Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 1, 2026 (23/02/2026 - 20/06/2026)
- Study level
- Undergraduate
- Location
- St Lucia
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 2
- Administrative campus
- St Lucia
- Coordinating unit
- Psychology School
This course explores the nature of everyday thinking. Why people believe weird things, how to deal with opinion change, and why expectations and emotions skew our judgements. We examine and debate topics such as subliminal persuasion, paranormal phenomena, alternative medicine, placebos and miracles. You will learn how to evaluate claims, understand why we consistently make the same kinds of "irrational" mistakes, and how to make better decisions.
How does your mind construct the reality you experience every moment? In PSYC2371, you will explore the surprising science of everyday thinking, from the moment-to-moment construction of perception to the malleability of memory, from unconscious influences to the power of situations. Through several engaging classes, you will discover why people see different colours in the same dress, create false memories with confidence, and find meaningful patterns in random noise. You will examine cutting-edge research on mental construction, cognitive illusions, and belief formation while learning to become a scientist of your own mind—applying evidence-based thinking to everything from social media to health claims to personal decision-making.
This course uses a “flipped classroom” approach where you engage with content before class, freeing up our weekly sessions for hands-on activities and interactive experiments. Each week brings a new mind-bending demonstration or challenge: you’ll experience visual illusions in real-time, test your memory’s reliability through false memory experiments, attempt to read micro-expressions, design your own everyday experiments, and participate in belief-change simulations. You’ll analyse viral phenomena like the dress debate, conduct pattern-detection exercises with random data, evaluate wellness claims using scientific frameworks, and practice persuasion techniques rooted in cognitive science. These engaging activities transform abstract concepts into lived experiences, making the science of thinking both memorable and immediately applicable to your daily life.
Throughout the semester, you will master practical strategies for understanding how your mind builds experience, recognising when your brain’s constructions might mislead you, and designing better environments for yourself and others. Drawing on insights from expert interviews and contemporary research, you will develop meta-cognitive skills that help you navigate an increasingly complex information landscape, from deepfakes to algorithm-driven content to synthetic realities. Frequent in-class quizzes and exercises will solidify your grasp of core concepts, while integrative projects and a final examination encourage you to apply cognitive science principles to real-world challenges.
By the end of this course, you will understand not just how your mind constructs reality, but how to use this knowledge to think more clearly, learn more effectively, and thrive in an age where the line between constructed and synthetic experience continues to blur. More importantly, you’ll have experienced these principles firsthand through weekly activities that make cognitive science come alive.
Course requirements
Recommended prerequisites
We recommend completing the following courses before enrolling in this one:
PSYC1020 or PSYC1030
Course contact
Course staff
Lecturer
Timetable
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
Aims and outcomes
The Science of Everyday Thinking is be open to all second-year students, and
provides a general exploration of the nature of everyday thinking. For
example: basic critical thinking skills, how to deal with opinion change, why
our expectations and emotions skew our judgements, how to unpack issues, read
actively, consider baselines, and understand superstitious belief.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Identify and understand various cognitive processes that affect human behaviour in the real world. That is, the application of findings and theories should help students make sense of why people believe the things that they do.
LO2.
Display an understanding of the quantitative aspects of thinking and reasoning, such as: reasoning with frequencies and probabilities, estimating base rates, distinguishing samples from populations, and differentiating correlation and causation.
LO3.
Assess, use, document and present information objectively and effectively.
LO4.
Conduct and complete effective research.
LO5.
Articulate and debate current issues in the news and media by means of verbal and written presentation
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiz |
Weekly In-Class Quizzes
|
50% |
3/03/2026 - 26/05/2026 |
| Reflection |
Weekly AI Explorations
|
20% |
5/03/2026 - 28/05/2026
Weekly AI Explorations are due Thursday at 5pm, ahead of the following Tuesday's class. This gives us time to review submissions—and to identify the best ones, which earn chocolate. |
| Examination |
Final Examination
|
30% |
End of Semester Exam Period 6/06/2026 - 20/06/2026 |
Assessment details
Weekly In-Class Quizzes
- In-person
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Quiz
- Weight
- 50%
- Due date
3/03/2026 - 26/05/2026
- Other conditions
- Time limited.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02
Task description
Each week in class, you'll complete a pencil-and-paper quiz using traditional bubble sheets. These quizzes draw on the assigned readings and activities, reinforcing your understanding of key concepts. Frequent low-stakes testing is one of the most effective learning strategies we know—it promotes better long-term retention than passive review alone (Roediger et al., 2011).
