A list of courses I have taught (along with their descriptions as listed in the college/university registrar) can be found below. At the end of each course description, you will find copies of my teaching evaluations in blue (organized by year, if available). Evaluations will open in a new window. Courses at Lyon College are presented first, followed by courses I have taught as a teaching assistant/teaching fellow at UCLA & Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Courses at Lyon College
I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Lyon College. I teach a wide variety of courses that are often cross-listed in anthropology, biology, and neuroscience. NOTE: Courses that I have personally revised (but are already part of the Lyon College course catalog) are marked with one asterisks; courses that I have designed from scratch are marked with two asterisks.
PSY101: Introduction to Psychology*
Psychology is the scientific study of the brain and behavior! Psychologists are primarily interested in understanding how and why we act, feel, and think the way that we do. Today, there are over two dozen different subfields in psychology! In this course, you will be introduced to five of these subfields, which include: (1) biological; (2) social/personality; (3) clinical/health; (4) cognitive; and (5) developmental. We will read about and discuss many fundamental topics in psychology and these five subfields. We will think about the real-world implications and applications for psychological theories and findings, in addition to evaluating and comparing major theoretical conceptualizations of psychological phenomena. Interested in pursuing a major or minor in psychology? This course will provide you with the foundation needed to further explore the rich and diverse field of psychology! Not interested in majoring/minoring in psychology? That’s ok! This course will provide you with the skills and tools needed to better understand yourself and the people you encounter/interact with. Regardless of your current level of interest in psychology, by the end of this course you will be able to interpret and critically evaluate research being done in the social sciences.
PSY101 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
PSY101 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY101 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY101 Spring 2024 Student Evaluations
PSY312: Sensation & Perception*
Imagine yourself sitting outside of the Salty Dog Coffee Shop after class. It’s a Tuesday afternoon in April, with an outside of temperature of 70°F. Compared to the average temperatures in March (~63°F), this might feel warm to you. When you look around, you notice a few dogs in Schram Bark Park playing with their owners. If you’re lucky, one of these dogs may come and greet you by touching your hand with their nose. In the meantime, you go inside and order a coffee to hold you over until your next class. If you like the taste of sweet things, you might ask the barista to add more cream and sugar to your coffee that day. The smell of freshly baked pastries is very tempting; you decide to purchase a cinnamon roll to go with your coffee. As you wait for your order, you hear dogs barking in the playground or students chattering as they walk to class. This thought experiment demonstrates that each and every day, we use a combination of our senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell) to create a conscious experience of our world (which is referred to as perception). While sensing & perceiving is something we do every single day (and often take for granted), it is much more complicated than it seems! The goal of this class is to reveal the complexities surrounding sensory systems and perceptual frameworks.
PSY312 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
PSY312 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY341: Professional Development in Psychology*
This one-credit course focuses on planning for a future with an undergraduate degree in psychology and encourages students to research personal career development and the contemporary workforce. We will use a team-taught approach and invite you to hear lectures, read pertinent outside material, complete in-class exercises, and engage in small group discussions that are meant to help you identify what you want and need to do to get you where you want to be. Students will be exposed to information designed to assist in the clarification, selection, and pursuit of a career in psychology or a related field. Topics will include an overview of the undergraduate major in psychology, career options in psychology and related fields, preparation for employment with a bachelor’s degree, preparing for and succeeding in graduate school, and applying for a job or to a graduate school. This course will enable psychology majors to understand themselves, their major, their future careers, and the complex interactions that exist among these three crucial domains.
PSY341 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
PSY341 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
ANTH382/PSY353: Evolutionary Psychology*
According to Dr. Clark Barrett, “the key to the mysteries of life lies within our minds”. Many of the ‘facts’ we know and possess about the world are actually ‘facts’ about our minds (or mental processes)! For example: cookies and cake are regarded as delicious, but broccoli and asparagus are often considered disgusting. Some animals seem cute and cuddly (like pandas), but others are perceived as dangerous (like snakes and spiders). Cake is delicious and pandas are cuddly because our minds perceive them as such! These kinds of ‘facts’ did not appear spontaneously within our minds. Rather, they are the result of deep evolutionary history. Understanding how our minds evolved the way they did will help us understand why cake tastes so good and why pandas are so adorable!
This class is designed to provide a brief introduction to evolutionary psychology, which focuses on how evolution has shaped cognitive mechanisms which give rise to our thoughts and feelings. As you can probably tell from this description alone, evolutionary psychology is a multidisciplinary field which involves theory and methods from anthropology, biology, genetics, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, zoology, and more! We will be discussing the basics of evolutionary theory and how it can be used to understand a wide variety of mental processes.
