COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
PSYCHOLOGY
(PSY)
1013 Introduction to Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit.
Introduction to the study of the mind and behavior, with attention to awareness,
discrimination, sensation, perception, emotion, motivation, learning, memory,
problem solving, personality, mental and behavioral development, abnormal behavior,
and behavior in group settings. Psychological, social, cultural, and biological
determinants of behavior are considered, together with applications of basic
principles. Scientific and nonscientific approaches to the explanation of psychological
phenomena are examined critically. Participation in illustrative research required.
(Formerly PSY 2013. Credit may be earned for only one of the following: PSY
1013, PSY 1203, or PSY 2013.) [TCCN: PSYC 2301.]
1513 Knowledge and Learning
(2-2) 3 hours credit. Does not substitute for PSY 1013 for psychology majors
and minors.
Models of cognitive skill acquisition derived from research on human information
processing are presented and evaluated. Lectures will focus on theoretical
bases for individual differences in cognitive performance. Laboratory exercises
will focus on the empirical evaluation of effectiveness of different cognitive
strategies for carrying out academic tasks.
2001 Careers and Training in Psychology
(1-0) 1 hour credit. Prerequisite: PSY 1013 or equivalent.
Explores career opportunities in Psychology relative to Bachelor's, Master's,
and Doctoral levels of training. Students learn how best to plan their program
of studies to achieve their educational and occupational goals. The different
types of graduate programs in Psychology are described and the admissions process
is considered in light of the most effective strategies for gaining entrance
and assuring success. Must be taken on a credit/no-credit basis.
2503 Developmental Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 1013.
Problems, methods, major theories, and results in the study of the psychological
development of the individual from the prenatal period to old age. [TCCN: PSYC
2314.]
2513 Abnormal Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 1013.
Topics may include the dynamics of abnormal behavior with attention to description,
causes, and treatment of major psychological disorders, including neuroses,
psychoses, personality disorders, and psychosomatic disorders.
2523 Personality
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 1013.
Problems, methods, major theories, and results in the study of development
and maintenance of typical modes of behavior and dynamics of adjustment. [TCCN:
PSYC 2316.]
2533 Social Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 1013.
Problems, methods, major theories, and results in the study of social interaction
and interpersonal influence; selfidentity, attitudes, role behavior, social
perception, social influence, and behavior within groups. [TCCN: PSYC 2319.]
2543 Theories of Learning
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 1013 or equivalent and MTC
1023 or equivalent.
An examination of major theories about the nature of the learning process.
Discussion will focus on the construction and evaluation of models of learning.
The practical and theoretical implications of research results for the acquisition,
maintenance, modification, and elimination of behavior will be considered.
Related memory phenomena and theories may be discussed.
2573 Psychology of Thought
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 1013 or equivalent and MTC 1023 or
equivalent.
An introduction to the principles of human thought as they relate to memory,
comprehension, and problem solving. These principles will be used to analyze
the nature of the cognitive strategies and skills that individuals develop
to cope with the adaptive challenges they face.
3013 Psychological Measurement
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 1013 and STA 2073, or consent of instructor.
The application of quantitative and qualitative measures to psychological data.
3023 Social Psychology of Small Groups
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 2533 and PSY 3403, or consent of instructor.
Theory and modern research in the social psychology of small groups. Particular
attention will be given to group formation, the nature of small group processes,
and the influence of groups on behavior.
3053 Cross-Cultural Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 1013, ANT 1013, or ANT 2053.
An examination of the role of culture in the development and validation of
psychological theories. Critical discussion of the application of theories
of human behavior developed in the United States and Western Europe to other
cultural groups, including ethnic minority subgroups. Topics may include identity
formation, cognitive and personality development, social and organizational
behavior, intergroup relations, psychological assessment, and mental health.
3063 Psychological Testing
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 3403 or the equivalent.
An introduction to the development, interpretation, and administration of psychological
tests.
3103 Cognition
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 3403 and one of the following: PSY
2543 or PSY 2573.
Examination of current information-processing models of human cognition. Emphasis
will be placed on the processes by which stimuli are identified, by which past
information is retrieved and used, and by which one's knowledge is modified.
3113 Motivation and Emotion
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 2533, PSY 2543, or consent of instructor.
Topics may include examination of biological, physiological, learning, psychodynamic,
cognitive, and purposive factors in the motivation of human behavior. Includes
examination of nature and roles of emotion in explaining motivational processes.
3123 Attitudes
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 2533 or consent of instructor.
Examination of current theory and research on the nature of attitudes, their
acquisition, and processes of attitude change. Topics may include psychological
foundations of attitudes, structure and function of attitudes, attitude measurement,
attitude-behavior consistency, theories of attitude change, and the role of
attitudes in social behavior.
3133 Contemporary Personality Research
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 2523 or consent of instructor.
