant Professor Totton and Visiting Lecturer O'Carroll.

Major Program. 

The Psychology major is designed to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the content of the discipline and the skills required to work within it.  Psychology majors are required to elect nine full courses, including Psychology 100 (Introduction), Psychology 122 (Statistics), and either Psychology 200 (Research Methods) or a lab class in psychology (as described below). None of these nine courses may be taken Pass/Fail. Psychology majors must complete both Psychology 100 and Psychology 122 (or place out of these classes, as described below) by the end of the sophomore year, and must complete Psychology 200 or a lab class in psychology by the end of junior year.  Students may not enroll in Psychology 100 if they scored a 4 or 5 on the Psychology Advanced Placement exam, 5 or better on the Psychology International Baccalaureate exam, or completed an introductory psychology course at another college or university. Starting with students in the class of 2025, we are no longer allowing students to place out of taking Psych 100 by taking AP Psych. Students may not enroll in PSYC 122 if they completed STAT 111 or 135, ECON 360, or a statistics course at another college or university. Students who place out of either of these courses must replace that course(s) with an additional course(s) to reach the nine courses required of the major.  Given the coronavirus pandemic, for students in the class of 2021, 2022, and 2023, the psychology major requires 8 courses (instead of 9) and 1 seminar (instead of 2), and any major requirements taken during spring 2020 or the 2020-2021 academic year may be taken pass/fail. 

To provide skills for understanding and conducting research in psychology, students must complete either a research methods class (PSYC 200) or a lab class in psychology. Lab course options include:

PSYC 204 Emotion PSYC 206: Psychology of Play PSYC 208: Creativity

To provide a thorough understanding of fundamental areas within psychology, students must choose at least one intermediate course from each of the three areas below:

Area 1:  Cognitive Neuroscience (PSYC 211), Behavioral Neuroscience (PSYC 212), Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior (PSYC 213) Area 2:  Developmental Psychology (PSYC 227), Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 233), Psychology of Aging (PSYC 236) Area 3:  Social Psychology (PSYC 220), Personality (PSYC 221), Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 228)

To provide vertical depth in the major, students must also choose one seminar from at least TWO of the following six areas. However, as of the class of 2020, the thesis counts toward the seminar requirement in the area of the thesis, such that students who write a thesis need to only take one seminar in a different area than their thesis.

Area 1:  Biological: Psychopharmacology (PSYC 325), Neurophysiology of Motivation (PSYC 356), Consciousness (PSYC 361), Human Neuroscience (PSYC 367) Area 2:  Clinical: History of Psychiatry (PSYC 357), Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology (PSYC 364), Psychology of Attachment (PSYC 365), Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice (PSYC 369) Area 3:  Cognitive: Music Cognition (PSYC 366), Autobiographical Memory (PSYC 368) Area 4:  Personality: Personality and Political Leadership (PSYC 338), Psychological Assessment (PSYC 353) Area 5:  Social: Stereotypes & Prejudice (PSYC 337), Close Relationships (PSYC 354), Psychology and the Law (PSYC 363) Area 6: Developmental: Development of Nonverbal Communication (PSYC 362)

Students may complete the required number of courses by taking additional distribution courses, lab classes, seminars, and/or by taking any of the following electives: Intergroup Dialogue on Race (PSYC 224), Sport Psychology (PSYC 235), Health Psychology (PSYC 247),  Social Norms, Social Change (COLQ 338). Special Topics classes (PSYC 490) and thesis work (PSYC 498/499D) also count as elective courses towards the major. Students who write a thesis get three-course credits. 

Departmental Honors Research.  A limited number of majors will engage in honors research under the direction of a faculty member during their senior year.   Honors research involves credit for three courses (usually one-course credit during the fall and two credits during the spring semester) and culminates in a thesis.  These three courses count towards the nine classes required for the major.  The thesis usually involves both a review of the previous literature pertinent to the selected area of inquiry and a report of the methods and results of a study designed and conducted by the student.  Any student interested in pursuing honors research in psychology should discuss possible topics with appropriate faculty before preregistration in the second semester of the junior year.

†On leave fall semester 2022 ‡ On leave spring semester 2023 *On leave 2022-2023

100 Introduction to Psychology

An introduction to the nature of psychological inquiry regarding the origins, variability, and change of human behavior. As such, the course focuses on the nature-nurture controversy, the processes associated with cognitive and emotional development, the role of personal characteristics and situational conditions in shaping behavior, and various approaches to psychotherapy.

Not open to five college students. Limited to 40 students in the fall semester (20 seats reserved for first-year students) and limited to first-year students in the spring semester. Fall semester: Professors Kneeland, Palmquist, and Totton.  Spring semester:  Professors Cohen and Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, January 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

122 Statistics and Experimental Design

An introduction to and critical consideration of experimental methodology in psychology. Topics will include the formation of testable hypotheses, the selection and implementation of appropriate procedures, the statistical description and analysis of experimental data, and the interpretation of results. Articles from the experimental journals and popular literature will illustrate and interrelate these topics and provide a survey of experimental techniques and content areas. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 30 students. Fall semester: Fall: McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

200 Research Methods

This course is designed to explore the principles of behavioral science research and the rationale underlying various research methodologies. The course will take a hands-on approach to research design, data collection, and data analysis. Students will learn how to understand and critically evaluate original research reports, independently design and execute psychological investigations, and write scientific reports in APA format. Topics include the reliability and validity of measures, content analysis, correlational designs, randomized experiments and causal inference, experimental control, and ethical considerations. Time in class will be split between lectures, small group exercises and design of research projects, and data analysis using SPSS.

