Teaching and mentoring are among my favorite parts of being a professor. In both I strive to help students both explore basic questions about human nature and address important social problems.
Teaching
In many of my classes, I emphasize psychological interventions. This is because psychological interventions demonstrate both the power of psychological processes and their relevance to social reform.
I am a core member of the Psych 1 teaching team at Stanford:
Psych 1-Introduction to Psychology
Human behavior and mental processes including the nervous system, consciousness, learning, memory, development, emotion, psychopathology, interpersonal processes, society, and culture. Current research. Plus mandatory section. 5 units.
Syllabus
I also teach a variety of additional classes including:
Psych 25N-Psychology, Inequality, and the American Dream
Despite legal prohibitions against discrimination and the fact that many people endorse egalitarian values, inequality persists in America. What role do psychological factors play in perpetuating inequality? How can psychologically “wise” reforms promote equal opportunity? Topics include prejudice and discrimination, school achievement, social class, and race/ethnicity. 3 units.
Syllabus
Psych 138/238-Wise Interventions
Classic and contemporary psychological interventions; the role of psychological factors in reforms for social problems involving health care, the workplace, education, intergroup relations, and the law. Topics include theories of intervention, the role of laboratory research, evaluation, and social policy. 4 units.
Syllabus
"Wise Interventions" surveys psychological interventions emphasizing their theoretical bases. Students prepare grant proposals for intervention projects, a number of which have received grant funding, which students have conducted as honors or coterm theses.
Psych 236-The Social Self
Humans have remarkable, complex social organization from work teams to national and cultural identities. An investigation of the psychological bases of this organization. Topics include the effect of social influence on perception, beliefs, attitudes, emotions, and behaviors, shared intentionality, and the relational bases of learning, motivation, and performance. Works of classic scholars (Asch, Lewin) and contemporary researchers in social, developmental, and comparative psychology. 3 units.
Syllabus
Psych 274/Educ 287X-Graduate Research Workshop on Psychological Interventions
Psychological research has the potential to create novel interventions that promote the public good. This workshop will expose students to psychologically “wise” intervention research and support their efforts to conduct such interventions, especially in the context of education, broadly conceived, as well as other areas. The first part of the class will address classic interventions and important topics in intervention research, including effective delivery mechanisms, sensitive behavioral outcomes, the role of theory and psychological process, and considerations of the role of time and of mechanisms that can sustain treatment effects over time. In the second part of the course, students will present and receive feedback on their own ongoing and/or future intervention research. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in Psychology or Education or consent of the instructors.
Co-taught with Geoff Cohen.
Syllabus
This class gives students a chance to “workshop” intervention ideas and to receive constructive feedback using a process modeled on writer's workshops.
Mentoring
I deeply value opportunities to teach and mentor younger psychologists. I am committed to helping students and post-docs learn to conduct theoretically rich research with social application and to incorporate field-experimental methods into their work (see People).
If you are interested in inquiring about whether I am interested in taking new PhD students in the coming year, the general answer is that at Stanford, we admit students to the social area, not for individual faculty but I am always interested in working with new students whose interests match my own.
Teaching
In many of my classes, I emphasize psychological interventions. This is because psychological interventions demonstrate both the power of psychological processes and their relevance to social reform.
I am a core member of the Psych 1 teaching team at Stanford:
Psych 1-Introduction to Psychology
Human behavior and mental processes including the nervous system, consciousness, learning, memory, development, emotion, psychopathology, interpersonal processes, society, and culture. Current research. Plus mandatory section. 5 units.
Syllabus
I also teach a variety of additional classes including:
Psych 25N-Psychology, Inequality, and the American Dream
Despite legal prohibitions against discrimination and the fact that many people endorse egalitarian values, inequality persists in America. What role do psychological factors play in perpetuating inequality? How can psychologically “wise” reforms promote equal opportunity? Topics include prejudice and discrimination, school achievement, social class, and race/ethnicity. 3 units.
Syllabus
Psych 138/238-Wise Interventions
Classic and contemporary psychological interventions; the role of psychological factors in reforms for social problems involving health care, the workplace, education, intergroup relations, and the law. Topics include theories of intervention, the role of laboratory research, evaluation, and social policy. 4 units.
Syllabus
"Wise Interventions" surveys psychological interventions emphasizing their theoretical bases. Students prepare grant proposals for intervention projects, a number of which have received grant funding, which students have conducted as honors or coterm theses.
Psych 236-The Social Self
Humans have remarkable, complex social organization from work teams to national and cultural identities. An investigation of the psychological bases of this organization. Topics include the effect of social influence on perception, beliefs, attitudes, emotions, and behaviors, shared intentionality, and the relational bases of learning, motivation, and performance. Works of classic scholars (Asch, Lewin) and contemporary researchers in social, developmental, and comparative psychology. 3 units.
Syllabus
Psych 274/Educ 287X-Graduate Research Workshop on Psychological Interventions
Psychological research has the potential to create novel interventions that promote the public good. This workshop will expose students to psychologically “wise” intervention research and support their efforts to conduct such interventions, especially in the context of education, broadly conceived, as well as other areas. The first part of the class will address classic interventions and important topics in intervention research, including effective delivery mechanisms, sensitive behavioral outcomes, the role of theory and psychological process, and considerations of the role of time and of mechanisms that can sustain treatment effects over time. In the second part of the course, students will present and receive feedback on their own ongoing and/or future intervention research. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in Psychology or Education or consent of the instructors.
Co-taught with Geoff Cohen.
Syllabus
This class gives students a chance to “workshop” intervention ideas and to receive constructive feedback using a process modeled on writer's workshops.
Mentoring
I deeply value opportunities to teach and mentor younger psychologists. I am committed to helping students and post-docs learn to conduct theoretically rich research with social application and to incorporate field-experimental methods into their work (see People).
If you are interested in inquiring about whether I am interested in taking new PhD students in the coming year, the general answer is that at Stanford, we admit students to the social area, not for individual faculty but I am always interested in working with new students whose interests match my own.
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