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Social Interaction - PSY00046H

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• Department: Psychology
• Module co-ordinator: Dr. Cade McCall
• Credit value: 20 credits
• Credit level: H
• Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
  • See module specification for other years: 2020-21 2021-22

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching cycle
A	Spring Term 2022-23

Module aims

Social interactions are central to everyday life. We use them to learn, discuss ideas, collaborate, address conflict and cultivate relationships. But understanding their interdependent and dynamic nature presents a considerable challenge to psychology and neuroscience. This module explores this challenge in detail, examining how cognition, affect, physiology and behavior unfold during face-to-face interactions.

Module learning outcomes

• Describe methods for assessing subjective experience, physiology and behavior during social interactions.
• Provide examples of ways in which social cognition during an interaction differs from “offline” processing of social stimuli.
• Discuss the role of interpersonal distance, interpersonal touch and chemosignaling during face-to-face interactions.
• Describe emotional and stress contagion.
• Discuss factors that influence performance and decision-making within groups.
• Discuss important findings regarding behavioural and physiological synchrony.

Module content

• Nonverbal communication
• Mental state inferences
• Physiological and behavioral synchrony
• Group performance and decision-making
• Intergroup relations

Assessment

Task	Length	% of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) Social Interaction	5 hours	100

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task	Length	% of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) Social Interaction	5 hours	100

Module feedback

The marks on all assessed work will be provided on e-vision.

These marks will be accompanied by module feedback forms which will be circulated by e-mail.

Students will meet supervisors in wk 6 in AuT, SpT and wk 9 in SuT to discuss their marks.

Indicative reading

Sample Reading:

De Jaegher, H., Di Paolo, E., & Gallagher, S. (2010). Can social interaction constitute social cognition? Trends in cognitive sciences, 14(10), 441-447.

McCall, C. (2016). Mapping Social Interactions: The Science of Proxemics. In M. Wöhr Sören Krach (Eds.), Social Behavior from Rodents to Humans: Neural Foundations and Clinical Implications. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences.

Schilbach, L., Timmermans, B., Reddy, V., Costall, A., Bente, G., Schlicht, T., & Vogeley, K. (2013). Toward a second-person neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(04), 393-414.

Woolley, A. W., Aggarwal, I., & Malone, T. W. (2015). Collective Intelligence and Group Performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(6), 420-424.