Course Syllabus

Semester & Location:	Spring 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Human Development, Neuroscience and Psychology
Prerequisite(s):	One semester of neuroscience, physiological psychology, or biological psychology course at university level.
Faculty Members:	Angela Mastropasqua (current students please contact via the Canvas Inbox)
Program Contact:	Department email address psy.cns@dis.dk
Time & Place:	Monday and Thursday, 10:05-11:25 Classroom: Fi6-Metro 104
Office Hours:	Thursday, 13.00-14.00 (please email me to schedule the meeting)

 

Description of Course

Pre-requisite: One semester of neuroscience, physiological psychology, or biological psychology course at university level.

Human beings are inherently social creatures, yet relatively little attention has been paid to social influences on the brain. The primary goal of this course will be to begin to explore the neural basis of social interaction, and the neural basis of beliefs about our social world.  Contributions from social cognitive neuroscience and social psychology will be addressed and emphasis will be placed on analysis of primary literature investigating social, environmental, and cultural influences on human brain processes.  

 

Goals and learning outcomes tailored for this course are summarized below.

Course Goals	Description
1	Explore the neural basis of social interaction, and the neural basis of beliefs about our social world.
2	Contributions from social cognitive neuroscience and social psychology will be addressed and emphasis will be placed on analysis of primary literature investigating social, environmental, and cultural influences on human brain processes.

 

Learning Outcome	Description
1	Understand how to read an academic paper in the field of neuroscience.
2	Identify and explain key concepts in the field of neuroscience.
3	Analyse how neuroscientists can measure social behaviours.
4	Design and develop ways of using social cognitive neuroscience evidence in their everyday life.

 

Faculty

Angela Mastropasqua: Ph.D. (Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Systemic Neuroscience, LMU Munich , 2020). M.Sc. (Psychology, University of Turin, 2013). B.A. (Psychological Sciences and Techniques, University of Bari, 2010). Research interest in higher brain functions studied with a multi-techniques approach, in particular combining non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) and neuroimaging.  

 

Readings

1. Required Textbooks (available at DIS library): As this course draws on both social psychology and social neuroscience, materials will be provided from both disciplines.

• Social Psychology Textbook: Hewstone, M., Stroebe, W., & Jonas, K. (2012). An introduction to Social Psychology (5th ed.). London: Blackwell.
• Social Neuroscience Textbook: Ward (2017). The Student's Guide to Social Neuroscience (2nd ed.). Hove: Psychology Press.

2. Articles (on Canvas):

• Adolphs, R. (2001). The neurobiology of social cognition. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 11: pp. 231 239.
• Carter, E. J. & Pelphrey, K. A. (2008). Friend or for? Brain systems involved in the perception of dynamic signals of menacing and friendly social approaches. Social Neuroscience 3(2): pp. 151-163.
• Castelli, et al. (2002). Autism, Asperger Syndrome and brain mechanisms for the attribution of mental states to animated shapes. Brain 125: pp. 1839-1849.
• Charpentier, C. J., & O’Doherty, J. P. (2018). The application of computational models to social neuroscience: promises and pitfalls. Social Neuroscience, 13(6), 637–647. 
• Cheng (2010). Love hurts: An FMRI study. Neuroimage 51: pp: 923-929.
• Corrigall, E. A., & Konrad, A. M. (2007). Gender Role Attitudes and Careers: A Longitudinal Study. Sex Roles, 56(11–12), 847–855. 
• Deen, B., Koldewyn, K., Kanwisher, N., & Saxe, R. (2015). Functional Organization of Social Perception and Cognition in the Superior Temporal Sulcus. Cerebral Cortex, 25(11), 4596–4609.
• Derks, B., Inzlicht, M., & Kang, S. (2008). The Neuroscience of Stigma and Stereotype Threat. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 11(2), 163–181.
• Dunbar (2007). Evolution in the Social Brain. Science 317: pp. 1344-1347.
• Ebner, N. C., Johnson, M. K., & Fischer, H. (2012). Neural Mechanisms of Reading Facial Emotions in Young and Older Adults. Frontiers in psychology, 3, 223.
• Edelson, M., et al. (2011). Following the crowd: brain substrates of long-term memory conformity. Science, 1(333): pp. 108-111.
• Eisenberger, et al. (2003) Does rejection hurt? Science, 302: pp. 290-292
• Frith, U. & Frith, D. (2003). Development and neurophysiology of mentalizing. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B.
• Heatherton, T. F. (2011). Neuroscience of Self and Self-Regulation. Annual Review of Psychology, 62(1), 363–390.
• Lovell, M. (2006). Caring for the elderly: changing perceptions and attitudes. In J Vasc Nurs. Mar;24(1):22-6.
• McDermott, Fowler, & Christakis (2013). Breaking Up is Hard to Do, Unless Everyone Else is Doing it Too: Social Network Effects on Divorce in a Longitudinal Sample. In Soc Forces. 2013 92(2): 491–519.
• Ochsner, K. N. & Lieberman, M. D. (2001). The emergence of social cognitive neuroscience. American Psychologist, 56: pp. 717-734.
• Pitcher, D. (2014). Facial Expression Recognition Takes Longer in the Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus than in the Occipital Face Area. Journal of Neuroscience, 34(27), 9173–9177.
• Sato, W., & Uono, S. (2019). The atypical social brain network in autism: advances in structural and functional MRI studies. Current Opinion in Neurology, 32(4), 617–621.
• Saxe, R., Schulz, L. E., & Jiang, Y. V. (2006). Reading minds versus following rules: Dissociating theory of mind and executive control in the brain. Social Neuroscience, 1(3–4), 284–298.
• Schurz, M. (2020). Toward a hierarchical model of social cognition: A neuroimaging meta-analysis and integrative review of empathy and theory of mind. Psychological Bulletin, 147(3), 293.
• Tso, I. F., Rutherford, S., Fang, Y., Angstadt, M., & Taylor, S. F. (2018). The “social brain” is highly sensitive to the mere presence of social information: An automated meta-analysis and an independent study. PLOS ONE, 13(5), e0196503.
• Vogeley, K. & Fink, G. R. (2003). Neural correlates of the first-person-perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7: pp. 38-42.
• Willingham, D. T., & Dunn, E. W. (2003). What neuroimaging and brain localization can do, cannot do and should not do for social psychology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(4), 662–671.
• Yoder, K. J., & Decety, J. (2018). The neuroscience of morality and social decision-making. Psychology, Crime & Law, 24(3), 279–295.
• Zhu, et al. (2007). Neural basis of cultural influence on self-representation. NeuroImage 34: pp. 1310–1316.
• Zilbovicius, M., Meresse, I., Chabane, N., Brunelle, F., Samson, Y., & Boddaert, N. (2006). Autism, the superior temporal sulcus and social perception. Trends in Neurosciences, 29(7), 359–366.

