Spring 2027

Psychology of Human Emotions: From Biology to Culture

In-depth examination of emotion research across psychology sub-disciplines, covering neuroscience, biological bases, development, feeling-thinking relations, and social/cultural aspects.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 8

Past student reviews · Paula Niedenthal

Exams were mostly based on lectures with some textbook questions; students noted that paying attention and skimming the textbook allowed them to perform decently.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the theoretical approaches to emotion and current debates in the psychology of emotion

  • Analyze the main questions addressed in research on emotion, and how that research is conducted

  • Explore the functioning of numerous components of emotion in addition to subjective experience (feelings) such as bodily and facial expression, physiology, and processes of the brain

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

PSYCH 403, 428, 456, 460, 462, 464,SOC/​PSYCH 453, or PSYCH/​GEN&WS 522

PSYCH 508

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

PAULA NIEDENTHAL is recorded teaching in Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Paula Niedenthal

Students described the course as extremely interesting, with lectures driven by the instructor's passion and inclusion of her own research in the field of human emotions.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.29 GPA, 58.7% A/AB (n=167 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.24 GPA, 59.6% A/AB (n=89 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.52 GPA, 73.5% A/AB (n=155 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Paula Niedenthal

Exams were mostly based on lectures with some textbook questions; students noted that paying attention and skimming the textbook allowed them to perform decently.

Past student reviews · Paula Niedenthal

One student appreciated the short writing assignments in addition to exams and papers, noting that the textbook was sometimes dense but helpful for understanding the material.

Topics

  • Neuroscience and biological bases of behavior
  • Developmental curve for emotional phenomena
  • Relationship between feeling and thinking
  • Social groups and culture
  • Theoretical approaches to emotion and current debates

Skills

  • Explain theoretical approaches to emotion and current debates in the psychology of emotion
  • Analyze main questions in emotion research and how that research is conducted
  • Explore components of emotion including bodily/facial expression, physiology, and brain processes

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2024— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2024

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2024 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1330 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "6285637537e154a6a0a4ccc135c06885f955fc93a972f5520dec2c42a136791c",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}