Please consult the New School Course Catalog for a full list of courses. Spring 2023 courses include:
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology, GPSY 5110
William Hirst, Malcolm B. Smith Professor of Psychology (CSD)
This course is a survey of the progress made in understanding the human mind from the perspective of cognitive science. The areas of memory, attention, and thinking are examined.
Social Psychology, GPSY 5120
Kate Jassin, Part-Time Lecturer
This course provides students with a broad overview of social psychological research. Central to the course is the idea that human beings are not isolated entities who process information like computers but social animals engaged in a complicated network of social relations, both real and imagined. Constrained by our cognitive capacities and guided by many different motives and fundamental needs, we attempt to make sense of the social world in which we live and of ourselves in relation to it. We see how this influences perceptions of the self, perceptions of other individuals and groups, beliefs and attitudes, group processes, and intergroup relations. Readings emphasize how various theories of human behavior are translated into focused research questions and rigorously tested through laboratory experiments and field studies.
Language and Thought, GPSY 6107
Michael Schober, Professor of Psychology (CSD) and Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
This course surveys research on psycholinguistics, cognition, and the relation between language and thought. Topics covered include the psychological reality of grammars proposed by linguists; individual and dyadic processes in language planning, production perception, and comprehension; meaning, categorization, and knowledge representation; and universals in language and thought.
Advanced Issues in Substance Abuse Counseling, GPSY 6112
Lisa Litt, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Assistant Director of the MA Concentration in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling
This course is a continuation of GPSY 6109. There is a greater emphasis on hands-on training and the application of the concepts and techniques covered in the introductory course. Emphasis is placed on the management of the recovery process. This course is required for those who wish to obtain an MA degree with a concentration in mental health and substance abuse counseling. The course provides 75 clock hours of New York OASAS-approved CASAC training. Prerequisite: Introduction to Substance Abuse Counseling (GPSY 6109) unless an exemption has been granted by instructor. Undergraduate seniors may enroll in this course.
Advanced Statistics, GPSY 6134
Mostafa Salari Rad, Postdoctoral Fellow
This course is a survey of common advanced statistical procedures from a psychological perspective. The goal of the course is to prepare students to produce publication-quality APA-style manuscripts. Accordingly, the course involves frequent analysis of data sets using popular statistics software and effective written communication of findings. Specific inferential statistical procedures include factorial and repeated ANOVA, ANCOVA, MANOVA, factor analysis, multiple regression, logistic regression, and discriminant function analysis. Prerequisite: knowledge of introductory statistics. MA students who wish to receive a letter grade for this pass–fail course should seek permission from the instructor and work with student advising staff to change their grade mode to standard.
Psychopathology lll : Biosocial and Cognitive Theories of Addiction, GPSY 6133
McWelling Todman, Professor of Clinical Practice and Co-Chair of Psychology
This course is an introductory survey of the psychological, biological, and sociological models of substance abuse and dependence. It is required for those who wish to obtain an MA with a concentration in mental health and substance abuse counseling. This course provides 75 clock hours of NYSOASAS-approved CASAC training. Prerequisite for Lang juniors and seniors: LPSY 2008 Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology with a grade of C or better.
Research Methods, GPSY 6238
Adam Brown, Associate Professor of Psychology (Clinical) and Vice Provost for Research
This course provides students with hands-on experience in designing, running, and reporting psychology experiments. Class time is devoted to discussion of individual research projects at each phase of the work.
Research Methods, GPSY 6238
Wendy D'Andrea, Associate Professor of Psychology (Clinical)
This course provides students with hands-on experience in designing, running, and reporting psychology experiments. Class time is devoted to discussion of individual research projects at each phase of the work.
Qualitative Methods in Psychology, GPSY 6241
Daniel Gaztambide, Assistant Professor of Clinical Practice
Psychologists are increasingly recognizing the value of qualitative research, both to inform and enhance quantitative forms of inquiry and as a meaningful form of inquiry in its own right. As qualitative methods gain a foothold in the field (e.g., establishment of a qualitative inquiry section within APA's Division of Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics, and the soon-to-be-launched APA journal Qualitative Psychology), students may find themselves lost in a field characterized by language, and sometimes logics, different from those to which they are accustomed. The course is designed to help students wishing to bridge the so-called "quantitative–qualitative" divide in psychology by providing an introduction to epistemological and methodological traditions in qualitative psychology; consideration of distinct ethical concerns; and the opportunity for hands-on experience with qualitative research, including data collection, analysis, and report writing.
