Cognition in Clinical Contexts

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

This module will introduce you to the aims, methods, theories and empirical findings associated with a scientific approach to studying the human mind. You will learn how psychologists develop models of cognitive function that are tested against data from behavioural studies of healthy individuals, as well as from individuals with brain damage or psychopathology. The module will cover five core topics: perception, attention, memory, thinking and language. Each topic will begin with one or two background lectures that introduce key concepts and experimental approaches. The background lectures are followed by a lecture which addresses the topic from a neuropsychological approach, considering how that aspect of cognition is affected by brain injury - covering material such as agnosia, dyslexia and amnesia - as well as a lecture covering the topic from a more psychopathological approach - covering material such as attentional biases in anxiety and disordered thought in schizophrenia.

Individuals and Groups

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

All psychology undergraduates at Sussex take this module, which introduces you to the central ideas and findings of social psychology. You will learn the theories, methods, empirical findings and applications of social psychology. The module does not require any prior knowledge of psychology.

Introduction to American Studies

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

What is American studies? What makes what we do American studies as opposed to just plain historical or literary studies? This module examines the history and development of the discipline and explores key debates using an archive of seminal essays by leading figures that highlight the key problems and developments in the field.

Issues to be discussed may include:

• an American 'tradition'
• interdisciplinarity
• popular culture
• American ethnicity and race
• masculinity and gender
• media
• environment
• America as 'global village'.

Psychobiology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

This is a first-year core module that offers students a first overview of the various topic areas relevant to understanding human and non-human animal behavior from a biological and/or evolutionary perspective.

The module begins by discussing the basic anatomy of the peripheral and central nervous systems (brain and spinal cord), as well as the structure and physiological function of nervous cells (neurons), including synaptic neurotransmission, hormonal actions, and intracellular electrical processes. Additionally, an introduction to systems neuropsychology is given and the effects of drugs on neuronal functioning are discussed.

Next, brain-behaviour relations are discussed in greater detail focusing on three broad topic areas: First, the biological basis of emotions are considered from a hormonal and brain systems perspective. Second, essential motivated behaviors are considered by exploring both homeostatic and non-homeostatic peripheral and central mechanisms underlying drinking and eating behaviour. Third, the brain mechanisms that allow organisms to acquire, store and retrieve new information and alter their behaviours are discussed focussing on historical and recent experimental findings from studies on human- and non-human learning and memory.

The final section of the module takes a more evolutionary perspective to explore how many components and aspect of human behaviour have been shaped by adaptation and selection, relying on field studies into the foundations of animal behaviour.

Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

This module examines the historical origins, perspectives, theories, methods, and empirical findings of research in the area of developmental psychology, with attention given to cognitive, language, social, emotional, and atypical development. The core emphasis will be on major theories and research findings regarding psychological processes during infancy, childhood and adolescence. The module does not require any prior knowledge of psychology.

Research Skills in Psychology 1

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

This module will introduce you to some of the skills necessary for conducting psychological research. You will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the methods that psychologists use in order to obtain data on behaviour (eg the advantages and disadvantages of techniques such as experiments, questionnaires and psychometric tests). You will be taught how to analylse data quantitatively, using statistical techniques. This will include learning about the logic behind statistical methods (eg sampling theory and hypothesis testing), as well as learning under what circumstances various statistical tests are appropriate.

You will be taught how to use SPSS to produce descriptive and inferential statistics and graphs. Various statistical tests will be taught, up to the level of one-way Analysis of Variance. You will be shown how to produce written reports of their fundings and conclusions, using the discipline's presentation conventions, as set out by the American Psychological Association. You will be given some insight into the ethical issues that surround experimentation on human beings.

Research Skills in Psychology 2

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

The aim of this module is to introduce students to some of the skills necessary for conducting psychological research. This module focuses on the skills required for analysing the data obtained from experimental and quasi-experimental studies in psychology. It is therefore complementary to Research Skills 1, which focuses more on observational methods in psychology.

