Being Human: The Biology of Human Behavior, Cognition, and Culture

Catalog description

This course will examine the biological basis of human behavior and culture as an emergent product of the brain and its interactions with the physical and social environment. As we explore this topic, we will emphasize human brain function at the level of neural systems and the neural networks they supply, how these systems may have evolved, how they change depending on experience, and what dysfunction of these circuits as occurs in neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopment disorders reveals about human thought and behavior. We will focus on key features of human nature, including language, mathematics, creativity and innovation, empathy, strategic thinking, cooperation, deception, economic behavior, and technology, amongst others.