This course is the first half of the Department's introductory psychology course sequence. Topics covered include psychological research methods, the adaptiveness of behaviour, the functioning of the brain and nervous system, sensation and perception, learning, memory, emotion and motivation. Important goals of the course are to inspire an interest in psychology and to help students acquire critical thinks skills so that they can clearly and objectively describe and explain psychological phenomena.
Sections M1 and M5 are technologically enhanced, experimental sections. Information about these sections can be found at: http://web.psych.ualberta.ca/P104_P105
This course is the second half of the Department's introductory psychology course sequence; PSYCO 104 is a prerequisite for PSYCO 105 and lays the groundwork for topics explored in PSYCO 105. Topics covered include the study of human individuality and individual differences, language and communication, lifespan development, social psychological processes, personality, abnormality, and psychological assessment and treatment. Important goals of the course are to inspire an interest in psychology and to help students acquire critical thinking skills so that they can clearly and objectively describe and explain psychological phenomena. Psychology 105 is the second half of the Department's introductory psychology sequence.
Sections M1 and M5 are technologically enhanced, experimental sections. Information about these sections can be found at: http://web.psych.ualberta.ca/P104_P105
The course is designed to accomplish four main objectives:
(a) To teach students how to evaluate psychological literature.
(b) To introduce students to social scientific methodology in psychology.
(c) To prepare students for more advanced methods courses, guided research and thesis research; and,
(d) To teach students to evaluate realworld claims like those presented in the media (e.g., Does breast feeding increase IQ? Does an increase in water temperature cause shark attacks?).
Topics include issues related to philosophy of science (e.g., rationalism, empiricism, logical positivism, falsification, deduction, induction, functionalism, causal interference), test construction and measurement (e.g., scale types, true scores and error, domain sampling, test-retest reliability, split half reliability, interjudge, reliability), construct validity (e.g., internal consistency, factor analysis, convergent and discriminant validity) and threats to construct validity (e.g., mono-method bias, mono-operationalization bias), content validity, internal validity, external validity, and threats to these types of validities (e.g., history, selection, maturation, interactions with maturation, resentful demoralization, nonrepresentative sampling), the relationship between reliability and validity, descriptive and inferential statistics, hypothesis testing, type I and type II errors, control, biases in experimentation (e.g., experimenter bias, demand characteristics, Hawthorne effects, evaluation apprehension), simple between group designs, multileveled between group designs and post hoc tests, between group factorial designs, within subject designs, mixed designs, quasi experimental designs, single subject designs, and ethics. Discussions of issues related to methods will draw primarily from psychological and social scientific examples (e.g., program evaluation, social psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, political science, economics). Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and PSYCO 105, and STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211).
PSYCO 223 - Developmental Psychology
This course concerns biological, cognitive and social aspects of psychological development, with special emphasis on infancy and childhood. Topics include prenatal development, heredity and environment, intellectual development and schooling, and socialization. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and PSYCO 105.
PSYCO 233 - Personality
This course will attempt an explication of the basic forms of personality theory - with the emphasis on a critical and comparative appreciation of them. Implications for psychological assessment and personal understanding and change may be discussed, along with more recent research developments. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and PSYCO 105.
PSYCO 241 - Social Psychology
The course is designed to introduce you to the major areas of social psychology. It is a review of theory and research about the basic topics from social psychology: Attribution, social cognition, attitudes, interpersonal attraction, groups, helping, etc. It is also hoped that you gain: (a) an understanding of how social psychologists conduct research; (b) an awareness of how ourselves and our acts depend upon, and fit into, social psychological processes; and (c)) a sense of how social psychological theory and research methods can be applied. The course will be primarily in a lecture format, with some discussion. From time to time, you will have an in-class demonstration or film. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and PSYCO 105.
This course provides an overview of the field of cognitive psychology. Topics include information processing, attention, memory, language processing, reasoning and problem solving. The emphasis will be on developing an understanding of general theoretical concepts that provide a unification of existing evidence and motivate current research. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211).
PSYCO 267 - Perception
This course is an introduction to the theoretical and experimental issues
associated with the sensory and perceptual experience of the world. The
main emphasis is on understanding basic perceptual phenomena, such as the
relation between physical stimuli and behaviour/experience. To this end,
we must consider: the nature of the physical stimuli; the anatomy and physiology
of the sense organs and receptors; the anatomy and physiology of the neural
paths from receptors to the brain; and how the brain processes sensory
information. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and STAT 151 (or former PSYCO
211).
