Students in this course will learn about the unique needs, abilities, and interests of middle school-aged children. Specifically, it is hoped that the students will gain an understanding and appreciation for the dilemmas faced by middle school students as they experience conflicting societal expectations and options. The focus of this course will be on the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development of persons aged 13-20. The course will examine how the concept of adolescence has changed over the years, and how families, peers, school, and the culture influence adolescent development. In addition the course will examine in depth a number of problems facing today's teenager like drug use, sexual activity, and violence.
Social psychology focuses on human social relationships.
This course studies the influence of others on individual behavior and attitudes, various sorts of interaction between individuals, and behavior of people in groups. Topics include conformity, helping behavior, persuasion, social cognition, attitude formation and change, aggression, sex roles, prejudice, and attraction. This course will explore several linkages between psychology and religion, including psychological theories of religious behavior, ways that religious belief and practice change with psychological development, connections between religious phenomena and mental health, behavioral differences between cults and established religions, and the religion versus science debate. Health psychology is the field within psychology devoted to understanding psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when they get ill. This course involves an overview of biological explanations of behavior.