ANTH382 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY353 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY353 Spring 2024 Student Evaluations
ANTH382/PSY382: Primate Perspectives on Behavior and the Brain**
The human brain is an incredibly complex structure which allows us to perform amazing behaviors (such as language). But how (and why) did this structure evolve? What features of the brain and behavior are unique to humans? Widespread among other animals? This course will examine the evolutionary origins of the human brain and behavior by studying our closest living relatives: the non-human primates (NHPs). This course will focus closely on comparative anatomy and psychology to determine which features of the human brain and behavior are recently derived, and which are the product of shared ancestry. We will use our discussion of NHP brains and behavior to develop effective research and writing strategies, which will culminate into a final research paper & presentation on a topic of your choosing.
ANTH382 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
PSY382 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
BIO382/PSY382: Animal Behavior I**
According to the ICUN Red List (2021), we have identified over 2 million distinct animal species living on planet Earth to date! And this number only includes described species; some researchers argue that there are at least 5 million other animal species which have yet to be described (Mora et al., 2011). Most psychologists are interested in studying the brain and behavior of only one species (humans, or Homo sapiens). But what about the remaining 6,999,999 animal species?! What kinds of brains do they have? What kinds of behaviors do they exhibit? And how are the brains and behaviors exhibited by these animals similar to (or are different from) our own? The goal of this course is to provide an overview of the various theoretical and methodological approaches which are used to study the brain and behavior of animals (other than humans). If you are interested in pursuing a career that involves working with [nonhuman] animals, this is the course for you! Interested in working with humans only? That’s ok! This course will provide you with the skills and tools needed to better understand yourself and the animals you may encounter/interact with. There are over 31 million cats and 48 million dogs living in U.S. households today (according to the American Veterinary Medication Association); it is likely that you will interact with at least one cat/dog in your life!
BIO382 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY382 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
BIO382/PSY382 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY382: Animal Behavior II**
In 1871, Charles Darwin wrote the following to Ray Lankester (an Oxford-based zoologist): “You ask about my opinion on vivisection. I quite agree that it is justifiable for real investigations on physiology; but not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity. It is a subject which makes me sick with horror, so I will not say another word about it, else I shall not sleep tonight” (Johnson, Scientific American, 2011). Vivisection (i.e., surgery performed on living organisms for experimental purposes) was a popular scientific methodology in the 1800s, but was heavily opposed by Charles Darwin and other naturalists. However, animal behavior research has changed dramatically since then! Requests to perform vivisection have dramatically decreased in the United Kingdom following the introduction of the Cruelty to Animals Act in 1876. While vivisection still occurs today in the United States, it is federally regulated under the Animal Welfare Act (which was signed into law in 1966). As a result, many researchers have adopted minimally- to non-invasive methodologies in the study of animal behavior. The purpose of this course is twofold. First, this course will provide you with the opportunity to learn more about the applications and techniques used in animal behavior research today. Second, this course will help you bridge the gap between previous coursework (i.e., Animal Behavior I) and applied experience through labs & independent research. Our class will emulate the structure of a research lab, where your participation and feedback are strongly encouraged. We will use our discussions on animal behavior research to develop effective research and writing strategies, which will culminate into a final research paper & presentation on a topic of your choosing.
PSY382 Spring 2024 Student Evaluations
PSY382: The Psychology of Pet Ownership**
Pet ownership is prevalent in the United States, with over 70% of households reporting ownership of at least one pet. There are approximately 89 million pet dogs & 62 million pet cats in the U.S. today (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2020). This number has dramatically increased since 2016 and is expected to continue increase anywhere from 3-6% each year! These trends can also be with other pets who have scales, feathers, fins, and fur. Each year, we spend a total of $124 billion on various pet products & services which includes food, treats, veterinary care, toys, and more (American Pet Products Association, 2021). Pets are often perceived as a source of unconditional love, support, and companionship. In a recent survey by Dr. Laurent-Simpson, up to 85% of pet ownerships said they consider their pets to be an important member of the family (2019). But why do we care so much about our pets? And why do they care so much about us in return? For example: recent studies have found that oxytocin (neurotransmitters & hormones associated with social bonding; Nagasawa et al., 2015) and ‘happy tears’ (Murata et al., 2022) increase when dogs see their favorite people (although some of these results have been contested; see Marshall-Pescini et al., 2019). The goal of this course is to navigate the pet-ownership relationship from a variety of perspectives (biological, clinical, cognitive, developmental, and social). We will focus on proximate- (i.e., how) and ultimate-level (i.e., why) explanations for this relationship. This course will provide you with the skills and tools needed to better understand yourself and the animals you may encounter/interact with. Note that there will be a greater emphasis on animals that are typically considered pets (i.e., mainly dogs and cats) in this course. If you are interested in the behavior of other animals, I encourage you to sign up for my Animal Behavior I & II courses!