Requisite: PSYC 122. Limited to 18 students. Fall semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

204 Emotion

This course will help students better understand how psychological science has been used to investigate a broad range of human emotions. During the semester, students will explore questions such as: What are emotions, and how can we study them? How do personal factors, like our culture or gender, influence the emotions we experience and express? Can we regulate our emotions, and what influences our ability to do so? What factors are associated with greater happiness and emotional well-being? Students in this course will read existing empirical and theoretical literature focusing on how psychologists scientifically study emotions. Working in small groups, students will develop and execute original research studies in the area of emotion. These research projects will include data collection, data analysis, and the written and oral presentation of study findings. The goal of this course is for students to explore the existing research centering on the study of emotion, and to develop empirical answers to the fundamental questions of when, how, and why we feel the ways we do.

Prerequisite: Psych 122 Statistics. Limited to 18. Offered Fall semester. Professor Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

206 Psychology of Play

(Offered as PSYC 206 and EDST 206) This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. To extend this understanding, the class will travel to the University of California-Irvine during spring break to explore how researchers there are creating community-based learning opportunities for children and families from diverse backgrounds living in the Santa Ana community. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. 

Requisite: PSYC 100. Limited to 15 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2020

208 Creativity

Students in this course will design and execute an original research project related to creativity. Psychologists have defined creative ideas as those that are original, useful, and surprising. Creativity can be observed in many contexts (e.g., the arts, science, athletics, politics, and business), and can refer both to ideas as well as the people and social environments that foster such ideas. The semester will begin with a careful reading of the literature which will help students develop individual research proposals; group projects will be selected from amongst these proposals. The rest of the semester will be devoted to conducting the group projects; this will include designing experimental procedures, developing stimuli, and data collection and analysis. Written and oral presentations will accompany each step in the process to enable students to receive and offer constructive feedback. The semester will culminate with oral and written presentations of the experimental projects.

Requisite: PSYC 122,  PSYC 135, or equivalent. Limited to 18 students.  Offered spring semester: Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

211 Cognitive Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 211 and NEUR 211) Historically, psychologists and neuroscientists have worked somewhat in parallel to one another. While psychologists have traditionally focused on how humans think, feel, and behave, neuroscientists have primarily focused exclusively on the workings of the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a relatively new discipline that lies at the intersection of these fields and seeks to understand the neurobiological processes that underlie cognition. This course serves as a broad introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience and will focus on a variety of questions, including the following: How does the brain obtain and process information about the environment via sight, taste, and touch? How does the brain support our capacity to learn and speak different languages? What happens to the brain when it is afflicted with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, amnesia, schizophrenia, and autism? This course will provide students with a foundational understanding of modern cognitive neuroscience and the ways in which researchers examine the relationship between the mind and the brain.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall 2022: Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

212 Behavioral Neuroscience

This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. PSYC 212 does not count as credit towards the neuroscience major. Students interested in the Neuroscience major should enroll in 213. Limited to 40 students.  Spring Semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

213 Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior

(Offered as PSYC 213 and NEUR 213) This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness. Laboratories will include basic neuroanatomy and behavioral experiments. Three class hours and three hours of laboratory per week.

Requisite: BIOL 191 or PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Cannot be taken if PSYC 212 has been taken because of substantial overlap between the two courses. Limited to 36 students. Spring semester. Professor Baird.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2024

220 Social Psychology

The individual’s behavior as it is influenced by other people and by the social environment. The major aim of this course is to provide an overview of the wide-ranging concerns characterizing social psychology from both a substantive and a methodological perspective. Topics include person perception, attitude change, interpersonal attraction, conformity, altruism, group dynamics, and prejudice. In addition to substantive issues, the course is designed to introduce students to the appropriate research data analysis procedures.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40. Preference to Amherst College students. Offered Fall semester.  Professor Sanderson.  Spring semester: Professor Totton.

 

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

221 Personality Psychology

This course examines how psychologists understand the patterns of experiencing and behaving that constitute an individual’s personality. Personality psychologists are concerned with the ways in which a person is like all other people in these patterns (common psychological processes), like some others (individual differences), and like no one else (uniqueness). In examining these questions, we study the “grand theories” of Freud, Skinner, and Rogers, as well as the contemporary models of traits and scripts. We explore what professional observations led to the major theoretical ideas in personality psychology, and we critically examine how these ideas have been tested in empirical research. Furthermore, we study the lives of the theorists to examine how their professional ideas were informed by their personal lives. Students will also take personality assessment devices throughout the semester as a way to better understand the models, and perhaps themselves as well.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

224 Intergroup Dialogue on Race

(Offered as PSYC 224 and EDST 224) This highly interactive course brings together students to examine the roles race and other intersecting identities play in their lives. Course work includes an interdisciplinary blend of scholarly readings, in-class dialogue, experiential learning activities, reflective writing, and an intergroup collaborative research project. Students in this course bring their own experiences with race into the classroom as a legitimate and valued source for learning. The course readings link students’ personal experiences around race to a socio-historical understanding of individual, institutional, and structural discrimination--to the ways social inequality is embedded in social institutions and individual consciousness, constraining life chances. Early in the course students engage in structured activities that develop trust among participants, and learn skills at intergroup dialogue--suspending judgment and listening for understanding--in order to create respectful, sustained dialogues around racial divisions.  Students engage in small mixed-race teams to research a racial inequality/inequity on campus. Students do reflective writing weekly linking their in-class experiences to the readings, as well as reflective writing at the end about their learning throughout the semester. The course exposes participants in a very intimate way to how classmates of different races see and experience the world, to the pain and trauma students of color may have undergone due to race, and to the privilege White students possess, whether or not they are aware of it.   Offered Fall semester.  Professors Hart and Aries.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022

