Master 2022/2023

Psychology of Thinking and Reasoning

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Elective course (Politics. Economics. Philosophy)

Area of studies: Political Science

Delivered by: School of Psychology

Where: Faculty of Social Sciences

When: 1 year, 4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of all HSE University campuses

Instructors: Maria Chumakova

Master’s programme: Политика. Экономика. Философия

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 36

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course reviews the core theories of organization of human thought, general reasoning, thinking, and intelligence, and behavioural outcomes of thinking. These overarching themes provide a broad theoretical framework with which to explore wider issues in human cognition such as decision making, problem-solving, motivation, and creative thinking. These concepts will be related to classical and recent empirical cognitive research. Students will apply these theories to contemporary cases of human thought work.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize fundamental theories of cognition
• Relate phenomena of thinking to theories in cognition on an intuitive level and using professional terminology
• Use academic sources to research and understand mental states and processes underlying thinking

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Applies knowledge about the main types of intelligence, their impact on the success of activities and the sources of individual differences in intelligence to analyze people's behavior
• Relates phenomena of thinking to theories in cognition on an intuitive level and using professional terminology
• Interprets thinking though underlying mental states and processes
• Applies fundamental theories of decision-making to analyse people's behaviour
• Applies fundamental theories of problem-solving to analyse people's behaviour

Course Contents

• The organization of human thought
• Thinking and Reasoning
• Thinking in Action
• Intelligence

Assessment Elements

• Logical Reasoning Test
  A logical reasoning test that measures a student's ability to use logical rules in inference.
• Oral presentation at a seminar session on a given topic
  The student chooses a topic for an oral presentation. The teacher recommends literature for preparing an oral presentation and formulates key questions that need to be answered in the presentation. The student can supplement the materials for preparing the presentation by an independent search for literature. At the seminar, the student makes a presentation and answers questions from the teacher and classmates on the topic of the presentation.
• Final test
  Course content test

Interim Assessment

• 2022/2023 4th module
  0.3 * Oral presentation at a seminar session on a given topic + 0.4 * Final test + 0.3 * Logical Reasoning Test

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Boroditsky, L. (2011). How Language Shapes Thought. Scientific American, 304(2), 62–65. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0211-62
• John Paul Minda. (2015). The Psychology of Thinking : Reasoning, Decision-Making and Problem-Solving. SAGE Publications Ltd.
• John Paul Minda. (2015). The Psychology of Thinking : Reasoning, Decision-Making and Problem-Solving. SAGE Publications Ltd.
• The Psychology of Human Thought : An Introduction. (2019). Heidelberg University Publishing (heiUP).

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Frischkorn, G. T., & Schubert, A.-L. (2018). Cognitive Models in Intelligence Research: Advantages and Recommendations for Their Application. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence6030034
• Simon, H. A. (1978). Rationality as Process and as Product of Thought. American Economic Review, (2), 1. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.aea.aecrev.v68y1978i2p1.16
• Summers, R. W. (2017). Social Psychology: How Other People Influence Our Thoughts and Actions [2 Volumes]. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1414547
• Tomasello, M. (2014). A Natural History of Human Thinking. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=660118
• Zabaneh, D., Krapohl, E., Gaspar, H. A., Curtis, C., Lee, S. H., Patel, H., … Breen, G. (2018). A genome-wide association study for extremely high intelligence. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.1648BE1

Authors

• CHUMAKOVA MARIYA ALEKSEEVNA