200009 PS Proseminar General Psychology (2025S)

The aim of the seminar is to develop students' understanding of scientific psychology, scientific thinking, and science communication, and to better appreciate what it means and how it feels to be a working scientist.

Content: Course content will focus on the general themes of scientific practice, discussions of the logistics of science (publication process, scientific method, how research is conceived, conducted, communicated, and critically discussed). At the same time, as a focus for this discussion, we will consider readings and selected topics in the field of "aesthetics, perception, and affect," gaining insight into central psychological theories and research paradigms in these areas as introduced in class discussions and proposed by student-led groups.

Our personal goals for you (When you are done with this course)
• Be familiar with what it means, how it feels to be a working scientist.
• Know how to construct and talk about research papers.
• Read papers critically (what is missing? What could be next steps?)
• Experience giving academic presentation
• Learn a little about several topics in aesthetics, perception, etc.

Methods: lecture, active participation, and group discussion; student-led design and presentation of a selected topic within one unit; completion of a final test; writing of a short paper.

2 main parts:
1. Weeks 2-4: Lecture from me/class discussion: fundamentals of Science. Critical Reading, Scientific texts, Writing/arguing, Methodological basics, academic presentation
2. Weeks 5- : Student-led design and small group presentation of selected topic/empirical study (from provided articles). Information on Moodle. Active class discussion. last week = final test.

Language is in English.