Course Syllabus
Learning area
2: Research methods in experimental psychological sciences
Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding
- Students will acquire foundational knowledge of experimental paradigms using cognitive and behavioural measures
- They will understand how cognitive processes (e.g., intuition, deliberation) influence human behaviour.
Applying knowledge and understanding
- Students will learn to apply theoretical concepts and experimental data to real life behaviors, like cooperation, altruism, and more.
- They will acquire practical skills in implementing psychological tasks and interpreting results in light of relevant theories.
Making judgment
- Students will learn to assess experimental studies using cognitive and behavioral measures (e.g., RTs, Stroop task), recognizing methodological strengths and limitations.
- Students will develop the ability to design original studies, selecting appropriate tools to investigate social psychological constructs like cooperation and altruism.
Communication Skills
- Students will practice communicating research findings clearly to both expert and non-expert audiences, using appropriate disciplinary language.
- Through group work, students will learn to present research ideas and collaborate effectively in English within teams.
Learning Skills
- Students will learn how to search and critically review scientific literature to support the development of new research ideas.
- Students will develop the ability to stay updated on new tools and methods in cognitive and behavioral research.
Contents
Experimental psychology makes large use of behavioral measures to study psychological functions and, more in general, to build theories of cognition. During this course, students will familiarize with the main experimental paradigms and designs of cognitive psychology and how they are implemented. Students will deepen the theoretical knowledge of paradigms and designs proper of cognitive psychology; at the same time, they will acquire basic knowledge on how to implement them as computerized experiments.
Finally, students will also work on behavioral data analysis (reaction times, ego-depletion, cognitive load data) with the aim to reach a good understanding of the behavioral measures and how to treat them.
Detailed program
How to define experimental variables: Behaviours, operationalizations, variables and confounds.
How to define behavioral measures and paradigms to study human cognition.
Experimental methods to manipulate cognitive processes (time constraints,
ego depletion, cognitive load, two-response paradigm, conceptual inductions).
Behavioral paradigms for the study of social behavior.
The dual-process approach to human sociality.
Meta-studies, mega-studies, crowdsourcing and online data collection: the use(fulness) of open science resources.
Experimental design: Develop your own experiment.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of statistics. Basic knowledge of softwares for experiment (e.g., Qualtrics) knowledge of general psychology.
Teaching methods
Delivered teaching (50%). Frontal lectures.
Interactive teaching (50%). Group works.
Attendance is mandatory for at least 70% of the classes. Failure to meet this minimum attendance requirement may result in not passing the course.
Assessment methods
The course will be assessed on a pass/fail basis only. There is no final exam; evaluation will be based on active participation and any assignments or activities carried out during the course. Specifically, students will be asked to implement, administer, and present (in the last class) preliminary results of a behavioral experiment (starting from one in-class example, students are asked to develop a novel experiment or reproduce an experiment from literature). The ability of students to appreciate the methodological value of an empirical study, implement a simple behavioral experiment, and inspect behavioral data will be assessed.
Textbooks and Reading Materials
Capraro, V. (2024). The dual-process approach to human sociality: Meta-analytic evidence for a theory of internalized heuristics for self-preservation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Key information
Staff
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Valerio Capraro