PSYCO 275 - Brain and Behavior
This course is designed as an introduction to the area of Biopsychology. Its focus is the neurobiological bases of behaviour. The first half of the course deals with the anatomy of the nervous system, the physiology of nerve cells, and neuropharmacology. The second half examines the physiological mechanisms involved in perception and movement, motivation, emotion, learning, and communication. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and Biology 30 (or equivalent).
PSYCO 281 – Principles of Behaviour
Psychology 281 is an introduction to learning and conditioning. The course is designed to introduce the principles that behaviour change is based on. The intent of this approach is to familiarize students with the body of research, mostly based on animal work, which allows for further reading on conditioning and learning. Much of the lecture material comes from basic research, however, applied examples will frequently be used and application of principles will often be obvious. Prerequisite: PSYCO 104.
PSYCO 300 - Honors Seminar I
A range of conceptual and methodological issues in psychology are considered,
and students receive intensive training and practice in both written and
oral communication. The seminar meets once per week for the Fall and Winter
Terms. Restricted to, and required of, third-year students in the Honors
Psychology program. Corequisites: STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 21)
and PSYCO 212.
PSYCO 301- History of Psychology
History of psychology, with an emphasis on 19th and early 20th century
(i.e. pre-1950) developments. Significant trends in contemporary psychology
will also be discussed. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 & 105; one
of PSYCO 223, 233, 241, 258; and one of PSYCO 267, 275, 281.
PSYCO 323 - Perceptual and Cognitive Development
Topics covered:
PSYCO 325 - Applied Research in Developmental Psychology
Students explore relations between applied research in developmental psychology and practical problems in human development. Special attention is devoted to methodological and practical problems in applied research. To gain insights about development, students work with infants, children, or adolescents as volunteers for at least two hours per week in local agencies and schools. Students are encouraged to integrate what they learn in class about research with what they learn as volunteers about practical problems. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 & 105, 223 and STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211).
PSYCO 339 - Abnormal Psychology
This course is a detailed introduction to abnormal psychology and psychopathology. The topics include distinction between normality and abnormality, diagnosis, etiology and treatment. The classification scheme (DSM IV) developed by the American Psychiatric Association is the basis on which various psychopathological categories are selected for discussion. Current topics such as community mental health, legal and ethical issues are also discussed. Prerequisite: PSYCO 233.
PSYCO 350 - Human Memory
The main goal of this course is to provide an overview of a number of selected topics in the study of human memory. When dealing with each topic, we will review, in some detail, a) the basic findings in the area, b) the empirical methods used to generate these findings, and c) the competing theories developed to account for them. It is expected that students will come away from this course with a good understanding and an appreciation of the relationship between experimentation and theory in the study of human memory. Prerequisite: PSYCO 258.
PSYCO 351 - Human Information Processing
An examination of theories, issues, and published research in the general area of human information processing. Topics include: attention; visual persistence; pattern, letter, word and object recognition; scene perception; human performance; and visual memory. Prerequisites: STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211) and PSYCO 258.
PSYCO 354 - Foundations of Cognitive Science
This course exposes students to the interdisciplinary study of mind, cognitive science. Students are introduced to the representational theory of mind, to connectionism, and to the various disciplines and methodologies that comprise cognitive science. The major theme of the course is called the tri-level hypothesis: the assumption that cognitive explanations of the mind require three different kinds of descriptions -- computational (what problem is being solved?), algorithmic (what steps are being used to solve the problem?), and implementational (how are these problem-solving steps implemented in a mechanical device like the brain?). By the course’s end, students will understand why this hypothesis is forced upon researchers as soon as they assume that the mind is a complex information processor, and they will understand how this hypothesis directs the research strategies of cognitive scientists. Prerequisites: STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211) and PSYCO 258.
PSYCO 357- Language Processing
This course provides a survey of theories and research on the production and comprehension of spoken and written language. Topics include lexical, sentence, and conversation processing; speech perception and production; first and second language acquisition; neural bases of language and language pathology; and reading and discourse comprehension. The emphasis is on understanding the theories and theoretical frameworks in the psychology of language. Prerequisites: PSYCO 258.
