Course Description
This module is concerned with contemporary concepts, theories and findings in this broad area of social psychology and how they may be applied with benefits for individuals, groups and society. We will address the question how individuals form and maintain an understanding of themselves, other people, and the world they are living in. Drawing on cognitive principles, we will study the processes that underlie human judgments, behaviour, and decision making in real-life contexts. Students will have the opportunity to develop new research to address an unanswered research question.
The module gives students grounding in methods, techniques and issues of cognitive neuroscience. Focusing on vision, attention, memory, problem solving and language, the module examines how cognitive processes are instantiated in the human brain
Learning Outcome
- Knowledge
and understanding of contemporary concepts, theories and findings in attitudes
and social cognition
- Critically
evaluating concepts, theories and findings in attitudes and social cognition
- Conceiving
research to address limitations and gaps in concepts, theories and findings in
attitudes and social cognition
- Identifying
gaps and limitations in the ways concepts, theories and findings in attitudes
and social cognition are presented to the wider public
- Demonstrating
an awareness of how concepts, theories and findings in attitudes and social
cognition may be applied with benefits for individuals, groups, and society
- Develop
an appreciation of the historical and conceptual issues in the study of
Attitudes and Social Cognition
Course Content
- Introduction
and History of Social History
- Social
Knowledge
- Biases
- Automaticity
- Schema
and Categories
- Social
identity perspective
- Memory
- Stereotypes
and expectancies
- Culture
Compulsory Reading Materials
- Kunda,
Z. (1999). Social cognition: Making sense of people. London: MIT Press.
- Bless, H., Fiedler, K., &Strack, F. (2004). Social cognition: How
individuals construct social reality. Hove: Psychology Press.
- Maio, G. R. & Haddock, G. G. (2010). The Psychology of Attitudes and
Attitude Change. London, UK: Sage.
- Bandura, A. (1999). A social
cognitive theory of personality. In L. Pervin& O. John (Ed.), Handbook of
personality (2nd ed., pp. 154-196). New York: Guilford Publications.
Optional Reading Materials
- M S
Gazzaniga, R B Ivry& G R Mangun (Eds.), Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology
of the Mind (3rd edition). Norton, 2008
- Levine,
J. M., Resnick, L. B., Higgins, E. T. (1993). Social foundations of cognition.
Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 585-612.