Curriculum
Courses
Faculty

Courses in the department numbered below P400 are not ac­ceptable as credit toward a graduate degree in psychological and brain sciences. Students in the psychology Ph.D. program may not take a 400-level course for graduate credit if an equiv­alent higher-level graduate course is available. 

Undergraduates may, by consent of the instructor, register in and receive credit for graduate courses (number P500 and above). Ordinarily such consent is not granted unless the stu­dent has completed 20 credit hours of psychology.

• PSY-P 500 Psychology for Graduate Students (3 cr.) P: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Basic psychological principles. For students with little or no previous training in psychology.
• PSY-P 501 Research Issues in Clinical Psychology (3 cr.)P: Graduate standing in psychology or consent of instructor. A research-oriented survey of psychopathy, assessment, and psychother­apy. Models of psychological disorder; strategies of etiological research; test construction and clinical prediction; research on process and outcomes of psychotherapy. Credit not given for both P501 and P530. 
• PSY-P 502 Developmental Psychology (3 cr.) P: Graduate standing in psychology or consent of instructor. An advanced introduc­tion to the theory and experimental analysis of ontogenetic processes. Special emphasis on human development. 
• PSY-P 503 Complex Cognitive Processes (3 cr.) P: Graduate stand­ing in psychology or consent of instructor. A survey of topics in human information processing, including attention, short-term storage, long-term retention, retrieval from memory, concept attainment, problem solving, speech perception, and psycholin­guistics. 
• PSY-P 504 Learning and Motivation (3 cr.) P: Graduate standing in psychology or consent of instructor. Introduction to theory and experimental literature in learning and motivation. Focus on nonhuman behavior. 
• PSY-P 506 Sensory Psychology (3 cr.) P: Graduate standing in psychology or consent of instructor. Introduction to methods and research in sensory psychology. 
• PSY-P 507 Theories of Learning (3 cr.) Survey, comparison, and criti­cal analysis of modern theories of learning, from Thorndike to present. 
• PSY-P 510 Principles of Research in Psychology (3 cr.) Principles of construction and testing of psychological theories; experi­mental and nonexperimental designs; requirements of valid inference; measurement of psychological constructs; research methods including laboratory studies, surveys, observation methods. 
• PSY-P 514 Methods in Biopsychology (2 cr.) P: K300 or equivalent, course in laboratory psychology. Training in research tech­niques in sensory and physiological psychology. 
• PSY-P 516 Internships in Psychological and Brain Sciences (1 to 3 cr.) P: Consent of instructor. Internships in PBS will provide practical experience in a variety of professional activities pertinent to careers in psychological and brain sciences both inside and outside of academia. Experiential learning and one-on-one interaction with instructors establish an opportunity for students to explore and further refine their professional goals.
• PSY-P 517 Methods in the Direct Observation of Behavior (3 cr.)P: P553 or its equivalent. Reviews current use of observational techniques in the study of animal and human behavior, and critically considers the development of coding schemes and strategies of data recording and analysis. 
• PSY-P 519 Current Theories of Personality (3 cr.) P:  Graduate stand­ing, consent of instructor. Original writings of major contempo­rary theorists of personality. 
• PSY-P 525 Classical Conditioning (3 cr.) Critical evaluation of experi­mental literature. Emphasis on methodological and theoretical issues.
• PSY-P 526 Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (3 cr.) Compre­hensive survey of the cellular and molecular bases of associa­tive and nonassociative forms of learning and memory. Verte­brate and invertebrate model systems and preparations as well as data obtained from the human neuropsychology literature will be studied. 
• PSY-P 527 Developmental Psychobiology (3 cr.) Ontogeny of sensory-motor behavior and its underlying anatomical and physiological development. 
• PSY-P 528 Experimental Analysis of Economic Behavior (3 cr.)P: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. Relations between experimental psychology and microeconomics: basic concepts, theory, and research. 
• PSY-P 530 Clinical Psychology (3 cr.) P: Graduate standing and consent of instructor. Introduction to clinical psychology as an experimental-behavioral science, with an emphasis on theoreti­cal, methodological, and ethical issues basic to clinical research and professional practice. 
• PSY-P 533 Introduction to Bayesian Data Analysis I (3 cr.) P: Basic calculus (e.g., MATH M212 or equiv.) and computer program­ming (e.g., CSCI A201 or equivalent). Introduction to Bayesian analysis of data from simple experiment designs using hierar­chical models and Monte Carlo methods.
• PSY-P 536 Theory of Tests and Measurements (3 cr.) P: P553. Survey of test and measurement procedures; classical test theories, statistical theories; models of tests.
