Cognitive Processes and the Social World
This module will address key debates in cognitive and social psychology. You will consider how we perceive and process information, how our cognitions help us make sense of our surroundings, how we interact with others and how those interactions are understood and managed.
Teaching on the module will move from a consideration of psychology at an individual level with the focus on cognitive processes, through social cognition (the interplay of cognitive and social psychology), to social psychology in which the role of psychology and social contexts is considered.
In the social psychology sessions we will introduce you to a range of theories relating to social processes and explore social life as it is enacted in contemporary, everyday contexts. Within both cognitive and social psychology we will explore a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives and will demonstrate some of the contrasts and connections between these two approaches to psychology.
On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
- Design, conduct and report an empirical study of human cognition
- Understand and evaluate theory and research in human cognition
- Understand key social psychological concepts, models and theoretical orientations which underpin contemporary social psychology research
- Critically apply a social psychological topic to a chosen real life situation.
This module will critically explore contemporary theories, research and debates relating to both social psychology and higher cognitive processes. Topics covered include:
- Perception
- Attention
- Human memory
- Thinking
- Language
- Social cognition
- Group processes
- Identity
- Attribution theory
- Attitudes
- Close relationship.
