THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY
Prerequisites: BLOCKED CLASS. EVERYONE MUST JOIN WAITLIST TO BE ADMITTED Broad survey of psychological science including: sensation and perception; learning, memory, intelligence, language, and cognition; emotions and motivation; development, personality, health and illness, and social behavior. Discusses relations between the brain, behavior, and experience. Emphasizes science as a process of discovering both new ideas and new empirical results. PSYC UN1001 serves as a prerequisite for further psychology courses and should be completed by the sophomore year.
- TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
- MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
- MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Patricia G Lindemann
CULPA: 64 Info -
Instructor:
Sarah Demoya
Info -
Instructor:
Tiago Altavini
Info - 3 points
RESEARCH METHODS - SOCIAL COGNITION & EM
RESEARCH METHODS-SOC/COG/
An introduction to research methods employed in the study of human social cognition and emotion. Students gain experience in the design and conduct of research, including ethical issues, observation and measurement techniques, interpretation of data, and preparation of written and oral reports.
- M 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Kevin Ochsner
CULPA: 12 h-index: 86 Info - 4 points
RESEARCH METHODS - SOCIAL COGNITION & EM
RSRCH METHODS-SOC/COG/EM
An introduction to research methods employed in the study of human social cognition and emotion. Students gain experience in the design and conduct of research, including ethical issues, observation and measurement techniques, interpretation of data, and preparation of written and oral reports.
- W 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
- W 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Kevin Ochsner
CULPA: 12 h-index: 86 Info - 0 points
RESEARCH METHODS - SOCIAL COGNITION & EM
RSRCH METHODS-SOC/COG/EM
An introduction to research methods employed in the study of human social cognition and emotion. Students gain experience in the design and conduct of research, including ethical issues, observation and measurement techniques, interpretation of data, and preparation of written and oral reports.
- W 10:10 a.m.-noon
- M 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
- M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Kevin Ochsner
CULPA: 12 h-index: 86 Info - 0 points
RESEARCH METHODS: SOCIAL/PERSONALITY
RESEARCH METHODS:SOC/PERS
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or PSYC UN1010 and a statistics course (PSYC UN1610 or the equivalent), or the instructors permission. Corequisites: PSYC UN1456 Methodology and procedures of personality and social psychological research and exercises in data analysis and research design. Ethical issues in psychological research. Statistical concepts such as parameter estimation and testing, measurement reliability and validity, merits and limitations of correlational and experimental research designs, and empirical evaluation of theories.
- M 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Niall Bolger
CULPA: 4 h-index: 55 Info - 4 points
EXPER PSYCH:SOCIAL/PERSONALITY
Corequisite: PSYC UN1455.
- W 10:10 a.m.-noon
- W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Niall Bolger
CULPA: 4 h-index: 55 Info - 0 points
STATISTCS-BEHAVIORL SCIENTISTS
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or PSYC UN1010 Recommended preparation: one course in behavioral science and knowledge of high school algebra. Corequisites: PSYC UN1611 Introduction to statistics that concentrates on problems from the behavioral sciences.
- TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
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Instructor:
Christopher Baldassano
h-index: 13 Info - 4 points
STATISTCS-BEHAV SCIENTISTS-LAB
Corequisites: PSYC UN1610 Required lab section for PSYC UN1610.
- R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
- R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Christopher Baldassano
h-index: 13 Info - 0 points
STATISTCS-BEHAV SCIENTISTS-LAB
Corequisites: PSYC UN1610 Required lab section for PSYC UN1610.
- R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Christopher Baldassano
h-index: 13 Info - 0 points
Global Behavioral Science
This course builds on fundamentals of psychological and behavioral science by exploring reproducibility and replication on a global level. Students will learn from a wide range of studies and their real-world implications.
- T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Kai Ruggeri
h-index: 22 Info - 4 points
Machine Intelligence
This course will survey historical and modern developments in machine intelligence from fields such as psychology, neuroscience, and computer science, and from approaches such as cybernetics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, connectionism, neural networks, and deep learning. Emphasis will be placed on the conceptual understanding of topics. The course does not include, nor require a background in, computer programming and statistics. The overall goal is for students to become informed consumers of artificial intelligence applications.