• You will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of experimental and quasi-experimental methods used by psychologists, and how to design methodologically-sound experimental studies.
• You will be taught how to analyse data quantitatively, using statistical techniques. This will include learning about the logic behind statistical methods (eg probability, sampling distributions, sampling theory and hypothesis testing), as well as learning under what circumstances various statistical tests are appropriate. Various statistical tests will be taught, such as z-score based hypothesis testing; single and two-sample t-tests including independent measures and repeated measures t-tests; independent and repeated measures analysis of variance, ANOVA. You will be taught how to use SPSS and Excel to produce descriptive statistics and graphs, and do inferential statistics.
• You will be shown how to produce a graphic poster and written reports of your findings and conclusions, using the discipline's presentation conventions, as set out by the American Psychological Association.
• You will be taught various research-related IT skills, including how to make web searches, and how to use Excel and SPSS to perform statistical tests and display data.
• You will be given some insight into the ethical issues that surround experimentation on human beings.

By the end of the module, you should be familiar with the techniques that most psychologists use in order to conduct research; be able to perform various statistical tests by hand and by the use of SPSS; be able to produce a poster and lab-reports that conform to the conventions for published psychology journal articles; and you should have started to be able to understand and critically evaluate the methodological aspects of published research.

The Look of America

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

This module takes as its premise the notion that ever since the explosion of mass media and mass society in the industrial age, the United States has taken an increasingly dominant place in the global visual imagination. This process reached its peak at the beginning of the twentieth century, and since then America has generated for the world innumerable iconic and hegemonic visual representations of its own cultural narratives.

The task of this module will be to explore and deconstruct some of these visual representations, along with the ideologies and narratives that sustain and refract them. You will begin with an introduction to visual theory, especially as it applies to the American context, and acquire the critical tools necessary for the module. You will then locate the period under scrutiny within a broader visual and cultural 'prehistory', illuminating the roots of the modern world and its visual scene.

After this, you will concentrate on the culture of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Taking a thematic approach, you will examine the issues that emerge over the module of the twentieth century, referring forwards and backwards in order to generate connections where appropriate. The intention here is to introduce you to aspects of visual culture and its criticism, as well as to defamiliarise and explore some of the more familiar American iconography surrounding us.

Brain and Behaviour

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module provides an introduction to brain mechanisms and behaviour. Topics covered will normally include: functional neuroanatomy of the human brain; ionic mechanisms underlying the nerve action potential; synapses and neurotransmission; neuropharmacology of commonly used anxiolytic drugs; neural mechanisms in emotion and motor behaviour; and neural mechanisms underlying plasiticity and learning.

Cognitive Psychology

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

The module will comprise 24 one-hour lectures, two two-hour practicals and two one-hour seminars (linked to the practicals). The lectures will provide a broad coverage of cognitive psychology topics, from basic perception to thinking. Lectures will include material on individual differences where appropriate.

Sensory systems and visual perception: 

1. Introduction to the sensory systems
2. Physiology and psychophysics of perception
3. Theories of perception
4. The visual system

Sound & speech perception: 

1. Sound production and perception
2. Speech production and perception
3. Categorical perception of speech sounds
4. Evolution of speech and language

Attention: 

1. Attention: What in the devil is it?
2. Listen Up! The better to hear the world
3. Eyes RIGHT! The better to see the world
4. Select or Else! The better to act upon the world

Memory: 

1. Short term and working memory
2. Encoding in Long term memory
3. Forgetting and Retrieval
4. Implicit Memory

Language: 

1. Word meaning and concepts
2. Word reading and dyslexia (will include material on individual differences)
3. Text comprehension (also material on individual differences)
4. Language and thought 

Thinking: 

1. Problem Solving
2. Expertise and Creativity
3. Hypothesis Testing and Everyday Reasoning
4. Rationality and Irrationality

Practical 1: Categorical perception of speech sounds.
Practical 2: Reading equipment

Developmental Psychology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

This module provides you with a basic grounding in developmental psychology from birth to adulthood. Examples of topics that may be covered include: prenatal development; perceptual development; attachment; temperament; theories of cognitive development; children’s understanding of the world; conceptual change; gender development; adolescent development; and language development. 

