PSYC611 Outline

The Psychology of Emotion

PSYC611 runs for six weeks from the beginning of Semester 1.

In the first two weeks you will attend four lectures, each covering the topic of emotion from different psychological perspectives: Cognition, Individual Differences, Neuroscience, and Clinical Psychology. These lectures will be assessed by MCQ.

For the remaining four weeks you will choose one of four options. Each option is based on a method of research and analysis aligned with one of the topics taught in the preceding lectures: Experiment, Correlation, fNIRS, or Qualitative.

In week four we will go on a field trip to collect data based on your chosen research method, analyse the data during the workshops, and write it up as a project report for assessment.

The aim of the module is to give you some additional research experience in preparation for your final year project. We therefore recommend that the topic you choose is the one most relevant for your research project. Please therefore consult with your dissertation supervisor as to which would be the best choice. Below is a brief description of each option:

Cognition/Experimental

Our emotions govern our lives and determine most of our behaviour, whether we like it or not. In doing so, our brains take in a wealth of information, assess its relevance, and determine how best to respond, even without us being fully aware of this. Our emotions are also determined by the emotions of other people and what they think of us. In this strand we will look at the relationship between cognition and emotion, and conduct an experiment on the field trip to induce an emotional response and conduct t-tests/ANOVAs on the results.

Individual Differences/Correlation

We all know people who have a sunny disposition, or who have a short fuse, or maybe are quite poker-faced. These common descriptions of people indicate that we do not all experience emotion in the same way, which influences how we interact with the world and other people. In this strand we will look at these individual differences and establish how they relate to emotional experience on the field trip using correlation tests.

Neuroscience/fNIRS

Emotional experience must have some kind of neurological basis, whether it be fear in the amygdala or disgust in the insula. In fact, damage to certain brain areas may affect how one experiences emotions. In this strand we will be using fNIRS to establish the role of the frontal lobe in emotional experience on the field trip and look for differences using t-tests.

Clinical/Qualitative

Emotions are central to our mental health: many if not all mental health conditions have emotions, such as anxiety, as a core component, whilst enjoyable experiences have therapeutic effects for our mental health. In this strand you will be applying qualitative analysis techniques to questionnaire data regarding people’s emotional responses on the field trip.