Psychology

In this course, students learn the foundations of neurobiology and neuropharmacology as it relates to stress, trauma, and mental illness. Topics include, for example, the impact of stress on epigenetics and the length of the telomeres causing early aging, the debate of whether genetic or environmental factors shape our mental health and contribute to mental illness, and the different approaches that mitigate the negative impact of stress on brain function.

This course studies how theories of social psychology can be applied to the understanding of how new media is produced, marketed, resisted, adopted, and consumed. It highlights key stages in the development trajectory of new media and introduces relevant theories, while considering such issues as why some technologies succeed where others fail, how marketers should promote new technology, which services are likely to become tomorrow's dominant applications, what goes through the minds of new media adopters, and who are most likely to engage in deviant media use.

Cognitive Neuroscience I is an introduction to this field, studying the physiology and anatomy of the brain, the functional anatomy of cognitive functions, and the experimental toolkit of cognitive neuroscience (ranging from reaction-time tests to functional MRI). The results of recent research into perception, attention, learning and memory, and language, and their neurological underpinnings are also looked at. Throughout the course, special attention is given to dysfunctions of cognitive functioning resulting from brain damage. This course covers the following topics: the basic functions of the brain and neurophysiological processes underlying various mental faculties; how neurocognitive research is conducted, particularly how behavioral and neurocognitive research methods are used as complementary means to the same end; and current issues in neurocognitive research. Prerequisites for the course: this course puts considerable weight on anatomy and physiology of the brain and on molecular processes underlying the function of the nervous system; knowledge of biology at the high school level is recommended.

The undergraduate research program places students in research opportunites to conduct indpendent research under the supervision of a Chinese University of Hong Kong faculty. Students are expected to spend approximately 15 to 20 hours per week in independent research as well as attend lectures and labs.

This course covers the skills and knowledge necessary to carry out a collaborative research study in small groups to perform a literature search on a given topic; design a short research study; collect responses to create a data set; analyze collected data, using descriptive analysis (for example, means and standard deviations) for inclusion in a final research report; and individually, to write a final research report. Computer-based workshops give students practical experience and competence in working with data entry and descriptive analysis.