Discovering Statistics

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

Discovering statistics has two components: (1) statistical analysis and (2) empirical research. The empirical project enables you to carry out independent research that will develop skills in experimental research. This project helps to prepare you for your final empirical research project. The statistical analysis parts of the module build upon existing knowledge of statistical theory to enable you to analyse more complex data structures through understanding the general linear model (regression, ANOVA etc.). Practical classes compliment the lectures by providing guidance on applying the general linear model using SPSS, advice on designing and executing projects, and conducting experimental research

Social Psychology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

This module provides an overview of major theories, methods, research findings and debates in social psychology. You will examine classic studies and current findings and evaluate published research reports. The module covers basic intergroup and intragroup processes, such as social influence, group membership and identity, prejudice and contact between groups. It also examines key areas of social cognition, including attitudes and attributions, and the cognitive construction of self and others.

Social Research Methods in Psychology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

This module complements the term 1 module 'Discovering Statistics'. It has three components:

• statistical analysis for questionnaire construction and interpretation
• observational methods
• qualitative data-gathering and analysis

There are two assessed empirical reports using some of these techniques, which will enable you to develop skills in research design, data-gathering and analysis and which will therefore prepare you for your final-year empirical research project. The statistical analysis parts of the module build upon existing knowledge of statistical theory (in both Year 1 and the term 1 module of year 2). Practical workshops complement the lectures by providing hands-on experience and guidance in using the methods, both with SPSS, and through small group work on relevant tasks.

American Cities: New Orleans

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

American Cities: New York

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

From New Amsterdam to 9/11 and beyond, New York has always been iconic. We experience the Big Apple through the sounds and sights that came before us: the movies, the music, the literature, the songs. But what goes on behind these images of ceaseless activity and glamour? Now the hub of global finace, New York was also a haven for immigrants, with Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty sitting right there in its harbour. Because of its diversity of population and ever-changing urban development, we will in this module be looking at the city from many perspectives, and find that to study its history and culture is to discover that the city that never sleeps never ceases to pose questions either.

Pulp Culture: American Popular Literature

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

Popular literature is often overlooked in favour of what is considered more highbrow literary culture, yet an understanding of the cultural history of a nation necessitates an examination of what was popular as well as what became canonical.

This module enables an examination of a variety of mass-produced popular American literatures from the 18th and 19th centuries through to the 20th, from early magazines and comics, dime novels, Westerns and juvenile or sentimental literature, to 'hardboiled' crime fiction, self-help books and 'middlebrow' bestsellers of the 20th century. You will look at the relationship between 'high' and 'low' fiction, as well as examining how the mode of production affected the literature produced at the time. You will also explore both the writing styles that developed as well as the reception and cultural circulation of texts. Included in this will be a consideration of the way that issues of gender, class and race in America affected the discourses of the popular narratives that we will be looking at and how we can understand the society that they emerged from more fully as a result of looking at them.

The African American Experience

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module examines the rich history of African Americans in the United States, from 1863 to the present. One of your main objectives will be to contextualise and analyse the debates, disagreements, and downright fights that African Americans have had among themselves between emancipation and the beginnings of the modern Civil Rights Movement, thus establishing a deep historical understanding of the ongoing freedom struggle in the late 20th- and early 21st centuries.

You will critique arguments over the proper relationship of blacks to the US government, over racial and class identities, and over diverse tactics and strategies for the advancement of the race. In addition, the lectures will interrogate the connections between African American history and its broader, more diffuse, cultural mythology.  Full attention is given not only to well-known black leaders - such as Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and Martin Luther King - but also to less celebrated figures such as Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker.

American Mandatory Year Abroad - American Studies

120 credits
Undergraduate academic year, Year 3

Empirical Project

45 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 4

The empirical project taken by students in their final year is an opportunity for you to gain first-hand experience of carrying out a piece of psychological research under the supervision of a member of faculty. The empirical project consolidates and extends the research skills acquired in you in the second year and involves the conducting, analysing and writing up of a piece of empirical research. As part of this, you will experience and solve a range of the practical, methodological, conceptual and ethical problems which are typical within the research process.

