Psychology

This course covers approaches to understanding perception and cognition, from the perspective that these functions can only be considered sensibly in an action context. Consideration is given to exemplars drawn from various areas of psychology that serve to illustrate the role of movement in aspects of perception and cognition regarded traditionally as being independent of the means of effect. The course deals with observations defined at the level of behavior. It also includes evidence drawn from the neurosciences - concerning brain activity subserving perception, cognition, and motor function that bears upon these issues. In addition, consideration is given to some of the related philosophical questions that are raised. Students are also introduced to the possibility that intervention strategies thus informed, may be used to maintain or enhance cognitive performance.

Information processing theory deals with how people receive, store, integrate, retrieve, and use information. The present course uses theoretical and empirical perspectives on human cognition, perception, and the experimental methods to study cognition and perception. Eleven basic topics of cognitive science/psychology are discussed using a Problem Based Learning format. The topics studied in the course are amongst others: the history of the study of the human mind as information processing machine, schema’s, scripts, plans, and frames, knowledge representation, top down and bottom up processing, semantic networks and spreading of activation, and intelligence and individual differences. This course assumes prerequisite knowledge from Introduction to Psychology or Artificial Intelligence.

This course provides a study of the behavior patterns, attitudes, interests, values, beliefs, conflicts and other cultural aspects of human groups in different social situations. It focuses on the historical context of the development of social psychology and also examines key concepts at both the micro and macro scales of group dynamics: behavior, attitude, role development, and the psychological condition of both an individual and a group. The course also considers the problems and challenges of contemporary social psychology.