Psychology at Hampshire College

Psychology
Hampshire’s interdisciplinary approach to psychology pushes students to come away with an enriched and full picture of the mysteries of the mind. Like most subjects at Hampshire, psychology crosses borders, and includes studies in social science, cognitive science, and natural science.

Students of psychology might ask: How do such factors as race, economy, gender, and group dynamics affect the way we think and act? What is the meaning of intelligence? How can we best utilize new multimedia technologies in the process of teaching? What is the relationship between the mind and the brain? How does the brain achieve such phenomena as memory, problem solving, and concept formulation?

The members of Hampshire’s psychology faculty mirror this diverse view of what the field of psychology entails.

Student Project Titles

 * The Unheard Translation: Psychological Explorations in Language and Identity
 * Contextualizing Narrative Therapy: Relationship Guidance in Contemporary American Popular Culture
 * An Exploration of Trauma and Substance Abuse in the Lives of Incarcerated Women
 * Metaphor in the Mind
 * Lacan, the Buddha, and the Self: Finding Meaning in Religion and Therapy
 * Reading, the Brain, and Reading the Brain
 * Art and Autistic Development
 * Born a Sociopath, Made a Sociopath
 * Narrating Neuropathology: Women and Bipolar Disorder
 * Emotion, Economics, and Electroencephalography: A Study of the ERP and Hormonal Correlates of Decision Making

Featured Faculty Profiles
Lourdes Mattei Associate Professor of Clinical Developmental Psychology

Annie Rogers Professor of Clinical Psychology

Peter Gilford Visiting Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology

Jeremiah Trudeau Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology

Sample First-Year Course

 * Introduction to Neuropsychology

With brain imaging technology increasingly available, more and more of our behaviors are being attributed to physiology. Neuropsychology explores the link between the physical structures of the brain and the less tangible attributes of the mind. This course will introduce the student to the basic anatomy and physiology of the brain, explore how those structures interact to form a functional mind, and examine what happens when something goes wrong. Students will be expected to write regular responses to readings from a primary text, as well as finding additional materials on chosen topics.

Sample Courses at Hampshire

 * The Birth of Mind: Biological Foundations of Psychological Development
 * Children & their Cultural Worlds
 * Cognitive Development
 * Consciousness Considered
 * Developmental Psychopathology
 * Gender, Sex & Biology
 * Globalization & Subjectivity
 * Hybrid Identities, Authentic Selves
 * Infant Development
 * Introduction to Psychology
 * Intuitive Judgments & Rational Decisions
 * Mentoring Relationships
 * Minds, Brains & Machines: The 50 Key Ideas
 * Moral Development & Culture
 * Paranormal/Supernatural Phenomena: A Passionate Closer Look
 * The Plastic Brain: Culture, Experience & Environment in Mind/Brain Development
 * The Politics of Psychology
 * Psychoanalysis & Literature
 * Autobiographical Memory
 * The Psychology of Leadership
 * The Psychology of Writing
 * Science of the Mind
 * Thinking & Remembering in the Real World
 * The Unconscious Before, During & After Freud

Through the Consortium

 * Adolescent Development (MHC)
 * Food & Eating Disorders (AC)
 * Intro to Research Methods (SC)
 * Personality (AC)
 * Research Methods in Psychology (MHC)
 * Statistics in Psychology (UMass)

Facilities and Resources
Psychology concentrators at Hampshire have the opportunity to participate in several unique, interdisciplinary programs which greatly expand upon the traditional confines of the discipline, by framing psychology in the context of a broader study.

For students interested in the intersections between cognitive and cultural understandings of psychological development, the Culture, Brain, and Development (CBD) Program provides a great resource. Funded by a grant from the Foundation for Psychocultural Research, CBD is designed to sharpen our understanding of human behavior and human development by moving away from the traditional debate about nature versus nurture and reconceptualizing biology and culture in a radical way. Hampshire’s own Event-Related Potential (ERP) Lab allows psychology, neuropsychology, and CBD students to design and run their own unique experiments, often with substantial funding.

Students interested in cognitive development and the psychology of children may be drawn to Hampshire’s Critical Studies in Childhood, Youth, and Learning (CYL) Program. CYL works with the Hampshire College Children’s Center and schools and organizations in the surrounding community to provide opportunities for critical thinking and observation about child development and education in a broader real-world context. The Child Development Research Laboratory in Adele Simmons Hall can be used for a variety of studies designed to examine children’s behavior and social interactions.

Information Quoted From:http://www.hampshire.edu/admissions/psychology.htm