PSY382 Spring 2024 Student Evaluations
PSY382: Animal Enrichment**
If you visit a pet store nowadays, you'll find many toys and tank decorations for your pets to enjoy. Interestingly, a few of these items are being used in animal enclosures at zoos, animal shelters, and wildlife sanctuaries across the United States. But have you ever wondered why so many options are available for your pet? What is the purpose of purchasing toys and tank decorations in the first place? The answer is that these objects are used for enrichment, providing animals with mental and physical stimulation and choice and control over their activities. Providing all captive animals with enrichment is crucial to maintaining their physical and psychological well-being! Animals without enrichment are more prone to boredom and psychological stress, resulting in stereotypical (i.e., abnormal, repetitive, and potentially harmful) behaviors. When constructing animal enrichment, it is important to consider their sensory and cognitive abilities, as well as their anatomical features. It's also essential to consider the specific behaviors you want the animal to exhibit and if there are any behaviors you hope to reduce by providing them with enrichment. Enrichment can come in various forms, such as passive visual enrichment (e.g., a background for your fish tank) and active cognitive enrichment (e.g., artificial termite mounds in chimpanzee enclosures). Enriching an animal's life can involve providing them with objects (e.g., crumping toys for your cat) or engaging in activities (e.g., walking around Bryant Lake with your dog). This class will allow you to study, create, troubleshoot, and implement enrichment for an animal species housed at the Little Rock Zoo. Enrichment can be a costly and time-consuming process to create. Let us use this class as an opportunity to positively impact an animal's life!
Newly designed class: no student evaluations available at this time! Being taught in Summer 2024.
PSY450: Forensic Anthropology**
According to Christensen et al., forensic anthropology “is defined as the application of anthropological method and theory to matters of legal concern, particularly those that relate to the recovery and analysis of the [human] skeleton” (2019, pp. 2). Forensic anthropologists are able to analyze skeletal remains in order to establish a profile of the victim. This work is complementary to the field of forensic psychology, which often focuses on criminal profiling. In short, information about victims can provide greater insight into the behaviors and motives underlying criminal activity. The goal of this independent study is to provide you with a brief overview of forensic anthropology. Examples of topics that we will cover include: bioarcheology, criminology, microbiology, odontology, osteology, pathology, taphonomy, victimology, and more! Each week, we will have guided discussions on current practices in the field of forensic anthropology. We will use these discussions to develop effective research and writing strategies, which will culminate into a final paper which critically examines the intersection between forensic anthropology & forensic psychology.
PSY450 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY450: Monkey Talk: Exploring the Communicative Strategies of Marmosets**
This was a custom course designed for my research assistant Levi Neal, who conducted research on marmoset communication in my Animal Behavior & Cognition Lab. The goal of this course was to introduce him to research writing in animal behavior through a literature review. In this type of course, students learn how to choose a topic of study, prepare a literature review, analyze existing literature, and structure and write a quality review. The course culminated with a written paper that can stand alone or be used as an introduction to a future manuscript. For his final paper, Levi was instructed to submit a 6-page review paper on marmoset's use of multiple modes of communication.
PSY485: Senior Thesis*
The purpose of this capstone course is to provide you with the opportunity to bridge the gap between coursework and applied experience through research. Our classes will emulate the structure of a research lab, where your participation and feedback are strongly encouraged. As a group, we will discuss (and gather feedback) on different stages of the research process, which includes (but is not limited to): conducting & writing literature searches, identifying & contacting prospective field sites/participants, formulating research questions & hypotheses, designing research procedures, submitting paperwork to IRB, collecting & analyzing data, and preparing research materials for dissemination (in the form of publications and/or presentations). You will design your own research project and will meet with the lab weekly to address topics and task relevant to your study.
PSY485 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
COR100: Self Care on a Budget**
Year One is Lyon’s first-year experience course, which is designed to reinforce the academic and social skills that contribute to a successful adjustment to college life. Year One’s course objective is to facilitate the student’s transition from secondary to post-secondary situations through applied practice in study skills and in the fostering of social bonds within each class and across the College. More specifically, in our section, we will be focusing on how to practice self-care on a budget. College is associated with major opportunities, transitions, and challenges! It is important to prioritize your physical and emotional well-being during this time period, since both are positively associated with college success (Moses et al., 2016; Garett et al., 2017). The goal of this course is to explore budget-friendly self-care practices, which are defined as “self-initiated activities that maintain and promote physical and emotional health” (Moses et al., 2016, p. 2). Sometimes, self-care seems more like a purchase rather than a practice (especially given the fact that it has become a $10-billion-dollar industry; Los Angeles Times, 2019). But you will learn in this course that self-care does not have to be expensive!
COR100 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
COR100: From Ink to Art**
COR 100 is Lyon College’s first-year seminar course, designed to help students develop the academic and social skills that contribute to a successful adjustment to college life while exploring a unique topic with one of Lyon’s exceptional faculty members. Each COR 100 course seeks to foster an enthusiasm for learning and connections to faculty and other members of the Lyon College community through applied practice in academic skills. In our section, we will discuss tattoos, an integral part of human culture for thousands of years. In the United States, almost a third of all Americans have at least one tattoo. In this class, we will study the physical and psychological aspects of tattooing, as well as its rich history and socio-cultural perceptions. Note that enrollment in this class is open to anyone with an interest in art and human behavior, regardless of whether they have a tattoo or not.