 

Approach to Teaching

This course will be taught using a combination of methods. There is a strong emphasis on participation and class discussions and while I am responsible for the overall structure of the class, all of us will contribute to the production of knowledge. 

 

Required Readings 

 

Methods of Evaluation and Grading

Learning	Assignments	Scaffolding	Individual/Group	Format	Percentage
Term Long	Participation	First Half (10%)	Individual	Active participation in the classroom and online.	20%
		Second Half (10%)	Individual
Foundational	Short Analytical Papers	Paper 1 is a learning experience discussed by the class.	Group	1,000 words based on one article supplied by instructor with at least 3 peer-reviewed articles.	5%
		Paper 2 is an individual effort.	Individual		10%
Foundational	Midterm “Concept Check”	—	Individual		20%
Foundational	Field Study	—	Individual (with optional group sections)	Field Study Journal	10%
Creative	Research Project	Unstructured Brainstorming	Individual/Class Discussion	Unstructured	Ungraded
		Project Pitch	Assign Small Groups	Oral presentation	5%
		Bibliography	Group	1 page	5%
		Analytical Paper	Group	2,000 words based on one article chosen by the students with at least 3 peer-reviewed articles.	15%
		Final Presentation – Everyday application	Group	Oral presentation	10%

 

Guest Lectures

See Course Calendar for details.

 

Field Studies

See Course Calendar for details.

Policies

Attendance: You are expected to attend all DIS classes when scheduled.  If you miss a class for any reason, please contact the faculty no later than the day of the missed class. If you miss multiple classes the Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of Student Affairs will be notified and they will follow-up with you to make sure that all is well.  Absences will jeopardize your grade and your standing at DIS.  Allowances will be made in cases of illness or religious holidays, but in the case of multiple absences you will need to provide a doctor’s note.

Academic Honesty, Plagiarism, and Violating the Rules of an Assignment: DIS expects that students abide by the highest standards of intellectual honesty in all academic work. DIS assumes that all students do their own work and credit all work or thought taken from others.  Academic dishonesty will result in a final course grade of “F” and can result in dismissal. The students’ home universities will be notified. DIS reserves the right to request that written student assignments be turned in electronic form for submission to plagiarism detection software. See the Academic Handbook for more information, or ask your instructor if you have questions.

 

Policy on Late Assignments: Late assignments will be accepted for up to 3 days after the deadline, but for each day late, excluding the weekends, a 5% penalty will be applied. 

Extensions: You may request an extension for an assignment, but you must ask more than 1 day before the assignment is due. Extension requests on the due date, without an excusable reason, will not be considered.

 

Policy for Students Who Arrive Late to Class: Please come to classes on time as it is disturbing for the lecturer and other students. Repeated lateness will result in a referral to the head of the Teaching and Learning department.

 

Use of Laptops or Phones in Class: Computers and iPhones are allowed in class PURELY for academic purposes (e.g. note taking, literature searching, data handling purposes). In case of other private uses such as Facebook, emails or internet surfing, it will have a very negative impact on your participation grade. The use of cell phones during class is strictly forbidden.

 

Academic Regulations 

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

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