Examination of current theory and research on the processes underlying personality
and individual differences. Topics may include temperament and biological mechanisms,
self-concepts and their relationship to behavior, and cognitive processes underlying
behavior consistency and emotional experience.
3153 Sensation and Perception
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 3403, and either PSY 2543 or PSY 2573.
Survey of the processes by which the information available in the physical
world is encoded and transformed to produce our perception of the world. Emphasis
on the interaction between data-driven and conceptually-driven processes. Topics
may include elementary sensory physiology, pattern recognition, illusions,
physiological bases of perceptual dysfunction, and perceptual development.
(Formerly PSY 2553. Credit cannot be earned for both PSY 3153 and PSY 2553.)
3203 Industrial and Organizational Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: STA 2073 or an equivalent, and upper-class
standing or consent of instructor.
The role of psychology in industry. Applications of psychological knowledge
to industrial problems such as personnel selection, employee motivation and
satisfaction, and the influence of organizations on behavior.
3303 Psychological Perspectives on Gender
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 2503, PSY 2513, PSY 2523, or PSY 2533.
Consideration of physiological and social-learning origins of sex differences
and psychological theories of sexstereotyped and sexual behavior. Topics may
include androgyny versus sex-typed behavior, gender dysfunction, origins of
sex stereotypes, sexual preferences, and sex differences in reasoning ability,
aggression, sexual behavior, personality, and psychopathology.
3403 Experimental Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: One course from PSY 2503, PSY 2513, PSY
2523, or PSY 2533; PSY 2543 or PSY 2573; a minimum grade of āCā in STA 2073
or consent of instructor; and concurrent enrollment in PSY 3413.
This course is designed to offer students the opportunity to familiarize themselves
with representative experimental designs employed in psychological research,
to provide instruction in the choice of appropriate designs, to provide the
opportunity to develop skills in the analysis of published research, and to
offer an introduction to techniques for collecting and analyzing data.
3413 Experimental Psychology Laboratory
(2-2) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Concurrent enrollment in PSY 3403.
Application of observational and experimental procedures to selected problems
in the collection of psychological data and the evaluation of psychological
theories.
3513 Psychopathology and Childhood
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 2513.
Clinical findings and experimental research regarding childhood behavior problems,
including hyperactivity, autism, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders. Additional
topics include family influences on development of abnormal behavior and various
psychotherapeutic techniques.
3523 Psychology of Adulthood and Aging
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 2503 or consent of instructor.
Descriptive and theoretical accounts of psychological developments from early
adulthood to old age. Relevant data are reviewed in the areas of memory, intellect,
mental and physical health, social development, personality, grief, and dying.
3543 Introduction to Clinical Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 2513 and PSY 3403, or consent of instructor.
An introduction to the concepts, methods, and profession of clinical psychology.
Topics will include historical background, theoretical and research perspectives
on psychopathology and psychotherapy, clinical assessment, and professional
issues concerning clinical training, regulation, and ethics.
3633 Aggression
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 1013 or consent of instructor.
Survey of social and psychological data; findings and theory of aggression
for both human and nonhuman subjects.
3903 Advanced Psychological Research
(2-2) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 3403 or the equivalent.
Provides the opportunity for the student to conduct current research in a subarea
of psychology under the instructor's supervision. Lectures will include a review
of previous research in the subarea and discussion of research design, data
collection, data analysis, and the reporting of research.
4003 History of Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 3403 and PSY 3413, or consent of instructor.
The development of major theoretical positions and research strategies in psychology
from the ancient Greeks to the present, with emphasis on the development of
scientific psychology since the late 19th century.
4013 Social Psychology of the Self
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 2523 or PSY 2533, and PSY 3403 or
consent of instructor.
A social psychological examination of current research on the self in social
interaction. Topics may include the structure of the self-concept and strategies
for the preservation of self-esteem; the evaluation of the self through social
comparison; the search for meaning and processes involved in understanding
the self; and individual differences in self-knowledge and self-presentational
styles. (Formerly PSY 3143. Credit cannot be earned for both PSY 4013 and PSY
3143.)
4103 Social Psychology of Prejudice
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 2533 and PSY 3403.
Consideration of social, psychological, and personality factors in prejudice
and stereotyping, and their interaction with cultural factors in producing
racism and other prejudices.
4113 Cognitive Development
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 2503, PSY 2573, and PSY 3403; or consent
of instructor.
The development of perception, memory, and thinking in children, with attention
to the roles of experience and maturation in development of thought, and the
validity of the concept of cognitive stages, particularly Piagetian models.
4133 Social and Personality Development
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 2503, PSY 2523, or PSY 2533.
Social and personality development across the life span. Topics may include
sex-role development, child rearing, achievement, and the influence of peers.
Socialization into different social roles may also be considered.
4143 Memory
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 3403 or an equivalent and one of the
following: PSY 2543 or PSY 2573, or consent of instructor.