227 Developmental Psychology

(Offered as PSYC 227 and EDST 227) A study of human development across the lifespan with an emphasis on the general characteristics of various stages of development from birth to adolescence and on the determinants of the developmental process. The class will explore: 1) prenatal development, 2) the development of motor skills, cognitive skills, language, emotional understanding, attachments, and morality, and 3) the role of family systems in development. Students will engage with this content using contemporary research and real-world applications.   

Requisite: PSYC 100 or 212 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students per section. Offered Fall semester: Professor O'Carroll.  Spring semester: Prof. Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

228 Clinical Psychology

A review of various forms of psychopathology including addictive, adjustment, anxiety, childhood, dissociative, impulse control, mood, organic, personality, psychophysiological, schizophrenic, and sexual disorders. Based on a review of contemporary research findings, lectures and discussion will focus on the most relevant approaches for understanding, diagnosing, and treating psychological disorders. The biopsychosocial model will serve as a basis for explaining the etiology of psychological disorders, and discussion will focus on empirically supported interventions for treating these conditions.

This course involves three exams. Typically there will be two empirical articles to read each week. Each week students will also respond to preparation questions on an individual and group basis. Students will read a memoir and write a 5-page paper. At the end of the semester, students will complete a 5-7 page research paper. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 Amherst college students. Offered Fall semester: Professor McQuade.  Spring semester: Prof. Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

233 Cognitive Psychology

This course will examine how the mind extracts information from the environment, stores it for later use, and then retrieves it when it becomes useful. Initially, we will discuss how our eyes, ears, and brain turn light and sound into colors, objects, speech, and music. Next, we will look at how memory is organized and how it is used to accomplish a variety of tasks. Several memory models will be proposed and evaluated: Is our brain a large filing cabinet? A sophisticated computer? We will then apply these principles to understand issues like intelligence, thinking, and problem-solving. Throughout the course, we will discuss how damage to various parts of the brain affects our ability to learn and remember.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Spring semester. Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

317 Neurobiology of Appetite

Although the ingestive act per se is clear and simple, understanding the multifarious influences that are distilled into the decision at any given moment to eat, or not to eat, remains a ponderous challenge for scientists. The obesity epidemic of the last several decades continues to spread across the globe, leading to a rise in metabolic diseases and more pressing need than ever to understand the neurobiological controls of eating and body weight. Through a broad survey of neurobiological research literature, we will explore how various neurobiological systems and behavioral processes influence eating and body weight, including metabolism, neural mechanisms of hunger and satiety, metabolic disorders, dieting, pica, failure to thrive, starvation, taste preference and aversion, obesity, anxiety and depression, food taboos, and all eating disorders. Strong emphasis will be placed on biological mechanisms and controlled laboratory research with both human and animal subjects.

Limited to 20 students. Open to juniors and seniors. Fall semester. Prof. Baird.  

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023

323 Risk and Resilience

This course will explore the roles of risk and resilience in early development. Using existing empirical research, we will examine: 1) how risks are manifested prenatally, in infancy, and in childhood, 2) how to support resilience in childhood, and 3) how to develop interventions to address risks and promote resilience. Over the course of the semester, students will complete four independent projects exploring teratogens, contaminated food, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and intervention development. Through reading, discussion, short writing assignments, and more in-depth independent projects, this course aims to help students understand risk and resilience in childhood, and learn how empirical research can be used to develop and evaluate potential interventions.

Fall semester. Professor Palmquist

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

325 Psychopharmacology

(Offered as PSYC 325 and NEUR 325) In this course we will examine the ways in which drugs act on the brain to alter behavior. We will review basic principles of brain function and mechanisms of drug action in the brain. We will discuss a variety of legal and illegal recreational drugs as well as the use of psychotherapeutic drugs to treat mental illness. Examples from the primary scientific literature will demonstrate the various methods used to investigate mechanisms of drug action, the biological and behavioral consequences of drug use, and the nature of efforts to prevent or treat drug abuse.

Requisite: PSYC 212/NEUR 213, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Not open to five college students. Spring semester. Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

331 Childhood and Adolescence

(Offered as PSYC 331 and EDST 331) This course will explore conceptualizations of childhood and adolescence in the United States today. Using both academic articles and media resources, the course will address topics such as early education and school readiness; play and extracurricular involvement; college access and attendance; mental health, self-esteem, and social media; and youth activism. We will use developmental psychology as the lens for most of our readings and discussion, although the course will integrate concepts from sociology, history, and education. We will also examine the roles of relationships (e.g., family, teachers, and peers) and contexts (e.g., policy, schools, and culture) on youth experience. In this reading-intensive course, students will be expected to engage in class discussions, write weekly response papers, conduct a youth interview and write an interview report, and develop a final presentation.

