Natural selection creates machines that are improbably good at solving reproductive problems. Knowledge of the problems recurrently faced by human ancestors can therefore give psychologists useful clues as to the likely design features of the mind. But how exactly does one do this psychological reverse engineering? That is, given a problem, how can one go about identifying what a good solution would look like? Topics will include basic decision theory, evolutionary game theory, signaling theory, reinforcement learning, Bayesian reasoning, and other approaches. Students will learn the basic logic of these approaches, discuss applications to psychology, and use these approaches to generate novel hypotheses.

Prerequisites: Graduate standing in PBS or DYNS

3

Units

Optional

Grading

1, 2, 3

Passtime

Graduate students only

Level Limit

Letters and science

College
CONROY-BEAM D
Daniel Conroy-Beam
4.2
26 reviews
AI predicted, based on past grading trends of the course and instructor, class info, and 127 other factors
PSY 594DC Conroy-Beam D Fall 2022 Total: 6
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26
4.2
PSY10B . Conroy-Beam D 1 Year, 6 Days Ago

The class overall was fine, not super difficult since it was online format and there are slides to help you. However, if you miss one thing or do poorly on one assignment you can never get your grade back up as an A+ brings you up like 0.5 percent on the grading scale no matter the assignment

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PSY10B . Conroy-Beam D 1 Year, 12 Days Ago

the class can seem intimidating in the beginning, esp if you don't love math/stats or coding like me. BUT as long as you go to lecture you'll be fine! The class is so straight forward and he explains the material in a helpful way. He's very kind.

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PSY143 . Conroy-Beam D 1 Year, 3 Months Ago

Fun and easy class. Material is interesting and easy to digest. Graded on 5 online quizzes with no midterm or final. Good class that provides very little stress. Highly recommend.

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PSY143 . Conroy-Beam D 1 Year, 3 Months Ago

Amazing prof imo! 5 online quizzes based on lectures + research papers and assignments(surveys), drops lowest grade for both & rounds up final grade. Quizzes can go in-depth but if you put in the time to review the lecture content beforehand, its not too bad at all. Uses lots of detail, both images and text to explain content.

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PSY143 . Conroy-Beam D 2 Years Ago

Dr. Conroy-Beam is great! He is super funny and makes his lectures very engaging. His quizzes are a little tough, but very fair. There are no midterms/finals or essays, just 5 quizzes (one every two weeks) and a few short assignments. Make sure to show up for lecture and you will be fine.

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PSY143 . Conroy-Beam D 2 Years Ago

Professor is super knowledgeable and passionate about evolutionary psych and his lectures are very clear. He was always prepared and never stumbled over explaining anything. He did go over a lot of slides in one class and spoke a bit fast at times. Class is very evolutionary based (not just about human relationships), so be prepared for that.

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