Study level: Undergraduate study programme in psychology
Lecturers: Dragutin Ivanec, Ph.D., Koraljka Modić Stanke, Ph.D.
ECTS: 7
Language: Croatian
Semester: 2nd (summer)
Status: mandatory
Form of instruction with class hours: 75 hours of auditory and laboratory exercises
Prerequisites: Statistics in psychology I, Introduction to methodology of experimental psychology
Student evaluation: grade is formed on the basis of grades of weekly written reports
Course description
Methodological issues in sensation and perception research ranging from basic processes such as the emergence of sensations to more complex processes such as the perception of space and time. Topics: absolute and differential sensitivity; verification of Weber’s law; implementation of signal detection theory in studying sensitivity; determining the psychophysical law; stimulus context and perception of brightness; color perception; depth perception; perception constancy; sound localization; studying attention as the foundation for successful perception; the influence of expectations on perception; perceptive speed and closure; extrasensory perception; perceptive illusions; motion perception; time perception.
Course objectives
Conducting psychological experiments and measuring different phenomena in individual and group conditions will (1) familiarize students with basic principles of collecting data in experimental conditions (2) familiarize students with applying general and specific psychological methods and (3) help students to develop skills that are necessary for independent interpretation of data. Students should develop an ability to critically evaluate the validity of results that have been collected. They also should learn fundamental logic and value of different statistical procedures in analyzing and interpreting data. Also, one of the objectives is to learn how to write research reports according to professional standards.
Required readings
Bujas, Z. (1981). Uvod u metode eksperimentalne psihologije. Zagreb: Školska knjiga.
Rathus, S.A. (2000). Temelji psihologije. Jastrebarsko: Naklada Slap.
Coren, S., Ward, L.M., & Enns. J.T. (2003). Sensation and Perception (5th edition). New York: JohnWiley & Sons, Inc.
Recommended readings
Bundy, A.C., Lane, S.J., & Murray, E.A. (2002). Sensory integration. Theory and Practice (2nd edition). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.
Gescheider, G.A. (1997). Psychophysics. Method, Theory, and Application (3rd edition). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.