• PSY-P 534 Introduction to Bayesian Data Analysis II (3 cr.) P: Basic calculus (e.g., MATH M212 or equiv.) and computer program­ming (e.g., CSCI A201 or equivalent). Introduction to Bayesian analysis of data from simple experiment designs using hierar­chical models and Monte Carlo methods.
• PSY-P 536 Theory of Tests and Measurements (3 cr.) P: P553. Survey of test and measurement procedures; classical test theories, statistical theories; models of tests. 
• PSY-P 540 Principles of Psychological Assessment and Prediction (3 cr.) P: P553-P554 or equivalent. Concepts of validity and reliability. Concepts of validity and reliability. Diagnostic devices viewed as bases for decisions. Classification. Comparison of methods of making predictions about individuals.
• PSY-P 544 Introduction to fMRI Measurement and Analysis (3 cr.)P: Graduate student standing. Students will learn the theory and methods of neuroimaging with a particular emphasis on functional MRI. Specific topics include experimental design, data acquisition, data analysis, data interpretation and data presentation. Also covered are introductory MR physics and the physiology of blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) changes.
• PSY-P 546 Neurophysiological Techniques: Theory and Methods (3 cr.) P: Consent of instructor. Covers theory and methods underlying neurophysiological techniques with a particular emphasis on electroencephalography/event-related potentials and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Specific topics include neurophysiological recording principles, stimulus delivery/ex­perimental design, technical issues, basic data acquisition and analysis techniques and interpretation. Some basic principles of neural source modeling will also be covered. This is a 3 cr. methods graduate course designed for graduate students who are pursuing research projects in neuroimaging. Course content is unique. An alternative 3 cr. methods course for graduate stu­dents who are pursuing neuroimaging projects is P650 Neuro­imaging: Theory and Methods. 
• PSY-P 552 Special Topics in Social Neuroscience (3 cr.) P: Consent of instructor. A graduate level seminar-based course offering devoted to current topical issues in social neuroscience, with a particular focus on the functional neuroanatomy and neural mechanisms underlying human social cognition. Individual student assessment is based on presented seminars and class participation. Instructor permission is required for enrollment.
• PSY-P 553 Advanced Statistics in Psychology I (3 cr.) P: K300 or equivalent. Statistical inference applied to problems in psychological research. Experimental design and data inter­pretation. Elementary probability theory, statistical distribution, classical and nonparametric tests of hypotheses, point and interval estimation. Relations between statistical models and experimental controls. 
• PSY-P 554 Advanced Statistics in Psychology II (3 cr.) P: K300 or equivalent. Statistical inference applied to problems in psychological research. Experimental design and data inter­pretation. Elementary probability theory, statistical distribution, classical and nonparametric tests of hypotheses, point and interval estimation. Relations between statistical models and experimental controls. 
• PSY-P 557 Representation of Structure in Psychological Data (3 cr.)P: P553 or consent of instructor. Survey of multidimensional scaling, clustering, choice theory, and signal detection ap­proaches to modeling similarity and classification. Theory and application. 
• PSY-P 560 An Embodied Approach to the Development of Brain and Behavior (3 cr.) Learning is dependent on our sensori-motor experiences in the world that are determined by brain and body development. In this course, we will critically review primary research articles and book chapters that pertain to how bodily encounters with the environment shape brain development, and thus, human behavior.
• PSY-P 561 Human Memory (3 cr.) Research theory and data on human memory and information processing models of memory.
• PSY-P 564 Psychophysics (3 cr.) P: P553 or consent of instructor. Classical and modern methods for investigation of sensory-perceptual processes. Application of signal detectability theory to psychophysics; emphasis on cur­rent research on detection and recognition of auditory signals in noise.
• PSY-P 565 Psychophysics of Vision (3 cr.) P: P553 or consent of instructor. Critical evaluation of research literature on visual functions of brightness, color, and spatial discrimination. 
• PSY-P 569 Stress Effects on Brain and Behavior (3 cr.) P: NEUS-N 500 and NEUS-N 501 or equivalent, or permission of instructor. Examination of the neural and behavioral effects of stress, from cellular to systems level. Topics include physiology of the stress response, effects of stress across the lifespan, stress effects on learning and memory and its neural substrates, sex differences in stress effects, and stress and psychopathology.
• PSY-P 590 Readings in Psychological and Brain Sciences (1-6 cr.)Readings and study in special topics of Psychological and Brain Sciences with guidance from a member, or members, of the faculty.
• PSY-P 595 First-Year Research Seminar (2-3 cr.) Presentation and discussion of first-year graduate student research projects. 
• PSY-P 605 Introduction to Mathematical Psychology (3 cr.) P: P553 or consent of instructor. Current applications of mathematics to psychology. 
