Course Overview
This page focuses on the course 9.68 Affect: Neurobiological, Psychological, and Sociocultural Counterparts of “Feelings” as it was taught by Professor Stephan L. Chorover in Spring 2013.
This course studied the relations of affect to cognition and behavior, feeling to thinking and acting, and values to beliefs and practices. These connections were considered at the psychological level of organization and in terms of their neurobiological and sociocultural counterparts. The course was organized into a collaborative learning system with weekly class sessions, small study groups and several field trips.
Course Outcomes
Course Goals for Students
The central aim was to study the organization and development of human social systems using a collaborative learning system of the highest possible educational quality and of the greatest possible personal and social value to those who comprise it.
Curriculum Information
Prerequisites
9.00 Introduction to Psychology
Requirements Satisfied
HASS-S 
Offered
Professor Chorover is an emeritus professor and is no longer teaching this course.
Instructor Interview
Professor Chorover described various aspects of how he taught 9.68 Affect: Neurobiological, Psychological, and Sociocultural Counterparts of “Feelings” extensively in the course syllabus.
The following sections particularly illustrated Prof. Chorover’s approach:
Student Information
Enrollment
About 30 students
Breakdown by Year
Roughly 1/3 sophomores, 1/3 juniors and 1/3 seniors, with a small number of grad students.
Breakdown by Major
1/6 Brain and Cognitive Science majors, but most students were from other departments. A few students were from Wellesley College.
How Student Time Was Spent
During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:
In class
- Met 1 time per week for 2 hour per session; 14 sessions total; mandatory attendance.
- In class problems based on readings or viewings and discussions from study groups.
- Two sessions were replaced by a field trip to the MFA and a ‘walk-around-the-block’ assignment.
Study group meetings
- Met 1 time per week for 2 hours per session; 14 sessions total; mandatory attendance.
- Randomly assigned membership in groups of 6-8 students.
Out of class
- Complete reading and viewing assignments.
- Complete weekly writing assignments.
