Evolutionary Psychology (P01577)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : PPL-P-EP

The course covers both Evolutionary Psychology, and Sociobiology applied to human and animal behaviour*. It will focus particularly on recent research in these areas. It will cover a subset of the following topics: the evolution of cognition; social intelligence; modular conceptions of the mind; the evolution of attractiveness; biological markers (fluctuating asymmetry, 2nd:4th digit ratio, etc.) as predictors of human abilities and personality; individual differences in human reproductive strategies; evolutionary interpretations of language and culture; and sociobiological analyses of aid giving and co-operation, parental behaviour, mate choice and reproductive strategy, conflict resolution and group life.

* 50% of the teaching will be shared with P00172, Animal Communication and Sociobiology.

Venue:
Tuesday - 1.01, 14 Buccleuch Place
Friday - 1.01, 14 Buccleuch Place

? Keywords : Evolutionary psychology, sociobiology, evolution of cognition

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Psychology, (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Schedule I)

Other subject areas

Language Sciences, (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Schedule I)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
15/01/2008	10:00	11:00			1.01, 14 Buccleuch Place

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	10:00	10:50	Central
Lecture	Friday	10:00	10:50	Central

? Additional Class Information : 1 hour on Tu or Fr shared with P00172, Animal Communication and Sociobiology

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this course students will be able to explain and evaluate the ways in which ideas from evolutionary psychology are currently being applied to human behaviour, with a particular focus on applications relevant to human abilities, personality, individual differences in human attractiveness and reproductive strategies, and the evolution of human cognition. They will be able to identify and evaluate the key ideas from animal sociobiology relating to aid-giving, parental behaviour, mate choice, reproductive strategies, and the dynamics of social groups, to give an account of the techniques (including agent-based and game-theoretic models) used in the analysis of these ideas, and evaluate their application to human behaviour.