Being taught Fall 2024! Check back soon!
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR MINOR
I am one of the faculty members involved with the creation of the Animal Behavior Minor (coming to Lyon College in Fall 2024). Animal Behavior I & II are required for all students, with courses such as Primate Perspectives, The Psychology of Pet Ownership, and Animal Enrichment serving as psychology elective options. You can find more information about these courses above. Additional information will be provided in August of 2024. In the meantime, interested students should reach out to Lyon College's admissions office ([email protected]).
Courses at Other Institutions
Prior to my arrival at Lyon College, I served as a Teaching Assistant/Association and Teaching Fellow for multiple courses offered by anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience departments. You can find a list of these courses below. NOTE: because I taught at UCLA for many years, student evaluations for each class has been placed together across the years in one .zip file (which is available for download at the end of each course description). Digital evaluations were not used during my time at SIUC; as a result, no student evaluations are available for those courses.
ANTHRO1: Human Evolution (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Required as preparation for both bachelor's degrees [in anthropology]. Evolutionary processes and evolutionary past of human species.
Click here to download all ANTHRO1 UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO2: Introduction to Archaeology (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
General survey of field and laboratory methods, theory, and major findings of anthropological archaeology, including case-study guest lectures presented by several campus archaeologists.
Click here to download all ANTHRO2 UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO4: Culture and Communication (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Required as preparation for both bachelor's degrees [in anthropology]. Introduction to study of culture and society in comparative perspective. Examples from societies around world to illustrate basic principles of formation, structure, and distribution of human institutions. Of special concern is contribution and knowledge that cultural diversity makes toward understanding problems of modern world.
Click here to download all ANTHRO4 UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO124S: Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Examination of human sexual relations and social behavior from evolutionary perspective. Emphasis on theories and evidence for differences between men and women in their patterns of growth, maturation, fertility, mortality, parenting, and relations with members of opposite sex.
Click here to download all ANTHRO124S UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO124Q: Evolutionary Psychology (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Survey of research in evolutionary psychology. Review of relevant theory in evolution and genetics. Emphasis on empirical studies of modern human behavior from evolutionary perspective, including social behavior, decision making, language, culture, and child development.
Click here to download all ANTHRO124Q UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO152P/PSYCH149: Language Development and Socialization (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Exploration of processes through which children learn structures and practices of language and become competent participants in linguistic and social worlds around them. Examination of language use and socialization over childhood, across communities of practice, and across different ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Bridges work from anthropology, psychology, linguistics, and cognitive science. Topics include cross-cultural perspectives on child development and wide range of methodological approaches. Examination of ways in which language development and socialization interface with culture, modality, inequality, education, and cognition.
Click here to download all ANTHRO159/PSYCH149 UCLA Student Evaluations!
CLUSTER 73A-B: Mind over Matter: History, Science, and Philosophy of the Brain (UCLA | Teaching Fellow)
Human brain is most complex structure in universe and last major organ system to be understood. Our brains give us power to see and hear, learn and remember, interpret others, and act purposefully in our environment. We can lose these abilities that we take for granted, naturally over time or as result of injury or disease. Brain function from historical, biological, psychological, and philosophical perspectives to enable students to better understand organ responsible for all mental processes and behavior in health and disease and to encourage them to think and write critically about interaction of neurobiological, philosophical, and psychological factors that control behavior and our experiences as human beings. Use of historical perspective to better understand how field of neuroscience and study of brain have emerged over time.
Click here to download all CLUSTER 73A-B UCLA Student Evaluations!
CLUSTER 73CW: Primate Perspectives on Behavior and the Brain (UCLA | Teaching Fellow)
The human brain is an incredibly complex structure which allows us to perform amazing behaviors (such as language). But how (and why) did this structure evolve? What features of the brain and behavior are unique to humans? Widespread among other animals? This course will examine the evolutionary origins of the human brain and behavior by studying our closest living relatives: the non-human primates (NHPs). This course will focus closely on comparative anatomy and psychology to determine which features of the human brain (and behavior) are recently derived, and which are the product of shared ancestry. We will use our discussion of NHP brains and behavior to develop effective research and writing strategies, which will culminate into a final research paper & presentation on a topic of your choosing.
Click here to download all CLUSTER 73CW UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO104: The Human Experience (SIUC | Teaching Assistant)
This course explores different human life ways around the world, past and present. It investigates the question of what is universal to all humans and the myriad ways they differ, through studying modern people, the remains of past cultures through archaeology, and human origins and physical variation.
ANTHRO240A: Human Biology: An Introduction to Biological Anthropology (SIUC | Teaching Assistant)
An introduction to humans as a biological species. Applies scientific method to exploring data on humans and our closest relatives, to better understand our place in the web of life as a biological organism. Includes genetics (particularly human genetics), evolutionary theory, primate behavior and evolution, human fossil record, and similarities and differences in modern humans, including blood groups, skin color, and disease susceptibility.
