DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

GRADUATE COURSES

Department Permit Required for ALL Graduate Courses

Fall, 2004

PROSEMINARS
(Proseminars are 1 c.u. unless otherwise indicated)
September, 2004
COURSES
 TITLE
 INSTRUCTOR
 TIME
 ROOM
Psyc 600-301*
 Evolution, Culture & Behavior
 Kurzban MW 10-12
 PsyL C16
Psyc 600-302** Evolution, Culture & Behavior Gil-White MW 10-12 PsyL C16
Psyc 600-303**
 Human Memory
 Kahana
 TR 2-4
 PsyL D34
Psyc 603-401
 Behavioral Neuroscience
 Grill/Peoples
 TR 12-1:30
 Barchi Library, John Morgan Bldg.
*.50 c.u.  -  Meets September 13 through October 29
**.50 c.u.  - Meets November 1 through December 17
SEMINARS
COURSES
 TITLE
 INSTRUCTOR
 TIME
 ROOM
Psyc 459-001
 Visual Cognition
 Epstein
 TR 10:30-12
 PsyL B50
Psyc 474-001
 Cooperation in Groups
 Kurzban
 W 2-5
 PsyL A30





Psyc 611-401
 Statistics
 Rosenbaum
 TR 12-1:30
 JMHH  F55
Psyc 751-301
 S/T Cognitive Psychology
 Gleitman/Gleitman/Trueswell
 Arranged
 Arranged
Psyc 751-302 S/T Cognitive Psychology
 Trueswell
 W 12-2
 Arranged
Psyc 810-301
 Psychodianostic Testing
 Hunt
 Arranged
 Arranged
Psyc 811-301
 Psychodiagnostic Interviewing
 Hunt
 Arranged
 Arranged
Psyc 820-301
 Advanced Practicum
 Goldstein
 Arranged
 Arranged
Psyc 820-302
 Advanced Practicum
 Hunt
 Arranged
 Arranged
Psyc 820-303
 Advanced Practicum
 DeRubeis
 Arranged
 Arranged


Ethics Workshop
Mondays 1-3
 9/13 - Laura Peoples
 9/20 - Dianne Chambless 9/27 - John Trueswell


ROOMS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
GRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Fall, 2004

PROSEMINARS
(Proseminars are 1 c.u. unless otherwise indicated)
Psyc 600-301*
 Evolution, Culture and Behavior
 Rob Kurzban

*.50 c.u.  -  Meets September 13 through October 29

The first half of this course considers the evolution of social behavior in animals, and introduces the application of evolutionary theory to human mating systems and behavior. Topics covered include Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to behavior, sexual selection, the evolution of parental care and mating systems in birds and mammals, kin selection, reciprocal altruism, and the evolution of cooperation.  Fulfills the "Mind" requirement.

Psyc 600-302*
 Evolution, Culture and Behavior
 Francisco Gil-White

*.50 c.u.  - Meets November 1 through December 17

The second half of this course will present human psychology and behavior as viewed by cultural psychologists on the one hand, and by evolutionary psychologists on the other. The presuppositions of each approach will be deeply examined in order to separate tendentious disciplinary controversy from useful contributions that each side makes to an understanding of human behavior. Students will be challenged to construct a synthetic view of human behavior that causally articulates---rather than merely meshes---these two approaches in order to achieve a better understanding of the causes of human behavior, the distribution of ideas in social systems, and their historical trajectories. Some topics seen in the first part of the course will be reevaluated in a new light.   Fulfills the "Mind" requirement.

Psyc 600-303*
 Human Memory
 Michael Kahana

*.50 c.u.  - Meets November 1 through December 17

This course provides an in-depth analysis of current issues in the psychological literature on human memory.   The major focus of our readings and discussions will be on theories of memory, and experimental studies designed to test those theories.  Topics will include theories of learning, interference theory, theories of associations, recall, and recognition, the problem of sequential memory and temporal order judgments, category and function learning, spatial learning, and the differences between connectionist and symbolic models.  Fulfills the "Mind" requirement.

