What could be more interesting than the human mind? Psy 1 is not just a first course in psychology but an opportunity to explore some of the deepest and most fascinating issues in intellectual life. Is there such a thing as human nature? How does the activity of the brain result in intelligence, consciousness, will? How do we see, think, learn, talk, feel, relate to one another? Why do we fall in love, find babies cute, crave sex, experience disgust and fear, distrust other races, kill each other? And why do we differ: women from men, gay from straight, one individual from another, the mentally healthy from the pathological?

Professor Pinker has spent his career writing and teaching about these topics and the controversies they have set off, and in the course will explore them in lectures, demonstrations, and discussions.  During this open-office-hour session, he will chat about the course and answer questions about it.