Courses

At every level, the Department of Psychology’s faculty work to ensure that Richmond students receive the finest education they know how to provide. Professors agree that a strong psychology education includes mentorship opportunities, strong academic advising and advanced coursework, research experiences and other experiential learning opportunities.

In the classroom, professors recommend students begin with the Introduction to Psychology course. Careful planning and personal reflection should dictate how you build the rest of your academic course load. Learning doesn’t just happen in one field of study, at the expense of all others. Students grow by exploring all of the areas of specialization within psychology. At the undergraduate level, a breadth of study that gives students the tools they will need to acquire more tools is more important than conquering one discipline in its entirety. Students gain empirical experience as they take 300-level laboratory classes, and independent research with faculty members prepares them for psychology work at the graduate level.

Professors emphasize the distinction between clinical and cognitive psychology to students, both in their coursework and as they plan for careers, but remind them that there is no need to definitively choose one specialty over another as an undergraduate student. Cognitive psychology studies the underlying processes of human performance, including sensory processes, human learning, memory, information processing, problem solving and human factors. Clinical psychology includes a variety of interrelated concentrations such as child psychology or community psychology, all of which relate to the assessment and treatment of mental illnesses and disorders. At the undergraduate level, there is no reason for students to choose between the two fields; instead, they should enjoy the opportunity to take courses in both disciplines.

Psychology

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  • PSYC 100 Introduction to Psychological Science

    Units:

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): AI-Social Inquiry (AISO)

    Description
    Overview of the study of human behavior and mental processes, with emphasis on scientific reasoning and skills involved in the process of conducting psychological research and understanding human behavior. Two and a half lecture hours per week.
  • PSYC 200 Methods and Analyses

    Units:

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Quantitative Data Literacy (IFQD)

    Description
    Introduction to research methods and statistical procedures in psychological science. Emphasis on mastering fundamental scientific, reasoning, and technological skills associated with literature review, research design, experimental manipulation, data collection, data analysis, data graphics, data interpretation, data presentation, and scientific writing. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 100 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 299 Integrated Topics

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Power/Equity/Identity/Cult (IFPE)

    Description
    Courses that provide an integrative perspective of psychological theories, issues, and research across two or more disciplinary (or subdisciplinary) contexts. This course may not be repeated for credit.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 100 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 300 Methods and Analyses Core Project

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Embodied Communication (IFEB)

    Description
    Puts the principles learned in ‘PSYC 200: Methods and Analyses’ into practice in the pursuit of new scientific knowledge. Collaborative, project-based learning approach, students formulate new research questions based on critical evaluation of existing knowledge, design and conduct powerful, feasible, and ethical studies to answer new questions, analyze and interpret data thoughtfully, communicate effectively about research processes and outcomes.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 311 Child Development

    Units:

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Power/Equity/Identity/Cult (IFPE), IF-Written Communication (IFWC)

    Description
    Critical examination of research and theory on developmental changes and processes from prenatal through preadolescent periods. Emphasis on theoretical and empirical work on social, emotional, and cognitive development and on various developmental contexts. Includes an intensive laboratory experience focusing on conceptual, methodological, and analytical skills employed in the study of child development. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 313 Social Psychology

    Units:

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Power/Equity/Identity/Cult (IFPE)

    Description
    Critical overview of current theory and research in social psychology, with emphasis on conceptual and empirical work on social inference, stereotyping, self processes, social influence, affective processes, attraction, interpersonal processes, altruism, aggression, and group dynamics. Includes an intensive laboratory component focusing on conceptual, methodological, and analytical skills associated with social psychological inquiry. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 315 Adult Development

    Units:

    Description
    Critical examination of changes and stability in behavior from late adolescence through advanced old age, including perception, intelligence, memory, personality, emotion, social networks, death/dying, creativity, and wisdom. Emphasis on theory, research, and applications in class with intensive laboratory component. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 319 Psychopathology

    Units:

    Description
    Critical examination of research and theory in psychopathology and behavior disorders including the phenomenology, etiology, assessment, and treatment of major forms of psychological disorders. Emphasis on an integrative approach incorporating clinical, developmental, biological, and sociocultural perspectives. Intensive co-requisite laboratory experience focused on conceptual, methodological, and analytical skills used in clinical psychology and investigation of psychopathology and behavior disorders. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 321 Principles of Behavior

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Written Communication (IFWC)

    Description
    Critical examination of research and theory in fundamental principles of behavior including operant and respondent learning and rule-governed behavior in humans and non-human animals. Intensive co-requisite laboratory experience focused on applied behavior analysis skills and single-subject research design used in behavioral and clinical psychology. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 323 Health Psychology

    Units: 1

    Description
    The interaction between biological, psychological and social aspects of health. Emphasis on theory, research, and applications in lecture with intensive laboratory component on research design, data analysis and application of health psychology. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 325 Science of Emotion

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Written Communication (IFWC)

    Description
    Critical overview of current theory and research in affective (emotion) science. Some questions that the course will address include: What is an emotion? Where do emotions come from? What purposes do emotions serve? Emphasis on an integrative approach incorporating biological, clinical, cognitive, developmental, and sociocultural perspectives. Includes an intensive laboratory component focusing on methodological and analytical skills associated with affective scientific inquiry. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 329 Special Topics

