David Pizarro, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology
Fall - 3 Credits
Why are people superstitious? Why do people blush when they are embarrassed? What is intelligence (and are IQ tests a good way to measure it)? Why don't psychopaths feel guilty when they harm others? How reliable are childhood memories? Why do we laugh? Why are some people extroverted and some people shy? Are there any universal emotions? While questions like these have been asked for centuries, psychology has begun to provide answers to these--and other questions about the human mind--by applying the tools of scientific investigation.
In this course you will receive a broad introduction to the science of psychology: from the history of the field and its major advances, to the latest research on topics such as perception, memory, intelligence, morality, personality, mental illness, language, and judgment. You will also learn about the tools and methods psychologists use to investigate the mind, such as observing how the mind changes and develops over time, looking at people across cultures, measuring brain activity, and experimentally manipulating features of a person's environment.