Courses taught by Dr. Martin Hagger:
Undergraduate Courses:
- PSY-120: Health Psychology
Health psychology is a relatively ‘new’ sub-discipline of psychology that has, over time, come to be accepted as a core applied area of psychology research and practice. Like most sub-disciplines of psychology, health psychology is evidenced-based involving the scientific study of the psychological and behavioral factors and processes that relate to health and illness. It is also an interdisciplinary sub-discipline of psychology that draws its perspectives, methods, and practices from multiple applied sub-disciplines in psychology (e.g., social psychology, biological psychology, cognitive psychology), as well as other behavioral, social, and health sciences.
The overall goal of this course is to study the key questions, contributions, and applications of health psychology, to provide a broad overview of the fundamental areas of health psychology and develop important critical perspectives on how psychology can assist in promoting better health and preventing or managing ill health. The course will take an evidence-based approach, with a core classic study as a starting point to introduce the key areas of interest and application of health psychology, and to illustrate how the science and practice of health psychology in each area as developed and advanced over time.
This class is a core class on the Psychology Major.
- PSY-126: Science of Behavior Change
Many of the problems observed in today’s society can be linked, directly or indirectly, to human behavior. Governments, organizations, and professionals increasingly recognize the value of developing strategies to change the behavior in order to promote adaptive outcomes. Recognition of the importance of behavior change to solving social problems, has led governments to engage scientists from various disciplines within the social and behavioral sciences to inform policy and develop effective behavior change strategies targeting high-priority, behavior-related problems. Researchers in many fields, particularly the psychological sciences, but also sociology, behavioral economics, philosophy, implementation science, and political science have contributed to research and advocacy on behavior change.
Scientists in these disciplines have been primarily responsible for creating and disseminating evidence on behavior change from basic theoretical research on determinants and mechanisms to translational research on the application of strategies to change behavior in specific contexts. This research has applied scientific principles to study behavior change with the goal of informing the development of effective behavioral solutions to social problems – a science of behavior change.
The overall goal of this course is to study the key research questions, contributions, and applications of the science of behavior change using psychological theory, and to explore how research can assist in developing effective practical solutions to problems with behavioral origins.
The course of offered periodically as a elective for Psychology Majors/Minors.
- PSY-127: Psychology and Film
Films, or motion pictures or movies, are form of art and entertainment integral to, and synonymous with, American culture. Film is a modern extension of the human desire for storytelling, and, alongside the novel, provide rich and varied means for authors to convey ideas, motives, and emotions, and capture the travails, successes, and failures of people and society. Movies offer parables, critiques, and commentary on the human condition and the world in which we live. Movies are produced by people for people and, therefore, their subject matter is inevitably psychological and inextricably linked to understanding people’s minds and the reasons that lead them to act and interact the way they do. Movies are emotional – movies are often about people’s love, hate, joy, anger, fear, happiness, lust, elation, rage, vigor, passivity, revenge, and aggression. These emotions are prominently displayed in movies, and are often its focus and driving force. Movies shine a light on why people do what they do, and can induce the audience to explore and experience people’s inner world and consciousness, and the way they deal and cope with adversity. Movies, therefore, stand as an eminently important art form and medium that gives insight into human psychology.
The overall goal of this course is to study psychological phenomena though the medium of film. In the course, students will examine how film provides insight into theories of human mental processes and behavior (e.g., obedience and compliance, memory, group dynamics, emotions); how film portrays those with psychological and mental health conditions and disorders, and how film depicts those who practice psychology; the role of film as a reflection of, and commentary on, society; and the techniques used by film directors to change or manipulate the audience.
The courses is offered periodically as an elective.
Graduate Courses:
- PSY-290: Theories of Behavior Change
This is an advanced course on behavior change focused on the theories that underpin research and practice in the new science of behavior change. Broadening and extending the undergraduate PSY-127 Science of Behavior Change course, the goal of the course is to study key research questions in, and the contributions and applications of, the science of behavior change using psychological theory as the basis, and to explore how research can assist in developing effective practical solutions to problems with behavioral origins. A key focus of the course is on mechanisms - that is, the determinants of behavior and the processes involved and how this can inform approaches to behavior change including the content and techniques used and the mechanisms of action of behavior change interventions.
- PSY 290: Meta-Analysis for Social Sciences (Forthcoming)
The proliferation of research studies at an increasingly accelerated rate in the past two decades in multiple social science disciplines (e.g., psychology, sociology, economics, political science, public health, philosophy) has presented researchers and practitioners with considerable challenges in collating and summarizing research trends on key effects (e.g., relationships between psychological variables and outcomes, efficacy of treatments). Consequently, researchers have increasingly turned to quantitative methods such as meta-analysis to effectively synthesize research findings across studies and evaluate the weight of evidence in support of, or disconfirming, effects of interest and, critically, the conditions that likely to affect them. The "Meta-Analysis for Social Sciences" course will provide students with a broad introduction to the basic principles and conceptual bases of meta-analysis. Students taking the course will be introduced to the components and characteristics that comprise typical reports of meta-analyses of research adopting different designs; provided with a non-technical overview of meta-analytic methods applied to the synthesis of research findings including the steps involved in conducting a meta-analysis; gain an introduction to, and experience with, non-proprietary analytic packages in the R environment that have used by researchers in the social sciences to conduct meta-analyses with worked examples; and become familiar with the key reporting and interpretation techniques used to effectively disseminate meta-analytic findings in research reports and articles. By the end of the course, students should be able to: describe the basic principles and concepts behind meta-analysis; identify the key reporting characteristics of a meta-analysis of effects in their field, and demonstrate capacity to comprehend and summarize meta-analytic findings; critically evaluate and assess the veracity of reported meta-analytic study findings; demonstrate familiarity with the stages, analytic approaches, and data analytic procedures involved in conducting a meta-analysis; be familiar with the kinds of data output provided in a typical meta-analysis of different designs; and develop and implement their own meta-analysis.