Module PSYC3221: SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Department: Psychology

PSYC3221: SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Prerequisites

• PSYC2021 Social & Developmental Psychology plus PSYC2111 Biological Psychology & Perception; or 100 credits from C817 Psychology (Applied) Level 2 modules

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To provide: In depth knowledge and understanding of the study of person perception from the perspective of social neuroscience (which marries neuroscience with social and cognitive psychology) with additional insights from developmental and abnormal psychology
• A focused opportunity for students to advance and integrate their knowledge and understanding of these core areas of psychology

Content

• This module is concerned with the study of how people form impressions of and make inferences about other people, that is, what information we extract when we see other people, how we interpret that information, and how this interpretation influences our subsequent behaviour. We will particularly focus on the perception of social information from the face and, to a lesser extent, from other cues such as the body and the voice
• This topic will be approached primarily from the perspective of social neuroscience, broadly construed, though we shall also consider other approaches, including developmental and abnormal psychology
• The module will cover topics such as:
• Categorizing others: perceiving age, sex, and ethnicity
• Recognizing others: the perception of individual faces
• Own group biases: the role of experience and social groups
• Identity and self-concept: how we perceive ourselves
• Do other people’s emotional expressions reflect their internal state?
• Typical and atypical development of emotion perception
• Understanding others’ facial expressions
• The activation of stereotypes via perception of another’s face
• Understanding others' actions via simulation
• Understanding others' emotions via simulation
• The neural bases of empathy and ‘theory of mind’
• The cognitive neuroscience of social reasoning and decision making
• The module will also cover related conceptual and historical issues in psychology

Learning Outcomes

• Detailed knowledge and understanding of psychological research on person perception from several different perspectives, and an appreciation of how these different perspectives compare and contrast, with respect to concepts, theories, methods and evidence

• Ability to review critically and consolidate understanding of a coherent body of psychological knowledge and apply it appropriately

• Good written communication skills
• Good IT skills in word processing, data manipulation and data presentation
• Abilities to work independently in scholarship and research within broad guidelines

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

• Students' acquisition of detailed knowledge will be facilitated by lectures, group discussions, audio-visual materials and detailed reading lists
• These modes of teaching will provide students with detailed knowledge of the key concepts, theories, methods and evidence in the study of social perception, and the research skills needed to evaluate them (as assessed in the summative essay and the exam)
• The summative essay and examination will assess students' detailed subject knowledge
• Students' skills in independently undertaking a literature search and reviewing recent material will be assessed by the summative essay
• An assessment of the range, recency and appropriateness of sources will be included in the overall assessment of the essay
• Lectures and discussion sessions will also give students the opportunity to interpret and evaluate the significance of empirical work
• The written examination will effectively assess students' ability to use their critical and analytical skills and knowledge to construct an argument in answer to a question under time pressure
• The use of a summative essay and written examination will ensure that students' written communication skills are assessed
• Feedback on the summative essays will be available to allow students to develop their essay writing skills

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

None

■ 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