READ THIS REVIEW! I was excited to learn about human sexuality. I thought we would learn about all of the interesting biological and cultural factors of why humans do what they do when it comes to sex and sexuality. Unfortunately, this class turned into a liberal sexuality views class. Some of the material was interesting, like the evolution and sexual selection portions of the class. However, the readings about toxic masculinity and feminism were absolutely dreadful, and this seemed to be the trend throughout the whole class. In addition, the transgender speaker, Jessica Lynn, was terrible. She was just pushing her agenda on why society should accept trans people and literally said people who didn't were ruining society. We learned nothing about why humans actually want to be trans. What is their cognitive processes look like? Is this seen in nature? I really wanted to learn more about human sexuality, but just ended up forcing myself to memorize concepts for the exam (different types of feminism and sexual objectification) that didn't seem to have much relevance to the intended theme of the class. The exams are completely written (40 questions), and take about two hours to complete. In addition, there is a group project with a tri-fold style poster that is due at the end of the quarter. Once again this is another class that is full of leftist views and liberal agendas. I wish Dave the best, but this class was disappointing and a waste of money for someone who pays for their own college education.

I have taken over 40 courses at UCLA and this is by far the dumbest course I have ever taken. I would rather be forced to take chem 14d 3 times with Riley than take this course again. The grading structure is insane and unreasonable, the syllabus makes no sense, and lectures are mind-numbingly torturous. This is not okay.

Professor Dave made this class so convenient to follow along with. His lectures were easy to follow and he also provided us with study packets to help guide our studying. When I saw the syllabus, I was nervous because it seemed really tedious, however, with how organized everything was, I am glad to say that I always felt confident in how I was doing in class. He is VERY clear about what will be on tests, and he made sure that he prepared us on all of it. In the syllabus, he said to know the study guide front to back(really do that because he tests you on specific terms, its all write in, not must.choice!!!)
I also like that he makes time for students to talk to eachother and form connections in the classroom. I looked forward to this class because we were able to talk about material in a light-hearted, yet open space. He also brings in fun videos related to what he's teaching to really wrap things up. This is one of my favorite classes this year, even though its late in the day, its worth coming to.

DEFINITELY TAKE THIS CLASS!!!! This is easily one of the top 3 classes I took in all my years in college, taught by one of the most remarkable Professors around. For someone like me who's suffering from crippling senioritis & have tasted the various demoralizing flavors of college courses, Dave's class was a much-needed breath of fresh air. I took this class with some interest in sexuality and was BLOWN AWAY by the refreshingly humorous lectures with a balanced incorporation of theory and research in its curriculum.
For a 3 hour class, time flies by quickly here - especially since we were given room to freely share our thoughts & talk about the material within groups, and later with the classroom as a whole. I don't know how Dave manages to motivate a 100-person class to engage in such a way that the whole class feels like a small discussion section... but I felt like this class reminded me of how exciting learning can be, and gave us Bruins a platform to voice our brilliant insights. I wish I'd kept notes on this Prof's pedagogy because I truly think this is how college courses should be like. I really appreciated being able to learn from the students in my class as much as I learnt from Dave's lectures... this dynamic doesn't come by often in our large psych classes.

I got on Bruinwalk to review this PHENOMENAL class with an incredibly engaging, humorous and helpful Professor (both in & outside class), but having read some of the reviews here, it would be an injustice if I didn't point out the biases in these bad reviews...

1. The "homework": someone mentioned the class is homework heavy. I'm guessing this reviewer is referring to the study guides that we have to submit for credit. These guides are meant to be filled out in real-time during lecture so I'd argue that instead of being workload heavy, they actually reduced the work I had to put in to succeed. It was so helpful to be guided on what to pay attention to so I wouldn't miss anything important, and in the end I get extra credit & have a blueprint to use as exam-prep. The Prof creates the exam straight from the study guides, so I'm thankful I can just use these guides instead of having to comb through hundreds of pages of a textbook and notes.

2. The "liberal agenda": I don't remember the Prof ever being pushy on what we should believe. On the contrary, he presented various perspectives on the topics covered (like liberal feminist perspective on porn & also conservative moralist perspective). I remember him encouraging us to share our true opinions and to respect each others' views, even if it's in conflict with our own. I felt safe to share my thoughts in class and if I was shy about it, I had room to talk about it in my small group. The guest speakers tell us about their lives, the pros and cons of living their non-normative lifestyle, and why they continued pursuing it despite the cons. I don't think a class that encourages open-mindedness, and exposes its students to various lifestyles constitutes as one that "pushes a liberal agenda". College is a space for learning, and you're bound to encounter new people with different lives and backgrounds from yours. A little culture shock is necessary if you want to grow as person and meet the diverse real world we live in.

