The Diversity Committee's is dedicated to facilitate and maintain the Department's commitment to promoting
the teaching and understanding of diversity. The following courses are examples of this dedication.
Undergraduate Courses
Psych 3245 - Diversity in Human Sexuality
The purpose of the course is to provide a basic understanding of the academic study of human sexuality, and wherever possible
the scientific study of human sexuality. Human sexuality is examined from a psychological perspective, although the topic
necessarily involves biological, cultural, medical, ethical, and legal issues. The course is intended to provide an in-depth,
advanced-level understanding of the psychology of sexuality. This course will cover four main topics: history of sexuality,
sexuality research, individual differences in sexuality, and clinical human sexuality.
Psych 3450 - Cross Cultural Psychology
This course is designed to provide a survey of the psychological issues across a variety of cultures. In particular, this
course will focus on the cultural influences that shape the personality, development, ethnic identity, emotion, and mental
health, of people from different cultures. This course is designed to give students a foundation for understanding and
addressing diversity issues in psychology.
Psych 3040 - Psychology of Gender
This course will provide an overview of contemporary psychological research on how sex and gender influence human experience,
cognition, feeling, and behavior over the life course. One goal of the course is to disentangle influences of sex (i.e.,
one's biological status as male or female) from influences of gender (i.e., culturally constructed notions of typical/desirable
maleness and femaleness). Another goal is to critically evaluate competing views of the origins and implications of psychological
differences between women and men. Particular attention will be paid to the mechanisms through which culturally specific notions
of maleness and femaleness eventually become manifested in human thought and behavior.
Psych 4450 - Intergroup Relations
Course provides an overview of the research and theories on the topic of prejudice and stereotyping. We discuss the origins,
maintenance, and function of prejudice and stereotypes of groups (e.g., racial, gender, ethnic, religion, sexual orientation).
Another objective of this course is to help students think about diversity in our society in different, broader ways. In the
course, we discuss not only the existence of diversity, but how people commonly respond to diversity. We discuss how prejudice
and stereotypes affect group members and group relations. In addition, students will be asked to develop measures and ways to
reduce prejudice and stereotype use. Graduate courses
Culture and Diversity in Mental Health
This course focuses on the relationship between culture and psychological processes. The primary goals of the course are to:
(1) provide students with the conceptual tools for thinking about the relationship between culture and psychological phenomena
and (2) sensitize students to psychological issues particularly relevant to the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of culturally
diverse populations. Specific topics include: (a) conceptualizing the role of culture in psychological processes; (b) methodological
issues in cross-cultural/cross-ethnic research; (c) cross-cultural and cross-ethnic differences in the manifestations of
psychopathology; (d) differences and similarities in the treatment of mental illness across cultures (and ethnic groups); and (e)
The relevance of cultural and social issues to graduate training in psychology.
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Course is designed to provide a graduate overview of the theories and research on the topic of prejudice and stereotyping. Students
undertake this goal through critical review and discussion of the empirical literature in the field. Also, discussions include how
these issues are viewed and can affect us in everyday life through the examination of "popular press" and anecdotal sources of
information. Students develop a research proposal for the class.
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