Requisite: PSYC 227. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor O'Carroll.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2022

337 Stereotypes and Prejudice

This advanced seminar provides students with an overview of the social psychological study of stereotyping and prejudice. Through weekly discussions of empirical and theoretical articles, students will examine stereotypes, microaggressions, systems of privilege, oppression, and institutionalized discrimination that influence and help maintain racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism and their psychological consequences on the individual and society. Students will be expected to actively participate, lead class discussions/activities, provide weekly critical discussion questions, and develop a final research proposal. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 and PSYC 220. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

338 Personality and Political Leadership

In this course we will examine how to apply psychological theories to understand the lives of political leaders. We begin this course with a consideration of the role of personality in political leadership. We then examine psychological theories that can be fruitfully applied to the study of individual lives. Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate existing psychobiographies of important figures and students will conduct their own psychobiographical analyses of figures of their choice.

Requisite: PSYC 220, 221, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

353 Psychological Assessment

This course examines methods used by psychologists to understand the  psychology of individual personalities. The primary focus is on three psychological assessment tools: the Early Memories Procedure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the traditional interview. Students will take these devices themselves, read the theory behind them, examine case studies by prominent psychologists using these devices, and conduct their own interpretations of responses given by college students and by psychotherapy patients. In the process, students should develop a good understanding of the complexity of the clinical thought process.  

Requisite: PSYC 221, 228, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, January 2021, January 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2023

354 Close Relationships

An introduction to the study of close relationships using social-psychological theory and research. Topics will include interpersonal attraction, love and romance, sexuality, relationship development, communication, jealousy, conflict and dissolution, selfishness and altruism, loneliness, and therapeutic interventions. This is an upper-level seminar for the major requirement that requires intensive participation in class discussion and many written assignments.

Requisite: PSYC 220. Open to seniors. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Sanderson.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

361 Consciousness and the Brain

(Offered as PSYC 361 and NEUR 361) Although curiosity about the nature of consciousness has animated the work of philosophers, artists and others, this course will approach the topic from a scientific perspective. How do electrochemical signals in our brain produce our experience of colors, sounds, tastes and our awareness of ourselves? We will read and discuss primary source scientific journal articles drawn from both psychology and neuroscience with a focus on questions including: What kinds of brain activity distinguish conscious from unconscious states? Can objects in the environment (e.g., advertisements) affect our behavior even if we are not consciously aware of those objects? Are there different types of consciousness? Is consciousness peculiar to human beings (does it require language?) or is consciousness experienced by other species, as well? Does science have the tools necessary to achieve a complete understanding of human consciousness? Overall, the goal of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the current states of the scientific study of consciousness.

Requisite: PSYC 211, PSYC 212, PSYC 233, or PSYC/NEUR 213. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

364 Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

This course examines the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Disorders discussed will include behavioral (e.g., Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder), anxiety (e.g., the phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), mood (e.g. Depression), and developmental (e.g. Autism). Using a developmental perspective, topics will focus on risk factors, theory and etiology, family and social influences, and evidence-based psycho-social treatments. Course readings will come predominantly from empirical research articles and will be discussed in-depth in class. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to provide written reaction papers, and to develop a final research proposal.

Requisite: PSYC 228. Open to juniors and seniors. Limited to 15 students.  Offered Spring semester.  Professor McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

367 Human Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 367 and NEUR 367) This course will be an in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in the field of human neuroscience. Topics include a rigorous examination of the methods neuroscientists use to study the human brain, how the brain changes throughout the lifespan, the ways in which researchers have developed brain/machine interfaces, and the neural processes that support decision-making. For each topic, we will read several empirical articles and discuss them with an emphasis on experimental design, factors that may be confounding the data, and interpretation of the data. Assignments will include weekly response papers, an oral presentation, in-class debates, and a research proposal. Overall, the goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the cutting edge of human neuroscience research and to increase their ability to think like scientists.

Requisite: PSYC 211 or PSYC 212 or PSYC/NEUR 213 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2024

369 Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice

This course will be an in-depth examination of major theoretical models of psychotherapy. The course will focus on theoretical models and empirical support for the second wave (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and third wave (e.g., Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) psychotherapies. Students will examine how different psychotherapeutic approaches conceptualize mental illness and approach the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Issues related to ethics and the empirical evaluation of treatment outcomes will also be discussed. Readings will come predominantly from theoretical and empirical research. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to compose weekly written responses to assigned readings, and to develop a final research proposal. Overall, the goal of the seminar is for students to learn to think like clinical scientists.

Requisite: Psychology 228. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Elizabeth Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023

490 Special Topics

This course is open to qualified students who desire to engage in independent reading on selected topics or conduct research projects. Preference will be given to those students who have done good work in one or more departmental courses beyond the introductory level. A full course.

Open to juniors and seniors with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

498D Senior Honors

A double course. Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval.

Fall semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

499, 499D Senior Departmental Honors

Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval. A double course.

Spring semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
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Psychology

Professors Aries, Baird, Demorest‡ , Hart‡, Sanderson†, Schulkind†, and Turgeon, Associate Professors McQuade (Chair) and Palmquist, Assistant Professors Cohen and Kneeland. Visiting Assistant Professor Totton and Visiting Lecturer O'Carroll.

Major Program. 

