Universität Wien

200013 PS Proseminar General Psychology (2023S)

Aesthetics, Emotions, and the Brain

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

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

  • Thursday 09.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 16.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 23.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 30.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 20.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 27.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 04.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 11.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 25.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 01.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 15.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 22.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock
  • Thursday 29.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal G Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5, 2. Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The aim of the proseminar 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 next steps?)
• Give 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 new research question, hypotheses
- address you research question with empirical methods
- use scientific reference style (APA 7th)

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:
09.03.2023. Introduction, Course Info
16.03.2023. Scientific life; Academic presentation
23.03.2023. Science papers; reading and writing, Peer review
30.03.2023. Methods; Analysis; Current issues

---- EASTER BREAK —

20.04.2023. Presentation 1-2
27.04.2023. Presentation 3-4 (Deadline: TURN in WRITTEN PAPER)
04.05.2023. Presentation 5 (Deadline: Peer-review- Discussion of peer review on class)
11.05.2023. Presentation 6-7
25.05.2023. Presentation 8-9 (Deadline: TURN in revised WRITTEN PAPER)
01.06.2023. Presentation 10-11
15.06.2023. Presentation 12-13 (you receive our comments on the written paper)
22.06.2023. Presentation 14-15
29.06.2023. Feedback session, closing (Deadline: TURN in revised WRITTEN PAPER)

Assessment and permitted materials

• Credit: 6 ECTS (150 class/coursework hours (1 ECTS = 25 hours))
• Active participation = 29%
• 1.75 ECTS (~ 44 hours)
• Group work / presentation = 26%
• 1.55 ECTS (~ 39 hours)
• Written paper = 35%
• 2.1 ECTS (~ 52 hours)
• Peer-review feedback = 10%
• 0.6 ECTS (~ 15 hours)

The total sum of above assessments will constitute the final grade. Passing grade (4) = 60%.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

• The basic requirement for a passing grade: Attendance in class with a maximum of two (2) missed dates and a minimum of 60% of total points.

If you do not attend the first class, without contacting us before class start, we reserve the right to give your spot to another student on the waiting list.

• Note that you have to reach a minimum of 40% of each grading components (active participation, group work/presentation, peer-review feedback, written paper) in order to pass the course

Examination topics

Reading list

Reading List and Presentation Topics (please note that we will not cover all topics):

1. Beauty:
• Lorand, R. (1994). https://doi.org/10.2307/432027
• Tsukiura, T., & Cabeza, R. (2010). https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsq025

2. Empirical Aesthetics:
• Jacobsen, T. (2010). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01164.x
• Leder, H., Carbon, C.-C., & Ripsas, A.-L. (2006). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2005.08.005

3. Preference for Symmetry:
• Bertamini, M., & Makin, A. (2014). https://doi.org/10.3390/sym6040975
• Bertamini, M., Rampone, G., Makin, A. D. J., & Jessop, A. (2019). https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7078

4. Attractiveness and Faces:
• Little, A. C. (2014). https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1316
• Van Den Abbeele, J., Penton-Voak, I. S., Attwood, A. S., Stephen, I. D., & Munafò, M. R. (2015). https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agv010

5. Perception Disorders:
• Simner, J., Mulvenna, C., Sagiv, N., Tsakanikos, E., Witherby, S. A., Fraser, C., Scott, K., & Ward, J. (2006). https://doi.org/10.1068/p5469
• Rouw, R., & Scholte, H. S. (2010). https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3444-09.2010

6. Brain Damage and Art:
• Gretton, C., & ffytche, D. H. (2014). https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.3975
• Lauring, J. O., Pelowski, M., Specker, E., Ishizu, T., Haugbøl, S., Hollunder, B., … Kupers, R. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103597

7. Music:
• Panksepp, J., & Bernatzky, G. (2002). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-6357(02)00080-3
• Linnemann, A., Ditzen, B., Strahler, J., Doerr, J. M., & Nater, U. M. (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.06.008

8. Stress, Healing and Art:
• Stuckey, H. L., & Nobel, J. (2010). https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2008.156497
• Clow, A., & Fredhoi, C. (2006).

9. Well-being and Art:
• Mastandrea, S., Fagioli, S., & Biasi, V. (2019). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00739
• Tommaso, M. de, Sardaro, M., & Livrea, P. (2008). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2008.07.002

10. Emotion Theories:
• Moors, A. (2009). https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930802645739
• Fontaine, J. R. J., Scherer, K. R., Roesch, E. B., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2007). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02024.x

11. Aesthetic Emotions:
• Silvia, P. J. (2005). https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.9.4.342
• Cupchik, G. C., & Wroblewski-Raya, V. (1998).

12. Psychology of New Media:
• Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2011). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph8093528
• Ryan, T., & Xenos, S. (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.02.004

13. Context in Empirical Aesthetic Research:
• Greenaway, K. H., Kalokerinos, E. K., & Williams, L. A. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12393
• Gerger, G., Leder, H., & Kremer, A. (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.06.008

14. Priming and Context:
• Pelowski, M., Forster, M., Tinio, P. P., Scholl, M., & Leder, H. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000141
• Lauring, J. O., Pelowski, M., Forster, M., Gondan, M., Ptito, M., & Kupers, R. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000063

15. Neuroaesthetics:
• Pearce, M. T., Zaidel, D. W., Vartanian, O., Skov, M., Leder, H., Chatterjee, A., & Nadal, M. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615621274
Ishizu, T., & Zeki, S. (2011). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021852

16. Creativity:
• Zaidel, D. W. (2014). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00389
• Hawley-Dolan, A., & Winner, E. (2011). https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611400915

17. Art and Artificial Intelligence:
• Casini, L., & Roccetti, M. (2018). https://doi.org/10.7413/18258646064
• Chamberlain, R., Mullin, C., Scheerlinck, B., & Wagemans, J. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000136

Association in the course directory

70231

Last modified: Th 23.02.2023 13:48