Undergraduate Studies:Special Topics for Psychology
160-163
Winter 2010
Psy 160JB
Human behavior in virtual worlds
This course examines the history of human behavior in virtual
worlds with an emphasis on digital virtual worlds including three-
dimensional digital virtual environments, internet and web based
environments, social networking sites etc. It describes the ways
in which human behavior is impacted by virtual reality technology
and considers its positive and negative impact on society.
Mondays 3pm-530pm in Psy-E 3843
Psy 160DH
Issues in Social Cognition
Social cognition is the study of how people process and use
the information they encounter in the social world. These processes
are important both because the manner in which we process information
determines our interpretations and reactions to events we experience
and because these interpretations and reactions serve as the foundation
of subsequent judgments and behavior. This seminar will focus
on current knowledge about social cognition with a special focus
on identifying processes that are involved in diverse aspects
of social thought and behavior. We will see how a set of core
cognitive processes underlie and affect social thinking and action
across a broad set of situations and contexts that previously
have tended to be studied in isolation from each other. This approach
will allow easier comparison of findings from literatures that
have traditionally utilized distinct methods and different levels
of analysis. In embracing a framework that cuts across content
areas, social cognition is reflected as an approach rather than
a content area in social psychology. The social cognitive approach
– the focus on identifying social information processes
and an associated set of methods appropriate for probing those
processes – can be used to study social phenomena not traditionally
examined through this lens.
Tuesdays 9-1130am in Psy-E 2839
Psy 163TK
Role of epigenetic mechanisms in nervous system control
of behavior
