PSYCH 317 : Evolution, Behaviour and Cognition
Science
2025 Semester One (1253) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
How can evolution help us understand behaviour and cognition? How does intelligence evolve, and what characterises human intelligence? Why do some species, including humans, live in groups, and how can this help us understand social phenomena like cooperation, culture and religion? The course will emphasize how a comparative, evolutionary approach to behaviour and cognition can help us answer these questions and understand what it means to be human. The comparative approach means that much of the early content in the course covers animal behaviour and cognition, while the latter half focuses more on how this helps us to understand humans.
Course Requirements
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | People and Place |
| Capability 2: | Sustainability |
| Capability 3: | Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 4: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 5: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 6: | Communication |
| Capability 7: | Collaboration |
| Capability 8: | Ethics and Professionalism |
Learning Outcomes
- Understand and explain the basic principles of evolutionary theory. (Capability 3, 4 and 6)
- Understand and explain how ecology shapes the evolution of different cognitive abilities in humans and other animals. (Capability 1, 3, 4 and 6)
- Explain how evolutionary theory can help us understand some of the hallmarks of our species, including cooperation, language, culture, politics and religion. (Capability 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)
- Apply evolutionary theory to tackle major challenges in the 21st century. (Capability 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)
- Design and create experiments testing evolutionary hypotheses in psychology and animal cognition. (Capability 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Class Quizzes | 15% | Individual Coursework |
| Research proposal | 35% | Individual Coursework |
| Exam | 50% | Individual Examination |
| 3 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||||||
| Class Quizzes | ||||||||||
| Research proposal | ||||||||||
| Exam | ||||||||||
Special Requirements
Tuākana
This course is supported by the Tuākana in Science Programme, which facilitates the success and wellbeing of our Māori and Pacific students. The foundation of the Tuākana Programme is the Tuākana-Teina principle an integral relationship in which older or more expert Tuākana (traditionally brother, sister or cousin) guides a younger or less expert Teina (traditionally younger sibling or cousin). This is a reciprocal relationship which fosters safe learning and teaching environments. Read more here: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/science/study-with-us/maori-and-pacific-at-the-faculty/tuakana-programme.html
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 15-point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15-point course that they are enrolled in. For this course, you can expect a total of 24 hours of lectures, 16 hours of tutorials, 20 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 50 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience
- Attendance at lectures is very strongly encouraged as this will ensure that you have the best learning experience.
- Attendance at scheduled tutorials is required to receive credit for components of the course.
- Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities, including tutorials, will not be available as recordings.
- Attendance on campus is required for the exam.
- The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.
Learning Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Student Feedback
During the course Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the staff responsible for the course and staff-student consultative committees.
At the end of the course students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback.
Your feedback helps to improve the course and its delivery for all students.
- Many students were unfamiliar with closed-book exams, and many students failed to prepare adequately for this aspect of the course. To encourage lecture attendance and consistent learning during the semester, we have introduced one class quiz / week, each worth 1.5% of the final mark, which will help students to stay on top of the content as we move through the course, and highlight any areas of difficulty or confusion.
- Amount of content and discussion - in addition to encouraging continuous learning and engagement (above), we will allocate more discussion time during lectures. This will include facilitated Q&A, discussion and comprehension testing.
- We will provide more guidance on the research proposal, including how it is related to the material we've covered in the course.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework, tests and examinations as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.
Class Representatives
Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.
Copyright
The content and delivery of content in this course are protected by copyright. Material belonging to others may have been used in this course and copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under license.
You may copy the course content for the purposes of private study or research, but you may not upload onto any third party site, make a further copy or sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of the course content to another person.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the University Website for information about how to proceed.
The delivery mode may change depending on COVID restrictions. Any changes will be communicated through Canvas.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.