Intensive first-year seminar focused on specific themes and/or disciplinary perspectives. Emphasis on developing critical reading and writing skills, substantive revision, information literacy, and analytical thinking. First-year seminars are frequently organized to meet one of the disciplinary Catamount Core requirements. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years.
Introduction to the entire field, emphasizing the behavior of the normal adult human being.
Principles of research methodology, including design and reporting. Prepares students to understand and evaluate psychological research in a variety of areas of psychology. Includes laboratory component. Credit not awarded for both PSYS 2000 and PSYS 2002. Prerequisite: PSYS 1400.
Principles of research methodology, including design and reporting. Prepares students to understand and evaluate psychological research in a variety of areas of psychology. Credit not awarded for both PSYS 2002 and PSYS 2000. Prerequisite: PSYS 1400.
Tools to conduct basic statistical tests in psychology and to aid in developing statistical reasoning skills. Efforts will be made to explore statistics in context, using examples from a variety of domains in the field, including developmental, social, cognitive, and clinical psychology. Credit not awarded for both PSYS 2012 and PSYS 2010. Prerequisites: PSYS 1400.
Behavioral and cognitive principles underlying learning, memory, and action inside and outside the laboratory. Includes conditioning, motivation, biological constraints, and mechanism of remembering and forgetting. Prerequisite: PSYS 1400.
Biological bases of behavior: classical and contemporary issues, including introduction to nervous system, behavioral effects of drugs, chemical bases of behavioral disorders. Prerequisites: PSYS 1400, BIOL 1000, BIOL 1400, BCOR 1400, or BCOR 1425.
An introduction to theory and research on the science of how one's situation influences individual thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Prerequisite: PSYS 1400.
Survey of research and theories on child development from conception to adolescence emphasizing experimental analyses of early social and cognitive development. Prerequisite: PSYS 1400.
Describing and defining abnormal behavior; models of etiology; research evidence for biological and social models; methods of intervention and prevention. Prerequisite: PSYS 1400.
Undergraduate student work on individual or small team research projects under the supervision of a faculty member, for which credit is awarded. Offered at department discretion. Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
Analysis of theory and research on the basic learning process and behavior. Prerequisites: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2100.
Research and theories on the major areas within cognition: perception, attention, pattern recognition, memory, knowledge representations, mnemonic strategies, problem-solving and neurocognition. Prerequisites: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2100.
Theory and research on motives, including hunger, fear, sex drive, and addiction, their influence on behavior, relationship to other psychological processes, and biological correlates. Prerequisites: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2100, PSYS 2200, NSCI 2100, or NSCI 2105.
A study of cognitive and behavioral principles of human judgement and decision making. Prerequisite: PSYS 2100.
Effects of drugs (both medical and recreational) on behavior. Topics such as drug effects on learning, memory, motivation, perception, emotions, and aggression. Prerequisites: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2200, NSCI 2100, or NSCI 2105.
The study of the range of ways people experience the world and how variations in the brain contribute to that range. Topics include some experiences classified as disorders such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia; and general experiences such as visual imagery and gender. Addresses the intersectionality of neurodivergence with aspects of identity such as race and gender; how we define what is typical; and how that definition influences understanding of neurobiological and psychological differences. Prerequisites: PSYS 2200, NSCI 2100, or NSCI 2105.
Advanced study in behavioral neuroscience. Representative topics: Biological Basis of Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior; Perception; Strange Brains and Behavior. May be repeated for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisites: PSYS 1400; PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2200, NSCI 2100, or NSCI 2105.
Gives students high-impact experience conducting their own research in social psychology. After 4 weeks of foundational material, students are placed into groups of 5. Together with their group they decide on their research question and they dedicate the semester to learning all aspects of the research process so as to answer this question. In lab, they learn APA writing skills, methods, and data analysis specific to their research questions. Prerequisites: PSYS 1400 (or equivalent); PSYS 2300 (or equivalent); PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002 (or equivalent).
An introduction to the theory and research in the study of families. Topics include dating, mate selection, adult attachment, marriage, parenting, divorce, single parenting, remarriage, and issues pertaining to race, ethnicity, and culture. Prerequisites: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2400 or PSYS 2500.
Engages students in service learning through the implementation of a preschool physical activity program in local classrooms. Students develop skills to apply evidence-based, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed approaches to support young children's social-emotional development. Links between physical activity and early learning are examined through a developmental lens, with attention to how social and structural factors shape school readiness and educational equity. Prerequisites: PSYS 1400, EDSP 1050, or EDEC 1010; Instructor permission.
Building on the introductory Fit Kids courses, students engage in advanced service learning and develop leadership skills by applying reflective supervision practices while guiding a team of peers in implementing a preschool physical activity program in local classrooms. Students explore how systemic factors shape children's early brain development and learning, and investigate the role of physical activity in supporting school readiness. Prerequisites: PSYS 3450 or PSYS 3520; Instructor permission.
An overview of theory, research, and practice in developmental psychopathology from infancy through adolescence. The major disorders of social and emotional development reviewed. Prerequisites: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2400 or PSYS 2500.
Psychology of the cause, treatment, and prevention of physical illness and disability. Topics include: stress, health behavior, medical compliance, patient-provider relationships, coping with illness. Prerequisites: PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2500.
Advanced study in clinical psychology. Representative topics: Anxiety; Stress and Trauma; Pediatric Psychology; Behavior Modification. May be repeated for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisites: PSYS 1400; PSYS 2000 or PSYS 2002; PSYS 2500.
Undergraduate student service as a teaching assistant, usually in an introductory level course in the discipline, for which credit is awarded. Offered at department discretion.
College honors thesis or other department/program honors, under the supervision of a faculty member. Offered at department discretion.
Statistical methods for evaluating psychological data. Emphasizes exploring data with respect to research hypotheses. Critical study of hypothesis tests on means, chi-square, and correlational techniques. Prerequisite: Psychology or Neuroscience Graduate student.
All clinical students from the first through the fifth year attend monthly full clinic trainings and case presentations. Trainings include a clinic orientation, safety training, and special topics. Each vertical team has the opportunity to provide a case presentation outlining theoretical framework, case conceptualization, treatment techniques, progress, and challenges. Prerequisite: Psychology Graduate student.
Introduction to basic psychological intervention skills and the integration of these skills in the therapeutic setting. For first-year Doctoral students in clinical psychology. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Psychology Graduate student.
Year-long, 20 hours/week supervised service delivery involving psychological intervention assessment and consultation. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Psychology Graduate student.
Research leading toward completion of the Master's Thesis.
Advanced survey and analysis of behavioral and biological psychology, with special emphasis on learning theory and behavioral neuroscience. Prerequisite: Psychology or Neuroscience Graduate student.
Interviewing, intelligence testing, behavioral assessment, social cognition, family environments, specific disorders of childhood. Supervised assessment practicum (100 hours) in in-patient and out-patient mental health settings and schools. Prerequisite: Psychology Graduate student.
See Schedule of Courses for specific titles. Prerequisites: Psychology Graduate Student; Instructor permission.
Clinical psychology internship experience. Prerequisite: Psychology Graduate student.
Research leading toward completion of the doctoral dissertation.