- F 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Trenton Jerde
h-index: 11 Info - 3 points
Social Cognition
This course provides an overview of social cognition, which blends cognitive and social
psychology to understand how people make sense of the social world. Topics may include social
perception, inference, memory, motivation, affect, understanding the self, stereotypes, and
cultural cognition.
- WF 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Chujun Lin
Info - 3 points
Developmental Psychology
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or PSYC UN1010 or the equivalent. Introduction to the scientific study of human development, with an emphasis on psychobiological processes underlying perceptual, cognitive, and emotional development.
- MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
- 3 points
COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or equivalent introductory course in Psychology This course provides an in-depth survey of data and models of a wide variety of human cognitive functions. Drawing on behavioral, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging research, the course explores the neural mechanisms underlying complex cognitive processes, such as perception, memory, and decision making. Importantly, the course examines the logic and assumptions that permit us to interpret brain activity in psychological terms.
- TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Ana Alexandrescu
Info - 3 points
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
The course will be an introduction to the science of structural and functional brain development beginning in the prenatal period. We will cover major domains in both cognitive and social development. This is a flipped course, where students will watch lectures online (three 55 minute lectures each week) and participate in classroom discussions and exercises (1 hour 50 minutes twice a week) with the Professor and each other when in person.
- MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Rebecca E Martin
Info - 3 points
Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Study of behavior in organizational and business-related settings. Examination of such topics as employee motivation and satisfaction, communication patterns, effective leadership strategies, and organization development.
- MW 6:10 p.m.-7:25 p.m.
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Instructor:
Joshua M Feinberg
Info - 3 points
Moral Psychology
Prerequisite: An introductory psychology course.
An introduction to basic concepts in moral psychology. Topics include controversies around the definition of morality, foundations of moral thought and behavior, and connections between morality and other areas of life, among other subjects.
- MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
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Instructor:
Larisa H Solomon
Info - 3 points
Cognitive Development in Context
This course will provide an overview of theories, methods, and research findings in the area of cognitive development with focus on individual differences in various domains, including language, memory, and social cognition. The course is designed around in-class discussion and critical analysis of core controversies within the field. The course is heavily discussion-based, with the aim of creating a dynamic class context for active learning. The three main emphases around which the course is structured include: (1) theoretical foundations and methodological approaches to cognition; (2) the course and process of cognitive development; and (3) contextual influences on cognitive processes (specifically, family, school, neighborhood, culture).
- W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Natalie Brito
Info - 4 points
Evolution of Intelligence, Animal Commun
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001, and the instructors permission.
A systematic review of the evolution language covering the theory of evolution, conditioning theory, animal communication, ape language experiments, infant cognition, preverbal antecedents of language and contemporary theories of language.
- R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Herbert S Terrace
CULPA: 29 Wikipedia Info - 3 points
Neurobiology of Working Memory
Working memory is our ability to retain information in mind in the absence of sensory stimuli. In this course we will gain a more thorough understanding of what working memory is and how the brain supports it.
- R 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Sarah Demoya
Info - 4 points
Top-Down Effects on Perception
For much of the history of neuroscience, perception was viewed as a rigidly hierarchical process. A bottom-up network beginning with the transduction of different sensory modalities into action potentials, relay distribution through the thalamus and finally cortical processing from early sensory areas to the frontal lobe. Once thought to fully explain perception, evidence from the last few decades suggests that is an incomplete view. Expectation, attention, memories, tasks and emotions can affect perception and sensory processing even in early cortical stages. These top-down effects suggest that the subjective reality each one of us experience is not determined solely by the shapes of objects, frequency of air vibrations or structure of odorant molecules. Reality is built at the intersection between the physical attributes of the world and our brains’ internal processes.
