PSYC3931: Evolution, Culture and Behaviour

• 60 credits from Level 2 Psychology

• None

• None

• To present evolutionary theory as it is applied to human behaviour and to demonstrate how the theory and attendant research can contribute to the scientific understanding of culture and behaviour.

• This module examines the application of cultural and biological evolutionary principles to the understanding of human and nonhuman primate behaviour.
• It will introduce biological evolution with a focus on natural and sexual selection and the different forms of evolutionary behavioural sciences.
• It will also examine cultural evolution including cumulative culture and social learning, and cross-cultural methods in Psychology and Anthropology.
• It will address a number of psychological and behavioural phenomena, which will vary from year to year but are likely to include mate choice, religion and ritual, parental care, kin selection, same-sex competition, primate behavioural ecology, brain and language evolution, cultural evolution, primate cognition and behaviour, comparative primate psychology.
• The module will also cover related conceptual and historical issues in psychology and related fields in biology and anthropology.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Detailed knowledge of evolutionary approaches to human behaviour and that of other primates, including current theory and evidence.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Ability to review critically and consolidate understanding of a coherent body of psychological knowledge and apply it appropriately.

Key Skills:

• Good written communication skills.
• Good IT skills in word processing, data manipulation and data presentation.
• Ability to work independently in scholarship and research within broad guidelines.

• Students' acquisition of detailed knowledge will be facilitated by lectures, within-lecture interactive activities like discussions and small group work, audio-visual materials, discussions, and detailed reading lists.
• These modes of teaching provide students with detailed knowledge of the key theories and the skills needed to evaluate different theoretical positions in light of current evidence.
• The summative exam and essay will assess students' detailed subject knowledge.
• The use of group discussions / small group work will ensure that students are exposed to a range of different theoretical positions and encouraged to understand their inter-relations.
• Lectures, discussions, and small group work will also give students the opportunity to interpret and evaluate the significance of empirical work.
• The summative exam assesses students' acquired knowledge of theoretical principles and empirical studies and their ability to organise and synthesise them coherently and critically in written form in response to a set question.
• The use of a summative written examination will ensure that students' written communication skills are assessed as appropriate for the module.

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