Psychology · Columbia University
I learned a lot in this course. From the perspective piece, I learned how environment, genes, and epigenetics interact in mental health outcomes. It also honed a new perspective on how to treat and prevent mental health conditions. I learned a lot about biology, the HPA axis, epigenetic mechanisms, socioeconomic status impact, race impact, developmental timelines, stress impact, adversity impact, objective versus subjective stress, proximal/ distal environmental factors, how to analyze research articles more efficiently, in-utero effects, intergenerational effects, gene functions, cortisol effects, social policy implications, and everything you can think of. Every critical area related to the course topics was covered and taught efficiently.
We covered a wide variety of topics surrounding the types of stress, environmental exposures, and genetic and epigenetic changes that can confer risk / resiliency against certain physiological and psychological outcomes (diseases, disorders, etc.). This course familiarized me with how to read and analyze data from studies and reviews of current and ongoing research in the field.
Gene-environment interactions, endophenotypes, behavioral epigenetics, developmental programming, & how these topics interact with each other. Plus a lot of discussion on why these things are important.
This class taught me a great deal about GxE, epigenetic, and the ways researchers investigate DNA methylation.
Gene and environmental interactions, epigenetics, and how they relate to psychology and neuroscience. Also, how to read scientific articles and conduct research on this topic.
learning about the relationship between genes and their interactions in the environment. The role of epigenetic and daily life and its implications on social politics
A lot! Gene x Environment interactions, which is how certain versions (polymorphisms) of a gene can modulate an individuals reaction to the environment; epigenetics, which is the factors that regulate gene expression; and how gene-environment-epigenetics all interact to affect human physiology and specially a focus on mental disorders.
I learned more about the role of epigentic factors in a role of health outcomes including mental health. This reframed my existing perspective on psychology topics.
The content of the class is interesting, and very applicable to society! The courseload is also light. I recommend anyone interested to take this course. (one problem is that the material sometimes gets repetitive).
I think that every psychology and neuroscience student should take this course because it may be the future of psych and neuroscience research and treatment.