Module PSYS3201: BASIC AND APPLIED HIGH-LEVEL COGNITION

Department: Psychology (Applied Psychology) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

PSYS3201: BASIC AND APPLIED HIGH-LEVEL COGNITION

Prerequisites

• Modules to the value of 100 credits from Level 2 Applied Psychology (C810) OR Brain Processes in Cognition and Perception (PSYC2111)

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To extend students' knowledge of high-level cognition and to introduce them to areas where such knowledge has been applied.

Content

• Basic Issues in High-Level Cognition
• Theories of reasoning and decision-making
• Dual Process theories of the mind
• Rationality and the relation between high and low-level cognition
• Applied Issues in High-Level Cognition
• Thinking about graphs and diagrams
• High-level cognition and multimedia learning
• How experts and novices reason about the biological world
• How scientists reason
• The child as scientist
• The module will also cover related conceptual and historical issues in psychology

Learning Outcomes

• At the end of the module students should be familiar with a range of basic and applied issues in the literatures on high-level cognition

• Students passing this module should be able to:
• Locate, read and review a body of research evidence
• Adopt and critically evaluate different theoretical perspectives and see the relationships between them
• Interpret and evaluate the significance of empirical work

• Students passing this module should be able to:
• Undertake criticial evaluation of the quality and evidence of arguments
• Communicate complex ideas effectively in their written work producing a clear, well-written essay
• Demonstrate independent learning

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Knowledge and understanding is developed through the weekly 2 hour sessions involving a variety of learning modes including lectures, practice essays and student presentations
• This knowledge will be assessed in the summative assessment and the written examination. These assessments will be essay based, providing students with the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities to appraise and apply empirical evidence and theoretical claims in a critical manner
• Preparations for the summative assignments will promote students' abilities to locate, read and evaluate a body of evidence. These abilities are assessed via written examination. Feedback is provided for the summative essay
• All modes of teaching are designed to promote critical evaluation of evidence and arguments, to adopt different theoretical positions, and to interpret empirical work in terms of theory. These abilities are also assessed via written examination. Feedback is provided for the summative essay

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Student presentations and timed practice essays

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University