To help you prepare, we'll release a 30-question practice quiz on Blackboard one week before each in-class quiz. These practice quizzes let you engage actively with the material, get comfortable with the question format, and—most importantly—identify what you understand well and where you might need to focus more attention before the real thing.
There are 12 quizzes in total (starting in Class 2), each worth 5%. Only your top 10 scores count toward your final grade, making up 50% overall. Quiz results will typically appear on Blackboard within a week or two; if you have questions about your marks, feel free to contact the tutors.
No AI Allowed
These quizzes assess your own understanding of the material. Using AI tools or any other unauthorised assistance may constitute academic misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Completed and submitted in class.
Deferral or extension
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
Each week, you'll complete an in-class quiz worth 5% of your final grade. Only your top 10 out of 12 scores count, which means you can miss up to two quizzes without penalty—those zeros simply become your dropped scores. This built-in flexibility accommodates illness, emergencies, or other unexpected circumstances without the need for make-up quizzes.
If you have three documented absences, your quiz component will be reweighted across your best nine scores (5.56% each). Students who miss four or more quizzes due to serious documented circumstances should contact the course coordinator to discuss their situation.
Weekly AI Explorations
- Online
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Reflection
- Weight
- 20%
- Due date
5/03/2026 - 28/05/2026
Weekly AI Explorations are due Thursday at 5pm, ahead of the following Tuesday's class. This gives us time to review submissions—and to identify the best ones, which earn chocolate.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L03, L04, L05
Task description
Each week, you'll receive a brief from a fictional company or individual facing a real-world problem—one that connects directly to the psychology concepts we're exploring that week. These aren't abstract exercises; they're practical challenges that ask you to apply what you're learning to help solve genuine puzzles about human thinking and behaviour.
You might be asked to design a feature for a streaming platform grappling with users' false memories, create a diagnostic tool for a workplace that keeps blaming personality instead of situations, or develop a guide that helps parents let go of learning myths. Each task requires you to create something tangible (typically a PDF) using generative AI tools.
Your submission has two components: the AI-generated output itself (1%) and a brief reflection (1%) describing what you tried, what you learned, and whether the AI proved helpful or misleading. You must submit the AI output to earn marks for the reflection.
There are 11 tasks across the semester; your best 10 count toward a total of 20%.
Generative AI use
You may use any appropriate generative AI tool to complete these exercises. Each week's brief will specify exactly what's required, and you're encouraged to use AI creatively—not just for generating content, but for brainstorming, testing ideas, role-playing as sceptical users, or challenging your own assumptions.
Why this assessment?
These exercises pair hands-on AI practice with thoughtful reflection, helping you develop critical thinking about what AI can and can't do well. More importantly, they give you experience applying cognitive science to real problems—the kind of challenges you'll encounter in workplaces, communities, and everyday life.
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
Each week, you'll complete a structured exercise using generative AI, tied directly to that week's content. Each task has two components: the AI-generated output (1%) and a brief reflection (1%) analysing what you tried, what you learned, and whether the AI proved helpful or misleading. You must submit the AI output to earn marks for the reflection.
Only your top 10 out of 11 scores count toward your final grade, which means you can miss one task without penalty—that zero simply becomes your dropped score. This built-in flexibility accommodates illness, emergencies, or other unexpected circumstances without the need for make-up tasks.
If you have two documented absences, your task component will be reweighted across your best nine scores. Students who miss three or more tasks due to serious documented circumstances should contact the course coordinator to discuss their situation.
Final Examination
- In-person
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Examination
- Weight
- 30%
- Due date
End of Semester Exam Period
6/06/2026 - 20/06/2026
- Other conditions
- Time limited.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02
Exam details
| Planning time | 10 minutes |
|---|---|
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Calculator options | No calculators permitted |
| Open/closed book | Closed book examination - no written materials permitted |
| Exam platform | Paper based |
| Invigilation | Invigilated in person |
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to defer this exam.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) | 0 - 23.99 |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 2 (Fail) | 24 - 46.99 |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) | 47 - 49.99 |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes |
| 4 (Pass) | 50 - 64.99 |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 5 (Credit) | 65 - 74.99 |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 6 (Distinction) | 75 - 84.99 |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 7 (High Distinction) | 85 - 100 |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
Additional course grading information
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ﾠSupplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is available for this course.
