Dr Miriam Tresh

Prof Liam Delaney

This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes.

This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes.

PB400 is a compulsory component of courses: PB401 Contemporary Social and Cultural Psychology; PB402 Organisational and Social Psychology; PB403 Psychology of Economic Life; PB404 The Social Psychology of Communication; PB405 Foundations in Behavioural Science.

The course provides a broad introduction to social, cultural and organisational psychology, and behavioural science, through the lens of cutting-edge research conducted by PBS faculty. Although the topics of research will be diverse, varying year-by-year, the course will draw out the core themes and debates that constitute the current state of the art.

The entry point for each lecture will be ongoing research conducted by faculty within the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science. Through research on a wide range of phenomena, fundamental and cross-cutting concepts will be introduced, such as: attitudes, beliefs, common sense, communication, context, cultural evolution, embodied cognition, entrepreneurship, group work, inequality & social stratification, leadership, motivation, narratives, organisational culture, power & status, science, social change, social identity, values and wellbeing.

The common theme across the course is that the major problems we face today can at least partly be addressed through our understanding of human behaviour. Thus, understanding how people think and act provides a key basis for intervening in those problems. Secondary themes will include: the importance of the micro context in shaping thought and behaviour; the role of institutions, social structures and culture in shaping behaviour more generally; the scope for cultural variation between companies, groups and historical periods; the need for diverse methods and original theory; and, complementarity between lab and field research. Lectures will be informed by emerging PBS priority areas across climate change, political psychology, conflict, AI, well-being, the future of work, organisational change, and inequalities.

Each lecture will be accompanied by a set of target reading to introduce students to cutting debates and topics in psychological and behavioural science. Faculty will present perspectives on these topics and engage in interactive discussion with one another and the students. The aim is to introduce students to a set of the key issues shaping psychological and behavioural science in ways will inform their approach to studying core and half-unit options, their dissertation orientation, and career goals in the area. 

15 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Readings will be distributed at the beginning of each term to reflect the nature of the debates taking place.