• PSY-P 615 Developmental Psychology I (3 cr.) P: P553 or consent of instructor. An analysis of devel­opmental processes in humans and nonhumans. Emphasis on the study of mechanisms that control the ontogeny of sensory, motor, cognitive, and language systems. 
• PSY-P 620 Attitudes and Attitude Change (3-3 cr.) P: P320, P511, or consent of instructor. Conceptions of the attitude construct and theories of attitude formation and change. 
• PSY-P 623 Psychology of Language (3 cr.) Psycholinguistic events, in­cluding communicative speech, gestures, and symbolic behav­ior. Interrelations between linguistic and other psychological processes in individual and social situations. 
• PSY-P 624 Principles of Psychopathology (3 cr.) P: Graduate stand­ing and consent of instructor. Description of the phenomena of psychopathology and the principles associated with their classification. 
• PSY-P 625 Operant Conditioning (3 cr.) A survey and interpretation of research findings on problems of systematic interest for a general science of behavior, with emphasis on recent work. 
• PSY-P 631 Intervention and Evaluation (3 cr.) P: Consent of instruc­tor. A systematic comparison of theories of psychotherapy and behavior change. Introduction to evaluation techniques appro­priate to applied settings. 
• PSY-P 634 Advanced Survey of Community Psychology (3 cr.) P: 15 credit hours of psychology or consent of instructor. A survey of issues and research in community psychology. Topics covered include the role of conceptual models in guiding inter­vention practices; research in social epidemiology, prevention, consultation, and organizational and community change. 
• PSY-P 637 Neurobiology of Addictions (3 cr.) P: N500 and N501 and N612 (or permission of instructor). P637 provides students an intensive overview of the fundamentals, state-of-the-art advances, new frontiers, and major gaps in our understanding of the neurobiology of addiction. Applicable to understanding the study of drug/substance and addiction, cellular processes of learning and memory, neuroadaptation, motivation and reward, etc. within neuroscience and psychology.
• PSY-P 638 Experimental Psychology of Reading (3 cr.) Examina­tion of the component stages of the reading process. Focuses on how visual information is processed within the framework of information processing and psycholinguistics. Topics to be considered include alphabets, phonetics and phonology, letter recognition, word and sentence processing, cognitive bases of reading, and methods currently employed in teaching reading. 
• PSY-P 640 Science of Moral Judgment (3 cr.) Survey of recent scientific research on the psychology of moral judgment drawing from social psychology, anthropology, evolutionary biology, ethology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, robotics & artificial intelligence, and brain science.
• PSY-P 641 Assessment (3 cr.) P: Consent of instructor. Review of re­search and theory on methods of gathering information about individuals. 
• PSY-P 644 Attention and Short-Term Memory (3 cr.) Analysis of the experimental literature and theories of human attention and short-term memory, including visual and verbal systems and forgetting. 
• PSY-P 645 Learning and Long-Term Memory (3 cr.) Analysis of the experimental literature and theories of human learning and long-term memory, including forgetting, organization, sentence memory, and nonverbal memory. 
• PSY-P 647 Decision Making under Uncertainty (3 cr.) P:  P553 or consent of instructor. Detailed survey of decision making under uncertainty. Theories, data, and application of decision mak­ing in situations involving imperfect (probabilistic) information; preference and inference in judgment. Applications covered include learning, risky choice, diagnostic decisions, group deci­sions. 
• PSY-P 648 Choice Behavior (3 cr.) P: P553 or consent of instructor. Preferential choice under conditions of certainty. Critical review of the properties and limitations of current theories of choice and scaling. 
• PSY-P 650 Neuroimaging: Theory and Methods (3 cr.) Covers theory and methods of neuroimaging with a particular emphasis on functional MRI. Specific topics include experimental design, data acquisition, data analysis, data interpretation, and data presentation. Also covers introductory MR physics and the physiology of blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) changes. 
• PSY-P 651 Perception/Action (3 cr.) P: Consent of instructor. Cover­age includes event perception, optical flow analysis (aperture problem, correspondence problem, structure from motion, sensory psychophysics, contact with machine vision), problems in motor coordination and control (motor equivalence, degrees of freedom problem, contact with physiology of movement and robotics). Focus on the relation between perception and action. 
• PSY-P 654 Multivariate Analysis (3 cr.) P: P553-P554. Survey of multivariate statistical methods; partial, multiple, and canonical correlation, factor analysis, discriminant analysis, classification procedures, profile analysis, and multivariate analysis of vari­ance. 
• PSY-P 657 Topical Seminar (arr. cr.) Topics of current interest, with intensive critical examination of appropriate literature. Differ­ent staff member in charge each semester. 
• PSY-P 658 Mathematical Models in Psychology I (4 cr.) P: P605 or consent of instructor. Intensive study of mathemati­cal models employed in experimental psychology: learning, perception, reaction time, social processes. Emphasis on prob­ability methods.
