Emotion Function and Dysfunction

Catalog description

How can it be that emotions are so important for surviving and thriving but are also at the heart of so many mental disorders? Our focus will be on understanding the role of emotion in both functional and dysfunctional contexts. Recent cognitive, social, neurobiological and theoretical advances in the area of affective sciences have important implications for our understanding of psychopathology. Readings, lecture, discussion, and in and out of roomclass exercises will be geared towards building an understanding of major psychological disorders through the lens of emotion theory and research. Since many disorders are integrally linked to core emotions such as fear and sadness, anxiety and mood disorders will receive the bulk of attention in this class.