We will learn how mathematical modeling has helped scientists explain human thought and behavior. The readings will describe how modeling works, show why it is useful, and demonstrate some ways that modeling has been successfully applied in psychology. We will explore how the logic of modeling can be applied to how you think about everyday problems. We will also code up some simple models and use them to analyze data (no previous programming experience is necessary).

Not available at this time

Not available at this time

Not available at this time

This course ranges widely from the constitutional convention in 1787 to the present, but most of the course focuses on the 20th century. Key topics are: federalism and diversity, free speech and diversity, religious freedom and diversity, and affirmative action and diversity. Students will be exposed to all sides of the key debates. The course is not designed to promote specific viewpoints. Special attention will be paid to the transformation of legal language over time and the manner in which social values enter into constitutional argumentation.

This course will cover several advanced topics in political behavior, with an emphasis on getting familiar with the research methods used in the relevant research literature.

This course will familiarize students with existing approaches to the measurement and classification of ideology in text, and provide an opportunity to think critically about how to improve upon these. We begin by examining various definitions of ideology from different empirical and philosophical traditions, distinguishing between those that emphasize core values and beliefs from ones that take policy positions as their essential indicators.

What are we? What defines us? How did human culture arise? We communicate with spoken and written language, we make tools to build even more complicated tools, we learn calculus to solve differential equations, we use inductive reasoning to seek generalizable knowledge, we understand other people?s mind and emotion, we understand humor, we lie, cheat, and deceive others. Are these what makes us human? This course examines psychological and neuroscientific bases of human mind and behavior that are uniquely related to human culture and experience (that is, humanity).

The application of physics to the understanding of astronomical phenomena. Physical processes in the gaseous interstellar medium: photoionization in HII regions and planetary nebulae; shocks in supernova remnants and stellar jets; energy balance in molecular clouds. Dynamics of stellar systems: star clusters and the virial theorem; galaxy rotation and the presence of dark matter in the universe; spiral density waves. Quasars and active galactic nuclei: synchroton radiation; accretion disks; supermassive black holes.