Perspectives on Psychology

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

Altruism and Helping: the psychology of caring about and for others

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

The module explores psychological antecedents, correlates, and consequences of 'positive other regard', that is, of altruistic and related thoughts and actions such as helping, moral development, and citizenship behaviour. You will consider how altruism should be conceptualised and recognised, both in absolute terms and relative to potentially related concepts such as aggression. You will draw on a variety of sub­-disciplines of psychology in order to examine biological, cognitive, developmental, personality, and social psychological approaches to understanding altruism. You will give particular consideration to how well psychological knowledge may be used to promote altruism

Animal Vocal Communication

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

Biological Bases of Mental Disorders

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

Prerequisite: Brain and Behaviour or equivalent module

The module examines the biochemical and anatomical bases of selected clinical disorders; it considers drug models (both animal and human) developed to understand the clinical condition and approaches to treatment, and examines the relationship between biochemical effects and behavioural and cognitive changes. Topics covered include anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

Clinical Psychology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

This module will give you an insight into aetiology, assessment, treatment, and service provision in clinical psychology in the UK. Selected topics covering adult psychological disorders, child and adolescent problems, the neuropsychology of psychological disorders, and learning disabilities are presented mainly by practising clinical psychologists with expertise in these areas. At the end of the module you should be able to describe theories of the aetiology of a selected range of disorders, and compare treatment used across a range of disorders and client groups.

Cognitive Neuroscience

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

This module provides you with an understanding of how research in cognitive neuroscience has informed our understanding of the cognitive processes engaged by the brain. Evidence is drawn from a wide variety of methods, including case studies of brain-damaged individuals, electrical recordings of 'brainwaves', and neuroimaging using fMRI.

The lectures will be organised around a series of different cognitive processes including vision, face recognition, attention, executive function and language. You will also explore newer areas of research in cognitive neuroscience, including emotional processes, social neuroscience, and music in the brain.

Conflict & Cooperation in Social Groups

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

Conflict and cooperation cuts across the whole of biology and can be studied among genes or among organisms, in societies of micro-organisms, animals and humans, and also in multi-species mutualisms. It is relevant both in the origin of life and in modern-day organisms and societies. The module focuses on factors affecting the balance between conflict and cooperation in human society, vertebrate societies including primates and cooperative breeders, mutualism partners, and genes within organisms. There are eight lectures followed by six two-hour seminars covering research papers in a single area. In the first of these seminars the research papers are presented by the faculty, and in the others by you and your coursemates.

Conscious and Unconscious Mental Processes

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

This course will explore the existence and nature of conscious and unconscious mental processes in the domains of learning, memory, perception, and volition.

Drugs, Brain and Behaviour

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

Economic and Consumer Psychology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

Consumer culture has become such a pervasive aspect of everyday life that it has profound psychological effects. This module investigates everyday economic and consumer behaviour from a mainly psychological and social psychological perspective (some sociological and economic readings are also included). The topics it covers can be described under three broad core themes: the rationality or irrationality of consumers and economic actors; aspects of economic and consumer life, including managing personal finances, material possessions and shopping (ordinary and compulsive); and social and cultural influences, including materialistic values, money and happiness, and advertising.

Fear and Anxiety in Children

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

Anxiety is the most prevalant psychological disorder of childhood, but how do children become anxious? 

This module looks at the developmental pattern of non-clinical fears in children and asks how these nonclinical fears turn into pervasive fears and phobias. The module has two main themes: the appropriateness of adult models of anxiety to children (eg the problems in applying diagnotstic, treatment and etiological models based on adults to child populations), and the factors contributing to the development of pre-­teenage anxiety. This latter theme is explored by looking at temperament, family (parenting), and learning.

Gestural Communication in Apes and Human Infants

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

With humans in Western cultures, the ability to follow and direct another's attention develops near the end of the first year of life, with increasing specificity developing over the second year. 

Although almost all human developmental researchers agree on the empirical facts of typical development, there is intense theoretical debate over the cognitive bases of this developmental profile. Joint attention has been characterized, at one extreme, as the manifestation of mammalian learning processes in human caregiving environments, and at the other extreme, as evidence for a human species­-specific cognitive adaptation for definite reference. Joint attention is a socio­cognitive skill that sits at the intersection of theoretical accounts of language acquisition, semiotics, the neurobiology of communication, the philosophy of mind, and the evolution of language. 

This module looks at how humans, and our nearest living relatives the great apes, discriminate visual attention in others and manipulate the visual attention of others through manual gestures. 