PSYCO 364 - Methods in Perception
This course is for students with a particular interest in the experimental study of perception. The course is primarily laboratory work supplemented with occasional lectures. The student will become familiar with the various psychophysical methods as applied to a variety of phenomena, and with manuscript preparation according to APA standards. Prerequisites: PSYCO 267.
PSYCO 365 - Advanced Perception
This course covers the origin and current status of several major problem areas within the study of perception. Provides the historical background and knowledge of recent theoretical and experimental contributions required to understand current conceptual schemes and disputes. Prerequisites: PSYCO 267 and MATH 113 or 114.
PSYCO 371 - Neurobiology of Learning & Memory
The aim of this course is to provide the student with an introduction to the neural bases of learning and memory. We will begin with a review of the historical background, experimental methods, and principles of neurobiology. Learning and memory will then be analysed at different levels of biological organization, including molecular, cellular, neural circuit, neural system, and behavioral. We will conclude with an analysis of the work of two investigators who incorporate multiple levels of analysis in their research programs. Prerequisites: PSYCO 275 and 281.
PSYCO 377 - Human Neuropsychology
Changes in mood, motivation, perception, attention, memory and language as revealed by studies of structural alterations in the human brain. Prerequisites: PSYCO 275.
PSYCO 381 Principles of Learning
In this course we will examine a variety of fundamental learning processes, primarily as investigated through research with non-human subjects. We will begin with an examination of elementary forms of learning and then progress to a consideration of more complex learning and cognitive processes. Some specific phenomena we will examine include: habituation and sensitization, classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, operant (instrumental) conditioning, discrimination learning, avoidance learning and punishment, memory and cognition in animals. The main focus of this course will be on understanding the mechanisms that underlie these various forms of learning. Thus, the treatment of these topics will be considerably more theoretical than in the prerequisite course (281). Although the primary focus of this course is on structural analyses of learning processes, some consideration will also be given to the biological function of learning and cognitive processes, and to promising applications of learning to the understanding of human behaviour and problems. Prerequisites: PSYCO 281 and STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211).
PSYCO 385 - Applications of Learning
An examination of the ways in which principles of conditioning and learning
have been applied to areas of human concern. Biomedical and behavioural
implications of learning principles will be examined in terms of the empirical
foundations of the principles, and the successes or problems encountered
in applying the principles to the understanding or treatment of human behaviour.
Prerequisites: PSYCO 381.
PSYCO 390 - Honors Thesis I: Apprenticeship
Under the direction of a faculty member, students pursue a topic of interest leading to the development of a thesis proposal and, during their fourth year, the thesis research. The work normally involves both directed readings and empirical research experience. Restricted to, and required of, third-year students in Honors Psychology. Corequisites: STAT 151 and PSYCO 212.
PSYCO 400 - Honors Seminar II
A continuation of PSYCO 300, with an emphasis on the development of
professional skills. Topics include the new information technologies, the
publication process, ethical issues, and the application of research findings
to real-world problems. The seminar meets once a week for the full Winter
Session. Restricted to, and required of, fourth-year students in the Honors
Psychology program. Prerequisites: PSYCO 300.
PSYCO 402 - Recent Advances in Experimental Psychology: Methods & Phenomena
Topic: Complex Experiments in Psychological Research
The course will explore a variety of methods for making sense of data from complex experiments where there are more than two levels of independent variables. The student will become proficient at using computer programs in the departmental computer lab for analysing data sets from psychological research using methods ranging from analysis of variance to factor analysis. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and 105, STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211) and a 300-level Psychology course.
PSYCO 402 - Recent Advances in Experimental Psychology: Methods & Phenomena
Topic: Applied Research Topics in the Visually Impaired & Blind
This course will provide student with a direct opportunity to work with a social service agency, most likely the CNIB, on a variety of current applied research objectives. Students will work in teams of 3 to 5 on a special research project of interest to them as well as of current relevance to the delivery of services to the blind and visually impaired. Weekly classes will provide theoretical and research background while the formal research component of the course will familiarize students with rein applied contexts and provide them with first hand experience in researching with service delivery professionals. No exams will be given, but each student will be required to complete a rather major research project, prepare a lengthy research report (including data analyses), and formally present their findings to an audience of professionals, clients, administrators, and members for the board. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and 105, STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211) and a 300-level Psychology course, and consent of the department.
