Psychology

The course examines music's various roles in society and the effects of the various ways in which societies are organized on the ways in which music itself is made, heard, and understood. It introduces students to the sociology and psychology of music and encourages them to think conceptually about their own musical activities. The course covers a wide range of musical practices - Western and non-Western, classical and popular, past and present - though it focuses on musical and social developments since the Industrial Revolution.

This course introduces students to the broad range of current research on autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Students learn about advantages and disadvantages of current definitions of ASD and diagnostic techniques; critically assess current psychological/cognitive theories of ASD; assess current neural theories of ASD; study potential causes of ASD; and explore the social and scientific importance of ASD.

The course explores how frameworks, theories, and models from a number of different areas, including cognitive neuropsychology and psycholinguistics, inform clinical assessment and remediation of aphasia. Findings from basic science, neurophysiology, imaging, and speech and language therapy are linked to increase our knowledge of the effects of the rehabilitative interventions at the level of the brain as well as their functional impact. Both emerging and established rehabilitative approaches are highlighted.

Psycholinguistics tests different theories of the production, perception, and acquisition of language by using various methods, such as reaction time experiments, brain activity measurements, misarticulation analysis, and corpus analysis. This course provides an introduction to these theories and methods. Furthermore, the factors that affect our perception, production, and acquisition of a first or second language are studied. The course introduces the principles for conducting and assessing a psycholinguistic experiment and includes an exercise in conducting such an experiment.

This course explores the basic principles of human behavior and how these principles can be applied to product development or design. It also considers how human principles can be combined and applied with engineering principles. At the same time, the content of learning is directly applied by building an efficient, convenient, and safe cognitive system. The goal is to improve psychological scientific analysis ability;  convergence technology capabilities, and the ability to utilize information technology media tools.

This course addresses evolutionary and comparative approaches to psychology. The course provides an understanding of major evolutionary forces and how they have shaped animal and human behavior and psychology. The course introduces key principles, concepts, and methodologies and relates them to specific topic areas such as the evolution of social behavior and the evolutionary origins of language and cognition.

The course introduces students to pharmacology, which can be defined as the study of the actions of drugs. The course has a strong focus on the nervous system. The basic principles of pharmacology are covered, including drug interactions with specific receptors in target tissues and pharmacokinetics. Students learn how drugs work and become familiar with pharmacological concepts and terminology. Students also consider the drug development process and the many ways in which new therapeutics are designed and developed. The effects of different classes of drugs upon the peripheral and central nervous systems and on different neurotransmitter pathways are covered. How drugs can be used to understand the function of these systems and to alleviate their malfunctioning in various diseases and afflictions is explained.

This course explores the psychology behind entrepreneurship and innovation. The topics include the personality of entrepreneurs and exploring whether entrepreneurs are born or made; how entrepreneurs and innovation leaders make decisions about risk and manage uncertainty; what drives entrepreneurs and what "returns" they can expect (in terms of income and well-being); what success means to entrepreneurs, how individuals may lead successfully on entrepreneurial, entrepreneurs and innovation initiatives. Students also reflect on how each person can act in an entrepreneurial and innovative manner. The course examines the psychological underpinnings of the entrepreneurial process and innovative behaviors within established business. It is mindful of the diversity of entrepreneurial and innovation endeavors ranging from high-tech and digital entrepreneurs to social entrepreneurs that launch social innovations.