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Week 1 (23 Feb - 01 Mar) |
Workshop |
Class 1: Your Brain's Reality Studio - How the Mind Constructs Experience Remember the dress that broke the internet? Some saw white and gold, others blue and black—both sides certain they were right. This viral phenomenon revealed a startling truth: we don't all see the same reality. Your mind isn't a camera recording the world; it's a prediction machine, actively constructing your experience. Discover why people genuinely perceive the world differently, how "controlled hallucinations" create everyday experience, and why understanding mental construction is essential for navigating deepfakes, echo chambers, and our increasingly artificial world. Learn to spot illusions in your thinking and become a scientist of your own mind. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 2 (02 Mar - 08 Mar) |
Workshop |
Class 2: The Grand Illusion - When Your Senses Lie to You American diplomats in Cuba heard sinister sonic weapons attacking them. The reality? Cricket chirps. When experts analysed the recordings, they found nothing more exotic than insects. Yet the diplomats experienced real, debilitating symptoms. Welcome to the grand illusion: your senses don't simply relay reality—they actively construct it, and sometimes get it spectacularly wrong. Discover how suggestion turns backward rock music into satanic messages, why faces melt when viewed rapidly, and how black dots reorganise into a Dalmatian you can never unsee. In our era of deepfakes and viral illusions, understanding when your senses lie becomes a survival skill. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 3 (09 Mar - 15 Mar) |
Workshop |
Class 3: Memory's Time Machine - Why Your Past Keeps Changing Your memories are lying to you. Right now, millions share vivid recollections of events that never happened—from viral TikToks to pandemic experiences that keep morphing in hindsight. This chapter exposes memory's dark secret: every time you remember something, you literally rewrite it. Through Elizabeth Loftus's mind-bending experiments and cutting-edge research on fake news and deepfakes, discover how false memories spread like viruses through social media, why confidence doesn't equal accuracy, and how your brain edits your past to match your present. Learn why you'll never agree with your ex about what really happened, how Instagram rewrites your autobiography, and why even your most precious memories might be elaborate fiction. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 4 (16 Mar - 22 Mar) |
Workshop |
Class 4: Behind the Curtain – The Real Science of Your Unconscious Mind Your unconscious mind has been turned into modern mythology—blamed for bad decisions, credited with mystical wisdom, feared as a puppet master. But what does science actually say? Peek behind the curtain to discover why famous "unconscious influence" experiments collapsed, why you can't remember your drive home, and how habits control nearly half your daily behaviour. Learn when "sleeping on it" genuinely helps, why implicit biases are both real and overhyped, and how algorithms exploit your mental autopilot. Strip away the myths to reveal your unconscious as it truly is: not a mysterious force, but a practical partner you can work with once you understand its real limits. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 5 (23 Mar - 29 Mar) |
Workshop |
Class 5: Mind Reader's Paradox – Why We're Terrible at Reading People You think you can spot a liar. You "just know" when someone's into you. You pride yourself on reading people. Science says you're wrong—spectacularly so. From hiring managers who'd get better results flipping coins to parents who can't tell when their kids are lying, we're all victims of the mind reader's paradox: the more confident we feel about understanding others, the more likely we're mistaken. Discover why interviews predict nothing, how Zoom makes us misread people, why even experts barely beat random guessing at lie detection, and what happens when AI tries to read minds. Learn practical tools to become a humbler—and more accurate—observer of others. Because accepting that minds are opaque is the first step to understanding them. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 6 (30 Mar - 05 Apr) |
Workshop |
Class 6: Kitchen Table Scientists - How We Experiment (Badly) Every Day Remember when everyone became sourdough scientists during lockdown, convinced moon phases and Mozart made better bread? We mock their "experiments," yet commit the same errors daily. You start taking vitamins, feel better, and declare victory—ignoring that you also started sleeping more. You swear by a productivity app that coincided with deadline panic. From cooking myths (searing doesn't "seal in juices") to supplement testimonials, we're all running terrible experiments on ourselves. This chapter reveals why even smart people fool themselves with bad science, why 80% of our "proven" life hacks are probably coincidences, and how to test what actually works versus what we desperately want to believe works. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 7 (13 Apr - 19 Apr) |
Workshop |
Class 7: Belief's Death Grip - Why Being Wrong Feels Impossible Why do smart people defend absurd beliefs? Meet the wellness influencer who couldn't admit she never had cancer, the scientist who spent decades chasing psychic phenomena, and festival-goers buying "prayer batteries" to stop hurricanes. Discover the cognitive machinery behind stubborn beliefs—from motivated reasoning that turns your mind into a defence lawyer, to identity protection that makes changing beliefs feel like social suicide. You'll learn why fact-checking backfires, what it actually takes to change a mind, and why that conspiracy theorist in your life isn't stupid—they're human. Learn the three ingredients for belief change and why sometimes an AI chatbot succeeds where friends and family fail. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 8 (20 Apr - 26 Apr) |