- M 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Tiago Altavini
Info - 3 points
SEM-DEVELOPMNTL PSYCHOPATHOLGY
Prerequisites: at least two of the following courses: (UN1001, UN1010, UN2280, UN2620, UN2680, UN3280) and the instructor's permission. Developmental psychopathology posits that it is development itself that has gone awry when there is psychopathology. As such, it seeks to understand the early and multiple factors contributing to psychopathology emerging in childhood and later in life. We will use several models (e.g. ones dominated by biological, genetic, and psychological foci) to understand the roots of mental illness.
- T 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Hannah E Hoch
CULPA: 27 Info - 4 points
TOPICS IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Prerequisites: (PSYC UN1001) Instructor permission required. A seminar for advanced undergraduate students exploring different areas of clinical psychology. This course will provide you with a broad overview of the endeavors of clinical psychology, as well as discussion of its current social context, goals, and limitations.
- R 10:10 a.m.-noon
- W 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
- F 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Usha Barahmand
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Instructor:
Irit Felsen
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Instructor:
Jeffrey M Cohen
h-index: 5 Info - 4 points
Seminar on Law and Psychology
Psychology and Law Semina
This seminar explores how psychological theory and research—particularly from social, cognitive, and developmental psychology—can illuminate, inform, and challenge legal institutions, practices, norms, and debates. The course examines how people think about, interact with, and are affected by the legal system in roles such as defendants, jurors, judges, lawyers, and citizens. Topics include legal decision-making, responsibility and intent, bias and discrimination, forensic assessment, mental illness and legal capacity, eyewitness testimony, interrogations and false confessions, punishment, and stigma.
We will consider how psychological insights help explain how the law operates in practice and critically assess how legal policies align with—or diverge from—psychological evidence. While grounded in psychological science, the course also draws on interdisciplinary work from law and legal scholarship, sociology, public health, and neuroscience. We will read empirical studies and legal analyses that address psychological issues relevant to the law. The principal goal is to understand the legal system not only as a body of rules, but as a human institution shaped by cognitive, emotional, and social dynamics.
Over the course of the semester we will (1) analyze how core concepts in psychology apply to legal contexts; (2) assess psychological studies by examining the strength of their research design and considering their implications for legal concepts and practices; (3) examine how developmental, cognitive, and affective processes affect legal decision-making; (4) identify and critique the use of psychological evidence in courts and policy debates; and (5) explore how neuroscience is reshaping legal understandings of responsibility, culpability, and sentencing, while critically examining its ethical and evidentiary limitations.
- T 8:10 p.m.-10 p.m.
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Instructor:
Michael J Naft
Info - 4 points
Psychology/Neuroscience Senior Thesis Ad
Advanced Research Seminar
The seminar component of the Psych/Neuro Senior Thesis Advanced Research program. Students admitted to the research program should plan to take this seminar in the spring of their junior year and in the fall and spring semesters of their senior year. Students are expected to be working in a lab as part of their participation in this program. In addition to supporting students throughout their independent research project, this seminar will introduce students to some of the big questions in the field through its connection with the Psychology Department Colloquium and will train students in reading and evaluating scientific research and communicating their own research findings.
- W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Meghan Meyer
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Instructor:
Jon B Freeman
Wikipedia Info - 1-3 points
SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
1-4 points. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Except by special permission of the director of undergraduate studies, no more than 4 points of individual research may be taken in any one term. This includes both PSYC UN3950 and PSYC UN3920. No more than 8 points ofPSYC UN3950 may be applied toward the psychology major, and no more than 4 points toward the concentration. Readings, special laboratory projects, reports, and special seminars on contemporary issues in psychological research and theory.
