Teaching

Besides graduate training and undergraduate research opportunities (see Join the Lab), the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC contributes to UBC teaching in several ways.

In Fall term, Dr Clark teaching a 300-level course (Psyc 335) on Gambling and Decision-Making (see the 2023 Syllabus and CourseSchedule as drafts for this coming year). This course is generally fully subscribed. Students study gambling behaviour as a lens for examining the psychology of decision-making and the brain mechanisms that support risky choice. Two questions dominate the course. First, what does the existence and popularity of gambling tell us about human decision-making? Second, how does gambling become pathological for some people, how do these harms disproportionately affect sectors of our communities including under-represented and marginalized groups, and how should society respond to these harms? This multi-disciplinary course integrates complementary approaches from cognitive and clinical psychology with relevant work from neuroscience, behavioural economics, and public health. Assessment includes a Written Assignment that considers the presentation of research findings about gambling in the mainstream news.

Dr Clark also teaches introductory psychology in the Winter term at UBC (Psyc 101: Introduction to Cognitive and Biological Psychology), typically to classes of around 300 students.