Learning goals for Psych 408: Mechanisms of Behavior

Joe Sisneros and others

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Integrate information from the study of neurobiology and animal behavior in order to explain the general principles and mechanisms that control the natural behaviors of animals that are necessary for survival and reproduction (assessed by spoken presentation on a research article and participation in class discussions).
  2. Be able to explain both proximate (mechanistic) and ultimate (evolutionary) mechanisms that shape the expression of animal behaviors, like foraging, mating and reproduction, and parental and social behavior. Explain how psychologists study behavior at several levels of analysis (e.g., biological, behavioral, neuroethological) (assessed by spoken presentation on a research article and participation in class discussions).
  3. Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of scientific articles in terms of whether they test a specific hypothesis, the methods and experimental designs are free from bias, the findings address the researcher’s hypotheses, and if there are alternative explanations for the findings (assessed by participation in class discussions).
  4. Integrate and identify how the findings from scientific articles build on previous research, advance our understanding of important concepts, and lead to new questions within the field of animal behavior (assessed by spoken presentation on a research article and participation in class discussions).

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