Undergraduate Courses

Behavioral Data Science I

This course introduces social and behavioral scientists to modern data science using R, focusing on data analysis, visualization, collection, cleaning, statistical modeling, and effective communication. No prior computing or statistical skills are required. Students will start by learning to manipulate and transform data, create and recode variables, and understand data structures in R. They will develop critical thinking skills to evaluate data, identify biases, and create visualizations. The course covers debugging, code organization, documentation, and using R Markdown for reproducible analysis. Advanced topics include complex visualizations, causal relationships, and fitting linear models. In the final unit, students will learn the tidymodels framework for building and evaluating statistical and machine learning models. They will apply these skills to predict outcomes and extrapolate from data. A key component is designing an individual data science project, involving formulating research questions, finding and preparing data, visualizing data, and communicating analyses. This project includes a proposal, in-class pitches, peer reviews, and a final R Markdown document. By the end, students will have robust data science skills tailored to social and behavioral sciences, ready to tackle complex problems and communicate findings effectively.

Cognitive Science

This course explores historical and current arguments for how the mind works, integrating theories from philosophy, computer science, anthropology, and neuroscience. And yes, theories from psychology are also featured. But this is not a normal psychology course. We will be going “big picture” on questions related to mind, brain, and culture that cuts across many perspectives and levels of analysis. To guide this endeavor and to provide organization, we will be working from a framework of “mind as information-processor,” where a focus will be on the ways this conceptualization of mind has been discussed and debated over the years. Such views range from mind as algorithmic computations over discrete mental states, to distributed processing over environmental regularities, to dynamical systems and embodied processes. Although these concepts may sound foreign now, the goal of the course is to help you develop a working knowledge of their relevance, and importantly, to develop an understanding of how these concepts are advancing theoretical and real-world models of learning, AI, decision-making, and what it means to a conscious and complex being amongst equally complex creatures.  

Language & Social Interaction

This course explores the nature of language from a psychological perspective. The vast majority of theories on how we come to understand and use a language are confined to the mental operations of an individual. We will expand this view by looking at how language exists in its natural environment: social interaction and dialogue. The aim is to show how communicative constraints provide a much richer depiction of how language works; not merely by characterizing dialogue based on a transcript, but in understanding the mental mechanisms and behaviors that lead to that transcript. To do so, we will visit research areas as diverse as psychology, linguistics, communications theory, and neuroscience. Even if you don’t have experience in these areas, the introduction to these topics will be gentle. A few of the themes that we will touch upon throughout the semester include: a) how language is used as a tool to coordinate action in the real world, b) how we come to spontaneously converge on others’ linguistic and speech patterns, c) how beliefs about what another knows unintentionally shapes the words we use and how we understand, d) how brain patterns become synchronized as we talk to each other, and e) how interpersonal interactions influence deception. The ultimate goal is to gain new insights on the “social, embodied mind” as viewed through the lens of language. Several activities have been planned to enhance your depth of understanding, with focus on discussion and short writing assignments. This material will be interwoven with real-world examples as much as possible.

Sensation & Perception

This course probes pressing issues on how the mind works, with a particular focus on how we come to sense our environment and how the available information guides behavior and thought. We will explore the nature of the energy in the environment and its interactions with fundamental physiological processes, to how this information is psychologically instantiated and shaped by our prior experiences. Several activities have been designed to enhance your depth of understanding, including written assignments, peer discussion, and quizzes. Interwoven in this material are real-world examples and original research

Graduate Courses

Advanced Cognitive Science

In the last century, there has been tremendous progress in our understanding of human cognition and information-processing, which has shaped, and has been shaped by, our technological advancements. This graduate course will provide an in-depth examination of historical and current arguments from the cognitive sciences, as well as how relevant findings have been applied to everyday modern life. We will cover core ideas in how the mind works, ranging from mind as algorithmic computations over discrete mental states to mind as a dynamical, embodied processor in predictable but complex environments. Other topics will include the ways in which our minds are radically shaped by social interaction, integration of technologies with our cognitive processes, how cognitive sciences can be used to change beliefs and attitudes, improve the legal system, and advance learning in real and virtual classrooms. These topics relate to many areas within psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, and anthropology, so expect the course to be interdisciplinary.

Psychology of Language

In this course, we will explore the nature of language from a cognitive science perspective, integrating theories from psychology, linguistics, computer science, dynamical systems, and speech science. In taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will cover a wide range of topics that are related to the fundamental question of what it is to know and use a language. To do so, we will consider how words are first learned, to how they are combined and structured, to how they are deployed in discourse and naturalistic dialogue. The ultimate goal is to gain new insights on how the mind works through the lens of language. Several activities have been designed to enhance your depth of understanding, with focus on discussion, short writings, and mini-lectures. This material will be interwoven with real-world examples and opportunities to test scientific theories.