Among the questions we will consider are: is joint attention a necessary pre­requisite for language acquisition? Does pointing develop out of failed reaching gestures? Do apes point and what does it matter if they do? Does joint attention facilitate the acquisition of words? Does joint attention by babies index an early theory of mind? Why is joint attention so critical in the clinical description of children with autism? How do people point in other cultures (hint: not everybody points with their index finger)? How does pointing illuminate or confuse spoken discourse? 

You will critically evaluate contemporary research in the fields of developmental psychology, comparative psychology, ethology, and developmental clinical psychopathology. You will produce oral presentations of your evaluations, culminating in a final essay. 

Health Psychology

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

Human Vocal Communication

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

Prerequisites: ideally at least one of Psychobiology, or Perception and Attention, or equivalent

This module takes you from the production of vocalisations in mammals to the development and perception of human speech. We cover: the anatomy of the vocal apparatus in mammals (including humans); the production of mammal (including human) vocal signals and how this shapes their acoustic structure; the key differences between animal vocalisations and human speech; the structure of speech; adult speech perception; child speech perception including how children learn to perceive speech; everyday speech perception; and the evolution of speech, with emphasis on the precursors of human speech in animal vocal communication systems, including anatomical adaptations, and what hominid fossils tell us.

Intelligence in Animals and Machines

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

The module will develop your understanding of what it means for an animal or a machine to behave intelligently, and how brain and behavioural systems are adapted to enable an animal to cope effectively within its environment. You will consider diverse aspects of intelligence, including navigation and motor control, numerical, language, memory and social skills. You will explore how these are related to one another and how they are matched to the particular needs of animals and machines.

Modern Human Evolution

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

Modern humans started to spread from Africa about 100,000 years ago. This module includes investigation of the evidence we have for their subsequent evolution in terms of phylogeography, morphology and archaeology. This is related to general questions about evolutionary response to environmental factors such as disease and climate as well as looking critically at what we can deduce about past cultural evolution. The module concludes by considering human evolution in the present.

Organisational Psychology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

The module explores the application of psychology to a wide range of issues relating to work organisations. Theories from mainstream psychology regarding issues such as social identity, group decision-making, stereotyping, leadership, cross-cultural interaction and motivation inform detailed discussion of key topics in organisational psychology. These include: work motivation and work behaviour; selection and appraisal systems; group processes, teamwork and leadership; organisational structure and culture; organisational change and development; and gender and cultural diversity in the workplace.

Positive Psychology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

Positive psychology is a movement within psychology that explores the psychology of strength and virtue, with a focus on positive subjective experience (such as happiness and optimism), positive individual traits (such as the capacity for love) and the positive institutions that "move individuals toward better citizenship" (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000:5). It emerged towards the end of the last century as a deliberate attempt to counterbalance what its protagonists perceived to be a distortion in the field arising from prevailing concerns in psychology with pathology and dysfunction. The goal was to rebalance the field. In this module we will explore topics within the field of positive psychology, such as happiness, optimism, mindfulness, self-affirmation, and benefit finding, and do so with a critical eye. The aim will be to examine the evidence for the claims made in each case. It will not be possible to present a comprehensive coverage of the area, our choice of topics will naturally be selective but students on the course should, through their studies, acquire an informed understanding of the principal strengths and weaknesses of this area of research.

Psychobiology of Cognitive Ageing and Dementia

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

This module examines the biochemical and neuro-anatomical bases of normal and abnormal cognitive aging.  You will look at the clinical and functional consequences of age­related changes in cognitive performance; the aetiology of abnormal changes, including organic dementias of different origins; and the underlying physiology that supports these changes. You will examine current treatment options and future treatment possibilities, including both drug and psychotherapeutic alternatives.

Psychological Perspectives on Self and Identity

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

Psychological research has shown that in many ways our thoughts, feelings, motives and actions depend on who we think we are: our self-concepts or identities. This module explores classic and contemporary psychological accounts of self and identity processes. Coverage is broad, encompassing a thorough and critical examination of key theories and debates in social psychology - drawing also on developmental, cross-cultural, social constructionist and philosophical perspectives - as well as considering the implications of these theories for real-world issues, such as subjective well-being, health behaviours, personal relationships, prejudice and politics. The module encourages and rewards independent and critical thinking about these issues.