Development and Psychopathology, GPSY 6281
Miriam Steele, Professor of Psychology (Clinical)
The goal of this course is to give you an understanding of development across the lifespan, from prenatal stages to infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Key theoretical and methodological issues that have defined the field and links between cognitive and affective basis of behavior as typified by typical and atypical development are highlighted. There is an emphasis on providing an integrative approach that brings together scientific studies in the fields of genetics, psychobiology, and social-emotional functioning. An objective of this course is the development of analytic thinking that enables students to become critical consumers of the scientific literature and employ a keen critical eye in evaluating the study of development.
Global Mental Health, GPSY 6436
Adam Brown, Associate Professor of Psychology (Clinical) and Vice Provost for Research
Mental health issues are among the leading causes of disability worldwide; according to the World Health Organization, depression will emerge as the leading cause of disability-adjusted life years by 2030. Despite growing recognition and documentation of the burdens mental health issues and comorbid disorders place on individuals, caregivers, and communities, there remain large global disparities in access to resources and delivery of effective mental healthcare. In this course, we survey the evolution of and current approaches to mental healthcare across a wide range of contexts, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. Readings draw from studies and policy reports examining mental health programs, barriers to implementation, and the ways in which socioeconomic, social, and contextual factors disproportionately affect people in low-resource settings. Students enrolled in the Transdisciplinary Design program and other university programs should register for UTNS 5436.
Moral Psychology, GPSY 6438
Katrina Fincher, Assistant Professor of Psychology (CSD)
In everyday life, people often encounter situations, trivial or significant, that fall under the purview of morality. Sometimes people are tempted to commit a norm violation, such as telling a lie to obtain immediate rewards or avoid undesirable outcomes. At other times, people become victims of or witnesses to others' bad behaviors. In this course, we examine the tendency of human beings to experience social behavior as right or wrong. We begin by examining moralization and sacralization. We then turn to examining models of morality, exploring both the role of emotion and cognition in moral judgments and models of mind perception. We conclude by investigating the role of culture in morality, as well as recent sociopolitical issues relevant to morality and moral issues that people frequently deal with in everyday life.
Humanization and Dehumanization, GPSY 6444
Katrina Fincher, Assistant Professor of Psychology (CSD)
In this course, we discuss the psychological processes surrounding humanization and dehumanization. Additional topics covered might include prejudice, stereotyping and stigmatization. We may discuss topics such as racism, sexism, and genocide and murder.
Designing Mental Health Interventions for Low-Resource Settings, GPSY 6451
Manaswi Sangraula, Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Lab Coordinator, Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab
This course focuses on how to design mental health interventions to suit the unique mental health needs of populations living in low-resource settings (such as people in low- and middle-income countries, conflict-affected areas, and marginalized communities within high-income countries). We explore existing intervention models and methods for adapting interventions and therapies to fit the culture, context, and experiences of mental health distress in such settings. Students gain tools they need to adapt interventions and examine the sociocultural forces that affect the implementation, delivery, and assessment of mental health interventions in low-resource settings. Note: Students enrolled in programs other than the NSSR Psychology program should register for UTNS 6451.
Perception in Virtual Worlds: Experiments in Design and Psychology, GPSY 6456
Colleen Macklin, Associate Professor of Media Design in the School of Art, Media, and Technology, and Ben van Buren, Assistant Professor of Psychology (CSD)
In this course, we explore the interplay between perceptual psychology and the design of interactive systems and games. Students of psychology and design master a variety of useful concepts from perception research and interactive design, including how to make interactive digital games and experiences. Together we explore questions such as: How do humans perceive the world? How do our interactions in games reveal underlying systems? How is “intelligence” perceived in artificial agents? How do we understand one another through perceptual cues? We develop experiments using simple programming environments and tools (Javascript/Python and Unity) to study how people perceive, understand, and interact with artificial worlds. While some experience in these tools and programming languages is helpful for this course, it is not necessary as long as there is a willingness to learn the basics. Open to NSSR Psychology students and Lang Psychology juniors and seniors. Students from other divisions and programs may register for the psychology section only after receiving permission from Ben van Buren. Parsons students must register for the PSAM section of the course.
