Topics Courses
While all topics courses count towards the Psychology major/minor, only some are approved for the Neuroscience major/minor.
2025-2026
Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SCI (unless otherwise listed in course description)
In 25F at 12, Margaret Funnell
The goal of this course is to explore the neuroscience of mental disorders. The ways in which we conceptualize and categorize psychopathology is changing rapidly, particularly as we gain insights into the neurological correlates of mental illness. We will review the characteristics of specific mental disorders and then delve into current neuroscientific research. We will focus in particular on the fundamental processes underlying psychopathology so that we can gain a better understanding of neurological relationships amongst seemingly disparate disorders. Although the class is focused on neuroscience, mental disorders cannot be fully understood without considering the experience of those suffering from these disorders. To better understand the experience of mental illness, we will watch a series of films and read a personal account of mental illness.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: This course requires a strong background in neuroscience; at minimum, successful completion of PSYC 6.
In 26W at 3A, Alireza Soltani
In our daily lives we are faced with many decisions: what to eat for lunch, whether to spend the next hour on Instagram or on homework, or what courses to take next quarter. Some of those decisions require gradual deliberation while others can be made quickly. Nevertheless, to make any decision we rely on external information and what outcomes we expect from those decisions. Decisions are easy to make if information is complete and the outcomes are certain. But how does the brain combine different sources of partial information to make decisions in the face of uncertain outcomes? In this course we will examine decision making from both behavioral and neurobiological points of view. Specifically, we will learn about different methods used in psychology, economics, and neuroscience (e.g. operant conditioning, game theory, reinforcement learning, prospect theory, electrophysiology, neuroimaging) to study decision making at various levels, from cognitive processes to underpinning neural activity and mechanisms.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 6
In 25F at 11, Kyle Smith
This course will explore how the brain controls our motivation to pursue goals and how drugs of abuse hijack those systems. We will learn about some historical perspectives of motivation as well as modern neuroscience work showing how areas of the brain might contribute to motivations. In the process, we will explore in detail how narcotic drugs (opioids, stimulants, alcohol, cannabis) act in the brain and the mechanisms underlying the transition from drug use to addiction.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 6
In 26W at 3A, Glen Greenough
Sleep is a bodily function that is preserved among all animal species. Sleep is essential for life and optimal functioning. This course will examine the neuroanatomical and neurophysiologic underpinnings of sleep. Normal and disordered sleep will be discussed. The pathologic processes that disrupt normal sleep and lead to disordered sleep in human beings will also be examined. The consequences of disordered sleep, inadequate sleep or poor-quality sleep on individuals and society as a whole will be discussed.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6
In 25X at 12, Lucas Dwiel
Psychedelics have recently reemerged as powerful tools for treating psychiatric disorders as well as for understanding basic properties of the nervous system and consciousness. To critically engage with cutting-edge research, we will cover a broad array of foundational methodologies in neuroscience and psychology, from signaling pathways within and between neurons to whole-brian imaging and psychometrics in humans. Over the term we will explore a wide range of questions: What are psychedelics - is that even a good word to use? How can a single dose of psilocybin lead to long-lasting changes in mood/behavior? What is ego death? Can these drugs be used for mind-control? What are the risks of using psychedelics? How can we study a drug without placebo/blinding? Is this whole field just hype? To address these questions, and many more, we will use in-person lectures, small-group discussions, and a curated selection of primary research and media
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 6 or BIOL 12
Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SOC (unless otherwise listed in course description)
In 26W at 10A, James Haxby
This course will focus on face perception, person perception and the mental processes we use to make sense of other people, including their thoughts, attitudes, personal traits, social connections, and personal history. The course will examine the role that person perception plays in face and voice recognition and social interactions. Particular relevance will be put on the neural systems for the representation of person knowledge and the mental states of others focusing also on what happens when these systems are impaired.
Faces play a fundamental role in facilitating social exchanges. Therefore, particular emphasis will be put on different aspects of face perception from face perception in different animal species to recognition of identity and decoding of different type of social cues in humans. A brief overview of person perception through other modalities such as voice perception and body posture also will be discussed.
Crosslisted as: COGS 11.04
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6
In 26W at 2A, Viola Stoermer
How is our perceptual experience shaped by our memories, attention, and culture? When looking around the world, we have the impression that we perceive a true image that faithfully reproduces the physical properties of the world. However, perception is a construction of what's really out there, and our visual system constantly makes smart guesses and complex inferences about what we are likely to be perceiving.
In this course, we will learn how our own memories, attention, and cultural background influence our perception of people, objects, scenes, and emotions; what optical illusions reveal about the visual system; what and why we forget certain things but remember others; what the failures of visual attention mean in real-life contexts (e.g., mammography, or the TSA), and how experience shapes our ability to see.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6, and PSYC 10
In 25F at 2, John Murray
Psychology and neuroscience have long sought to learn how brains function — such as, how we make decisions and learn from experience — by studying behavior during cognitive tasks. But how much can behavioral data really reveal about how the brain does what it does? This endeavor has been revolutionized by the development of computational models of behavior, mathematically defined algorithms describing mental processes that generate behavioral outputs from sensory and internal variables. In this approach, quantitative behavioral data can be compared to simulated behavior from models, and the model parameters can be fit to empirical data.