The Psychology major is designed to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the content of the discipline and the skills required to work within it.  Psychology majors are required to elect nine full courses, including Psychology 100 (Introduction), Psychology 122 (Statistics), and either Psychology 200 (Research Methods) or a lab class in psychology (as described below). None of these nine courses may be taken Pass/Fail. Psychology majors must complete both Psychology 100 and Psychology 122 (or place out of these classes, as described below) by the end of the sophomore year, and must complete Psychology 200 or a lab class in psychology by the end of junior year.  Students may not enroll in Psychology 100 if they scored a 4 or 5 on the Psychology Advanced Placement exam, 5 or better on the Psychology International Baccalaureate exam, or completed an introductory psychology course at another college or university. Starting with students in the class of 2025, we are no longer allowing students to place out of taking Psych 100 by taking AP Psych. Students may not enroll in PSYC 122 if they completed STAT 111 or 135, ECON 360, or a statistics course at another college or university. Students who place out of either of these courses must replace that course(s) with an additional course(s) to reach the nine courses required of the major.  Given the coronavirus pandemic, for students in the class of 2021, 2022, and 2023, the psychology major requires 8 courses (instead of 9) and 1 seminar (instead of 2), and any major requirements taken during spring 2020 or the 2020-2021 academic year may be taken pass/fail. 

To provide skills for understanding and conducting research in psychology, students must complete either a research methods class (PSYC 200) or a lab class in psychology. Lab course options include:

PSYC 204 Emotion PSYC 206: Psychology of Play PSYC 208: Creativity

To provide a thorough understanding of fundamental areas within psychology, students must choose at least one intermediate course from each of the three areas below:

Area 1:  Cognitive Neuroscience (PSYC 211), Behavioral Neuroscience (PSYC 212), Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior (PSYC 213) Area 2:  Developmental Psychology (PSYC 227), Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 233), Psychology of Aging (PSYC 236) Area 3:  Social Psychology (PSYC 220), Personality (PSYC 221), Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 228)

To provide vertical depth in the major, students must also choose one seminar from at least TWO of the following six areas. However, as of the class of 2020, the thesis counts toward the seminar requirement in the area of the thesis, such that students who write a thesis need to only take one seminar in a different area than their thesis.

Area 1:  Biological: Psychopharmacology (PSYC 325), Neurophysiology of Motivation (PSYC 356), Consciousness (PSYC 361), Human Neuroscience (PSYC 367) Area 2:  Clinical: History of Psychiatry (PSYC 357), Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology (PSYC 364), Psychology of Attachment (PSYC 365), Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice (PSYC 369) Area 3:  Cognitive: Music Cognition (PSYC 366), Autobiographical Memory (PSYC 368) Area 4:  Personality: Personality and Political Leadership (PSYC 338), Psychological Assessment (PSYC 353) Area 5:  Social: Stereotypes & Prejudice (PSYC 337), Close Relationships (PSYC 354), Psychology and the Law (PSYC 363) Area 6: Developmental: Development of Nonverbal Communication (PSYC 362)

Students may complete the required number of courses by taking additional distribution courses, lab classes, seminars, and/or by taking any of the following electives: Intergroup Dialogue on Race (PSYC 224), Sport Psychology (PSYC 235), Health Psychology (PSYC 247),  Social Norms, Social Change (COLQ 338). Special Topics classes (PSYC 490) and thesis work (PSYC 498/499D) also count as elective courses towards the major. Students who write a thesis get three-course credits. 

Departmental Honors Research.  A limited number of majors will engage in honors research under the direction of a faculty member during their senior year.   Honors research involves credit for three courses (usually one-course credit during the fall and two credits during the spring semester) and culminates in a thesis.  These three courses count towards the nine classes required for the major.  The thesis usually involves both a review of the previous literature pertinent to the selected area of inquiry and a report of the methods and results of a study designed and conducted by the student.  Any student interested in pursuing honors research in psychology should discuss possible topics with appropriate faculty before preregistration in the second semester of the junior year.

†On leave fall semester 2022 ‡ On leave spring semester 2023 *On leave 2022-2023

100 Introduction to Psychology

An introduction to the nature of psychological inquiry regarding the origins, variability, and change of human behavior. As such, the course focuses on the nature-nurture controversy, the processes associated with cognitive and emotional development, the role of personal characteristics and situational conditions in shaping behavior, and various approaches to psychotherapy.

Not open to five college students. Limited to 40 students in the fall semester (20 seats reserved for first-year students) and limited to first-year students in the spring semester. Fall semester: Professors Kneeland, Palmquist, and Totton.  Spring semester:  Professors Cohen and Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, January 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

122 Statistics and Experimental Design

An introduction to and critical consideration of experimental methodology in psychology. Topics will include the formation of testable hypotheses, the selection and implementation of appropriate procedures, the statistical description and analysis of experimental data, and the interpretation of results. Articles from the experimental journals and popular literature will illustrate and interrelate these topics and provide a survey of experimental techniques and content areas. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 30 students. Fall semester: Fall: McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

200 Research Methods

This course is designed to explore the principles of behavioral science research and the rationale underlying various research methodologies. The course will take a hands-on approach to research design, data collection, and data analysis. Students will learn how to understand and critically evaluate original research reports, independently design and execute psychological investigations, and write scientific reports in APA format. Topics include the reliability and validity of measures, content analysis, correlational designs, randomized experiments and causal inference, experimental control, and ethical considerations. Time in class will be split between lectures, small group exercises and design of research projects, and data analysis using SPSS.

