University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 10

ECTS credits : 5

Level : SCQF level 11

Semester: 2

Planned timetable: PS5236 Lectures: Tuesdays 9-11; Practicals: Tuesdays one of 2-3:30, 3:30-5; Tutorials TBD (Module runs in Weeks 7-11 only).

This module will address evolutionary and comparative approaches to psychology. The aim is to provide an understanding of major evolutionary forces and how they have shaped animal and human behaviour and psychology. Key principles, concepts and methodologies will be introduced and related to specific topic areas such as the evolution of social behaviour and the evolutionary origins of language and cognition.

Relationship to other modules

Anti-requisite(s): You cannot take this module if you take PS5235

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 1 x 2-hour lecture and 1 x practical/workshop class of up to 3 hours. Additionally 5 x 1-hour tutorials across the semester.

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 100%


Re-assessment: 100% Coursework; Resubmission of failed components only

Personnel

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

Intended learning outcomes

• describe how selection can act to shape our behaviour, as well as our bodies, over evolutionary time.
• describe to what extent behavioural heuristics adapted to our environment of evolutionary selection are relevant to describe modern human behaviour in the 21st Century
• describe which cognitive processes are involved in human language, and how human language fits into the broad spectrum of animal communication systems
• develop and test a hypothesis about human behaviour using a large real-world data set, and then write up the results to communicate their core findings to a scientific audience