PSYCO 403 - Recent Advances in Experimental Psychology: Models and Theories
Topic: The Nature/Nurture Controversy
Seminar format; limited to about 20 students. No text; current readings
will be placed on reserve. The first few classes will involve guest speakers
and discussions of readings. Students will do library research on topics
of special interest to them, write an essay and a term paper, and present
their findings to the class. Topics will include: The hunt ofr the elusive
schizophrenia gene; Can IQ be changed through education, or was the Bell
Curve right?; The role of science in eugenic sterilization in Alberta;
Targeted mutations (knockouts) of specific genes in mice; Challenges to
the reductionist perspective in behavior genetics. Prerequisites: STAT
151 (or former PSYCO 211), a 300-level psychology course.
PSYCO 403 - Recent Advances in Experimental Psychology: Models and Theories
Topic: The Psychology of Criminal Conduct
The PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIMINAL CONDUCT is intended to familiarize students
with an extensive literature on individual (psychological and biological)
factors in anti-social and criminal behaviour. The course will explore
questions such as: "Cognition and Crime", "Psychopathy", "Biological Correlates
of Anti-social Behaviour", "Crime and Mental Disorders", "Sexual Deviation
and Sexual Crime". Additionally, through an examination of the application
of this research to clinical assessment and treatment of offenders, this
course is an introduction to the field of Forensic Psychology. Prerequisites:
PSYCO 104, 105, 233, and 339, and STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211).
PSYCO 405 - Special Topics in Psychology II
Topic: Dreaming
This course will provide an overview of dream studies, as well as an
opportunity to examine carefully a selected topic within the area. The
overview will cover the psychobiology of dreaming, dreaming and cognition,
content analysis of dreams, personality and dreaming, therapeutic dream
use, and dreams and culture. In the second part of the course, the instructor
will discuss in depth the aesthetic and expressive functions of dreams.
In their written work, students will be expected to carefully review studies
of a selected topic in the area. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104, 105,
STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211), and a 300 level psychology course.
PSYCO 410 /411 – Co-op/Internship Practicum Seminar
The course will provide students who have completed their internship
WKEXP courses with an opportunity: (a) to expand upon their work experience
projects; (b) to present their projects publicly; (c) to examine the significance
of their work experience; (d) and to enhance their personal, scholarly,
and professional knowledge and skills. Prerequisites: Psychology
WKEXP courses.
PSYCO 423 - Advanced Topics in Developmental Psychology
An in-depth review and analysis of research in an area of developmental psychology. Prerequisites: STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211) and PSYCO 323 or consent of the department.
PSYCO 431- Theory and Practice of Psychometrics
This course aims to provide an overview of theories, principles, and applications of psychological testing and assessment. The focus is on standardized psychological tests in the areas of intelligence, aptitude, personality, interests, attitudes and values. In addition, recent advances in psychological assessment including behavioural assessment, clinical neuropsychology and testing in health-care settings will be discussed. The major theoretical issues discussed are reliability, validity, norms and the interpretation of test scores. Controversial issues relating to misuse of tests, social and ethical implications, and diagnostic use of assessment techniques are critically examined. The laboratory component of the course aims to provide: (1) experience in administration and scoring of major standardized group tests, (2) knowledge of statistical methods for determining reliability and validity of test data, and (3) experience in test construction. This course does not provide laboratory experience in individual intelligence tests and projective techniques, although a thorough discussion of these tests is presented in the lectures. Prerequisites: STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211) and PSYCO 339 or consent of the department.
PSYCO 435- Introduction to Clinical Psychology
This course reviews the major aspects of the profession of clinical
psychology, emphasizing the application of scientific psychology to explanation,
description and intervention with serious psychiatric disorders in adulthood.
Assignments and other examples allow students the opportunity to apply
principles rom Psychology 339 to cases involving anxiety, affective, personality,
and schizophrenic disorders. Prerequisite: PSYCO 339.
A critical examination of some fundamental psychological and social-psychological concepts, such as alienation, dissociation, self-deception, and self-estrangement. The focus of the course is to understand these concepts within such perennial dichotomies as mind-body, subjective-objective, thought-action, and individual-collective. The objective of the course is to understand the personal and communal narratives we tell about the course of our lives. Prerequisites: PSYCO 233 and 339.
