Advances in Research in Behavioural Regulation I: Interpersonal Behaviour

Course goals

The entire course will be taught in English. This also includes assignments and exams.


The primary goal of this course is to train students in their understanding and use of a set of theories and research paradigms in the area of social interaction and interpersonal behavior and to apply this knowledge to issues related to behavioral regulation as they manifest themselves in social settings.
 
Relatie tussen de toetsen en leerdoelen’(Engels)
Understanding and use of basic theories and research paradigms is tested in two ways. First, in groups of 2 or 3, students write and present ‘research design assignment’ in which they address a course relevant research question following from one of the specific topics addressed in the lectures and design an experimental setup to examine it. Second, students individually write final papers, which have the format of a research proposal. In this final paper the student’s ability to integrate course concepts and design new research based on theories and research paradigms discussed in the course is tested.

Content

This course presents an advanced overview of research in social interaction and interpersonal behaviour, focusing particularly on affective, motivational and cognitive aspects in the regulation of behaviour in the presence of others. To this end, a state-of-the-art overview is presented, including brief introduction of the essence of social psychology and its core methodology, as well as a specialized introduction to advanced issues studied in modern research on social interaction and interpersonal behaviour of the Utrecht program. In doing so, students are invited to critically reflect on core theoretical approaches and research methodologies, and how these may explain basic aspects in the regulation of social interaction and interpersonal behaviour.