An introduction to the contested terrain of psychoanalytic theory, which has so hugely influenced twentieth-century thought. Reading widely across Freud's work and that of his colleagues, we will situate key ideas--repression, desire, masochism, neurosis, sublimation, feminine/masculine personality, etc.--within a range of interpretive frameworks. Intensive class discussions, oral presentations, and small group projects will allow students to analyze the varied implications of psychoanalytic theory for contemporary thinking about individuals and society.

Examines changes in cognitive, social, and emotional functioning, including theory and research that illuminate some central issues in characterizing these changes: the relative contributions of nature and nurture, the influence of the context on development, continuity versus discontinuity in development, and the concept of stage. Includes observations at the Gorse Children's Center at Stonybrook.

What do we learn? How do we learn? Why do we learn? In this course, we will study issues of learning, teaching, and motivation that are central to educational psychology. We will explore the shifting paradigms within educational psychology, multiple subject matter areas, (dis)continuities between classroom and home cultures, students' prior experiences, teachers as learners, ethnic and gender identity in the classroom, and learning in out-of-school settings. Requires a prepracticum in a community-based setting.

Every culture in the world has some form of music, but why did music evolve, and what function does it serve? In this course, we will explore the cognitive and neural processes that underlie music perception and production to ask the following questions: Does music have universal features that cross cultures? How does music convey emotion? What do infants know about music? Is music specifically human? And finally, what are the parallels between music and language?

This course is an introduction to and survey of the biological bases of behavior, including physiological, biochemical, and neurophysiological determinants of sensation, motor control, sleep, eating and drinking, learning and memory, language, and mental disorders.

Examines the development, causal mechanisms, evolutionary history, and function of the behavior of animals. Topics include sensory capacities, predator evasion, reproduction, parental care, social behavior, and learning.

Why can't psychologists agree on basic assumptions? Why is so much of the field still controversial after more than a century? This seminar gives advanced psychology and neuroscience students a broad conceptual and historical overview of their discipline through an analysis of its enduring disputes. We will analyze primary source materials (both historical and contemporary) on several sides of major controversies such as: Are there racial differences in intelligence? Is madness rooted in faulty biology? Do women's brains differ from men's? Is violence innate or learned?

This seminar will take a largely clinical perspective on the mental health problems of depression and anxiety. We will examine the traditional definitions of these diagnoses from the DSM and raise questions about the nature of diagnosis and the way diagnoses change over time. We will look at how differently depression and anxiety are understood and treated given differences in gender, race, culture and age. Finally, the course will touch on past and present treatment of depression and anxiety.

Adoption has become a common way to create families in the United States and many other countries. The experience of adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families raise many questions about family relationships, identities, and community membership. In this course we will look how adoption has been studied, with a particular focus on the experiences of adoptees and their adoptive parents. Students will develop research questions, consider different methods and related ethical issues, and analyze survey and interview data.

Students will work in teams to code videotaped observations of romantic conflict discussions. Students will learn to code emotion expressions,conflict engagement and resolution strategies, attachment behaviors, and relationship quality at both the dyadic and individual levels. Students will also write their own coding scales to apply to these observations. Issues of coding bias, construct validity, and intercoder reliability will be addressed.