Evidence-Based Colour Psychology

HUM-303 / 2 credits

Teacher: Jonauskaite Domicele

Language: English

Remark: Une seule inscription à un cours

Summary

Colour is believed to influence one's well-being and emotions, but not all claims are scientifically sound. We teach students basic skills to critically evaluate such ideas by analysing empirical studies in psychology.

Content

Colour is widely considered to be powerful in shaping psychological processing. Popular media frequently report on how colour influences emotions and fosters well-being. However, many of these claims are based on marketing strategies and not empirical findings. When looking at the existing literature, these claims are less convincing, or rather, the evidence for many claims is yet missing. The current seminar will introduce and discuss ways to study and test the relationships between colour and psychological functioning. With psychological functioning we refer to cognitive domains such as intelligence, learning and memory, language, emotion, perception, personality, and others. The discussions will be based on empirical studies. The objective of the course is for students to become aware of problems of causality, proof of popular statements and critical thinking regarding statements that can be widely read and heard in the public domain.

Keywords

experimental psychology, evidence-based science, perception, colour, vision, cognition, emotion, language

 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Search for relevant literature
  • Describe previous research including their weaknesses and strengths
  • Synthesize research articles within a larger context
  • Demonstrate the ability to integrate different, or ideally opposing viewpoints
  • Formulate reasoning in oral and written forms
  • Defend your conclusion based on the former learning outcomes
  • Discuss relevant ideas in a class setting

Transversal skills

  • Make an oral presentation.
  • Summarize an article or a technical report.
  • Demonstrate the capacity for critical thinking
  • Give feedback (critique) in an appropriate fashion.
  • Take feedback (critique) and respond in an appropriate manner.
  • Communicate effectively, being understood, including across different languages and cultures.
  • Negotiate effectively within the group.
  • Set objectives and design an action plan to reach those objectives.

Teaching methods

The first part of the course will be dedicated to lectures on the empirical evidence in colour psychology, allowing ample of time for discussions. The second part of the course will be dedicated to student oral presentations on the selected topic (in small groups), followed by the discussions and an in-class assessment of understanding.

Lecturers are present to support students

- in their preparation of the oral presentation

- in their literature search

 

Expected student activities

- Attend weekly lectures, many of which include presentations from peers, and contribute constructively to the discussions of other presenters.

- Find, read, and understand research articles that you will then use to present and discuss your analysis of the contradicting literature. Preference for recent literature, published in the last five years.

- In-class assessments after each peer presentation, testing for the general understanding of the relevant concepts in empirical psychology.

 

Assessment methods

- Evaluation of the oral presentation (50%)

- Evaluation of the in-class assessments (50%)

 

Supervision

Office hours No
Assistants Yes
Forum No
Others

Resources

Bibliography

Literature search will be part of the course. Teaching staff will be present to help with the literature search if needed.

 

In the programs

  • Semester: Spring
  • Number of places: 80
  • Exam form: During the semester (summer session)
  • Subject examined: Evidence-Based Colour Psychology
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: mandatory

Reference week

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