Psychology in Education

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

This module examines the role that psychological research can play in understanding and supporting educational processes. Lectures introduce material on broad theoretical perspectives concerning children’s learning (eg cognitive development and socio-motivational factors), as well as specific aspects of children’s academic development (eg key curriculum areas such as literacy, numeracy and special educational needs). You will have an opportunity to share your evaluations of empirical research in seminars, and will work in depth on a topic of your choice. Throughout the module, you will be encouraged to consider the implications of psychological research for designing and implementing practical strategies to support learning and socio-emotional development in the educational context.

Psychology of Collective Action

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

This module is about crowd behaviour - in particular riots, 'disorderly' protests, and other (conflictual) forms of collective action.

The module has four aims: The first is to understand the context within which psychological theories of crowd behaviour first emerged, and hence to analyse the historical and social determinants of these theories of the crowd. A second aim of the module is to analyse these psychological theories of the crowd and to consider the criteria for an adequate crowd psychology. The third aim is to examine the interrelationship between collective (intergroup) dynamics and psychological change in crowd contexts.

This module builds on knowledge gained in the core psychology module C8035: 'Social Psychology'. Students who are not enrolled on the BSc in Psychology at Sussex are expected to be familiar with the material covered in that module.

Reading, Writing and Dyslexia

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

This module explores how literacy skills develop in children, and relates this development (and abnormalities in development) to theoretical models of skilled reading (both word reading and comprehension). The main topics covered include the beginnings of literacy and the course of reading development (including both word identification and comprehension processes); phonological and metalinguistic skills and reading; developmental reading problems (developmental dyslexia, hyperlexia and comprehension difficulties) and their diagnosis and remediation; methods of teaching reading; the relation between reading and spelling development; and writing systems and writing development.

Sensory and Motor Functions of the Nervous System

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

Perceiving and acting upon the environment is something at which humans are expert. How does this ability to represent and act on visual and other sensory entities come about? Cognitive neuroscience is a diverse and interdisciplinary field of study that investigates the complex interplay of mental and brain function. This module provides an in-depth survey and analysis of behavioural observations, theoretical accounts, electrophysiological studies and imaging results on selected topics in cognitive neuroscience. Topics include: connections between sensory and motor function; cross-modal interaction; movement and event perception; development and plasticity of the nervous system; neural prediction and visual constancies; and compensation.

Social Cognitive Development

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

This module considers aspects of development that reflect the social nature of humans. You will cover three broad areas: social cognition (such as normal development of folk psychology and its apparent absence in autism), self­-reflective capabilities (such as the growth of self­-consciousness and shyness) and understanding aspects of the person (such as cross-­cultural concepts of the person and concepts of emotion). You will consider the role of cognitive development and social context in children's developing understanding of themselves and others. The module enables you to study a chosen topic in depth, while also making links to the other topics.

Social Insects

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

The eusocial insects comprise approximately 20,000 species of ants, termites, bees and wasps. Eusociality in these groups has evolved 20­-100 million years ago on approximately 10 occasions and has given rise to highly ­organized societies with up to 20 million individuals. Eusocial insects are of great economic and ecological importance. They are also key model systems in many important areas of biology.

The module is divided into several parts:

1) general background material on social insects, focusing in greater detail on four contrasting areas in which research on social insects is particularly active

2) inclusive fitness theory and relatedness

3) how insect societies are organised

4) another special topic relevant to social insect biology, such as mutualisms and symbioses involving social insects; the ecological importance of social insects; the evolution of eusociality in insects; or using social insects to investigate sensory physiology (topics will vary each year)

There will also be two laboratory sessions from a range including: the honey bee waggle dance, nestmate recognition and guarding in honey bees, organisation of ant trail systems, and reproductive queueing in Polistes wasps.

Structure and Function in the Brain

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4

The Social Psychology of Prejudice

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 4

The module aims to build on your knowledge of intergroup relations gained in years 1 and 2 to provide an advanced social psychological analysis of the causes and cures of prejudice. It is organised into two major sections: individual: personality accounts; categorisation; stereotypes; automatic and controlled aspects of prejudice; modern forms of prejudice; and social: developmental aspects of prejudice; prejudice from the victim's perspective; prejudice as a response to perceived social disadvantage; intergroup emotions and prejudice; and reducing prejudice.

Topics in Cognitive Development

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 4