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Introduces history and contemporary trends of community and social psychology with focus on how social and environmental forces affect individual and group quality of life. This couse surveys the history, theoretical frameworks, core values, methods/approaches and orienting concepts in the field.
47.501 Applied Developmental PsychologyCredits: 3
Provides a life span developmental perspective on individual and social adaptation and change. Examines appropriate theory and research, and illustrates the influences of environmental, social and cultural factors.
47.502 Seminar in Community Social PsychologyCredits: 3
Offered from time to time to highlight specialized areas of faculty interest and to acquaint the student with new developments from a broad range of current psychological theory and research and how these developments might affect social and community life.
47.503 Applied Social PsychologyCredits: 3
Introduces students to social psychology as an applied discipline. Covers such applied topics as attitude change, aggression, helping behavior, attribution, and interpersonal influence.
47.504 The Family SystemCredits: 3
Studies family processes and the interplay between the family and other social, cultural, and socio-economic systems. Topics include parental roles, changing family structures, racial and ethnic factors, and interactions between family, work, and community.
47.505 Work and FamilyCredits: 3
This course will explore changing gender roles, the nature of work in a technological, information-and-service-oriented society, changing economic conditions, and some of the resulting implications for work and family. The interaction between individuals, families, work organizations and community institutions (e.g., school systems, child care) will be examined, and consideration will be gien to how personal lives are shaped by governmental and institutional policies.
The course addresses the painful topic of Child Maltreatment in the context of research on optimal, typical, and unacceptable treatment of children, as maltreatment cannot be considered apart from acceptable and even optimal treatment. The impact of maltreatment on the development of the child from the first growth of physical organs in the prenatal infant through the development of moral reasoning in the adolescent is addressed. Both theories and research will be discussed.
47.512 Applied Research MethodsCredits: 3
Considers strengths and limitations of various approaches to community and social psychological research. Develops skills for formulating research questions and translating them into practical study designs. Sensitivity to research ethics as well as research practicality and validity are emphasized. Pre- or Co-requisite: 47.500
Pre-Req or Co-Req: 47.500 Intro to Community Soc Psych.
47.522 Psychology of DiversityCredits: 3
This course introduces students to theoretical, philosophical and experiential frameworks for thinking about diversity in our communities and society. It includes an examination of the experiences of diverse groups, especially traditionally oppressed groups and individuals. This course is designed to engage students in a process of introspection and self-examination about issues such as racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Emphasis will be placed on challenging one's own world view and the way it fits into institutional oppression, as well as the way it may affect our work as community change agents.
47.523 Women in the CommunityCredits: 3
An examination of women's roles in the home, community, and work place; examines psychological consequences, social structural influences, and options for change. Topics include: housework and childcare; violence against women; work place stratification issues; and women's contributions to their communities.
47.526 Workplace DiversityCredits: 3
This course will explore the challenges presented by the increasingly diverse workforce within the United States. Students will consider how work groups and organizations can effectively incorporate a diversity of perspectives. Students will consider issues of oppression, discrimination and bias, with particular attention paid to the situation here in the Merrimack Valley. There will also be some focus on personal awareness and the development of skills for addressing diversity concerns.
47.527 Immigrant Psychology and CommunitiesCredits: 3
This course will focus on the immigrant experience and the various immigrant groups in the United States with emphasis on recent immigrants in Lowell and Massachusetts. Theories of acculturation and adaptation to a new cultural environment will be extensively examined in the course. An experiential approach will be integrated throughout the course via the incorporation of guest speakers, films, autobiographies/novels, and food. Students will have ample opportunities to read, reflect, discuss and write about the immigrant experience. As our country is a country of immigrants, this course should have relevance to anyone working in the community.
An examination of the major patterns of mental disorder, including consideration of their diagnosis, possible etiology, and treatment. Emphasis will be on understanding mental health problems within a community perspective by looking at the relationships between individual, family and community well being. The course will also examine the role of community-based programs in delivering treatment and prevention services that are sensitive to community needs and that respect cultural diversity.
47.536 Forensic PsychologyCredits: 3
47.542 Working with GroupsCredits: 3
This course uses a community-based approach to working with groups. Guided by an understanding of theoretical principles, students will gain insights about group dynamics and process. Students will develop and apply various skills, including assessment, enhanced communication, conflict resolution, problem solving, decision-making, and evaluation. Emphasis is placed on working within diverse groups, attaining outcomes, and utilizing resources. Organizational, prevention/intervention, and focus groups are examined.
47.545 Community and Organizational ChangeCredits: 3
A review of skills, techniques, and qualities associated with effective community and organizational interventions. Topics include the possibility and desirability of change, methods for studying change, assessment of needs and resources, visioning and planning, membership recruitment and retention, strategy and tactics, leadership styles, publicizing, funding, advocacy, evaluation techniques, and the personal qualities of the change agent. Both cultural factors and the community context of interventions will be discussed. Application to specific cases will be made. Students will have the opportunity to apply course material to settings outside the classroom.
47.546 Grant WritingCredits: 3
This course will be a hands-on course in grant writing. One of the first lessons that you will learn is that grant writing is only to a small degree about writing. Successful grants emerge from working effectively with others to draw out ideas, capture those ideas to create a program or a plan for research, show how the plan is an appropriate one to respond to the "Request for Proposals", and package those ideas so that they make sense to the people who will review the proposal. Grant writing is increasingly a team building activity. Whether or not you obtain the funding is sometimes less important than the networking and planning that you do as a part of developing a grant proposal.
