How do you decide what courses count for the major?

Assuming that the course does fit well into your overall plan (see the previous entries on How are applications evaluated? and Why can’t there just be a fixed list of courses that do or do not count?), we will be interested in whether the course is taught with a cognitive science approach, and whether it covers material from the cognitive science literatures. These factors are more important than the name of the course, the department that it’s listed in, or whether it covers a topic related to understanding the mind in a broad sense. Indeed, some courses sound on their surface like they’d be good fits, but they don’t actually include any readings from the cognitive science literatures, or directly utilize any of the relevant approaches. (After all, nearly all courses at Yale are about understanding the nature of the mind in some sense – including courses on poetry, ancient civilization, religion, etc.!) At the same time, some particular courses taught in departments that are not traditionally associated with cognitive science (e.g. Economics, or courses taught through the School of Management) may turn out to utilize the relvant approaches, and include relevant readings.