Psyc 603-401
 Behavioral Neuroscience
 Harvey Grill/Laura Peoples
Cross-listed with INSC 595

Current research on the neural basis of behavior is organized in six  subsections: animal communication, sex behavior, circadian rhythms, energy and water balance, synaptic plasticity and learning, and addiction. Topics are selected based on excitement surrounding recent research developments. Each topic is analyzed initially at the behavioral level, followed by the systems and the cell and molecular levels. Throughout the course, attention is paid to the analysis interesting stereotyped behaviors, e.g., bird song, lordosis, licking, whose description and neurology has provided insights into the neural systems that contribute to overall neural control of behavior. Attention is also paid to the development of understanding of the neuroanatomy of selected neural systems.  Fulfills the "Brain" requirement.
 

SEMINARS

Psyc 459-001
 Visual Cognition
 Russell Epstein

This course examines the interaction of vision with higher-order cognitive processes.  In plain terms: once the visual system has recovered a set of surfaces from the surrounding scene, what does the brain then do with that information to make it useful?  Possible topics will include: object and face recognition, attention, awareness, mental imagery, spatial cognition, and action. Particular emphasis will be placed on cognitive neuroscientific work that addresses these topics. 

Psyc 474-001
 Cooperation in Groups
 Rob Kurzban

Humans are unique in their abilities to cooperate in large groups of non-kin. In this course, we will explore the evolutionary origins of this phenomenon, and look at relevant theory research in social psychology, anthropology, and economics.

Stat 611-401
 Statistics
 Paul Rosenbaum
Cross-listed with Stat 500

An applied graduate level course in multiple regression and analysis of variance for students who have completed an undergraduate level course in basic statistical methods.  Emphasis is on practical methods of data analysis and th eir interpretation.  Covers model building, general linear hypothesis, residual analysis, leverage and influence, one-way anova, two-way anova, factorial anova.  Primarily for doctoral students in the managerial, behavioral, social and health sciences.

Psyc 751-301
 S/T Cognitive Psychology
 L.Gleitman/H.Gleitman

This is a research seminar in cognitive psychology offered by Henry and Lila Gleitman.  The seminar meets every Wednesday evening at the Gleitmans.  To assure intellectual continuity, participation has to be on a one-year basis.  Participation (whether by registration or auditing) is by permission of the instructors.  If interested, get in touch with either Henry or Lila Gleitman via e-mail. 

Psyc 751-302
 Special Topics in Cognitive Psychology
 John Trueswell

Communication in Context. This weekly research seminar is designed to provide an intellectual gathering for those students interested in the computational,cognitive and/or neuroscientific study of communication, be it characterized as human-linguistic, animal or machine. It is our hope that this will become a regular lunchtime event for students and faculty in the cognitive sciences who are interested in language and communication research. Sessions will alternate between what we will call From-Within and From-Without meetings. During a From-Within meeting, one student will be expected to present his/her graduate research to the group. This has two benefits: (1) Student presenters will have an opportunity to explain the broader significance of their research to non-experts in related disciplines; (2) All student participants will be exposed to developing research projects from related disciplines, potentially shaping these projects as they develop. During From-Without weeks, students will present and discuss selected readings by experts from outside Penn, in particular, that week's IRCS colloquium speaker. This 'journal club' will expose students to outside opinions, and prepare them for the colloquium in a way that isn’t normally possible. We hope that this weekly meeting will generate increased communication across different areas of expertise, establishing an intellectual common-ground among communication scientists at Penn.
If you are interested and/or would like to register, please contact John Trueswell at trueswel@psych.upenn.edu.  The first meeting will beWednesday September 8th, at noon.
Psyc 810-301
 Psychodiagnostic Testing
 Melissa Hunt

Psyc 811-301
 Psychodiagnostic Interviewing
 Melissa Hunt

Psyc 820-301
 Advanced Practicum
 Alan Goldstein

Psyc 820-302
 Advanced Practicum
 Melissa Hunt

Psyc 820-303
 Advanced Practicum
 Rob DeRubeis

Ethics Workshop
Mondays 1-3
 9/13 - Laura Peoples
 9/20 - Dianne Chambless 9/27 - John Trueswell

Two hour workshop discussion for incoming grad students on some aspects of ethics.