By Robert Biswas-Diener, Portland State University. The science of social psychology investigates the ways other people affect our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is an exciting field of study because it is so familiar and relevant to our day-to-day lives. Social psychologists study a wide range of topics that can roughly be grouped into 5 categories: attraction, attitudes, peace & conflict, social influence, and social cognition.

In our daily lives we use hundreds or even thousands of products and services. They are all designed, some with more success than others. The ‘Delft Design Approach’ is a structured approach that helps designers to tackle complex design challenges: from formulating a strategic vision, to mapping user behaviors, their needs and their environment, to developing and selecting meaningful proposals for products and services.

DDA691x offers a college-level introduction to the Delft Design Approach through lectures and exercises on design fundamentals and 6 methods. You will understand basic models and concepts that underlie the Delft approach. You will also develop the capability to use 6 basic methods in a design context. You will do so by applying the methods to realistic design challenges and by reflecting on your own performance by comparing it to that of expert designers as well as through peer discussion.

Engineering School-Wide Elective Subject. Description given at end of this chapter in SWE section.

This course is the scientific communications portion of course 7.02, Experimental Biology and Communication. Students develop their skills as writers of scientific research, skills that also contribute to the learning of the 7.02 course materials. Through in class and out of class writing exercises, students explore the genre of the research article and its components while developing an understanding of the materials covered in the 7.02 laboratory.

Through the comparative study of different cultures, anthropology explores fundamental questions about what it means to be human. It seeks to understand how culture both shapes societies, from the smallest island in the South Pacific to the largest Asian metropolis, and affects the way institutions work, from scientific laboratories to Christian mega-churches. This course will provide a framework for analyzing diverse facets of human experience such as gender, ethnicity, language, politics, economics, and art.

An introduction to the results and techniques of observations of the ocean in the context of its physical properties and dynamical constraints. Emphasis on large-scale steady circulation and the time-dependent processes that contribute to it. Includes the physical setting of the ocean, atmospheric forcing, application of conservation laws, description of wind-driven and thermohaline circulation, eddy processes, and interpretive techniques.

" This course is an introduction to software engineering, using the Java™ programming language. It covers concepts useful to 6.005. Students will learn the fundamentals of Java. The focus is on developing high quality, working software that solves real problems. The course is designed for students with some programming experience, but if you have none and are motivated you will do fine. Students who have taken 6.005 should not take this course. Each class is composed of one hour of lecture and one hour of assisted lab work. This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month."

Intensive reading and analysis of key works in the theory and methods of the social study of science and technology. Aims at understanding the different questions and methods social scientists have posed and used in exploring how social context and norms influence the work of scientists and engineers. Students read studies of science labs, science policy, Internet culture, and science in popular culture.

This graduate seminar introduces an emerging research program within International Relations on territorial conflict. While scholars have recognized that territory has been one of the most frequent issues over which states go to war, territorial conflicts have only recently become the subject of systematic study. This course will examine why territorial conflicts arise in the first place, why some of these conflicts escalate to high levels of violence and why other territorial disputes reach settlement, thereby reducing the likelihood of war. Readings in the course draw upon political geography and history as well as qualitative and quantitative approaches to political science.