Origins of Mind: Evolutionary and Developmental Perspectives (MSc) 2027 entry

Course information may change. Module information and course content, teaching and assessment may change each year and after you have accepted your offer to study at the University of St Andrews. We display the most up-to-date information possible, but this could be from a previous academic year. For the latest module information, see the module catalogue.

• Compulsory

  • Empirical Approaches to the Evolution of Communication: explores the evolution of human language and animal communication through the comparative study of communication in humans and other animals. 
  • Methods of Data Analysis in Psychology: advanced training in research design, statistics, qualitative methods and modelling.
  • Origins of Human Cognition: links together the evolution and development of different human cognitive abilities with a focus on empirical comparative research.  
  • Principal Approaches to the Origins of Mind: introduces distinct ways of studying the origins of mind within a comparative Tinbergian framework, emphasising both functional and mechanistic accounts

• Optional

  • Animal Models in Neuroscience and Psychology: focuses on the animals frequently used in psychology and neuroscience research; discussing key physiological and behavioural characteristics of the animals, why these characteristics make them good or bad models for given areas of research, and how these behavioural and physiological characteristics must be accounted for when designing experiments.
  • Evolution of Human Behaviour and Culture: Available only to undergraduate students in their second year of Honours. Also available to postgraduate students on 'MSc in Evolutionary and Comparative Psychology: the Origins of Mind' and MSc in 'Research Methods'.
  • Generic Research and Professional Skills in Psychology and Neuroscience: Introduces students to the various skills and issues that are of importance to academic psychologists and neuroscientists
  • Mechanisms of Behaviour: Integrating Psychological and Neuroscience Perspectives: explores many physiological and neural systems that modulate patterns of behaviour in a range of species, including humans.
  • Social Cognitive Neuroscience: This module examines how the brain supports social cognitive processes underlying human interaction. Students explore developmental, social, and clinical perspectives on topics such as social decision‑making and morality.
  • The Impact of Science: focuses on a writing review of a research finding in psychology and neuroscience selected by the student and approved by the module controller, with one aspect of the review based on the impact of the research finding on science and society.
  • The Origins of Causal Thinking: This module explores causal cognition, its evolution and development, with a focus on critically evaluating empirical and theoretical research across empirical and computational methods.
  • Topics in Social Cognition: Developmental and Comparative Perspectives: Traces the evolution and development of aspects of social intelligence.

• Research project

  Students will undertake a significant piece of independent research as part of their final assessment. In the past, students have had the opportunity to conduct research on humans and other animals at:

  • Budongo Conservation Field Station in Uganda
  • Budongo Research Unit in Edinburgh Zoo
  • Baby and Child Lab in St Andrews
  • Dundee Science Centre in Dundee
  • Jeeves Human Experimental Laboratories in St Andrews
  • Living Links Centre in Edinburgh Zoo
  • PAWS Lab in St Andrews

  In past years, research projects have included topics such as:

  • Conceptual thought and causal knowledge in primates and children
  • Development of social cognition, for example, imitation, joint attention, pre-verbal communication, prosocial behaviour and group membership in children
  • Evolution of communication, for example, gesture and multimodal communication in primates
  • Evolutionary and psychological origins of cooperation in primates, rats and children
  • Intentionality in primates and human infants
  • Moral reasoning and inequity aversion, for example, cross-cultural studies in children
  • Sex differences in behavioural development in rodents and primates
  • Sex differences in human social behaviour, for example, aggression, impulsivity, confidence and conformity
  • Social and physical problem solving in children, primates and birds
  • Theory of mind in primates and children

  The research projects will be supervised by members of the teaching staff, who will advise on the choice of study subject and dissertation topic. In addition, they will provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation of not more than 15,000 words must be submitted by a specific date in mid-August.