First-Year Courses

First-Year Courses

The most relevant courses for first-year students to consider are Psychology 1, an MBB-related General Education course, or an MBB-related First-Year Seminar. Psychology 1 is one of the foundational courses in MBB undergraduate programs. In addition, a variety of General Education courses and First-Year Seminars address topics in mind brain behavior. Although First-Year Seminars do not usually count for concentration or secondary field credit, and General Education courses may or may not count, they can still be a great way to explore your interests.

Abstract artwork showing a green brain-like organic form centered against a fiery red-orange background, creating an intense, surreal mood.

Psychology 1

Most first-years considering an MBB program (track or secondary field) should take Psychology 1 either this fall or this coming spring. If you are fairly certain that you would pursue the Computer Science or Neuroscience track, however, you do not have to take Psychology 1 this year; those tracks will have you take a higher-level psychology course later in your studies. For more information, see our Foundation Courses webpage [PROVIDE LINK TO THIS PAGE].

General Education Courses

GenEd 1025. Happiness (fall)

GenEd 1038. Sleep (spring)

GenEd 1046. Evolving Morality: From Primordial Soup to Superintelligent Machines (spring)

GenEd 1056. Human Nature (fall)

GenEd 1064. Brains, Identity, and Moral Agency (spring)

GenEd 1080. How Music Works: Engineering the Acoustic World (spring)

GenEd 1131. Loss (spring)

GenEd 1144. Mental Health and Mental Illness through Literature and Arts (fall)

GenEd 1194. Philosophy of Technology: From Marx and Heidegger to Artificial Intelligence (spring)

GenEd 1199. Learning and Unlearning (fall)

GenEd 1201. Foundations of NeuroAI: Synergies between the Sciences of Natural and Artificial (fall)

GenEd 1209. Dogs in Science, Society, and the Modern World (spring)

GenEd 1210. Ethics in the Age of AI (fall)
 

First-Year Seminars

FS 22T. Why We Animals Sing (spring)

FS 23K. Insights from Narratives of Illness (spring)

FS 23S. The Seven Sins of Memory (spring)

FS 25N. Finding Connections: Perspectives on Psychological Development and Mental Illness (fall)

FS 43F. The End Depends upon the Beginning: Effects of Early Adversity on Brain and Behavioral Development (fall)

FS 49N. Measurements of the Mind: The Creation and Critiques of the Psychological Test (fall)

FS 51C. Science in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (fall)

FS 51X, Changing Perspectives: The Science of Optics in the Visual Arts (spring)

FS 52Z. Investigating psychology, the Brain, and Behavior Designing and Conducting Human Research Experiments (fall)

FS 54C. WEIRD Minds: Understanding How Culture Shapes our Thinking, Feeling, and Reasoning (fall)

FS 54. Learning How to Think Like a Scientist: An Introduction to Scientific Research (spring)

FS 61Q. Language: The Origins of Meaning (spring)

FS 66I. Is Being Good Actually Good for the Body? (fall)

FS 71G. Americans at Work in the Age of Robots and Artificial Intelligence (fall)

FA 72U. #Adulting: Social Science Perspectives on the Transition to Adulthood (fall)

FS 75C. Living with Robots (fall)