Courses taught by Martin Hagger, Fall Semester 2019:

PSY-190-2/3: Theories 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.

Kaylyn McAnally is Teaching Assistant on this Course and will lead a class this Fall on Self-Determination Theory.

The course syllabus is available here.

PSY 200 A&B: Professional Seminar

The professional seminar is designed to acquaint early-stage graduate students in the core professional knowledge and skills central to the discipline of academic empirical psychology. In addition, it is designed to provide familiarity with the research of the faculty in psychology and related disciplines.

Martin Hagger will deliver a Faculty Seminar as part of this course this semester. The topic will be Using Meta-Analysis to Test Theories.