University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 11

Semester: 1

Planned timetable: Seminars: Thursdays 9-11; Practicals and Tutorials: Thursdays 2-5

This module serves to introduce distinct ways of studying the origins of mind within a comparative Tinbergian framework, emphasising both functional and mechanistic accounts; why capacities exist, how they are implemented, how they evolved and how they develop. Lectures will cover general evolutionary theory and: (1) Comparative/Phylogenetic, (2) Developmental, (3) Mechanistic/causal, and (4) Functional/adaptive approaches. 'Hot' research topics will be presented using particulars of these frameworks and will exemplify the spectrum of methods possible to address the origins of mind.

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: Seminar and tutorial/practical each week.

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 100%


Re-assessment: Resubmission of failed item(s) of coursework

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr C L Hobaiter
Module teaching staff: Dr C Hobaiter, Dr G Brown
Module coordinator email clh42@st-andrews.ac.uk

Intended learning outcomes

• explain key features of the human mind and how these fit into the broad spectrum of animal cognition, include to what extent they are or are not shared across other species
• integrate research ideas from across the field and develop their own ideas about what the important next steps would be in order to provide further support for existing hypotheses, or test new ones
• describe how selection can act to shape species' behaviour, as well as their bodies, over evolutionary time. They will be able to describe, using examples from previous research, to what extent species-typical evolutionary behavioural heuristics impact an individual's behaviour
• gained practical skills in a wide range of data collection and data analysis including video, acoustic, and archaeological research methods