Psychology (PS-UY)

This course looks at how people interact with their environments: how settings affect behavior; how people change environments to fit their needs; and how people can become an active part of the environmental-design process. The course discusses how people use space and the way environmental design meets (or fails to meet) human needs. These concerns are valid for very-small-scale design problems (as in human-factors engineering); mid-size spaces (architecture and interior design); large-scale spaces (communities, urban areas). | Prerequisites: Completion of first year writing requirements . Co-requisites: None. Notes: Satisfies a HuSS elective.

The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with basic concepts, research findings and theories related to the way in which human characteristics, capabilities and limitations, including physiology and psychology, affect system design and performance. Students will develop a basic understanding of methods for studying and assessing human behavior and for analyzing human performance. It will introduce aspects of system, interface, organizational design and physical setting as they influence operators and performance. Satisfies an HuSS Elective. | Prerequisites: Completion of first year writing requirements.

Humor is considered one of the most pleasurable positive emotions. The questions asked will include What makes something funny? Why do people find someone falling down funny in one culture and tragic in another? What are the cross-cultural implications of humor and how have they been affected by a global worldview? How has the Internet changed our view of humor, now that technologies like YouTube make it possible for anyone to be a director or cinematographer with a worldwide audience? Topics will include psychoanalysis; superiority; reversal theories of humor; the psychology and psychobiology of humor; and humor, laughter and mental health. | Prerequisites: Completion of first year writing requirements. Co-requisites: None. Notes: Satisfies a HuSS elective.

This course addresses the psychological bases of environmental problems, investigates theories of behavior change as they relate to environmental issues and introduces practical strategies to foster behavior change. Topics include the ways in which the fit (or lack of it) of design to human behavior can affect environmentally relevant behaviors, such as energy use and recycling. Course issues include designing green buildings and creating sustainable communities. | Notes: Satisfies a HuSS elective.