The goal of this course is to understand how computational models of behavior can be used to gain insight into psychological and neural processes. We will focus on canonical models of decision making and reinforcement learning. We will place emphasis on conceptual issues such as the purpose and logic of computational modeling and its role in experimental science.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: One of PSYC 1 or PSYC 6; and PSYC 10 (or equivalent)
In 26W at 10, Jeremy Manning
Description coming soon.
Prerequisite: TBD
Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SOC (unless otherwise stated in the course description)
In 25F, James Sargent
Chronic health conditions (like cancer and heart disease) kill the majority of people worldwide. Those diseases result, in part, from use of products—e.g., tobacco, alcohol, & convenience food—that are produced and marketed worldwide by multinational corporations. This course centers around how corporations influence unhealthy product consumption during childhood and adolescence. This course describes the theoretical basis for these influences, the science used to establish corporate products as a cause of youth behavior, and how governments try to limit the influence through regulation. The study will cover tobacco, alcohol, drug use, homicide/suicide, food/obesity, and risky sex. (Note: this course was previously offered as PSYC 53.03.)
Prerequisite: PSYC 1
In 26S at 2A, Caroline Robertson
There is remarkable variation in how each of our brains are wired and how we each experience the world. Yet, neuroscience has traditionally focused on understanding the general principles of neural processing, often overlooking the diversity of cognitive experience. The course centers on a timely and fundamental question: what does “neurodiversity” mean, and in what ways can neural architecture exhibit diversity? To address this question, we will harness philosophical, neurobiological, and computational perspectives. Moving away from a medicalized model of thinking about psychiatric conditions, this course introduces key dimensions of human cognition that are thought to be particularly susceptible to neurodiversity (e.g., predict vs. sense, explore vs. exploit, empathize vs. systemize). Along the way, we will integrate neural and computational models of how these dimensions neurally and cognitively manifest in conditions like autism, schizophrenia, ADHD, and anxiety. We will also examine timeless issues like “nature versus nurture”, to understand what specialized neural circuitry is innate vs. developed in humans. Finally, we’ll tackle ethical questions around diagnosis, intervention, and societal perceptions. This course is designed for students who are interested in exploring cutting-edge studies in cognitive science, neuroscience, and computational psychiatry, building on their prior knowledge in these areas while honing their skills in reading and synthesizing scientific literature.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 6, or two of the following: PSYC 1, PSYC 21, PSYC 22, PSYC 28, PSYC 38, and PSYC 40
Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SOC (unless otherwise listed in course description)
In 25F at 9L, Melissa Herman
uch of your life is spent in groups: families, classes, teams, cliques, Greek organizations, work teams. Have you ever wondered what’s going on under the surface or how you can make your groups function better? Although these groups may be dissimilar in size, format, and function, the psychological processes involved are surprisingly consistent. This course will analyze psychological theories of group interaction including conformity, competition, conflict, leadership, negotiation, communication, power dynamics, status orders, initiation rites, ostracism, expectation states, and stereotypes. Readings will include classics such as Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment, Tajfel’s minimalist groups paradigm, Sherif’s Robber’s Cave experiment, Whyte’s Street Corner Society, and Pennington’s Social Psychology of Behavior in Small Groups. Assignments will involve several reading analyses, a final exam, and—of course—a group project.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1
In 26W at 9L, Arjen Stolk
This course will provide students with a thorough background in the emergent field of social cognitive neuroscience. A broad range of social phenomena will be examined at multiple levels. First, at the social level including experience and behaviors. Second, at the cognitive level which deals with information processing systems. And lastly, at the neural level which deals with brain/neuronal bases of the first two levels. Topics include joint action, animal and human communication, and altered social functioning in psychiatric and neurological disorders. These topics will be discussed at both general and specific (article) levels.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6
In 26S at 3A, Laurie Veillette
This course will provide an overview of the field of Positive Psychology. Students will be provided with opportunities to learn theory and research pertaining to the psychology of human strengths, assets, abilities, and resilience. Recent empirical research will be reviewed, and students will be asked to apply the information in written assignments and class discussion. Topics will include: subjective well-being and positive emotions; optimal performance; personal fulfillment; optimal medical health; resilience; emotional intelligence; creativity; optimism; hope; self-efficacy; goals and life commitments; wisdom; humility/ compassion/ altruism; forgiveness; gratitude; love; moral motivation and the virtues (strengths of character); intrinsic motivation and flow; social support; positive coping; spirituality, meaning and purpose in life; the civic virtues (altruism, volunteerism, "prosocial" behavior).
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6
In 26S at 10A, Thalia Wheatley and Edward Slingerland
Description coming soon.
Prerequisite: TBD
Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SOC (unless otherwise listed in course description)
In 26S at TBD, William Hudenko
Each year, millions of people vow to make a change. Some may wish to end their habit of procrastination, others to improve a significant relationship, or still others may commit to combat a mental illness. Whatever their goal, people often discover how challenging personal change can be. At its core, clinical psychology facilitates such change through the scientific application of psychological principles. The purpose of this course is to introduce you to various scientifically-validated modalities of individual psychotherapy, with an emphasis on how psychotherapies utilize psychological principles to produce change. Over the course of the semester we also will explore special topics in the field of clinical psychology such as: human connection, empathy, emotion, ethics, psychological assessment, pharmacological treatments, and treatment evaluation.
Prerequisite: PSYC 24