Psychology is an area that touches every aspect of our lives and provides a means to understand human behavior. We deal with people every day, and having some insight into how humans make decisions, are influenced by the environment, and so on gives students an educated perspective when working with others. I also think that studying psychology gives students a better understanding of themselves and makes them more informed citizens who can take a step back and view the world around them from a different perspective and with greater empathy.
My background, and current research, is in music cognition, a field of psychology concerned with musical knowledge and how we process musical information. Music is a fantastic vehicle for teaching psychology in that it incorporates aspects of perception, memory, learning, emotion, social interaction, and our individual personalities. I’m able to bring music into the psychology classroom through activities, current research, examples, and discussions. Especially at Berklee, what we learn in class about the psychology of music is often directly related to students' experiences as musicians and artists. I am lucky to be able to teach a range of music-related classes including Psychology of Music, Introduction to Psychoacoustics, and Music Cognition. As a musician who ended up studying psychology, it’s so exciting to talk to other musicians every day about the intersection of music and science.