I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Lyon College. I teach a wide variety of courses that are often cross-listed in anthropology, biology, and neuroscience. NOTE: Courses that I have personally revised (but are already part of the Lyon College course catalog) are marked with one asterisks; courses that I have designed from scratch are marked with two asterisks.
PSY101: Introduction to Psychology*
Psychology is the scientific study of the brain and behavior! Psychologists are primarily interested in understanding how and why we act, feel, and think the way that we do. Today, there are over two dozen different subfields in psychology! In this course, you will be introduced to five of these subfields, which include: (1) biological; (2) social/personality; (3) clinical/health; (4) cognitive; and (5) developmental. We will read about and discuss many fundamental topics in psychology and these five subfields. We will think about the real-world implications and applications for psychological theories and findings, in addition to evaluating and comparing major theoretical conceptualizations of psychological phenomena. Interested in pursuing a major or minor in psychology? This course will provide you with the foundation needed to further explore the rich and diverse field of psychology! Not interested in majoring/minoring in psychology? That’s ok! This course will provide you with the skills and tools needed to better understand yourself and the people you encounter/interact with. Regardless of your current level of interest in psychology, by the end of this course you will be able to interpret and critically evaluate research being done in the social sciences.
PSY101 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
PSY101 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY101 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY101 Spring 2024 Student Evaluations
PSY312: Sensation & Perception*
Imagine yourself sitting outside of the Salty Dog Coffee Shop after class. It’s a Tuesday afternoon in April, with an outside of temperature of 70°F. Compared to the average temperatures in March (~63°F), this might feel warm to you. When you look around, you notice a few dogs in Schram Bark Park playing with their owners. If you’re lucky, one of these dogs may come and greet you by touching your hand with their nose. In the meantime, you go inside and order a coffee to hold you over until your next class. If you like the taste of sweet things, you might ask the barista to add more cream and sugar to your coffee that day. The smell of freshly baked pastries is very tempting; you decide to purchase a cinnamon roll to go with your coffee. As you wait for your order, you hear dogs barking in the playground or students chattering as they walk to class. This thought experiment demonstrates that each and every day, we use a combination of our senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell) to create a conscious experience of our world (which is referred to as perception). While sensing & perceiving is something we do every single day (and often take for granted), it is much more complicated than it seems! The goal of this class is to reveal the complexities surrounding sensory systems and perceptual frameworks.
PSY312 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
PSY312 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY341: Professional Development in Psychology*
This one-credit course focuses on planning for a future with an undergraduate degree in psychology and encourages students to research personal career development and the contemporary workforce. We will use a team-taught approach and invite you to hear lectures, read pertinent outside material, complete in-class exercises, and engage in small group discussions that are meant to help you identify what you want and need to do to get you where you want to be. Students will be exposed to information designed to assist in the clarification, selection, and pursuit of a career in psychology or a related field. Topics will include an overview of the undergraduate major in psychology, career options in psychology and related fields, preparation for employment with a bachelor’s degree, preparing for and succeeding in graduate school, and applying for a job or to a graduate school. This course will enable psychology majors to understand themselves, their major, their future careers, and the complex interactions that exist among these three crucial domains.
PSY341 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
PSY341 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
ANTH382/PSY353: Evolutionary Psychology*
According to Dr. Clark Barrett, “the key to the mysteries of life lies within our minds”. Many of the ‘facts’ we know and possess about the world are actually ‘facts’ about our minds (or mental processes)! For example: cookies and cake are regarded as delicious, but broccoli and asparagus are often considered disgusting. Some animals seem cute and cuddly (like pandas), but others are perceived as dangerous (like snakes and spiders). Cake is delicious and pandas are cuddly because our minds perceive them as such! These kinds of ‘facts’ did not appear spontaneously within our minds. Rather, they are the result of deep evolutionary history. Understanding how our minds evolved the way they did will help us understand why cake tastes so good and why pandas are so adorable!
This class is designed to provide a brief introduction to evolutionary psychology, which focuses on how evolution has shaped cognitive mechanisms which give rise to our thoughts and feelings. As you can probably tell from this description alone, evolutionary psychology is a multidisciplinary field which involves theory and methods from anthropology, biology, genetics, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, zoology, and more! We will be discussing the basics of evolutionary theory and how it can be used to understand a wide variety of mental processes.
ANTH382 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY353 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY353 Spring 2024 Student Evaluations
ANTH382/PSY382: Primate Perspectives on Behavior and the Brain**
The human brain is an incredibly complex structure which allows us to perform amazing behaviors (such as language). But how (and why) did this structure evolve? What features of the brain and behavior are unique to humans? Widespread among other animals? This course will examine the evolutionary origins of the human brain and behavior by studying our closest living relatives: the non-human primates (NHPs). This course will focus closely on comparative anatomy and psychology to determine which features of the human brain and behavior are recently derived, and which are the product of shared ancestry. We will use our discussion of NHP brains and behavior to develop effective research and writing strategies, which will culminate into a final research paper & presentation on a topic of your choosing.
