College is frequently a time of dramatic personal and intellectual development, and I aim to catalyze this growth process in my classes. I teach in order to provide students with access to radically different vantage points from which familiar phenomena can be approached anew. To allow my students to rediscover the world in a new light, I foster classroom spaces in which all students can comfortably engage in collaborative dialogue, and I kindle constructive discussions that challenge previously unquestioned assumptions and turn black and white into gray. In the process, I strive to spark enthusiasm about engaging in academic inquiry and enacting social change. In sum, I view my professorial purpose as cultivating transformative experiences that will endure for a lifetime.
COURSES TAUGHT AT FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE:
SPM 100: Minds, Machines, and Morals {Sample syllabus}
This course provides an introduction to the central problems, concepts, and methods of cognitive science and moral psychology. We will analyze questions addressing the nature of intelligence, the relationship between minds and bodies, and the basis of moral beliefs and behaviors. These explorations will bridge the sciences and humanities by taking a fundamentally interdisciplinary perspective.
PSY 101: Psychological Science {Sample syllabus}
A topics-based, non-lab, non-survey, question-and procedure-oriented discussion of important perspectives in contemporary psychological science. The course will examine origins, support for, and applications of a series of theoretical positions. In the process, students will learn to appreciate the empirical procedures through which psychologists formulate and evaluate hypotheses about behavior, using texts as well as primary literature that illustrates how these procedures occur in actual practice.
PSY 278: Psychology of Ideology
How do we form and maintain our belief systems? What would it take to change our minds about religion, politics, or morality? This discussion-based course will draw from a wide range of empirical research to illuminate how commitments to particular values and identities shape ideological thinking. We will investigate the sources of dogmatism and belief polarization, and we will explore how cognitive science can help us escape from echo chambers.
PSY 311: Origins of Moral Thought {Sample syllabus}
How have humans acquired the capacity to make judgments about right and wrong? We will address this question on three different timescales – millennia (human evolution), centuries (modern history), and years (individual development) – to explore how morality has resulted from natural selection, how cultural and ecological shifts bring about new moral convictions, and how moral beliefs emerge during childhood. Readings will combine insights from psychology, anthropology, philosophy, history, and biology in order to provide manifold perspectives on the genesis of morality.
PSY 452: History and Philosophy of Psychology {Sample syllabus}
The historical origins of contemporary psychology in European philosophy, physiology, and biology and subsequent development of the schools of structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt, behaviorism, and psychoanalysis. Emphasis on identifying the goals, implicit assumptions and potential contributions of scientific psychology.
PSY 453: Nature/Nurture {Sample syllabus}
Since its advent, psychology has been embroiled in arguments about the degree to which psychological traits are learned or innate. Are genes or socialization responsible for heightened rates of aggression in men? How do biological and environmental factors interact to produce language? Is culture an evolved adaptation? Does it make any sense at all to partition the causes of psychology into “nature” and “nurture”? Throughout this course, we will draw upon cutting-edge research to evaluate a range of theoretical perspectives on the interplay of nature and nurture. We will also discuss the sociopolitical ramifications of this fundamental debate.
PSY 460: Collaborative Research: Advanced Quantitative Methods {Sample syllabus}
This course will introduce complex statistical techniques as applied in the context of psychological research (e.g., multivariate regression, mixed models, factor analysis). We will examine published studies and conduct research projects to explore the relationship between hypotheses, experimental designs, and these statistical techniques.
PSY 489: Collaborative Research in Moral Psychology {Sample syllabus}
Students will conduct experimental research on relevant theoretical issues within the field of moral psychology. Topics may include investigations of the scope of moral concern, perceptions of moral virtue, children’s acquisition of moral beliefs, contributions of emotions to moral judgment, and other related areas that reflect student interest. Techniques for designing, conducting, analyzing, and presenting empirical research will be discussed, practiced, and implemented.
SPM 499: Senior Research Seminar {Sample syllabus}
Intensive research and writing on a topic of the student's choice carried on in a seminar setting. Includes several oral presentations by each student.
COURSES TAUGHT AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY:
PS 211: Introduction to Experimental Design and Statistics
PS 241: Developmental Psychology
COURSES TAUGHT AT FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE:
SPM 100: Minds, Machines, and Morals {Sample syllabus}
This course provides an introduction to the central problems, concepts, and methods of cognitive science and moral psychology. We will analyze questions addressing the nature of intelligence, the relationship between minds and bodies, and the basis of moral beliefs and behaviors. These explorations will bridge the sciences and humanities by taking a fundamentally interdisciplinary perspective.
PSY 101: Psychological Science {Sample syllabus}
A topics-based, non-lab, non-survey, question-and procedure-oriented discussion of important perspectives in contemporary psychological science. The course will examine origins, support for, and applications of a series of theoretical positions. In the process, students will learn to appreciate the empirical procedures through which psychologists formulate and evaluate hypotheses about behavior, using texts as well as primary literature that illustrates how these procedures occur in actual practice.
PSY 278: Psychology of Ideology
How do we form and maintain our belief systems? What would it take to change our minds about religion, politics, or morality? This discussion-based course will draw from a wide range of empirical research to illuminate how commitments to particular values and identities shape ideological thinking. We will investigate the sources of dogmatism and belief polarization, and we will explore how cognitive science can help us escape from echo chambers.
PSY 311: Origins of Moral Thought {Sample syllabus}
How have humans acquired the capacity to make judgments about right and wrong? We will address this question on three different timescales – millennia (human evolution), centuries (modern history), and years (individual development) – to explore how morality has resulted from natural selection, how cultural and ecological shifts bring about new moral convictions, and how moral beliefs emerge during childhood. Readings will combine insights from psychology, anthropology, philosophy, history, and biology in order to provide manifold perspectives on the genesis of morality.
PSY 452: History and Philosophy of Psychology {Sample syllabus}
The historical origins of contemporary psychology in European philosophy, physiology, and biology and subsequent development of the schools of structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt, behaviorism, and psychoanalysis. Emphasis on identifying the goals, implicit assumptions and potential contributions of scientific psychology.
PSY 453: Nature/Nurture {Sample syllabus}
Since its advent, psychology has been embroiled in arguments about the degree to which psychological traits are learned or innate. Are genes or socialization responsible for heightened rates of aggression in men? How do biological and environmental factors interact to produce language? Is culture an evolved adaptation? Does it make any sense at all to partition the causes of psychology into “nature” and “nurture”? Throughout this course, we will draw upon cutting-edge research to evaluate a range of theoretical perspectives on the interplay of nature and nurture. We will also discuss the sociopolitical ramifications of this fundamental debate.
PSY 460: Collaborative Research: Advanced Quantitative Methods {Sample syllabus}
This course will introduce complex statistical techniques as applied in the context of psychological research (e.g., multivariate regression, mixed models, factor analysis). We will examine published studies and conduct research projects to explore the relationship between hypotheses, experimental designs, and these statistical techniques.
PSY 489: Collaborative Research in Moral Psychology {Sample syllabus}
Students will conduct experimental research on relevant theoretical issues within the field of moral psychology. Topics may include investigations of the scope of moral concern, perceptions of moral virtue, children’s acquisition of moral beliefs, contributions of emotions to moral judgment, and other related areas that reflect student interest. Techniques for designing, conducting, analyzing, and presenting empirical research will be discussed, practiced, and implemented.
SPM 499: Senior Research Seminar {Sample syllabus}
Intensive research and writing on a topic of the student's choice carried on in a seminar setting. Includes several oral presentations by each student.
COURSES TAUGHT AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY:
PS 211: Introduction to Experimental Design and Statistics
PS 241: Developmental Psychology