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Instructor:
Tiago Altavini
Info -
Instructor:
Dima Amso
CULPA: 1 h-index: 31 Info -
Instructor:
Christopher Baldassano
h-index: 13 Info -
Instructor:
Niall Bolger
CULPA: 4 h-index: 55 Info -
Instructor:
Natalie Brito
Info -
Instructor:
Sarah Demoya
Info -
Instructor:
Geraldine Downey
CULPA: 9
Wikipedia
Info
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Instructor:
Jon B Freeman
Wikipedia Info -
Instructor:
Carl Hart
CULPA: 43 Wikipedia h-index: 54 Info -
Instructor:
Tory Higgins
CULPA: 23
Wikipedia
h-index: 134
Info
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Instructor:
Nora Isacoff
CULPA: 1 Info -
Instructor:
Sheena Iyengar
Wikipedia Info -
Instructor:
Nikolaus Kriegeskorte
h-index: 56 Info -
Instructor:
Chujun Lin
Info -
Instructor:
Patricia G Lindemann
CULPA: 64 Info -
Instructor:
Bianca J Marlin
Wikipedia Info -
Instructor:
Rebecca E Martin
Info -
Instructor:
Janet Metcalfe
CULPA: 31 h-index: 70 Info -
Instructor:
Meghan Meyer
Info -
Instructor:
Michael W Morris
h-index: 68 Info -
Instructor:
Kevin Ochsner
CULPA: 12 h-index: 86 Info -
Instructor:
Valerie J Purdie-Greenaway
Wikipedia h-index: 29 Info -
Instructor:
Daphna Shohamy
CULPA: 10 h-index: 47 Info -
Instructor:
Rae Silver
Wikipedia h-index: 69 Info -
Instructor:
Larisa H Solomon
Info -
Instructor:
Yaakov Stern
Wikipedia h-index: 160 Info -
Instructor:
Herbert S Terrace
CULPA: 29 Wikipedia Info -
Instructor:
Nim L Tottenham
Info -
Instructor:
Sarah Woolley
CULPA: 13 Wikipedia h-index: 31 Info - 0-4 points
Theories of Change in Human Development
Theories of Change-Human
What are the agents of developmental change in human childhood? How has the scientific community graduated from nature versus nurture, to nature
and
nurture? This course offers students an in-depth analysis of the fundamental theories in the study of cognitive and social development.
- M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Dima Amso
CULPA: 1 h-index: 31 Info - 4 points
Mentalizing: How we read people
Success in a social world requires understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings, a process typically referred to as
mentalizing
. Yet, other people’s mental states are not directly observable: you cannot see a thought or touch a feeling. Nonetheless, humans are quite proficient in inferring these invisible states of mind. How do we accomplish these mentalizing feats? In this course, we will answer this question from multiple angles, relying heavily on neuroscience and psychology research. The seminar will discuss recent and classic studies that reveal how humans effectively interpret the people around them, as well as when and why they make mistakes.
- T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Meghan Meyer
Info - 4 points
Evolution of Language (seminar)
EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE
This seminar will consider the evolution of language at the levels of the word and grammar, in each instance, phylogenetically and ontogenetically. Since humans are the only species that use language, attention will be paid to how language differs from animal communication.
- T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Herbert S Terrace
CULPA: 29 Wikipedia Info - 3 points
LANGUAGE AND MIND
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 and Preferably, an additional course in psychology, focusing on cognition, development, or research methods. Instructor permission required. This seminar explores the relationship between language and thought by investigating how language is mentally represented and processed; how various aspects of language interact with each other; and how language interacts with other aspects of cognition including perception, concepts, world knowledge, and memory. Students will examine how empirical data at the linguistic, psychological, and neuroscientific levels can bear on some of the biggest questions in the philosophy of mind and language and in psychology.
- R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Nora Isacoff
CULPA: 1 Info - 4 points
COGNITIVE PROCESSES
Prerequisites: For undergraduates: one course in cognitive psychology or cognitive neuroscience, or the equivalent, and the instructors permission. Metacognition and control processes in human cognition. Basic issues include the cognitive mechanisms that enable people to monitor what they know and predict what they will know, the errors and biases involved in self-monitoring, and the implications of metacognitive ability for peoples self-determined learning, behavior, and their understanding of self.
- T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Janet Metcalfe
CULPA: 31 h-index: 70 Info - 3 points
TOPICS-NEUROBIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Examines current topics in neurobiology and behavior.
