Last modified: 05 Aug 2021 13:04
By the end of the course students will have a greater understanding of how emotion and aging influence social cognition, focusing on perception and attention to social stimuli in particular. Students will also gain experience in critical appraisal and evaluation of methods used to derive theory and evidence in this area.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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Broad overview:
The way we interact with others can depend on the emotions that they express at a particular moment in time, and how we perceive and understand these emotions. Interpersonal communication depends upon our monitoring of the social and emotional cues of other people in order to plan and execute our own behaviour. Social cognition is a field of Psychology in which we investigate experimentally the role of cognitive mechanisms (such as attention, cognitive resource capacity, and theory of mind) in how we process social cues (such as facial expressions of emotion and gaze direction) to interact with others.
In the first half of this course we will explore the basic mechanisms (attentional and cognitive) which might underlie these social and emotional phenomena. The role of motivation and context will also be considered. We will be looking in detail at the methodology used in the field to understand social cue processing. Key theories of social attention, emotion and attention will be evaluated.
The second half of the course will investigate the impact of adult aging on how social cues are processed. The role of cognitive changes with age in understanding others’ intentions and emotions will be explored. Also the role of motivational changes with age in interpreting social cues will be evaluated.
Teaching Methods
The course comprises six 2-hour sessions which involve a combination of lectures, in-class participation and discussion. In class discussion may involve preparation such as reading one or two papers in depth before coming to each session. Students should be prepared to interact in class and discuss key theoretical and empirical issues. There will also be two x one hour consolidation sessions to address any questions arising from the course, and help with exam preparation.
MJ Topics: Emotion perception and social attention
LP Topics: Aging and emotional and social cognition.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 100 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | ||||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 100 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | ||||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Apply | To apply theories of lifespan adult aging to the field of social cognition, and appraise the effects of aging on social and emotional aspects of attention and wider cognition |
| Conceptual | Evaluate | To develop critical appraisal skills in evaluating the methods used to research emotional and social cognition. |
| Factual | Understand | To gain knowledge and understanding of the literature describing emotion perception, social attention and social cognition. |
| Conceptual | Evaluate | To understand and evaluate key theories about how social and emotional cues influence perception, attention and cognition. |
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