Models for the coding, storage, and retrieval of information in memory. Organization
and structure of short-term, long-term, and semantic memory, and the role of
verbalization and images in memory.
4163 Sensory Processes
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 3153 or consent of instructor.
Study of sensory physiology and the four psychophysical questions: detection,
discrimination, magnitude estimation, and recognition.
4183 Physiological Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 1013 or consent of instructor.
Topics may include the biological and particularly neurophysiological bases
of human behavior and cognition, the structure and organization of the nervous
system, and the effect of the latter on perception, memory, learning, motivation,
and emotion.
4193 Relationships
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 2533 and PSY 3403.
A consideration of the psychological processes that underlie the development
and maintenance of social relationships. Emphasis on motivational and cognitive
factors that mediate social interaction and communication. Special attention
may be given to friendships, romantic relationships, successful marriages,
and distressed relationships.
4213 Social Cognition
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 3403 or an equivalent, PSY 2533 or
PSY 2573, or consent of instructor.
The study of how people perceive and construe social events, social situations,
and the behavior of other people. Some emphasis is also placed on how social
and cultural forces affect personal perception processes.
4253 Psychology and Health
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Upper-class standing.
Exploration of the role of psychological factors in physical health. Topics
may include the relationship between mind and body, psychological factors in
pain, the effects of stress on health, psychological aspects of chronic illness,
psychological processes involved in perceiving and responding to physical symptoms,
interpersonal relationships in health care, personality factors in illness,
and issues concerning death and dying.
4273 Styles of Thought
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 3403 or an equivalent; PSY 2573 or
PSY 3103.
Study of the various ways individuals perceive and analyze information. Topics
may include the basis for skilled cognitive performances, the nature of cognitive
pathologies, the impact of belief systems on cognitive performances, the consistency
of individual differences in styles of thought across different cognitive tasks,
and the modification of thought styles.
4293 Visual Information Processing
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 3153 or consent of instructor.
Focus on the acquisition, storage, and use of visual information. Topics will
include visual pattern recognition, models of visual attention, analog representations
in memory, and spatial cognition.
4303 Psychology and the Law
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: 12 semester credit hours of undergraduate
psychology credit.
Emphasis on the contributions of psychology to the understanding of the legal
system and criminal behavior. Topics may include cognitive and social psychological
factors in eyewitness testimony, jury selection and decision making, competence
and the insanity defense, prediction of criminal behavior and dangerousness,
lie detection and hypnosis, and sentencing.
4313 Psychology and Leadership
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: MGT 3013 and MS 1013; or PSY 3403; or
consent of instructor.
Examination of individual differences and environmental influences on leadership.
Primary emphasis will be on leadership in a work setting. Topics may include
traditional and contemporary theoretical perspectives on leadership and cross-cultural
issues.
4323 Psychology of Language
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 3403, and either PSY 2543 or PSY 2573.
Investigates how humans represent, produce, understand, and acquire language.
Topics may include language processing, neurolinguistics, language acquisition,
conversational interaction, language disorders, and reading development. (Formerly
PSY 2583. Credit cannot be earned for both PSY 4323 and PSY 2583.)
4333 The Perception of Sound
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: PSY 3153.
An examination of how we experience sound. Topics may include auditory psychophysics,
auditory speech pattern perception, and the perception of complex sequences
including music and speech.
4911,3 Independent Study
1 or 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Permission in writing (form available) of
the instructor, the student's advisor, the Department Chair, and Dean of
the College in which the course is offered.
Independent reading, research, discussion, and/or writing under the direction
of a faculty member. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 6 semester
credit hours of independent study, regardless of discipline, will apply to
a bachelor's degree. No more than 3 semester credit hours of independent study
will apply toward psychology major or minor requirements.
4923 Current Topics in Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisites: PSY 1013 and PSY 3403.
Coverage of topics of current interest in the field of psychology. May be repeated
once for credit when topics vary, but no more than 3 semester credit hours
will apply toward the major in psychology.
4933,6 Internship in Psychology
3 or 6 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of internship coordinator before
registration.
Supervised experience relevant to psychology within selected community organizations.
A maximum of 6 semester credit hours may be earned through Internship in Psychology.
No more than 3 semester credit hours will apply toward psychology major or
minor requirements. Must be taken on a credit/no-credit basis.
4953 Special Studies in Psychology
(3-0) 3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
An organized course offering the opportunity for specialized study not normally
or not often available as part of the regular course offerings. Special Studies
may be repeated for credit when the topics vary, but not more than 6 semester
credit hours, regardless of discipline, will apply to a bachelor's degree.
4993 Honors Thesis
3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Enrollment limited to candidates for Honors in
Psychology. Requirements for candidacy include the sponsorship of a faculty
member and psychology faculty approval of the student's project proposal.
Supervised research and preparation of an honors thesis. May be repeated once
for credit with advisor's approval. No more than 3 semester credit hours will
apply toward psychology major requirements.
2004-2006
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