Requisite: PSYC 122. Limited to 18 students. Fall semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

204 Emotion

This course will help students better understand how psychological science has been used to investigate a broad range of human emotions. During the semester, students will explore questions such as: What are emotions, and how can we study them? How do personal factors, like our culture or gender, influence the emotions we experience and express? Can we regulate our emotions, and what influences our ability to do so? What factors are associated with greater happiness and emotional well-being? Students in this course will read existing empirical and theoretical literature focusing on how psychologists scientifically study emotions. Working in small groups, students will develop and execute original research studies in the area of emotion. These research projects will include data collection, data analysis, and the written and oral presentation of study findings. The goal of this course is for students to explore the existing research centering on the study of emotion, and to develop empirical answers to the fundamental questions of when, how, and why we feel the ways we do.

Prerequisite: Psych 122 Statistics. Limited to 18. Offered Fall semester. Professor Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

206 Psychology of Play

(Offered as PSYC 206 and EDST 206) This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. To extend this understanding, the class will travel to the University of California-Irvine during spring break to explore how researchers there are creating community-based learning opportunities for children and families from diverse backgrounds living in the Santa Ana community. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. 

Requisite: PSYC 100. Limited to 15 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2020

208 Creativity

Students in this course will design and execute an original research project related to creativity. Psychologists have defined creative ideas as those that are original, useful, and surprising. Creativity can be observed in many contexts (e.g., the arts, science, athletics, politics, and business), and can refer both to ideas as well as the people and social environments that foster such ideas. The semester will begin with a careful reading of the literature which will help students develop individual research proposals; group projects will be selected from amongst these proposals. The rest of the semester will be devoted to conducting the group projects; this will include designing experimental procedures, developing stimuli, and data collection and analysis. Written and oral presentations will accompany each step in the process to enable students to receive and offer constructive feedback. The semester will culminate with oral and written presentations of the experimental projects.

Requisite: PSYC 122,  PSYC 135, or equivalent. Limited to 18 students.  Offered spring semester: Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

211 Cognitive Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 211 and NEUR 211) Historically, psychologists and neuroscientists have worked somewhat in parallel to one another. While psychologists have traditionally focused on how humans think, feel, and behave, neuroscientists have primarily focused exclusively on the workings of the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a relatively new discipline that lies at the intersection of these fields and seeks to understand the neurobiological processes that underlie cognition. This course serves as a broad introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience and will focus on a variety of questions, including the following: How does the brain obtain and process information about the environment via sight, taste, and touch? How does the brain support our capacity to learn and speak different languages? What happens to the brain when it is afflicted with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, amnesia, schizophrenia, and autism? This course will provide students with a foundational understanding of modern cognitive neuroscience and the ways in which researchers examine the relationship between the mind and the brain.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall 2022: Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

212 Behavioral Neuroscience

This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. PSYC 212 does not count as credit towards the neuroscience major. Students interested in the Neuroscience major should enroll in 213. Limited to 40 students.  Spring Semester: Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

213 Neuroscience: Systems and Behavior

(Offered as PSYC 213 and NEUR 213) This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors. We will discuss how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment (sensory systems), regulates an organism’s response to the environment (motor systems), controls basic functions necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex, and sleep, and mediates higher cognitive function such as memory and language. We will also consider the consequences of brain malfunction as manifested in various forms of disease and mental illness. Laboratories will include basic neuroanatomy and behavioral experiments. Three class hours and three hours of laboratory per week.

Requisite: BIOL 191 or PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Cannot be taken if PSYC 212 has been taken because of substantial overlap between the two courses. Limited to 36 students. Spring semester. Professor Baird.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2019, Spring 2024

220 Social Psychology

The individual’s behavior as it is influenced by other people and by the social environment. The major aim of this course is to provide an overview of the wide-ranging concerns characterizing social psychology from both a substantive and a methodological perspective. Topics include person perception, attitude change, interpersonal attraction, conformity, altruism, group dynamics, and prejudice. In addition to substantive issues, the course is designed to introduce students to the appropriate research data analysis procedures.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40. Preference to Amherst College students. Offered Fall semester.  Professor Sanderson.  Spring semester: Professor Totton.

 

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

221 Personality Psychology

This course examines how psychologists understand the patterns of experiencing and behaving that constitute an individual’s personality. Personality psychologists are concerned with the ways in which a person is like all other people in these patterns (common psychological processes), like some others (individual differences), and like no one else (uniqueness). In examining these questions, we study the “grand theories” of Freud, Skinner, and Rogers, as well as the contemporary models of traits and scripts. We explore what professional observations led to the major theoretical ideas in personality psychology, and we critically examine how these ideas have been tested in empirical research. Furthermore, we study the lives of the theorists to examine how their professional ideas were informed by their personal lives. Students will also take personality assessment devices throughout the semester as a way to better understand the models, and perhaps themselves as well.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

224 Intergroup Dialogue on Race

(Offered as PSYC 224 and EDST 224) This highly interactive course brings together students to examine the roles race and other intersecting identities play in their lives. Course work includes an interdisciplinary blend of scholarly readings, in-class dialogue, experiential learning activities, reflective writing, and an intergroup collaborative research project. Students in this course bring their own experiences with race into the classroom as a legitimate and valued source for learning. The course readings link students’ personal experiences around race to a socio-historical understanding of individual, institutional, and structural discrimination--to the ways social inequality is embedded in social institutions and individual consciousness, constraining life chances. Early in the course students engage in structured activities that develop trust among participants, and learn skills at intergroup dialogue--suspending judgment and listening for understanding--in order to create respectful, sustained dialogues around racial divisions.  Students engage in small mixed-race teams to research a racial inequality/inequity on campus. Students do reflective writing weekly linking their in-class experiences to the readings, as well as reflective writing at the end about their learning throughout the semester. The course exposes participants in a very intimate way to how classmates of different races see and experience the world, to the pain and trauma students of color may have undergone due to race, and to the privilege White students possess, whether or not they are aware of it.   Offered Fall semester.  Professors Hart and Aries.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022

