Leicester University Psychology Society

The first lecture was on Vision and the natural world, given by Bristol University professor Tom Troscianko. Given the amount of time I've spent in lectures by Kevin Paterson and Steve Shimozaki, I didn't expect to find it particularly interesting. I'm glad to say I was wrong however. His ecological approach to the use of vision in the natural world was fascinating, and provided a more tangible explanation of the importance of vision, in a more familiar setting. He focused on animal studies which were meaningful and weren't just conducted in a laboratory. These were concerned with how animals (primates in particular) conduct foraging; with respect to looking for particular stimuli, e.g. fruit, and ignoring extraneous effects of background and other effects, e.g. illumination or shadows. Troscianko's aim was to get the audience interested in thinking broadly about problem-solving in the natural world, and his interesting and unusual take on a familiar topic achieved this aim.

The next lecture was on The secret life of hormones: Androgens and human behaviour, delivered by Leeds University lecturer Dr Daryl O'Connor. He described the role that hormones play in established gender differences, and provided an alternative to previous psychological explanations such as socialisation. For instance, his research shows that androgens such as testosterone can account for observable differences in cognition. He also reviews a renewed interest into how certain other behaviours like aggression, sex and mood can be influenced by hormonal male contraception and administration of androgens. However, more recently wider applications have been made to examine the function hormones can exhibit in sex, aggression, mood and even beard growth, and these were also appraised. An engaging and charismatic lecturer, O'Connor captivated the audience with a thoroughly interesting lecture.

Proceedings then broke for lunch, and the next speaker on stage was professor Richard Bentall of the University of Manchester, with his lecture on Understanding madness. An obviously passionate proponent on the subject, Bentall spoke with conviction about the state of modern psychiatric services. Whilst not disputing the common conclusion that psychiatric services are having very little effect, Bentall argued that the problem is due to a poverty of ideas rather than resources. He places the problem down to out-dated assumptions about mental illness that were formulated around 100 years ago and are, as he puts it "demonstrably wrong". He advocates a new (and some may say radical) approach to understanding mental illness, whereby patients are not diagnosed with disorders but instead have symptoms categorised. For example, the approach relates each complaint from the patient to abnormalities in specific cognitive systems. Bentall's approach to an old topic was fresh and innovative, and he spoke with persuasion - so much so that he was the only speaker of the day who was given a round of applause for answering a question from the audience.

The next lecturer before the interval was professor Tom Ormerod of Lancaster University, who spoke about The importance of failure for insightful thinking. His research area is to do with the sort of puzzles that can seem unsolvable; where the individual fails the solution immediately and often repeat the same failed attempts. However, the solution itself is normally fairly simple, but requires an "insight" to work out, by thinking three-dimensionally. Research into what makes these type of problems so difficult to solve has tended to focus on individuals fixating on the same mistakes and running out of ideas. However, Ormerod presents his own take on the topic, and argues that it insight is instead reached from learning from failure. An interesting lecture on an unfamiliar subject, Ormerod delivered an appealing lecture and demonstrated many of his ideas pictorially, which was needed by many at this time of the day!

The day's proceedings were then interrupted for a much needed coffee break, when afterwards Leicester University's very own Ray Bull lectured on Research on the police interviewing of suspects. Speaking on an area much of those doing PS3007 Legal Psychology will recognize, Bull showed the progress that has been made in interviewing strategies. He described the initial style of forceful and intimidating interviewing, and how this can have negative outcomes; most notably false confessions. He then illustrated the transition into a more efficient and less coercive practice of interviewing strategies out of light of concerns over treatment of suspects. Ray Bull's lecture was an interesting topic for those with little knowledge of Legal Psychology, or those wishing to pursue this interest. He engaged the audience and kept them keenly interested despite being the last speaker on a long day.