Embodiment as Justice, GPSY 6457
Ben Barry, Dean, School of Fashion, and Lisa Rubin, Associate Professor of Psychology (Clinical)
In this course, we explore the way embodied awareness, or the process of continually reflecting on being in our bodies, can be used as a practice for social justice. Students of fashion and psychology examine and combine theories from disability studies, fat studies, queer and trans studies, and intersectional feminist studies. Through the use of arts-based methods and participatory workshops, the course centers diverse ways of knowing and of sharing knowledge. Course activities provide creative approaches to foster support and care for individuals—whether carers or clients—whose embodied experiences are often marginalized and/or misrepresented in fashion and psychology and explore the associated ethical issues. For their final projects, students develop and distribute their own creative methods to help other fashion and mental health practitioners cultivate a practice of embodied awareness.
Diagnostic Testing 2, GPSY 7003
Andreas Evdokas, Part-Time Assistant Professor
In the second term of the assessment sequence, students learn to administer, score, and interpret the Rorschach Inkblot Test. After the Rorschach has been introduced, our emphasis shifts to the integration of data from the entire test battery into a thorough diagnostic assessment. Students practice test administration and interpretation with in-patient and out-patient subjects referred by clinical agencies affiliated with our program. By year's end, students should be able to administer and interpret a full test battery and express diagnostic conclusions in a clear, useful written report.
Diagnostic Testing 2, GPSY 7003
Ali Khadivi, Part-Time Faculty
In the second term of the assessment sequence, students learn to administer, score, and interpret the Rorschach Inkblot Test. After the Rorschach has been introduced, our emphasis shifts to the integration of data from the entire test battery into a thorough diagnostic assessment. Students practice test administration and interpretation with in-patient and out-patient subjects referred by clinical agencies affiliated with our program. By year's end, students should be able to administer and interpret a full test battery and express diagnostic conclusions in a clear, useful written report.
Diagnostic Neuropsychological Testing, GPSY 7004
James Root, Part-Time Assistant Professor
This course is an introduction to the clinical application of neuropsychology and neuropsychological assessment. It focuses on test administration and scoring together with the domains of neurocognitive function, syndromes associated with dysfunction in each domain, and neuropsychological measures employed in assessing domain-specific performance. Cultural and social variables are also discussed in relation to their impact on both assessment and interpretation of cognitive measures and in the choice of appropriate normative comparisons. Measure selection and interpretation are tailored to typical CNS and psychiatric disorders that the clinician may be expected to encounter in medical and psychiatric settings, including primary dementia, traumatic brain injury, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, depression, and schizophrenia. Prerequisite: GPSY 6271 or agreement of instructor.
Evidence-Based Treatment, GPSY 7013
Shoshana Krohner, Postdoctoral Fellow
Few issues have polarized the field of psychotherapy research and practice as much as evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice is both an approach for evaluating what works in psychotherapy and an epistemological movement rife with controversy. In this course, we examine the fundamental issues and debates associated with the emergence of evidence-based practice in mental healthcare. Students explore the benefits and constraints of evidence-based approaches in psychotherapy, including critical questions such as: Which treatments are evidence-based? What qualifies as evidence? Who benefits and who is neglected in evidence-based research and practice? Students gain familiarity with evidence-based approaches and confidence navigating this complex terrain in their own clinical work.
Clinical Theory and Technique: CBT, GPSY 7019
Sam Winer, Associate Professor of Psychology (Clinical)
This course presents the major theories, research foundations, and applications of cognitive behavioral therapy. Topics addressed include history and advances in behavioral and cognitive theory, contemporary CBT approaches such as acceptance- and mindfulness-based therapies, sociocultural considerations, and techniques such as cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation, and exposure. Students also practice developing CBT case formulations and gain hands-on experience with CBT techniques through experiential activities and assignments.