Senior Seminar

PSYC 412 - WI: Senior Seminar in Psychology (4 credits)

Small by design, Senior Seminars provide an in-depth examination of a particular topical area and/or practice. Although course topics and assignments vary, all Psyc 412 sections are Writing Intensive and include class and/or UNC Asheville Undergraduate Symposium presentations in order to provide students an opportunity to meet the oral competency requirement. Prerequisites: Senior standing and 24 hours in Psychology. Various sections are offered every semester.

Before registering for Psyc 412, make sure to click on the course listings in the Class Schedule to read course descriptions, which outline the type of seminar offered (topical, practicum, or research), course requirements, and recommended prerequisites.

• Topical

Students read about and discuss an area of psychological research, and then write about an aspect of it in a formal literature review. 

Example Course Description

Identity in Adolescence: This topical course explores the concept of identity from historical, sociocultural and developmental perspectives. Beginning with the work of Erik Erikson, we will incorporate the study of identity as an aspect of personality, an element of individuation, and a source of meaning in adolescent lives. The course will be taught in a seminar format with required student led presentations and in-depth discussion of theories and current research. Each student also will complete a series of brief literature review papers leading to a significant literature review or research proposal to be presented to the class. Prerequisites: Senior standing and 24 hours in Psychology.

Communicative Development: This WI course explores the origins of human communication, drawing from research in comparative psychology on primates, dogs, wolves, and human toddlers. Specificially, we will examine the cultural factors that have, over evolutionary time, allowed humans to develop a uniquely rich and theoreticallly limitless mode of communication. Class time will be used for in-depth discussion of empirical and theoretical readings. Course requirements will include class participation and discussion leading, four response papers, an independent research proposal and class presentation. Prerequisites: Senior standing and 24 hours in Psychology.

• Practicum (i.e., Field Work)

Students work in a community setting concerned with the well-being of others, and then write a literature review related to their work. 

Example course descriptions

Field Work: This capstone course involves field work experience in which students complete 90-hour internships with community agencies involved in helping work (e.g., group homes, mental health centers, at-risk prevention programs, schools, hospitals). Students who register will meet with the professor before the end of the current semester to begin the process of securing a placement. In addition to the internship experience, the course involves practice in basic helping skills, discussion of field work, and focus on current clinical issues. Students write a major paper about some aspect of their field work (e.g., a review of what scientific studies demonstrate about the effectiveness of self-help groups for women who are victims of domestic abuse). The course has a heavy workload but offers students the opportunity to build their resumes and gain valuable real-world experience in preparation for graduate school or employment.

• Research

Students undertake a scientific study by reviewing previous research, collecting and analyzing data, and, then write a report of results. 

Example course descriptions

Individual Differences in Learning: The study of individual differences focuses on characteristics that differentiate people from one another. With regard to learning, these characteristics include motivation, epistemology, working memory, and metacognition. In this course, we will examine such characteristics as well as common methodologies employed for their investigation. Over the first part of the semester, students will build knowledge and skills by engaging in readings, class discussions, and lab activities. Then, students will engage in a research project to investigate the relationship between an individual differences variable and a separate outcome variable. The project will include a literature review, data collection, data analysis, written report, and presentation at the Fall 2012 UNCA undergraduate research symposium.

Affective neuroscience and psychophysiology

Cognitive Neuroscience: This course will provide an introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience and the electrophysiological methods of psychophysiology (e.g.,skin conductance) and scalp electroencephalography (EEG). The first part of the course will instruct students in relevant brain systems of interest in cognitive neuroscience and the methods used to investigate these functions. Later, students will work in teams to complete research projects in the Psychology Department's new Neuroscience Lab using recently acquired psychophysiological and EEG equipment. Research topics will be selected based on Dr. Neelon's research interests in the perceptual and reward/emotional systems. See http://facstaff.unca.edu/mneelon/student_research.htm for examples. Previous neuroscience-related coursework (e.g., PSYC 216) or research experience is strongly recommended.

Behavioral and neuroeconomics are interdisciplinary fields combining the insights and techniques of economics, cognitive psychology and neuroscience to characterize decision-making and its neural substrates. Students in the course will read original source material in the field to understand how normal and clinical individuals assess the value and consequences of possible actions and choose between them. The course will be taught in a seminar format in which students will take turns leading class discussion on assigned reading topics and on articles of their own selection. Students will also be required to develop and complete behavioral economic research projects for presentation at the undergraduate research symposium. Ideally, students will have some background in basic neuroscience (e.g., Psyc 216).

Theory of Mind