Courses

 

Why do we feel the way we do, how do we understand ourselves and others, and how does this relate to our social relationships?  Why does all of this sometimes leave us feeling anxious, depressed, lonely and isolated?  And when that happens, what we can do about it?  In this seminar, we will tackle these questions using an integrative approach that blends social psychology, clinical psychology and neuroscience to uncover how our emotions and social interactions sometimes work well and sometimes falter.  To do this, we will examine human behavior at multiple levels, connecting our social and emotional lives (what we experience and how we act) to cognitive processes (how our minds process information) and underlying neural mechanisms (what's happening in the brain).  As the semester unfolds, we start by building an understanding of where our emotions come from, how we can manage them, how we make sense of other people and how we can form positive connections with them.  This knowledge provides a foundation for taking the next step - understanding what happens when things go awry and we end up with momentary - or long-lasting - bouts of anxiety, depression, loneliness and other clinical conditions.  We end by considering what may be everyone’s life goal - the pursuit of happiness - and how everything we have learned can foster that pursuit through personal actions, social connections and psychotherapeutic support.  The overarching goal is to build a nuanced understanding of how and why we think and feel the way we do – about ourselves and others – that can inform both scientific and personal explorations of what “wellbeing” and “mental health” means.

Prerequisites

Equivalents of an introductory Psychology course and one more advanced lecture, lab or seminar course in Psychology or a related discipline (and/or the instructor's permission).


 

 

 

 

This course is meant to provide an introduction to regression and applied statistics for the social sciences, with a strong emphasis on utilizing the Python software language to perform the key tasks in the data analysis workflow. Topics to be covered include various data structures, basic descriptive statistics, regression models, multiple regression analysis, interactions, polynomials, Gauss-Markov assumptions and asymptotics, heteroskedasticity and diagnostics, data visualization, models for binary outcomes, models for ordered data, first difference analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. Through a variety of lab assignments, students will be able to generate and interpret quantitative data in helpful and provocative ways. Only relatively basic mathematics skills are assumed, but some more advanced math will be introduced as needed. A previous introductory statistics course that includes linear regression is helpful, but not required.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI – like ChatGPT, MidJourney, and Gemini – are poised to change the world for everyone. It is critical that students understand (and utilize) this new technology at several levels. In this class – through readings and a dozen hands-on activities – students will come to deeply understand AI. Specifically, students will construct (using Python) some of the basic building-blocks of AI, like machine learning (like recommendation systems), natural language processing (like word embeddings) and chatbots. They will test out AI’s capabilities and refine prompts in real-world settings, whether in art, video, writing or Internet-of-Things. They will learn about how generative AI fits into the history of technology adoption and the diffusion of innovation, answering questions like: Will AI be able to replace whole jobs? And if so, when? They will use the lenses of psychology and economics to explore the impact of AI in people’s lives, including in the context of algorithmic fairness, regulation and intellectual property. They will be pushed to take human creativity in new directions, augmented by AI’s “weirdness.” Lastly, students will be pushed to further develop their own uniquely-human skills – like in critical thinking and empathy – in response to the power of generative AI to mimic humans. As best-selling author Seth Stephen-Davidowitz has recently (Dec. 2023) written, “So far, [my newest book] has higher ratings than either of my previous two books -- even though it was written in 1/36th of the time, thanks to AI. AI is wild!" By the end of this class, students will feel empowered technically and philosophically to handle all new generative AI developments. There are no specific prerequisites for this class.

This course offers students an opportunity to expand their curriculum beyond the established course offerings. Interested parties must consult with the QMSS Program Director before adding the class. This course may be taken for 2-4 points.

This course is designed as an introduction to the Islamic religion, both in its pre-modern and modern manifestations. The semester begins with a survey of the central elements that unite a diverse community of Muslim peoples from a variety of geographical and cultural backgrounds. This includes a look at the Prophet and the Qur'an and the ways in which both were actualized in the development of ritual, jurisprudence, theology, and sufism/mysticism. The course then shifts to the modern period, examining the impact of colonization and the rise of liberal secularism on the Muslim world. The tension between traditional Sunni and Shi'i systems of authority and movements for 'modernization' and/or 'reform' feature prominently in these readings. Topics range from intellectual attempts at societal/religious reform (e.g. Islamic Revivalism, Modernism, Progressivism) and political re-interpretations of traditional Islamic motifs (e.g. Third-Worldism and Jihadist discourse) to efforts at accommodating scientific and technological innovations (e.g. evolution, bioethics ). The class ends by examining the efforts of American and European Muslim communities to carve out distinct spheres of identity in the larger global Muslim community ( umma) through expressions of popular culture (e.g. Hip-Hop).

How did European-Christians justify the colonization of the Americas? Did these justifications vary between different European empires, and between the Protestant and Catholic faiths, and if so, how? Do these justifications remain in effect in modern jurisprudence and ministries? This class explores these questions by introducing students to the Doctrine of Discovery. The Doctrine of Discovery is the defining legal rationale for European Colonization in the Western Hemisphere. The Doctrine has its origins in a body of ecclesiastic, legal, and philosophical texts dating to the late-fifteenth century, and was summarized by Chief Justice John Marshall of the United States Supreme Court, in the final, unanimous decision the judiciary issued on the 1823 case Johnson v. M’Intosh. Students will be introduced to the major, primary texts that make up the Doctrine, as well as contemporary critical studies of these texts and the Doctrine in general.

Black and Native American peoples have a shared history of oppression in the Americas. The prevailing lenses scholars use to understand settler colonialism and race however, tend to focus on the dynamics between Europeans and these respective groups. How might our understanding of these subjects shift when viewed from a different point of departure? Specifically, how does religion structure and inform the overlapping experiences of Afro-Native peoples? From enslavement in the Cotton Belt and California to political movements in Minneapolis and New York, this class will explore how diverse communities of Africans, Native Americans, and their descendants adapted to shifting contexts of race and religion in the vast territories that are today the United States. The course will proceed thematically by examining experiences of identity, dislocation, survival, and diaspora.

Using modern, student-centered, active and collaborative learning techniques, students will engage — through field observations, in-class experiments, computer simulations, and selected readings — with a range of ideas and techniques designed to integrate and anchor scientific habits of mind. Throughout the term, each student will satisfy a detailed set of rubrics by documenting their learning in reflective e-portfolio postings designed to serve as a future reference for how they, individually, went from not understanding an idea to understanding it. Topics covered will include statistics, basic probability, a variety of calculations skills, graph reading and estimation, all aimed at elucidating such concepts as energy, matter, cells, and genes in the context of astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, neuroscience, and physics.

This course is required for all sociology majors, but open to all students. Theoretical accounts of the rise and transformations of modern society in the19th and 20th centuries. Theories studied include those of Adam Smith, Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, Max Weber, Roberto Michels. Selected topics: individual, society, and polity; economy, class, and status: organization and ideology; religion and society; moral and instrumental action.

Elementary course, equivalent to SPAN V1101 or F1101. Fundamental principles of grammar; practice in pronunciation. Reading and conversation are introduced from the beginning. Use of the language laboratory is required.