Community Social Psychology & Economic Social Regional Development Majors only or permission of instructor/chair.
47.547 Community MappingCredits: 3
This course will introduce students to the latest computer technology in the area of geographic information systems (GIS) and will learn how GIS creates mapping opportunities for researchers and professionals in many fields to enhance their skills in such areas as needs assessment, problem solving, conflict resolution, and data analysis. Students will engage in hands-on exercises with one specific community mapping tool and will consider many different research and social action questions which community mapping can be used to answer.
Addresses individual development in the second half of life in diverse cultural and community contexts. Biological and psychological approaches to adulthood and aging will be supplemented with historical, sociological and anthropological perspectives, and there will be an emphasis on practical applications of theory and research to empower elders, promote culturally-appropriate services, and enhance intergenerational community.
This course provides an introduction to the causes and diagnosis of autism, scientific validation, applied behavior analysis, and ethical treatment. Students also learn to write functional objectives, plan positive reinforcement, and design an applied measurement system in the context of developing Individualized Family Service Plans and Individualized Eduction plans. The isse of culturally appropriate interventions is addressed Prerequisite: coursework in the psychology of child development, or permission.
This course covers the application of specific behavioral teaching procedures, including prompting, reinforcement, shaping, chaining, error correction and generalization methods, and the development of instructional plans. Emphasis is placed on procedures and plans to teach communication, social, self-help and pre-academic skills. Application of such methods in inclusive clasroom settings is also considered. Prerequisite: 47.561
Pre-Req: 47.561 Intro to Behav Intrv in Autism.
This course provides advanced coverage of measurement methods used in behavioral intervention. It also offers in-depth coverage of the "within-subject" experimental designs commonly used in behavioral research and practice. Component analysis and parametric analysis methods, and ethical considerations in research, are also covered.
Pre-Req: 47.561 Intro to Behav Intrv in Autism.
This course covers the purpose, rationale and methods used in conducting and interpreting functional analyses of challenging, or "maladaptive", behaviors (self-injury, stereotypy, agression). It also describes the full range of behavioral procedures used to decrease or eliminate these behaviors, with emphasis placed on ethical interventions and the desirability of least restrictive and non-aversive strategies.
Pre-Req: 47.562 Teach&PosBehavSupport/Autism.
This course explores how educational environments can be designed to maximize learning. Different models of effective, evidence-based behavioral intervenions are analyzed. The use of teaching activity schedules and staff training to build supportive educational settings is also covered.
Pre-Req: 47.562 Teach&PosBehavSupport/Autism.
This course is designed to explore Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in the developing person and in changing social contexts (e.g.,family, school, employment) across development. An empirical and theoretical review of developmental transformations and reorganizations across the lifespan provides the basis for examining biological, social, psychological, and cultural contributions to the continuity and discontinuity of both adaptive and maladaptive processes over time as well as an analysis of individual and environmental risk and protective factors across development. Special attention is given to the changing competencies and challenges of developmental periods and their role in the assessment, display, meaning, and implications of ASDs from infancy through adulthood.
47.611 Program EvaluationCredits: 3
A skill-oriented approach that considers both formative and summative evaluation techniques. Emphasizes mastery of the technical aspects of the evaluation process, and includes consideration of the importance of program evaluation in community psychology, health, education, etc.
47.625 Advanced Community Dynamics: LowellCredits: 3
An examination of principles that influence community structure, function, and evolution over time. Students will learn how community patterns and activities can best be understood and how community problems and concerns can best be addressed, employing psychological and other conceptual frameworks and perspectives. Specific emphasis will be placed on the historic and diverse city of Lowell. Prerequisites: 47.500 and 47.512.
Pre-Reqs: 47.500 Intro to Community Soc Psych and 47.512 Applied Research Methods.
47.631 Practicum ICredits: 3
Provides supervised field experience in a setting appropriate to the student's area of specialization, plus on-campus class meetings. An average of approximately ten hours of fieldwork in an approved setting for two consecutive semesters is required. Prequisites: 47.500 and 47.512: pre-or Co-rquisite: 47.625
Pre-Req: 47.500 Intro to Community Soc Psych, and 47.512 Applied Res Methods; Pre-Req/Co-Req: 47.625 Adv Community Dynamics:Lowell.
47.632 Practicum IICredits: 3
Continuation of 47.631, which is pre-requisite.
Pre-Req: 47.631 Practicum I.
This course is designed as an independent study under the supervision of a member of the department of a subject not offered in the standard curriculum.
For graduate students actively engaged in developing a change-oriented intervention leading to the submission of a written project report. A program of supervised study will be arranged between the student and a faculty supervisor. Prerequisite: Approval of major advisor.
47.741 Graduate Research: PsychologyCredits: 1
For graduate students actively engaged in research leading toward the submission of a written thesis. A program of supervised work will be arranged between the student and a faculty supervisor. This course may be repeated for credit, but only a total of 6 credits may be counted toward the Master's degree. Prerequisite: 47.500 and 47.512 and permission of the faculty member who will supervise the thesis.
47.763 Continued Graduate ResearchCredits: 3
47.766 Continued Graduate ResearchCredits: 6