P.S. Pointing out the *contradictory* complaint about "this class absolutely not being a STEM class, too north campus" and A DIFFERENT REVIEW about "this class being evolutionary psych, research methods based & too south campus". Clearly, this class had to have some blend of north & south campus elements to generate such contradictory reviews. Personally, I remember the lectures as more sciencey & researchy, while the guest speakers and readings offered a more theoretical, personal touch to the class. Loved loved this class!

I want to start off by saying this class is not what I thought it was going to be. Not being a psych major, I took this class purely out of interest for human sexuality. I expected to learn the influences of society and biology on sexual orientation, orgasm, and other topics indicated in the syllabus. However, I was ultimately let down and felt as if I wasted my time taking this class. Instead of any of the aforementioned, we learned about evolutionary psychology (think natural selection), gender social norms/expectations, and how to design experiments. I felt like the topics of true sexuality were entirely ignored. Regardless, the class is a super easy A to receive. Like previous people posted, just memorize the study guides word for word, know the experiments we discussed in class, and remember the answers to the reading questions. Easy 100s. Overall, class was fine but not what I expected.

This class was a sham. 3 reasons why:

#1 - “LEC” appears next to Psych 129E in the catalog, but this class was not a lecture. That’s because the prof spent little time actually lecturing. Most of the class was discussion, chat with your neighbor, and opinion polls. There was a guest speaker that used the full duration of class to tell their personal story. How was that a good use of time? The prof had a sense of humor and was engaging, but overall I would not call the class a lecture. In other words, I signed up for a lecture but got a discussion section.

#2 - The class was not a STEM or psychology class. Rather than peer-reviewed, scientific journal articles, the prof assigned readings from popular media and journalism. It was the type of reading that you see in liberal arts and sociology; the author gives their opinion and tries to back up their opinion by citing another author’s opinion or the author tells a story and invents a ‘narrative’. The class was liberal arts, humanities, sociology, gender studies, LGBTQ studies or perhaps something else that ends in the word “studies”. It was absolutely not a STEM class and has no business being offered in psychology.

#3 - It was not a college-level class. That’s because the amount of homework assigned was ridiculous! Hundreds of pages of reading homework, 30+ pages of homework questions to answer, homework disguised as ‘study guides’ which you turn in, and even more homework with a group project! In every psych class I’ve taken the homework is to study for the exam. Sure, some profs assign a term paper here and there or a journal critique, but the amount of homework in this class was just unreasonable. It reminded me of being in high school, not in a college class.

UCLA psych major (3.96 GPA). After completing 15 upper division psych classes, this was by far the most aversive class I’ve taken. I dropped after 3 weeks of learning nearly nothing. I learned a total of 2 things: sex and gender are not the same, and the tendency for male rats to be aroused in the presence of novel female rats is called the Coolidge effect (to be fair, I learned about this in another class but didn’t know the name of the effect). That’s it... that’s literally all I learned in 3 weeks! In sum, the class was a waste of time and energy. Do not take this class if you’re serious about science and psychology.

Professor Dave is an amazing professor here at UCLA. His class is not run like everyone else. Instead of lecturing all throughout the quarter, he would bring in guest speakers who were relevant to all the topics that we learned. Each class was different from the last and all guest speakers were enjoyable and engaging. Dave is extremely passionate about making class a very safe and fun environment. His assignments are relatively easy but require a good amount of detail. There are no tests in this class. Grades are based off of 2 Thought Questions and 2 Study Guides. He really advocates for people being able to complete the course in a way that best fits their own schedule so he gives plenty of time to complete assignments. The readings are fairly short but very interesting and informative. He was always open to answering questions and finding new ways to make class more fun since it was online. One of the best professors at UCLA

Overall I was pretty disinterested in this class after having been really excited for it, I think it having been online and two hours long really contributed to this. I am personally not a fan of having long assignments be a major part of the grade (study guides) instead of an exam, but I suspect most people might like this! The guest speakers are also really cool, they were the best part of the class.

The professor is really engaging and I really enjoyed that his structure was organized for the entire course. The material of the class is interesting and relatable as well. Definitely a must take during the summer if you can.

EVERYONE should take this class, even if you're not in the Psych department. You delve into the intricacies of communication, pleasure, sex, sexuality, fantasies, gender identities, and the list goes on. You engage in these amazing, insightful conversations in a safe place where you can ask questions. Also, there are no tests, just 2 study guides and then an optional final project. I urge you to put in true introspection and effort because you get what you put into this class. Also, fill out the study guides as if they are journal entries; trust.