Topics course. A survey of current psychological research on the factors that contribute to a person's sense of well being. What are the components of happiness? What are the biological, personality, and contextual factors that contribute to that happiness? How does a person's sense of well being influence health, relationships, and other important life outcomes? Prerequisites: 270 or 271.

An exploration of methods of inquiry in social psychology with emphasis on experimental approaches to current questions in respect to processes of categorization and social identity and their implications for behavior among groups. Prerequisites: 192 and either 266, 269, 270, 271. Enrollment limited to 16.

Topics course. Examination of the empirical and theoretical research relevant to anxiety disorders and their associated features in youth. Using a developmental perspective, we will focus on risk factors, theoretical models, and methods of assessment and intervention. Prerequisite: 111 and 252 or 253. Permission of the instructor required.

This course aims to advance multicultural thinking in the study and practice of psychology by increasing understanding about mental health problems affecting the major U.S. ethnic minority groups. First, the course will use self-examination to provide an experiential understanding of ethnocultural development. Second, it will provide theoretical models and concepts for understanding ethnic minority mental health in a sociocultural, historical, psychological, and methodological context.

An introduction to research techniques through the discussion of current research, design and execution of original research in selected areas such as drinking games, pregaming (i.e., "drinking before drinking"), acculturation and alcohol use, motivations to drink, expectations about the effects of alcohol use, and athletic involvement and drinking behaviors among adolescents and emerging adults. Prerequisites: PSY 190 or MTH 190, 192, PSY 290 strongly preferred and permission of the instructor.

Topics course. How does experience get "under the skin" to influence health, physiology, and behavior? This seminar explores how environmental factors become biologically encoded across the life-course. Topics include prenatal origins of adult disorders, endocine disruption and behavior, and aspects of the physical and social environments that impact outcomes from depression to longevity. We will critically examine biomarkers used as proxies of experience including hormone levels, markers of cellular aging, inflammation, and epigenetic regulation of the genome.

Topic: Issues in Mind/Body Medicine. Focusing on the role of psychological processes, we will examine the state of empirical support for various modalities of healing physical health problems across allopathic and complementary/alternative medicine perspectives. Emphasis will be placed on critically evaluating current research and designing appropriate future studies. Recurrent psychological process themes across modalities will be highlighted, e.g., the placebo effect, emotion, and the social context of healing. A previous course in health psychology is recommended.

Topics course. This seminar explores the cognitive processes underlying human perception and comprehension of film, the techniques film makers use to capitalize on these processes, as well as the general portrayal of cognition by film makers. We will read and discuss empirical articles and view relevant examples of film. Topics range from change blindness and apparent motion to depictions of amnesia in 20th century film. Prerequisite: PSY 218 or PSY 219 or permission of the instructor.

Topics course. This seminar discusses research on the neuro-cognitive basis of autism spectrum disorders, considering genetic, neuroscientific, psychological and linguistic factors in their etiology and characterization. Topics will include the history of the diagnosis, the incidence of the disorders, cross-cultural conceptions of autism, studies of the underlying neural mechanisms, and the cognition and language of children with ASD. Prerequisites: One of PSY213, PSY233, or PSY253, or permission of the instructor.

The study of social behavior considered from a psychological point of view. Topics include interpersonal behavior, intergroup behavior, and social cognition. Prerequisite: PSY 111 or PSY 269.