- M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Carl Hart
CULPA: 43 Wikipedia h-index: 54 Info - 3 points
PSYCH & NEUROPSYCH OF LANGUAGE
- T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Michele Miozzo
Info - 4 points
Neural Plasticity
This seminar provides an overview of the mechanisms and behaviors associated with neural plasticity. Students will obtain a basic working knowledge of the different types of neural plasticity, and how these affect cognition and behaviors.
Emotional Brain Development
There is nothing more important to us than the feelings that we have. But where do our emotions come from and why do we sometimes feel differently from our peers? The reason usually involves an understanding of one’s developmental history. This course uses a developmental approach to address emotional brain-behavior relationships. We will discuss theoretical papers and empirical work that covers typical and atypical behavior and the neurobiology that supports behavioral change across age. A translational approach is taken that uses animal models and human examples to illustrate these developmental trajectories. We will cover experimental approaches during discussion of each topic.
- T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Nim L Tottenham
Info - 4 points
Stress and the Brain
This course will use clinical studies and experimental research on animals to understand the impact of stress during various periods of development on brain function and behavior. We will address the long- and short-term consequences of stress on cognition, emotion, and ultimately psychopathology through investigating how various stressors can induce neurobiological and behavioral outcomes through genetic, epigenetic, and molecular mechanisms in the brain.
- T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Jennifer Blaze
Info - 4 points
Frontiers of Justice
Frontiers of Justice is designed to encourage students and equip them with the skills to become active and effective “Change Agents” within their academic institutions and larger communities.. Oriented by the question,
What does justice look like?
, this course aims to raise political and social awareness and engagement with the challenges facing New York City and strengthen ties between Columbia University, disadvantaged communities, and city government agencies and community organizations. Through sharing ideas about how to make structural and systemic change in ways that integrate science, law, politics, history, narrative and community engagement, the course is intended to support students in working to break down racial and ethnic barriers and toward a more fair and just society.
- W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Peter Dixon
Info - 4 points
Philanthropy & Just Societies
:
Philanthropy & Just Societies
will enable Columbia undergraduate students to learn about the history of philanthropy, to understand best practices and ethical underpinnings, to debate its potential in making more just societies, and to consider what it means to give and receive aid at different scales. Students will have the opportunity to participate directly in philanthropic work.
- T 10:10 a.m.-noon
- 3 points
Computational Psychology
The development of computational tools, such as artificial intelligence, has transformed daily life and many areas of research. For instance, the development of large language models such as ChatGPT, have changed the way people write and think. These computational tools also hold great potential for advancing psychological research. However, they are still unfamiliar to many students and psychologists.
In this class, you will learn about how to apply computational tools to facilitate practical problem solving in the real world and research at different stages, including before, during, and after data collection. Specifically, through a combination of lectures (which focus on the mathematical basics and developments of these computational methods), in-class engagements (which focus on translational application of the computational methods to solving new practical problems), and coding workshops (which focus on practical coding skills that implement the computational methods), I will introduce you to methods for handling complex stimuli, validating data quality, and modeling big data. Workshops will be administered via Colab using Python, so please be sure to bring a laptop to every class.
- F 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Chujun Lin
Info - 4 points
Introduction to Neural Networks and Deep
Neural Networks&Deep Lear
This seminar will introduce both the concepts and practical implementation in PyTorch of neural networks and deep learning, with a focus on general principles and examples from vision.
- M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Nikolaus Kriegeskorte
h-index: 56 Info - 3 points
SUPERVISED TEACHING ASSISTANCE
Prerequisites: permission of the faculty member who will direct the teaching. Participation in ongoing teaching.
- 3 points
SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
Prerequisites: permission of the departmental adviser to Graduate Studies.
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Instructor:
Natalie Brito
Info - 1-4 points
Research Seminar in Psychology
Monday seminars are open to the public and take place in Schermerhorn Hall on alternate Mondays in room 200B Schermerhorn from 12:10-1:30pm. The seminar series semester schedule can be found
here
.
- M 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Natalie Brito
Info - 0 points
DEPARTMENTAL COLLOQUIUM
Members of the staff, graduate students, and outside speakers present current research.
- W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Natalie Brito
Info - 0 points