    Units:

    Description
    Critical examination of concepts in one of the following areas of psychology, including but not limited to life span development, clinical and abnormal, social cognition, health, learning and memory, cross-cultural, personality, human diversity, and other specialized topics in the developmental, clinical, and social psychological sciences. Emphasis on theory, research, and applications in lecture with intensive laboratory component. May be repeated for credit when topic differs. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 331 Behavioral Neuroscience

    Units:

    Description
    Focus on the neural regulation of behavior, from animal to human. Intensive lab component with techniques and approaches used in design, execution, and analysis of research in behavioral neuroscience. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 337 Human Cognition

    Units:

    Description
    Examines the experimental study of cognition, including perception, attention, memory, decision making, and problem solving. An intensive lab component emphasizes experimental design, data analysis, and applications in each subtopic of Cognitive Psychology. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 341 Cognitive Neuroscience

    Units:

    Description
    Critically examines what brain injury and cognitive deficits can tell us about the relationship between brain and behavior. Covers the functional anatomy of the major cognitive systems, including action, object recognition, attention, memory, language, emotion, and executive function. Includes an intensive laboratory experience focusing on research skills employed in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 343 Psycholinguistics with Lab

    Units: 1

    Description
    Critical examination of the cognitive processes that underlie language production, comprehension, and acquisition. Covers the mental representations involved in a range of linguistic abilities including speech perception, word recognition, sentence parsing, ambiguity resolution, figurative language interpretation, and bilingualism. Includes an intensive laboratory component focusing on methodological approaches and data analytic techniques in language science. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 345 Sensation and Perception

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Embodied Communication (IFEB)

    Description
    Examines the mechanisms of sensory processing and perception across all sensory modalities (e.g., vision, audition, olfaction). This course will draw upon concepts in psychology, biology, neuroscience, and philosophy focusing on how and why we see, hear, taste, etc. through an experimental lens. Includes an intensive laboratory component focusing on methodological approaches and data analytic techniques. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.
  • PSYC 349 Special Topics

    Units:

    Description
    Critical examination of concepts in one of the following areas of psychology, including but not limited to psycholinguistics, stress, sensation and perception, animal behavior, and other specialized topics in the cognitive and brain sciences. Emphasis on theory, research, and applications in lecture with intensive laboratory component. Two and a half lecture and one and a quarter laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 353 Clinical Neuroscience

    Units: 1

    Description
    A critical examination of the neurobiological mechanisms of mental illness. Current biobehavioral perspectives of potential causes and treatments of psychiatric illnesses such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia are considered. An emphasis is also placed on the importance of emotional resilience and its protective role in the emergence of psychiatric illnesses.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 359 Special Topics

    Units:

    Description
    Special course offerings to explore specific direction within subdisciplinary area of psychology. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
  • PSYC 361 Independent Research

    Units: 0.5

    Description
    Individual research conducted in collaboration with faculty. Note: No more than 2 units of 300-level research coursework (PSYC 300 or 361) may count toward a psychology major. Available as pass/fail only.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C- or better and permission of supervising instructor prior to registration.

  • PSYC 388 Internship

    Units:

    Description
    Supervised independent work in field setting designed to give student applied experience after completion of appropriate coursework in psychology. Requires consultation with and approval by department chair. No more than 1.5 unit of internship in any one department and 3.5 units of internship overall may be counted toward required degree units. Available as pass/fail only.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 406 Summer Undergraduate Research

    Units:

    Description
    Documentation of the work of students who receive summer fellowships to conduct research [or produce a creative arts project] in the summer. The work must take place over a minimum of 6 weeks, the student must engage in the project full-time (at least 40 hours per week) during this period, and the student must be the recipient of a fellowship through the university. Graded S/U.

     

    Prerequisites

    Approval by a faculty mentor

  • PSYC 444 Clinical Case Studies

    Units: 1

    Description
    Intensive seminar that examines select clinical case studies and their contributions to our understanding of brain-behavior relationships. Special emphasis will be placed on the power and limits of the double dissociation methodology: contrasting patients with opposing patterns of deficits.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 449 Advanced Seminar

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Written Communication (IFWC)

    Description
    Intensive seminar intended for seniors and advanced juniors, based on faculty expertise and research specializations, and offered regularly in fall and spring semesters for capstone requirement.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 461 Senior Research

    Units: 1

    Description
    Intensive year-long research project for seniors, requiring conception, completion, and presentation of a research thesis under faculty mentorship.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200

  • PSYC 462 Senior Research

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Written Communication (IFWC)

    Description
    Intensive year-long research project for seniors, requiring conception, completion, and presentation of a research thesis under faculty mentorship.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 461 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 491 Honors

    Units: 1

    Description
    Intensive year-long research project for seniors who meet requirements for University and department honors programs, requiring conception, completion, and presentation of senior honors thesis under faculty mentorship.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 200 with a minimum grade of C-

  • PSYC 492 Honors

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement(s): IF-Power/Equity/Identity/Cult (IFPE), IF-Written Communication (IFWC)

    Description
    Intensive year-long research project for seniors who meet requirements for University and department honors programs, requiring conception, completion, and presentation of senior honors thesis under faculty mentorship.

     

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 491 with a minimum grade of C-