Universität Wien

200013 PS Introductory Seminar: Cognitive Foundations of Experience and Behaviour (2020W)

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 20 - Psychologie
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 40 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Due to the current pandemic, certain components of this class will now be conducted online (via BigBlueButton on Moodle) and in person.

Online: Week 1-4, Monday from 11:30-13:00: Introduction, frontal lectures via “BigBlueButton".

In-Person (Hörsaal B): Week 5-14, Monday from 11:30-13:00: Student presentations: the class will be split into two small groups to present.

(NB. If the pandemic regulations allow, otherwise student presentations will be held online via BBB as well.)

  • Monday 05.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 12.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 19.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 09.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 16.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 23.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 30.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 07.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 14.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 11.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 18.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610
  • Monday 25.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal B Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0610

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The aim of the seminar is to develop your understanding of scientific psychology, scientific thinking, and communication.

Content: Scientific articles from the field of perception, aesthetics, and wellbeing will be assigned. Through these articles, you gain insight into central psychological theories, scientific practice, and research paradigms in these areas as introduced in a class by student-led groups.

Are you interested in beauty from a psychological point of view? This class will give a basic coverage of the field of empirical aesthetics through questions such as: Why do we see faces more attractive after alcohol consumption? How people with brain disorders can make art? Can a museum visit improve your well-being? Can listening to music reduce your stress in the exam period to the extent that it can be measured in your salivary biomarkers?

We aim to cover the different class topics with the help of one review article and one empirical paper that gives the opportunity to discuss critically a selected empirical study’s research question, methods, and statistical analysis.

Methods: lecture, active participation, group presentation of a selected topic, writing of a peer-review and a short paper.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Understand scientific psychology, scientific communication, how it feels to be a working scientist.
• Discuss, explain about several topics in aesthetics, perception, and beauty
• Summarize, evaluate research papers
• Read papers critically (what is missing? What could be the next steps?)
• Give an academic presentation
- Work with others in a group
- Structuralize presentation content
• Construct a short academic paper
- find, compare different research papers
- prioritize arguments
- discuss previous findings, and criticize their methods
- formulate a new research question, hypotheses
- address your research question with empirical methods
- use scientific reference style (APA 7th)

Assessment and permitted materials

Credit: 6 ECTS (150 class/coursework hours)
Active participation = 25%
• 1.5 ECTS (~ 37.5 hours)
Group work / presentation = 30%
• 1.8 ECTS (~ 45 hours)
Written paper = 35%
• 2.1 ECTS (~ 52.5 hours)
Peer-review feedback = 10%
• 0.6 ECTS (~ 15 hours)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria.
• The basic requirement for a passing grade: attendance in class with a maximum of two (2) missed dates.

If you do not attend the first class (without notice, contacting me via mail before the course starts), your spot will be given to another student on the waiting list.

• Note that you have to reach a minimum of 20% of each grading components (active participation, group work/presentation, peer-review feedback, written paper) in order to pass the course.

Examination topics

Reading list

Class plan:
Two main parts:
1. Weeks 2-4: Lecture/class discussion: fundamentals of Science. Critical Reading, Scientific texts, Writing/arguing, Methodological basics, academic presentation

2. Weeks 5-14: Student-led design and small group presentation of selected topic/empirical study (from provided articles). Information on Moodle. Active class discussion.

Schedule
05.10. Anna Fekete— Introduction, Course Info
12.10. Anna Fekete— Scientific life; Academic presentation
19.10. Anna Fekete— Science papers; reading and writing, Peer review
09.11. Anna Fekete— Methods; Analysis; Current issues
16.11. Presentation 1
23.11. Presentation 2 (Deadline: TURN in WRITTEN PAPER)
30.11. Presentation 3
07.12. Presentation 4 (Deadline: Peer-review)
14.12. Presentation 5 (Deadline: TURN in revised WRITTEN PAPER)

--CHRISTMAS BREAK—

11.01. Presentation 6 (you receive comments of Anna on the written paper)
18.01. Presentation 7
25.01. Feedback session, closing (Deadline: TURN in revised WRITTEN PAPER)

Reading list:

1. Beauty

• Lorand, R. (1994). Beauty and its opposites. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 52(4), 399-406. doi:10.2307/432027
• Tsukiura, T., & Cabeza, R. (2010). Shared brain activity for aesthetic and moral judgments: implications for the Beauty-is-Good stereotype. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 6(1), 138-148. doi:10.1093/scan/nsq025

2. Attractiveness and Faces

• Little, A. C. (2014). Facial attractiveness. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews-Cognitive Science, 5, 621-634. doi:10.1002/wcs.1316
• Van Den Abbeele, J., Penton-Voak, I. S., Attwood, A. S., Stephen, I. D., & Munafò, M. R. (2015). Increased facial attractiveness following moderate, but not high, alcohol consumption. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 50(3), 296-301. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agv010

3. Perception disorders

• Simner, J., Mulvenna, C., Sagiv, N., Tsakanikos, E., Witherby, S. A., Fraser, C., Scott, K., & Ward, J. (2006). Synaesthesia: the prevalence of atypical cross-modal experiences. Perception, 35(8), 1024–1033. doi:10.1068/p5469
• Rouw, R., & Scholte, H. S. (2010). Neural basis of individual differences in synesthetic experiences. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(18), 6205-6213. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3444-09.2010

4. Brain damage and art

• Gretton, C., & ffytche, D. H. (2014). Art and the brain: a view from dementia. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 29(2), 111-126. doi:10.1002/gps.3975
• Lauring, J. O., Pelowski, M.,† ‎Haugboel, S., & Kupers, R. (2019). Parkinson's disease and changes in the appreciation of art: A comparison of aesthetic and formal evaluations of paintings between PD patients and healthy controls. Brain and Cognition. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103597

5. Stress, healing and art

• Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. (2010). The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature. American Journal of Public Health, 100(2), 254–263. doi:10.2105/ajph.2008.156497
• Clow, A., & Fredhoi, C. (2006). Normalisation of salivary cortisol levels and self-report stress by a brief lunchtime visit to an art gallery by London City workers. Journal of Holistic Healthcare, 3(2), 29-32.

6. Music

• Panksepp, J., & Bernatzky, G. (2002). Emotional sounds and the brain: the neuro-affective foundations of musical appreciation. Behavioural processes, 60(2), 133-155. doi: 10.1016/S0376-6357(02)00080-3
• Linnemann, A., Ditzen, B., Strahler, J., Doerr, J. M., & Nater, U. M. (2015). Music listening as a means of stress reduction in daily life. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 60, 82-90. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.06.008

7. Well-being and art

• Mastandrea, S., Fagioli, S., & Biasi, V. (2019). Art and psychological well-being: Linking the brain to the aesthetic emotion. Frontiers in psychology, 10. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00739
• Tommaso, M. de, Sardaro, M., & Livrea, P. (2008). Aesthetic value of paintings affects pain thresholds. Consciousness and Cognition, 17(4), 1152–1162. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2008.07.

Association in the course directory

70231

Last modified: Mo 14.09.2020 10:29