Special Topics in Clinical Psychology (497-0-1)

Topic

Biological Bases of Health Psychology

Instructors

Gregory Evan Miller
847/467-5755
Swift 104b

Meeting Info

Swift Hall 231: Mon 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Health psychology is a field at the interface of behavior and medicine. To conduct and evaluate research in this area, a basic grounding in biology and medicine is necessary. This course will give you such a background. Its goal is to introduce the major biological systems of interest in health psychology, and give you the skills to interpret and conduct research that's done on them. To facilitate this, the course will:

1. Explore the anatomy and physiology underlying the autonomic, endocrine, cardiac, vascular, and immune systems

2. Introduce the methods used to measure these systems, and critically evaluate their strengths and weaknesses

3. Evaluate the evidence linking psychological characteristics to biological mechanisms and disease outcomes

Class Materials (Required)

no textbook; just journal articles that I will distribute.

Class Attributes

Attendance at 1st class mandatory
Prerequisites apply, see description

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-requisite: Student must be part of the Psychology PhD program to enroll.