PSYCO 443- Social Cognition
Advanced treatment of topics in the study of how we think about the world of persons and events. Topics may include the role of categories, schemas, theories, and heuristics in social cognition, factors underlying the stereotyping of persons and groups, and the question of motivated bias in social perception. Prerequisites: STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211) and PSYCO 241.
PSYCO 451- Visual Cognition and Attention
This course will cover the general area of visual object recognition, and it will do so by taking two approaches to the literature. During the first half of the term, we will read articles by many individuals who have done research in this area, and we will read the articles in chronological order, to see how the area and the issues have developed generally. During the second half of the term, we will cover the work of one researcher in this area - I. Biederman - also in chronological order, to see how one individual (granted, a very prolific individual) has both shaped and been shaped by the literature during the same period. Prerequisite: PSYCO 351.
PSYCO 452- Minds and Machines
This course introduces the students to the role of computer simulation in cognitive science. One goal of the course is to introduce students to the practice of synthetic psychology, which is contrasted with the analytic approaches of cognitive psychology. A second goal is to provide students with hands-on experience with a particular computer simulation tradition, called Connectionism or PDP modelling. This tradition will be contrasted with the Classical approach that was the focus of PSYCO 354, "Foundations of Cognitive Science", which is a pre-requisite for this course. There is no programming required for this course, as the required software comes with one of the course texts. Prerequisite: PSYCO 354.
PSYCO 459- Human Aging: Cognitive Processes
The objective of this course is to provide an overview of sensory, perceptual, memory, and cognitive changes in normal aging. Relatively less attention will be given to cognitive changes in pathological aging. A key focus of the course will be the impact of psychological, environmental, social, and health factors on cognitive processes. Prerequisite: PSYCO 354.
Basic neuroanatomy and neuropsychology of sensory and motor systems.
Prerequisite or Corequisite: PSYCO 371 or 377.
PSYCO 478- Behavior and Brain Chemistry
The influence of environmental and genetic factors on the relationship between chemistry of the brain and the behavior of humans and animals. Prerequisite: PSYCO 371 or 377.
PSYCO 482 - Methods of Behavior and Learning
This course is designed for students with particular interests in the experimental analysis of phenomena of learning. It will examine the laboratory techniques used to study Pavlovian conditioning, instrumental learning, and other behavioral phenomena involving processes of learning. Prerequisite: PSYCO 381.
PSYCO 486 - Advanced Topics in Learning
Topic - Memory: A Psychobiological Approach
Psychology is a biological discipline and the approach to the analysis of the principles and phenomena of memory in PSYCO 486, a psychobiological approach, will explicitly reflect the notion of psychology as a biological science. Topics include: causes of forgetting, short-term retention, memory for spatial location, ontogeny of memory, amnesia and memory modulation, recovery from forgetting, and the relation between memory and learning. Prerequisite: PSYCO 381.
PSYCO 490 - Honors Thesis II
Under the direction of a faculty member, students conduct an empirical research project culminating in the Honors Thesis. Restricted to, and required of fourth-year students in the honors psychology program. Prerequisite: PSYCO 390.
PSYCO 493 Phenomenology and Psychological Research
An intensive study of methods for investigating variations in self-reported experience. The development, use, and validation of methods for studying self-reported experience in psychological research will be stressed. Prerequisites: STAT 151 (or former PSYCO 211), and either 436 or 495.
PSYCO 495 - Psychology of Aesthetics
An introduction to psychological analyses of aesthetic experience and artistic creativity, emphasizing theory and research. Several arts will be used to illustrate conceptual and empirical issues, including painting, music, and literature. The contribution of aesthetic experience to personal and social development will be discussed. Prerequisites: PSYCO 104 and 105.
PSYCO 496 / PSYCO 498 - Individual Research
A course designed to allow the senior undergraduate student the opportunity to pursue a research topic in greater depth than the classroom structure permits. This pursuit may take the form of directed reading, library research, and/or laboratory experience. A formal paper, research proposal, research report, annotated bibliography, lab notes, and/or essay is required. Prerequisites: A 300-level psychology course and consent of the Department.