227 Developmental Psychology

(Offered as PSYC 227 and EDST 227) A study of human development across the lifespan with an emphasis on the general characteristics of various stages of development from birth to adolescence and on the determinants of the developmental process. The class will explore: 1) prenatal development, 2) the development of motor skills, cognitive skills, language, emotional understanding, attachments, and morality, and 3) the role of family systems in development. Students will engage with this content using contemporary research and real-world applications.   

Requisite: PSYC 100 or 212 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students per section. Offered Fall semester: Professor O'Carroll.  Spring semester: Prof. Palmquist.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

228 Clinical Psychology

A review of various forms of psychopathology including addictive, adjustment, anxiety, childhood, dissociative, impulse control, mood, organic, personality, psychophysiological, schizophrenic, and sexual disorders. Based on a review of contemporary research findings, lectures and discussion will focus on the most relevant approaches for understanding, diagnosing, and treating psychological disorders. The biopsychosocial model will serve as a basis for explaining the etiology of psychological disorders, and discussion will focus on empirically supported interventions for treating these conditions.

This course involves three exams. Typically there will be two empirical articles to read each week. Each week students will also respond to preparation questions on an individual and group basis. Students will read a memoir and write a 5-page paper. At the end of the semester, students will complete a 5-7 page research paper. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 Amherst college students. Offered Fall semester: Professor McQuade.  Spring semester: Prof. Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

233 Cognitive Psychology

This course will examine how the mind extracts information from the environment, stores it for later use, and then retrieves it when it becomes useful. Initially, we will discuss how our eyes, ears, and brain turn light and sound into colors, objects, speech, and music. Next, we will look at how memory is organized and how it is used to accomplish a variety of tasks. Several memory models will be proposed and evaluated: Is our brain a large filing cabinet? A sophisticated computer? We will then apply these principles to understand issues like intelligence, thinking, and problem-solving. Throughout the course, we will discuss how damage to various parts of the brain affects our ability to learn and remember.

Requisite: PSYC 100 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 40 students. Spring semester. Professor Schulkind.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

317 Neurobiology of Appetite

Although the ingestive act per se is clear and simple, understanding the multifarious influences that are distilled into the decision at any given moment to eat, or not to eat, remains a ponderous challenge for scientists. The obesity epidemic of the last several decades continues to spread across the globe, leading to a rise in metabolic diseases and more pressing need than ever to understand the neurobiological controls of eating and body weight. Through a broad survey of neurobiological research literature, we will explore how various neurobiological systems and behavioral processes influence eating and body weight, including metabolism, neural mechanisms of hunger and satiety, metabolic disorders, dieting, pica, failure to thrive, starvation, taste preference and aversion, obesity, anxiety and depression, food taboos, and all eating disorders. Strong emphasis will be placed on biological mechanisms and controlled laboratory research with both human and animal subjects.

Limited to 20 students. Open to juniors and seniors. Fall semester. Prof. Baird.  

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023

323 Risk and Resilience

This course will explore the roles of risk and resilience in early development. Using existing empirical research, we will examine: 1) how risks are manifested prenatally, in infancy, and in childhood, 2) how to support resilience in childhood, and 3) how to develop interventions to address risks and promote resilience. Over the course of the semester, students will complete four independent projects exploring teratogens, contaminated food, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and intervention development. Through reading, discussion, short writing assignments, and more in-depth independent projects, this course aims to help students understand risk and resilience in childhood, and learn how empirical research can be used to develop and evaluate potential interventions.

Fall semester. Professor Palmquist

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

325 Psychopharmacology

(Offered as PSYC 325 and NEUR 325) In this course we will examine the ways in which drugs act on the brain to alter behavior. We will review basic principles of brain function and mechanisms of drug action in the brain. We will discuss a variety of legal and illegal recreational drugs as well as the use of psychotherapeutic drugs to treat mental illness. Examples from the primary scientific literature will demonstrate the various methods used to investigate mechanisms of drug action, the biological and behavioral consequences of drug use, and the nature of efforts to prevent or treat drug abuse.

Requisite: PSYC 212/NEUR 213, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Not open to five college students. Spring semester. Professor Turgeon.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

331 Childhood and Adolescence

(Offered as PSYC 331 and EDST 331) This course will explore conceptualizations of childhood and adolescence in the United States today. Using both academic articles and media resources, the course will address topics such as early education and school readiness; play and extracurricular involvement; college access and attendance; mental health, self-esteem, and social media; and youth activism. We will use developmental psychology as the lens for most of our readings and discussion, although the course will integrate concepts from sociology, history, and education. We will also examine the roles of relationships (e.g., family, teachers, and peers) and contexts (e.g., policy, schools, and culture) on youth experience. In this reading-intensive course, students will be expected to engage in class discussions, write weekly response papers, conduct a youth interview and write an interview report, and develop a final presentation.