• PSY-P 659 Mathematical Models in Psychology II (4 cr.) P: P605 or consent of instructor. Intensive study of mathemati­cal models employed in experimental psychology: learning, perception, reaction time, social processes. Emphasis on prob­ability methods.
• PSY-P 660 The Teaching of Psychology (1 cr.) Open to graduate students. This course is designed to help students gain practical skills in the teaching and dissemination of psychological knowledge to a variety of audiences, including to undergraduate students. The course emphasizes skills in writing, speaking, organizing, presenting, and assessing. The skills are intended to be useful in a variety of contexts, but primarily in formal learning environments.
  • PSY-P 664 Embodied Cognition and Ecological Psychology (3 cr.) Proponents of "embodied cognition" argue that embodiment should be part of the solution to problems of cognition, perception, and action. J.J. Gibson argued similarly in his Ecological Approach, but Embodied Cognition is not Ecological Psychology. The course addresses Ecological and Embodied approaches to Psychology, their differences and similarities.
• PSY-P 667 Neuropsychopharmacology (3 cr.) Analysis of neural mechanisms of drug effects on animal and human behavior, based on behavioral and biological experiments. 
• PSY-P 669 Neurobiology of Behavioral Disorders (3 cr.) P: N500 and N501, and at least one other graduate course in neuroscience or behavioral neuroscience. Neural mechanisms underlying selected neurological and psychological dysfunctions. 
• PSY-P 686 Current Psychological Literature I (1 cr.) Review of current psychological journals. 
• PSY-P 687 Current Psychological Literature II (1 cr.) Review of current psychological journals. 
• PSY-P 690 Practicum in Clinical Psychology (arr. cr.) P: Consent of instructor. Review of current psychological journals. 
• PSY-P 695 Second-Year Research Seminar (1-2 cr.) Presentation and discussion of second-year graduate student research projects. 
• PSY-P 700 Research and Theory in Social Psychology (0-2 cr.) Selected topics. No more than 12 credits can be counted toward the graduate degree.
• PSY-P 701 Research and Theory in Developmental Science (0-2 cr.) Selected topics. No more than 12 credits can be counted toward the graduate degree.
• PSY-P 702 Grant Writing the NRSA (3 cr.) Course goals include understanding the grant process, conceptualizing a fundable project, and learning the steps from good idea to writing a fundable proposal, including avoiding common mistakes. Specifically designed for F31 (NIH Individual Predoctoral fellowship) or an F32 (NIH Individual Postdoctoral fellowship) grants but a good introduction to grant writing in general.
• PSY-P 717 Evolutionary Bases of Learning (3 cr.) P: Written consent of instructor. Examines learning as an evolved ability which equips organisms to deal with predictable variability in the environment. Compares ethological, comparative, and general process approaches to the study of learning. 
• PSY-P 720 Dyadic Interaction (3 cr.) P: P320, P511, or consent of instructor. General models of dyadic interaction; theories and research on affiliation, interpersonal attraction, and the devel­opment, maintenance, and dissolution of social relationships. 
• PSY-P 721 Group Processes (3 cr.) P: P320, P511, or consent of in­structor. Theories and research on intergroup processes. Topics will vary but may include social identification, stigmatization, power differentials, group decision making, conformity, minor­ity influence, norms, social dilemmas, intergroup conflict.
• PSY-P 734 Community Intervention (3 cr.) Theories and concepts of change in community systems. Ecological conceptions of human adaptation. Research methods for defining problems, monitoring processes and assessing outcomes of changes in social systems. Models of intervention with emphasis on community participation, collaboration and accountability.
• PSY-P 736 Child Psychopathology (3 cr.) Seminar on serious behav­ior disturbances of children. Comparisons with development of normal child interacting with family. 
• PSY-P 747 Seminar in Cognitive Psychology (1-3 cr.) Selected topics. 
• PSY-P 820 Social Perception (3 cr.) P:  Graduate standing in psychol­ogy or consent of instructor. Critical review of theoretical and experimental literature concerning knowledge of others as intervening variable in social behavior. 
• PSY-P 895 Research (arr. cr.) **These courses are eligible for a deferred grade.
• PSY-P 898 Master’s Degree Research (arr. cr.) **These courses are eligible for a deferred grade.
• PSY-P 899 Ph.D. Degree Research (arr. cr.) **These courses are eligible for a deferred grade.
• PSY-G 901 Advanced Research (6 cr.) This course is eligible for a deferred grade. Students who have completed 90 credit hours and all requirements for the Ph.D. are eligible to enroll in G901 for a flat fee. G901 is not offered in the summer and is limited to a maximum of six semesters. For verification of eligibility and to receive a class permission, please contact the Academic Services Coordinator.