PSYC 317T Nature via Nurture: Explorations in Developmental Psychobiology (Not offered 2008-2009; to be offered 2009-2010)
Do your genes determine who you are? This course examines the relative contributions of nature (genetics) and nurture (the environment) to the development of behaviors such as eating, stress response, learning, play, aggression, parenting, alcoholism, drug addiction, schizophrenia and depression. Modern neuroscience techniques, such as brain imaging, "knock-out" mice, and quantitative trait loci mapping, report extraordinary new relationships between genes and behavior. In contrast to these findings are equally innovative studies on the critical effects of the pre- and postnatal environment and the social milieu which support environmental causation of behavior. This tutorial will evaluate theoretical and methodological issues in the scientific literature to arrive at a synthetic understanding of the epigenetics of behavior. Each tutorial pair will design and conduct an empirical project that will explore their own experimental question about the interaction of genes and environment.
Format: tutorial and empirical lab course. Requirements: students will meet in pairs with the instructor for an hour each week. Each week, students will either present an oral argument of a 5-page position paper or respond to their partners' paper. Empirical projects will be presented in a poster session at the final meeting.
Prerequisites: Psychology 212 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference to neuroscience concentrators and psychology majors.
Satisfies one semester of the Division III requirement.
ZIMMERBERG