Psychology

Course Description: This course will provide an overview of the study of emotion, a field now referred to as "Affective Science." The content of the course will span all levels of analysis, including neurobiological, cognitive, behavioral, and cultural approaches. Specific topics will include: evolutionary perspectives; animal models; the role of neurotransmitters; psychophysiology; nonverbal displays and emotion recognition; emotion regulation and the consequences of suppressing emotion; theory of mind and emotion; neural correlates of emotional reactions; emotion development; and cross-cultural lexical studies of emotion.

Course format (lecture, discussion, etc.): A variety of guest lectures will be given by training faculty from the Affective Science training program. Each class will include a combination of lecture and discussion. Students will read several articles each week and then write 2 or 3 broad questions, which will be used to structure the class discussion.

Grading: Students will be graded based on (a) class attendance, (b) participation in class discussions, and (c) the quality of questions provided each week.

Textbook(s) or list of sample readings: A reader will be created that includes recent journal articles and chapters related to Affective Science.