How does culture influence child development? How do the values, norms, and expectations of a group shape socialization processes? What is the child's role in contributing to social interactions and how might this vary across cultural and social settings? In this course we will move beyond examining group differences to discussing the implications of cultural practices and values for understanding development.

This course will examine the anatomical basis of several neurological disorders and diseases. We will discuss the mechanisms through which they are thought to occur, as well as the diagnostic criteria and current treatments for each disease or disorder. We will discuss clinical neuroanatomy to serve as a basis for understanding brain structures and functional alterations in a variety of developmental, degenerative, neurological, and psychiatric disorders.

This course will cover intermediate topics that pertain to the production of visual imagery with the tools of three-dimensional computer graphics (CG). Lectures, readings, and homework assignments will explore subjects including organic shape modeling, character articulation, character animation, extensions to the basic shading and lighting models, and procedural animation. Students will be expected to complete individual projects and participate in group exercises that explore CG as both a standalone medium and as an integral part of modern film/video production.

An introduction to the philosophy of perception, and its questions. Do we perceive things as they really are, or are we aware only of our own representations of things? Is our perception of the world a grand illusion, as some, including some religious thinkers, believe, or an accurate copy of the world, like a photograph? What is the difference between misperceiving and correctly perceiving?

In this course, we will explore the explicit and implicit assumption that learning occurs in museum spaces. Many museums (art, science, etc.) and designed museum-like spaces such as aquariums, sculpture gardens, and historical centers, often collectively called "informal learning institutions," frequently include educational components in their mission statements or goals. Yet, how are these components enacted or realized? Several questions will drive our inquiry: How do we define learning in these settings? How do we measure learning in these settings?

We will explore major texts in moral philosophy in the Western tradition from the fifth century B.C.E. through the nineteenth century. Topics discussed will include: moral reasoning, knowledge, and justification; conceptions of virtue, moral motivation, and the role of the emotions in morality; and issues of justice, rights, and equality. We will also examine several contemporary moral controversies from alternative philosophical perspectives (including the moral status of non-human animals, abortion, and euthanasia, among others).

This course presents Semantics as a cognitive phenomenon: what aspects of the representation of reality are relevant for speakers when they use language to convey meaningful utterances? The first part of this course will provide insights into topics such as the nature of meaning, the problem of sense and reference, lexical semantics, meaning as logic form, and meaning as context of use. The second part will explore the relation between language and cognition from a cognitive-functional framework.

This course will be an exploration, from a social psychological perspective, of how emotions and cognition interact to influence our thoughts, perceptions, and behavior. We will begin by broadly examining emotion and cognition, and then move on to specifically examine how emotions may influence social perceptions, social interactions, and intergroup relations. Students will be expected to write brief reaction papers to weekly readings, as well as complete a final paper and presentation on a related topic of their choosing.

The traditional ideal of the political citizen is in decline, and now is often understood as unrealizable. Many people don't have sufficient political knowledge or don't participate politically beyond making a campaign contribution. Instead, citizenship is experienced in popular-cultural terms, like being a fan. Politics becomes a game of style; attention to it through the media becomes a source of pleasure. Recognizing these new conditions, there are innovative experiments to channel the everyday creativity of citizens into small-scale, culture-oriented politics.

This course is an introduction to the psychology and neuroscience of music. We will study the psychological and brain processes that underlie the perception and production of music, current theories about why and how music evokes emotion, and the evolutionary and developmental roots of the variation and commonalities of music across cultures and traditions. Readings are drawn from textbooks and the research literature. Students are required to complete a series of essay assignments during the term. Formal musical training is not a prerequisite for the course.