ANTH382 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
PSY382 Fall 2022 Student Evaluations
BIO382/PSY382: Animal Behavior I**
According to the ICUN Red List (2021), we have identified over 2 million distinct animal species living on planet Earth to date! And this number only includes described species; some researchers argue that there are at least 5 million other animal species which have yet to be described (Mora et al., 2011). Most psychologists are interested in studying the brain and behavior of only one species (humans, or Homo sapiens). But what about the remaining 6,999,999 animal species?! What kinds of brains do they have? What kinds of behaviors do they exhibit? And how are the brains and behaviors exhibited by these animals similar to (or are different from) our own? The goal of this course is to provide an overview of the various theoretical and methodological approaches which are used to study the brain and behavior of animals (other than humans). If you are interested in pursuing a career that involves working with [nonhuman] animals, this is the course for you! Interested in working with humans only? That’s ok! This course will provide you with the skills and tools needed to better understand yourself and the animals you may encounter/interact with. There are over 31 million cats and 48 million dogs living in U.S. households today (according to the American Veterinary Medication Association); it is likely that you will interact with at least one cat/dog in your life!
BIO382 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY382 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
BIO382/PSY382 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY382: Animal Behavior II**
In 1871, Charles Darwin wrote the following to Ray Lankester (an Oxford-based zoologist): “You ask about my opinion on vivisection. I quite agree that it is justifiable for real investigations on physiology; but not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity. It is a subject which makes me sick with horror, so I will not say another word about it, else I shall not sleep tonight” (Johnson, Scientific American, 2011). Vivisection (i.e., surgery performed on living organisms for experimental purposes) was a popular scientific methodology in the 1800s, but was heavily opposed by Charles Darwin and other naturalists. However, animal behavior research has changed dramatically since then! Requests to perform vivisection have dramatically decreased in the United Kingdom following the introduction of the Cruelty to Animals Act in 1876. While vivisection still occurs today in the United States, it is federally regulated under the Animal Welfare Act (which was signed into law in 1966). As a result, many researchers have adopted minimally- to non-invasive methodologies in the study of animal behavior. The purpose of this course is twofold. First, this course will provide you with the opportunity to learn more about the applications and techniques used in animal behavior research today. Second, this course will help you bridge the gap between previous coursework (i.e., Animal Behavior I) and applied experience through labs & independent research. Our class will emulate the structure of a research lab, where your participation and feedback are strongly encouraged. We will use our discussions on animal behavior research to develop effective research and writing strategies, which will culminate into a final research paper & presentation on a topic of your choosing.
PSY382 Spring 2024 Student Evaluations
PSY382: The Psychology of Pet Ownership**
Pet ownership is prevalent in the United States, with over 70% of households reporting ownership of at least one pet. There are approximately 89 million pet dogs & 62 million pet cats in the U.S. today (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2020). This number has dramatically increased since 2016 and is expected to continue increase anywhere from 3-6% each year! These trends can also be with other pets who have scales, feathers, fins, and fur. Each year, we spend a total of $124 billion on various pet products & services which includes food, treats, veterinary care, toys, and more (American Pet Products Association, 2021). Pets are often perceived as a source of unconditional love, support, and companionship. In a recent survey by Dr. Laurent-Simpson, up to 85% of pet ownerships said they consider their pets to be an important member of the family (2019). But why do we care so much about our pets? And why do they care so much about us in return? For example: recent studies have found that oxytocin (neurotransmitters & hormones associated with social bonding; Nagasawa et al., 2015) and ‘happy tears’ (Murata et al., 2022) increase when dogs see their favorite people (although some of these results have been contested; see Marshall-Pescini et al., 2019). The goal of this course is to navigate the pet-ownership relationship from a variety of perspectives (biological, clinical, cognitive, developmental, and social). We will focus on proximate- (i.e., how) and ultimate-level (i.e., why) explanations for this relationship. This course will provide you with the skills and tools needed to better understand yourself and the animals you may encounter/interact with. Note that there will be a greater emphasis on animals that are typically considered pets (i.e., mainly dogs and cats) in this course. If you are interested in the behavior of other animals, I encourage you to sign up for my Animal Behavior I & II courses!
