* Key theories and concepts in psychology of social cognition and emotions:

• Discuss nature v nurture, the relationship between the mind and the brain and the role of automatic vs controlled processes in shaping human behavior.

* How we study emotions: Emotional processing and social cognition research methods

* We are what we feel: The foundations of the theories of embodied cognition

• How our understanding of other's emotions is an interpretation of emotional signals

* Develop a critical approach to the literature and research questions of the field.

What is Cognitive Psychology: an overview

This week will provide an overview of key findings, theories and research methods of cognitive psychology.

How we feel emotions: introduction to the psychology of facial expressions and to theories of embodied emotional processing

This week will provide an introduction to the main concepts and theories of social cognition. In particular, videos explore the extent to which mirror neurons shape our ability to understand others and our ability to understand that others might have mental states that differ from our own (theory of mind reasoning).

How do we study emotions? Emotional processing and social cognition research methods

This week explores the key research methods of embodied emotional processing and social cognition. It will outline the most important techniques in the broader cognitive psychology and evaluate the contribution they can make to emotional processing research and embodiment theories. It will also introduce the role of neuropsychological research in understanding how brain lesions can help us understand how the brain normally functions. Key methods of neuroimaging techniques covered will be specifically focused on electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyography (EMG).

How do we recognise the emotional facial expressions of others? Feeling me to feel you - from theory-theories to the simulation theory

This week will provide an introduction to the main theories of emotional facial expression recognition. It will include an overview of the theory models as well as of the simulation theory models. It will also illustrate the key findings on facial mimicry often associated with better facial expression recognition.

Is it always easy to understand others' emotions? The influence of context and expression ambiguity on mimicry during emotional recognition

Any emotional expression is a communication channel that has the intrinsic intention of conveying a message. The expression finds its meaning in the interaction with another person and its sense in the social context.

This week provides an overview of the factors that influence the emotional understanding in a natural social situation. This week will outline some of the main factors that are thought to affect the way we have insights about other’s feeling and intentions. This includes our attitude towards the other (for instance our motivation to understand their emotions), prior knowledge that we have about them and the ambiguity of the facial expression itself.

‘It was extremely enjoyable to learn from this course. I have been introduced to many new ideas that I was not aware of before. My favourite part was about dualism and reductionism, it really provoked some critical thinking!

The course has made me very self aware of how I express my emotions as well as how I read and interpret other persons emotions.

I am really looking forward to learning more about emotional intelligence in the future, and how to acquire it.

Thank you!’