Requisite: PSYC 227. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Visiting Professor O'Carroll.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2022

337 Stereotypes and Prejudice

This advanced seminar provides students with an overview of the social psychological study of stereotyping and prejudice. Through weekly discussions of empirical and theoretical articles, students will examine stereotypes, microaggressions, systems of privilege, oppression, and institutionalized discrimination that influence and help maintain racism, sexism, heterosexism, and classism and their psychological consequences on the individual and society. Students will be expected to actively participate, lead class discussions/activities, provide weekly critical discussion questions, and develop a final research proposal. 

Requisite: PSYC 100 and PSYC 220. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Totton.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022

338 Personality and Political Leadership

In this course we will examine how to apply psychological theories to understand the lives of political leaders. We begin this course with a consideration of the role of personality in political leadership. We then examine psychological theories that can be fruitfully applied to the study of individual lives. Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate existing psychobiographies of important figures and students will conduct their own psychobiographical analyses of figures of their choice.

Requisite: PSYC 220, 221, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Spring semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

353 Psychological Assessment

This course examines methods used by psychologists to understand the  psychology of individual personalities. The primary focus is on three psychological assessment tools: the Early Memories Procedure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the traditional interview. Students will take these devices themselves, read the theory behind them, examine case studies by prominent psychologists using these devices, and conduct their own interpretations of responses given by college students and by psychotherapy patients. In the process, students should develop a good understanding of the complexity of the clinical thought process.  

Requisite: PSYC 221, 228, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Demorest.

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, January 2021, January 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2023

354 Close Relationships

An introduction to the study of close relationships using social-psychological theory and research. Topics will include interpersonal attraction, love and romance, sexuality, relationship development, communication, jealousy, conflict and dissolution, selfishness and altruism, loneliness, and therapeutic interventions. This is an upper-level seminar for the major requirement that requires intensive participation in class discussion and many written assignments.

Requisite: PSYC 220. Open to seniors. Admission with consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Sanderson.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024

361 Consciousness and the Brain

(Offered as PSYC 361 and NEUR 361) Although curiosity about the nature of consciousness has animated the work of philosophers, artists and others, this course will approach the topic from a scientific perspective. How do electrochemical signals in our brain produce our experience of colors, sounds, tastes and our awareness of ourselves? We will read and discuss primary source scientific journal articles drawn from both psychology and neuroscience with a focus on questions including: What kinds of brain activity distinguish conscious from unconscious states? Can objects in the environment (e.g., advertisements) affect our behavior even if we are not consciously aware of those objects? Are there different types of consciousness? Is consciousness peculiar to human beings (does it require language?) or is consciousness experienced by other species, as well? Does science have the tools necessary to achieve a complete understanding of human consciousness? Overall, the goal of this course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the current states of the scientific study of consciousness.

Requisite: PSYC 211, PSYC 212, PSYC 233, or PSYC/NEUR 213. Limited to 18 students. Offered Fall semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

364 Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

This course examines the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Disorders discussed will include behavioral (e.g., Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder), anxiety (e.g., the phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), mood (e.g. Depression), and developmental (e.g. Autism). Using a developmental perspective, topics will focus on risk factors, theory and etiology, family and social influences, and evidence-based psycho-social treatments. Course readings will come predominantly from empirical research articles and will be discussed in-depth in class. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to provide written reaction papers, and to develop a final research proposal.

Requisite: PSYC 228. Open to juniors and seniors. Limited to 15 students.  Offered Spring semester.  Professor McQuade.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2023

367 Human Neuroscience

(Offered as PSYC 367 and NEUR 367) This course will be an in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in the field of human neuroscience. Topics include a rigorous examination of the methods neuroscientists use to study the human brain, how the brain changes throughout the lifespan, the ways in which researchers have developed brain/machine interfaces, and the neural processes that support decision-making. For each topic, we will read several empirical articles and discuss them with an emphasis on experimental design, factors that may be confounding the data, and interpretation of the data. Assignments will include weekly response papers, an oral presentation, in-class debates, and a research proposal. Overall, the goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the cutting edge of human neuroscience research and to increase their ability to think like scientists.

Requisite: PSYC 211 or PSYC 212 or PSYC/NEUR 213 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 18 students. Offered spring semester. Professor Cohen.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2024

369 Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice

This course will be an in-depth examination of major theoretical models of psychotherapy. The course will focus on theoretical models and empirical support for the second wave (e.g., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and third wave (e.g., Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) psychotherapies. Students will examine how different psychotherapeutic approaches conceptualize mental illness and approach the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Issues related to ethics and the empirical evaluation of treatment outcomes will also be discussed. Readings will come predominantly from theoretical and empirical research. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, to compose weekly written responses to assigned readings, and to develop a final research proposal. Overall, the goal of the seminar is for students to learn to think like clinical scientists.

Requisite: Psychology 228. Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Elizabeth Kneeland.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023

490 Special Topics

This course is open to qualified students who desire to engage in independent reading on selected topics or conduct research projects. Preference will be given to those students who have done good work in one or more departmental courses beyond the introductory level. A full course.

Open to juniors and seniors with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022, Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

498D Senior Honors

A double course. Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval.

Fall semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Fall 2022
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023

499, 499D Senior Departmental Honors

Open to senior majors in Psychology who have received departmental approval. A double course.

Spring semester. The Department.

2022-23: Offered in Spring 2023
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
Department Website