Teaching
I enjoy teaching courses on cognitive, social, and applied psychology. Below are several of the courses I've developed. Some courses have subpages that list the resources I use for teaching those courses.
Legal Psychology
Why do people falsely confess to crimes they didn’t commit? Why are innocent people sometimes identified by eyewitnesses? How can investigators get the best evidence from eyewitnesses? How do juries—groups of 12 strangers—come to a decision during a trial? These are some of the core questions that legal psychologists (and students like you) strive to answer. In this course, you will apply knowledge and theories from social, cognitive, and developmental psychology to issues facing the legal system?
Forensic Psychology
What makes a person competent to stand trial, waive their rights, plead guilty to a crime, or be executed? What are the effects of the "correctional" system on the people who experience it? Forensic psychology is the application of psychological science and practice to the legal system. We will learn about mental status examinations, correctional outcomes, and forensic decision-making — based on current, empirical psychological research.
Psychology of Pseudoscience
Are we walking around in a world full of ghosts, bigfoots, and aliens? These stories and beliefs continue to captivate our collective attention. Why do people cling so tightly to these beliefs? This course will help us understand the social and cognitive processes behind pseudoscientific beliefs. We will also learn critical thinking and the scientific method to better understand valid, reliable, and reproducible science and thereby better identify pseudoscience.
Psychology of Language
Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental processes involved in language and language behavior. How do infants acquire language? Where is language in the brain? Why do some patients recover language abilities following brain injury, while others do not? We will examine the methods of psycholinguistics and discuss what is known about how humans listen, speak, converse, and read. We will discuss many of the fascinating ways in which language serves as a window into the human mind.
Memory
It’s hard to imagine an aspect of psychology more fundamental than memory. Without a functioning memory, all other cognitive functions—perception, learning, problem-solving, and language—would be impossible. Without a functioning memory, social interactions like play, relationships, and work would be chaotic at best. In this course, we will discuss cognitive, behavioral, social, and neuroscience perspectives and examine the diversity of phenomena we call "human memory."