Workshop |
Class 8: The Power of Place - When Situations Trump Personality Why did 125 Harvard students—the academic elite—suddenly become cheaters? Not because they were bad people, but because situations shape behaviour far more powerfully than we imagine. Discover how being five minutes late can turn future priests into heartless passersby, why a circled map increases vaccination rates ninefold, and how your "personality" shifts dramatically based on context. From dating apps that make everyone shallow to small tweaks that double goal achievement, this chapter reveals the hidden environmental forces controlling your actions. Most importantly, you'll learn to engineer situations that bring out your best self—because changing your environment beats trying to change yourself every time. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 9 (27 Apr - 03 May) |
Workshop |
Class 9: Learning on Hard Mode - Why Learning That Hurts Is Learning That Lasts Picture straight-A students confidently creating beautiful concept maps while others struggle to recall information from memory. A week later, the strugglers crush the concept mappers by 50% on the test. Welcome to the paradox of learning: what feels effective is often useless, while what feels painful actually works. Discover why highlighting is academic theatre, why forgetting helps you remember, and why mixing up your practice beats perfecting one topic at a time. Learn how retrieval practice, spaced repetition, and interleaving can transform your grades—and why your brain fights these methods every step of the way. Plus: how to use AI as a learning accelerator, not a crutch. Time to embrace the struggle. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 10 (04 May - 10 May) |
Workshop |
Class 10: The Pattern Junkie's Dilemma - Finding Faces in the Clouds Why did someone pay $28,000 for a grilled cheese sandwich with the Virgin Mary's face? The same mental machinery that lets you recognise friends in milliseconds also makes you see faces in clouds, find meaning in coincidences, and fall for conspiracy theories. You'll discover why your ancestors' survival depended on being paranoid pattern-detectors, how casinos exploit your inability to accept randomness, and why Spotify had to make their shuffle less random to feel more random to humans. From QAnon to gambling addiction, from medical diagnosis to artistic creativity, explore the blessing and curse of being a pattern junkie in a world of both signal and noise. Learn when to trust your pattern detector—and when it's lying to you. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 11 (11 May - 17 May) |
Workshop |
Class 11: The Pharmacy Between Your Ears - How Belief Becomes Biology Can 16 ounces of celery juice really cure chronic disease? While the "Medical Medium" promised miracles, the real magic wasn't in the juice—it was in the mind. Discover the "pharmacy between your ears," where expectations trigger real biological changes, from endorphin release to dopamine spikes. Explore the powerful placebo effect and its dark twin, the nocebo effect, where fear manifests as physical pain. You’ll learn to debunk "digital snake oil" using tools like the 2x2 contingency table and understand "regression to the mean"—the statistical trick that makes expensive placebos look like genuine cures. Stop being a passive patient and start understanding how your brain constructs your physical health. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 12 (18 May - 24 May) |
Workshop |
Class 12: The Mind Changer's Playbook - Science‑Based Persuasion That Works Why do smart people believe weird things—and refuse to change their minds even when shown proof? Watch flat Earthers in Antarctica witness the midnight sun that shouldn't exist in their worldview, yet most still cling to their beliefs. Through research on source amnesia, the continued influence effect, and the illusion of explanatory depth, discover why facts bounce off minds like tennis balls off castle walls. More importantly, learn what actually works: the six leads of opinion change, the explanation test that creates cognitive humility, and why AI dialogue succeeds where human persuasion fails. This is your evidence-based playbook for changing minds—including your own—in an age of unshakeable false beliefs. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Week 13 (25 May - 31 May) |
Workshop |
Class 13: The Everyday Experiment - Living the Science of Thinking How did a Westboro Baptist hate preacher become an empathy advocate? Through patient Twitter dialogues that shouldn't have worked. This final chapter transforms you into a scientist of your own mind. Learn to run better daily experiments, calibrate your hyperactive pattern detector, treat memories as editable Wikipedia pages, and update beliefs without identity crisis. Discover why stories persuade when facts fail, how tiny environmental tweaks trigger big changes, and why intellectual humility beats certainty. From detecting your biases to designing better situations, master practical tools that turn everyday thinking into everyday science. Your mind constructs reality—time to become a better architect. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments for Students Policy and Procedure
- AI for Assessment Guide
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.
School guidelines
Your school has additional guidelines you'll need to follow for this course: