Examining the science of peak performance
Module details
- Offered to 3rd & 4th Years
- Thursdays 16.00-18.00
- Planned delivery: On campus (South Kensington)
- Two-term module, worth 5 ECTS
- Available to eligible students as part of I-Explore
- Extra Credit, or Degree Credit where your department allows
Do you want to perform at your best? To understand how the greats in business, science, music, sport, medicine, theatre, and countless areas achieve what they achieve? This module will lead you through the latest science examining what it means to perform at the highest level. Looking across disciplines, we will examine the psychology behind leadership, teamwork, motivation, creativity and, very importantly, the psychology of relating to self. We will question whether 10,000 hours of practice is really all it takes to become an expert. We will explore how performance is assessed and valued, and how unconscious biases can affect judges. We will confront the dreaded stage-fright, and how it can be managed. Throughout the module, you will be given the opportunity to experience and reflect on your own performance.
Please note: The information on this module description is indicative. The module may undergo minor modifications before the start of next academic year.
Information blocks
Learning outcomes
- Critically evaluate the efficacy of, and scientific evidence underpinning, approaches to performance in your domain
- Compare your areas of performance with others, assessing parallels and differences
- Plan concrete steps to enhance your own performance (including communication and collaboration) based on evidence and best practice
- Design and produce high-impact individual and team performance.
Indicative core content
- The Road to Excellence: Gifts, talents, and the social and psychological antecedents of expertise. Role of emotions & emotion regulation in optimising excellence
- Under Pressure: The psychological bases underlying – and strategies for the management of – performance anxiety and stage fright
- All for One: The psychology of teamwork, including the drivers of effective leadership and team building
- Assessing the X-factor: Defining the quality of a performance, how it is assessed, and how an audience’s biases affect their perception
- Taking Centre Stage: Group Coaching in preparation for Group Presentations.
- Performance as Communication: Practicing and experiencing group performance with guided feedback.
- Effective Practice: Experiential Learning and Goal Setting.
- Seeing the Big Picture: The psychology of attention and focus influencing performance in complex environments
- The Empowered Performer: The role of affect and emotion in the preparation and delivery of performance
- The Embodied Performer: Addressing the role of embodiment and coherence in (lived / embodied) performance
- The Creative Performer: Perspectives on creativity, how it is measured, and how the public responds to and evaluates creative products.
Learning and teaching approach
The module employs a variety of teaching strategies to facilitate active learning. Within teaching hours, approaches include group discussion, debate, and reflection as well as subject-specific experiential learning activities such as acting as a competition judge panel and self-discovery tasks (such as psychometric mapping of signature strengths).
For independent study, you are given discussion questions with the session notes for each session and given take-home assignments to prepare for forthcoming sessions (e.g. find an online recording of a performance in a discipline you know nothing about that moves you).
Assessments are designed to be active in nature, encouraging you to go beyond the materials and concepts learned in the sessions and apply them to tasks that reflect real-world scenarios (e.g., presenting, and performing in groups).
This module will be digitally augmented in several ways:
- Performance examples are provided in a variety of contexts.
- Videos are used within sessions to promote structured observations and class discussions.
- Seminar notes, required and suggested readings, and instructions for take-home assignments are disseminated through the module VLE.
Summative assessments for this module will be submitted through an appropriate VLE. Marks and constructive feedback will be returned to you via the VLE. Ahead of the group presentations, you will receive bespoke coaching and formative feedback on your presentation content and style that can be used in your assessment. Ahead of both written assessments you will be given the opportunity to seek clarification and pose questions during the class.
Summative assessment and feedback will be returned with a disclaimer that marks may be modified by later markers or external examiners.
Assessment
- Coursework: Group presentation (15 minutes) (40%)
- Coursework: Reflective commentary (1,800-2,000 words) (60%)
Key information
- Requirements: You are expected to attend all classes and undertake approximately 85 hours of independent study in total during the module. Independent study includes reading and preparation for classes, researching and writing coursework assignments and preparing for other assessments.
- This module is designed as an undergraduate Level 6 module. For an explanation of levels, view the Imperial Horizons Level Descriptors page.
"Very enjoyable module, the interactivity makes it even better. "
"Great module, I really enjoyed it....the broad spread of topics covered in the course was very interesting. The relation of the psychology to other aspects of performance as well as music was a great addition to my degree."
"Fantastic lectures given by people who clearly have a passion for what they teach. Every week is a self-contained topic, which is great, with good recurring themes."
Got any questions?
Contact the lecturer
Aneta Tunariu
a.tunariu@imperial.ac.uk