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Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics and Creativity at Goldsmiths, University of London - UCAS

Course options

There are other course options available which may have a different vacancy status or entry requirements – view the full list of options

Course summary

This Masters is the first postgraduate programme in the world for the scientific study of aesthetics and creativity.

  • The programme sits at the intersection of the arts and the sciences. It will introduce you to the psychology and the cognitive neuroscience of how humans generate new ideas, how we appreciate beauty, and how we form preferences.
  • Aesthetic and creative decisions are relevant in the visual and the performing arts, and in many applied and commercial contexts – ranging from clinical interventions to curating exhibitions, and from dance choreography to marketing and advertising.
  • Based in the Department of Psychology, in collaboration with Computing, Media, Communications and Cultural Studies and the Institute of Management Studies, the course builds critical knowledge, research and communication skills across the arts and the sciences, centred around two key topics: the psychological and brain mechanisms of making (creativity) and appreciating (neuroaesthetics) art.
  • Conducting a research project with an interdisciplinary focus will prepare you for a research career in aesthetic or creative science, working in the creative industry, or to develop your artistic practice.

Modules

Compulsory modules You will study the following compulsory modules: Aesthetic Science Creativity Statistical Methods Research Skills Research Design and Analysis Foundations of Neuroscience Research Project Option modules You will also take 1 or 2 option modules (30 credits) from the following list: Programming for Artists and Designers Advanced Quantitative Methods Embodiment and Experience Politics of the Audiovisual Physical Computing 1 Physical Computing 2 Psychological Approaches to Music Psychology of Marketing and Advertising Consumer Behaviour Please note: Physical Computing 1 is a prerequisite for Physical Computing 2, and the two modules must be taken together. *Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.


Entry requirements

You should normally have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class in psychology or a related subject (cognitive science, neuroscience) with a research component. However, we explicitly encourage candidates with interdisciplinary and unusual biographies to apply. Applicants with undergraduate degrees in the visual or performing arts, design, humanities, business, or other non-scientific subjects will be required to demonstrate sufficient background knowledge and experience with psychological or cognitive neuroscience approaches, including statistics. Please contact the programme leader directly if you are unsure as to whether you would qualify for this programme. It is also necessary to have sufficient knowledge of statistics and experimental design to apply for our programme. Many applicants for this course would arrive with a psychology undergraduate degree where the statistics topics would have been covered extensively across three years. Students entering the MSc programme are assumed to have a good knowledge of experimental design, sampling, descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, and regression. These fundamental topics won’t be covered in our statistics and experimental design lectures. This leaves room to cover more advanced topics that you will need for writing lab reports across the year and your final project. For candidates with little or no statistical knowledge, we do offer a boot camp that covers more basic statistical tests. This intensive course takes place in the summer. However, students with little experience in neuroscience/statistical methods should engage with the suggested reading listed below and/or complete a basic statistics course on a platform such as Coursera or Datalab prior to applying so that they can demonstrate sufficient statistical background to enter the programme. Applicants can also engage with learning statistics with jamovi, which introduces many of the statistical concepts covered in the programme as well as the statistical software students will be using. We accept a wide range of international qualifications. If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. Suggested reading Acquainting yourself with some of the recommended reading below will equip you well for the interview and for the course in general. Aesthetic science and creative cognition Skov, M., & Nadal, M. (Eds.). (2023). The Routledge international handbook of neuroaesthetics. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. Chatterjee, A., & Cardilo, E. (Eds.). (2021). Brain, beauty, and art: Essays bringing neuroaesthetics into focus. Oxford University Press. Nadal, M., & Vartanian, O. (2022). The Oxford handbook of empirical aesthetics. Oxford University Press. Winner, Ellen (2018). How art works: a psychological exploration. Oxford University Press Chatterjee, Anjan (2014). The Aesthetic Brain. Oxford University Press Neuroscience and research methods Foundations of neuroscience Ward, J. (2006). The Student's Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience. Psychology Press. Experimental design and statistics Field, A. & Hole, G. (2007). How to Design and Report Experiments. Sage. Field, A. (2012). Discovering Statistics Using R (2nd ed). Sage.


Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

For details of fees and funding please visit https://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/fees-funding/ or the programme page on our website.
Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics and Creativity at Goldsmiths, University of London - UCAS