PSY382 Spring 2024 Student Evaluations
PSY382: Animal Enrichment**
If you visit a pet store nowadays, you'll find many toys and tank decorations for your pets to enjoy. Interestingly, a few of these items are being used in animal enclosures at zoos, animal shelters, and wildlife sanctuaries across the United States. But have you ever wondered why so many options are available for your pet? What is the purpose of purchasing toys and tank decorations in the first place? The answer is that these objects are used for enrichment, providing animals with mental and physical stimulation and choice and control over their activities. Providing all captive animals with enrichment is crucial to maintaining their physical and psychological well-being! Animals without enrichment are more prone to boredom and psychological stress, resulting in stereotypical (i.e., abnormal, repetitive, and potentially harmful) behaviors. When constructing animal enrichment, it is important to consider their sensory and cognitive abilities, as well as their anatomical features. It's also essential to consider the specific behaviors you want the animal to exhibit and if there are any behaviors you hope to reduce by providing them with enrichment. Enrichment can come in various forms, such as passive visual enrichment (e.g., a background for your fish tank) and active cognitive enrichment (e.g., artificial termite mounds in chimpanzee enclosures). Enriching an animal's life can involve providing them with objects (e.g., crumping toys for your cat) or engaging in activities (e.g., walking around Bryant Lake with your dog). This class will allow you to study, create, troubleshoot, and implement enrichment for an animal species housed at the Little Rock Zoo. Enrichment can be a costly and time-consuming process to create. Let us use this class as an opportunity to positively impact an animal's life!
Newly designed class: no student evaluations available at this time! Being taught in Summer 2024.
PSY450: Forensic Anthropology**
According to Christensen et al., forensic anthropology “is defined as the application of anthropological method and theory to matters of legal concern, particularly those that relate to the recovery and analysis of the [human] skeleton” (2019, pp. 2). Forensic anthropologists are able to analyze skeletal remains in order to establish a profile of the victim. This work is complementary to the field of forensic psychology, which often focuses on criminal profiling. In short, information about victims can provide greater insight into the behaviors and motives underlying criminal activity. The goal of this independent study is to provide you with a brief overview of forensic anthropology. Examples of topics that we will cover include: bioarcheology, criminology, microbiology, odontology, osteology, pathology, taphonomy, victimology, and more! Each week, we will have guided discussions on current practices in the field of forensic anthropology. We will use these discussions to develop effective research and writing strategies, which will culminate into a final paper which critically examines the intersection between forensic anthropology & forensic psychology.
PSY450 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
PSY450: Monkey Talk: Exploring the Communicative Strategies of Marmosets**
This was a custom course designed for my research assistant Levi Neal, who conducted research on marmoset communication in my Animal Behavior & Cognition Lab. The goal of this course was to introduce him to research writing in animal behavior through a literature review. In this type of course, students learn how to choose a topic of study, prepare a literature review, analyze existing literature, and structure and write a quality review. The course culminated with a written paper that can stand alone or be used as an introduction to a future manuscript. For his final paper, Levi was instructed to submit a 6-page review paper on marmoset's use of multiple modes of communication.
PSY485: Senior Thesis*
The purpose of this capstone course is to provide you with the opportunity to bridge the gap between coursework and applied experience through research. Our classes will emulate the structure of a research lab, where your participation and feedback are strongly encouraged. As a group, we will discuss (and gather feedback) on different stages of the research process, which includes (but is not limited to): conducting & writing literature searches, identifying & contacting prospective field sites/participants, formulating research questions & hypotheses, designing research procedures, submitting paperwork to IRB, collecting & analyzing data, and preparing research materials for dissemination (in the form of publications and/or presentations). You will design your own research project and will meet with the lab weekly to address topics and task relevant to your study.
PSY485 Spring 2023 Student Evaluations
COR100: Self Care on a Budget**
Year One is Lyon’s first-year experience course, which is designed to reinforce the academic and social skills that contribute to a successful adjustment to college life. Year One’s course objective is to facilitate the student’s transition from secondary to post-secondary situations through applied practice in study skills and in the fostering of social bonds within each class and across the College. More specifically, in our section, we will be focusing on how to practice self-care on a budget. College is associated with major opportunities, transitions, and challenges! It is important to prioritize your physical and emotional well-being during this time period, since both are positively associated with college success (Moses et al., 2016; Garett et al., 2017). The goal of this course is to explore budget-friendly self-care practices, which are defined as “self-initiated activities that maintain and promote physical and emotional health” (Moses et al., 2016, p. 2). Sometimes, self-care seems more like a purchase rather than a practice (especially given the fact that it has become a $10-billion-dollar industry; Los Angeles Times, 2019). But you will learn in this course that self-care does not have to be expensive!
COR100 Fall 2023 Student Evaluations
COR100: From Ink to Art**
COR 100 is Lyon College’s first-year seminar course, designed to help students develop the academic and social skills that contribute to a successful adjustment to college life while exploring a unique topic with one of Lyon’s exceptional faculty members. Each COR 100 course seeks to foster an enthusiasm for learning and connections to faculty and other members of the Lyon College community through applied practice in academic skills. In our section, we will discuss tattoos, an integral part of human culture for thousands of years. In the United States, almost a third of all Americans have at least one tattoo. In this class, we will study the physical and psychological aspects of tattooing, as well as its rich history and socio-cultural perceptions. Note that enrollment in this class is open to anyone with an interest in art and human behavior, regardless of whether they have a tattoo or not.
Being taught Fall 2024! Check back soon!
