The Developing Mind: How Humans Learn, Think, and Communicate

Catalog description

How do humans, from infants to adolescents, learn to think, speak, and understand themselves and others? What makes human connection unique among species? This course explores learning, language/communication, and development as windows into the human mind. Students will examine how we acquire words and ideas, how adolescents and adults learn new skills, how memory, social understanding, and empathy emerge, and how culture and neurodiversity shape thought.Through discussions, data-driven activities, and a community-engaged project, students will connect psychological research to real-world contexts and to their own experiences as learners and thinkers. They will gain practical skills in critical analysis, research interpretation, and science presentation, while reflecting on what makes human understanding and interaction distinctive. This is a Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center for Public Service.