Professor Timothy Bates
Inaugural lecture of Professor Timothy Bates, 23 November 2010.
Lecture title: "Psychology in your world: What Twins, Genes, and Bodies tell us about Dyslexia, Coalitions, Architecture and Happiness"
Date: 23 November 2010, 5.15pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre 5, Appleton Tower, Crichton Street
Lecture abstract
Psychology is shedding light on behaviours as diverse as why we are capable of forming coalitions, to individual differences in abilities that allow us to generate and transmit culture.
We study people from their earliest development into advanced old age, tracking the causes and consequences of cognitive development and seeking answers to support healthy ageing. When someone exclaims “that is beautiful”, psychology seeks to understand: why?
Increasingly integrated with disciplines as diverse as biology, anthropology, politics, and economics, modern psychology uses complex methods such as brain imaging, twin studies and molecular genetics to shed light on human behaviour. The results are often surprising, challenging, and even counter-intuitive: revealing genes that affect reading, happiness, and even the sense of fairness.
This talk will showcase some exciting new findings in individual differences at Edinburgh, focussing on symmetry and intelligence, genes for human language, and the origins of cooperation.