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR MINOR
I am one of the faculty members involved with the creation of the Animal Behavior Minor (coming to Lyon College in Fall 2024). Animal Behavior I & II are required for all students, with courses such as Primate Perspectives, The Psychology of Pet Ownership, and Animal Enrichment serving as psychology elective options. You can find more information about these courses above. Additional information will be provided in August of 2024. In the meantime, interested students should reach out to Lyon College's admissions office ([email protected]).
Courses at Other Institutions
Prior to my arrival at Lyon College, I served as a Teaching Assistant/Association and Teaching Fellow for multiple courses offered by anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience departments. You can find a list of these courses below. NOTE: because I taught at UCLA for many years, student evaluations for each class has been placed together across the years in one .zip file (which is available for download at the end of each course description). Digital evaluations were not used during my time at SIUC; as a result, no student evaluations are available for those courses.
ANTHRO1: Human Evolution (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Required as preparation for both bachelor's degrees [in anthropology]. Evolutionary processes and evolutionary past of human species.
Click here to download all ANTHRO1 UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO2: Introduction to Archaeology (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
General survey of field and laboratory methods, theory, and major findings of anthropological archaeology, including case-study guest lectures presented by several campus archaeologists.
Click here to download all ANTHRO2 UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO4: Culture and Communication (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Required as preparation for both bachelor's degrees [in anthropology]. Introduction to study of culture and society in comparative perspective. Examples from societies around world to illustrate basic principles of formation, structure, and distribution of human institutions. Of special concern is contribution and knowledge that cultural diversity makes toward understanding problems of modern world.
Click here to download all ANTHRO4 UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO124S: Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Examination of human sexual relations and social behavior from evolutionary perspective. Emphasis on theories and evidence for differences between men and women in their patterns of growth, maturation, fertility, mortality, parenting, and relations with members of opposite sex.
Click here to download all ANTHRO124S UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO124Q: Evolutionary Psychology (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Survey of research in evolutionary psychology. Review of relevant theory in evolution and genetics. Emphasis on empirical studies of modern human behavior from evolutionary perspective, including social behavior, decision making, language, culture, and child development.
Click here to download all ANTHRO124Q UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO152P/PSYCH149: Language Development and Socialization (UCLA | Teaching Assistant)
Exploration of processes through which children learn structures and practices of language and become competent participants in linguistic and social worlds around them. Examination of language use and socialization over childhood, across communities of practice, and across different ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Bridges work from anthropology, psychology, linguistics, and cognitive science. Topics include cross-cultural perspectives on child development and wide range of methodological approaches. Examination of ways in which language development and socialization interface with culture, modality, inequality, education, and cognition.
Click here to download all ANTHRO159/PSYCH149 UCLA Student Evaluations!
CLUSTER 73A-B: Mind over Matter: History, Science, and Philosophy of the Brain (UCLA | Teaching Fellow)
Human brain is most complex structure in universe and last major organ system to be understood. Our brains give us power to see and hear, learn and remember, interpret others, and act purposefully in our environment. We can lose these abilities that we take for granted, naturally over time or as result of injury or disease. Brain function from historical, biological, psychological, and philosophical perspectives to enable students to better understand organ responsible for all mental processes and behavior in health and disease and to encourage them to think and write critically about interaction of neurobiological, philosophical, and psychological factors that control behavior and our experiences as human beings. Use of historical perspective to better understand how field of neuroscience and study of brain have emerged over time.
Click here to download all CLUSTER 73A-B UCLA Student Evaluations!
CLUSTER 73CW: Primate Perspectives on Behavior and the Brain (UCLA | Teaching Fellow)
The human brain is an incredibly complex structure which allows us to perform amazing behaviors (such as language). But how (and why) did this structure evolve? What features of the brain and behavior are unique to humans? Widespread among other animals? This course will examine the evolutionary origins of the human brain and behavior by studying our closest living relatives: the non-human primates (NHPs). This course will focus closely on comparative anatomy and psychology to determine which features of the human brain (and behavior) are recently derived, and which are the product of shared ancestry. We will use our discussion of NHP brains and behavior to develop effective research and writing strategies, which will culminate into a final research paper & presentation on a topic of your choosing.
Click here to download all CLUSTER 73CW UCLA Student Evaluations!
ANTHRO104: The Human Experience (SIUC | Teaching Assistant)
This course explores different human life ways around the world, past and present. It investigates the question of what is universal to all humans and the myriad ways they differ, through studying modern people, the remains of past cultures through archaeology, and human origins and physical variation.
ANTHRO240A: Human Biology: An Introduction to Biological Anthropology (SIUC | Teaching Assistant)
An introduction to humans as a biological species. Applies scientific method to exploring data on humans and our closest relatives, to better understand our place in the web of life as a biological organism. Includes genetics (particularly human genetics), evolutionary theory, primate behavior and evolution, human fossil record, and similarities and differences in modern humans, including blood groups, skin color, and disease susceptibility.