BSc (Hons) Psychology

Concepts, theories and methods from developmental psychology, personality and social psychology.

Topics include some or all of the following:

• methods and measures
• social and cognitive aspects of development
• methods of studying individual differences including ability and personality
• evaluating psychometric measures
• test administration
• stability and change in behaviour
• the roles of inheritance and environment
• attitudes and attitude measurement
• person perception
• social influences
• crowd behaviour
• group processes

This module will include explorations into:

• theoretical, ethological and comparative perspectives
• basic neuroanatomy and neurophysiology
• relationships between brain and behaviour and modes of investigating them
• chemical communication in the brain and in the body
• genes, chromosomes and the inheritance of behaviour
• the nature of evolutionary influences on behaviour

This module is designed as a general conceptual overview of cognitive psychology and an introduction to topics that are central to the study of human cognition. Emphasis is placed on the methods and theoretical models used by cognitive psychologists to study human perception and thinking.

Topics include:

• visual perception
• models of attention and short-term memory
• encoding and retrieval of information from long-term memory, classical and operant conditioning
• connectionist models of learning
• higher cognition in animals.

This module provides an introduction to experimental research in psychology. The lecture component covers experimental design and statistics. The laboratory component focuses on designing and running experiments, applying statistical analyses to data generated, and reporting experimental findings. Lectures and labs are linked so that designs and analyses introduced in lectures are implemented in labs.

Topics include experimental design, research ethics, and statistical analysis of experimental data up to and including the analysis of designs with one independent variable and more than two experimental conditions.

You will be allocated to a lab class which you will attend on a weekly basis during terms 1 and 2. Your allocation will be posted on the first-year notice-board. In addition, you must attend a weekly lecture for your whole year group.

This module acquaints you with the main areas of research in the Department of Psychology, fosters an understanding of practical issues involved in the planning and conduct of research, and develops your ability to critically evaluate research conducted by others.

An extended essay, relating to topics taught on PS51005A, PS51006A or PS51007A, on a subject agreed with a supervisor in the department. It will involve some tutorial contact with supervisors, but mainly requires you to use library and bibliographic resources to search for relevant material.

The module covers six major areas of biological psychology:

1. hormones, sexual motivation and sex differences
2. sleep and arousal
3. eating and body weight regulation
4. sexual selection and mate choice
5. brain evolution and development
6. and emotions and stress

These topics are considered in terms of neurological, neurophysiological, physiological, biochemical and genetic substrates.

This module covers:

• identification and measurement of individual differences in temperament
• biological and environmental contributions to individual differences
• causal theories of personality
• the relationship between psychopathology and personality
• background to methods of description and classification in psychopathology
• genetic, constitutional and environmental aspects of disorders of personality and behaviour
• rationale of therapeutic techniques

This module covers concepts, theories and empirical research related to:

• human aggression
• attitudes and attitude change
• attribution and social judgement
• environment and social behaviour
• non-verbal communication
• interpersonal attraction
• intergroup processes

This module covers:

• concepts, models and theories of development
• the module of development from infancy to old age
• cognitive and social aspects of behaviour in childhood
• language development
• adolescence as a developmental period
• mid-life, and the effects of ageing

Covering: analysis of variance techniques non-parametric methods, correlation and regression; further experimental design and strategy.

This module covers major topics in the area of cognitive psychology including:

• attention
• visual object recognition
• written language processing
• working memory: long-term memory and acquired memory problems
• everyday memory
• representation of knowledge.

Covering research methodology including laboratory and field observation, questionnaire, survey methods and interviewing; experimenter effects and demands characteristics; conceptual, historical and ethical issues in psychological research and science more generally; evaluation of research strategies.

Major forms of psychopathology will be considered in depth, addressing (a) clinical description; (b) theoretical explanations from cognitive/behavioural perspectives; (c) principles and evaluation of psychological interventions. Interrelationships between different psychopathologies will also be highlighted. The historical context in which CBT has emerged as a dominant force within psychotherapeutic practice will also be addressed.

This module is designed to introduce students to different forms of psychopathology and to demonstrate how psychological theories have contributed to the understanding of their aetiologies and to the development and evaluation of interventions.

This module covers the primary statistical analyses used in psychology including multivariate data screening and cleaning; power and sample size determination; factor analysis; multiple regression; analysing contrasts; univariate and multivariate repeated measures; and ANCOVA and MANCOVA.

This module will provide detailed study of the scientific investigation of attention, a highly topical aspect of human cognition that plays a fundamental role in our experience of the world. Students will be introduced to current theories of attention and their application to other fields of psychological enquiry including cross-cultural psychology, social psychology, individual differences, and emotion.

This module is intended to provide:

a) knowledge of a range of issues fundamental to understanding cognitive deficits following brain damage;

b) understanding of underlying theories of neuropsychology and cognitive neuropsychology;

c) understanding of research methods and application of this expertise in the clinical and research domain.

Topics include: methodology in neuropsychology and cognitive neuropsychology; main techniques of investigation in neuropsychology; cognitive impairments following brain injury to the following abilities: visual object recognition, facial recognition, memory, language, executive processes, attention and action control.

This module will provide the opportunity for advanced study of psychological science applied to the investigation of crime and the process of criminal law. Research will be primarily, but not exclusively, drawn from applied cognitive psychology. It will be of interest to students considering postgraduate study in forensic psychology.

The module will cover current issues in psychology and law selected from: interviewing suspects, false confessions, detection of deception, interviewing witnesses, eyewitness identification, false memories, interviewing children, offender profiling, CCTV, decision making in forensic contexts.

This module will provide a systematic introduction to neurodevelopmental disorders. Conceptual, historical and theoretical issues will provide a framework within which disorders of development can be discussed.

The module will provide an understanding of issues relating to diagnosis, ethics and research methods in relation to a broad range of disorders. This module will (a) provide and understanding of issues relating to diagnosis and assessment in neurodevelopmental disorders (b) consider behavioural difficulties that are prevalent amongst individuals with different diagnoses (c) Consider therapeutic approaches aimed at improving social and emotional outcomes in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders.

This module will provide a systematic introduction to behavioural genetics. Conceptual, historical, theoretical and ethical issues will be discussed alongside developments in specific fields (e.g. behavioural genetics and psychopathology).

The module will promote an understanding of the current state of affairs with regards to behavioural genetics. Basic principles as well as recent developments will be explored in relation to a broad range of phenotypes. Historical and ethical issues will be discussed.

Tutorials:

Tutorial topics for this module are:

1. Major Concepts in Behavioural Genetics. This tutorial will take place in Week 4 and is designed to help you to prepare for the Oral Examination (Week 9) Exact dates/ times TBC
2. Select a psychopathology of your choice and discuss key behavioural genetic findings for this disorder. This tutorial is designed to help students to design and structure a tutorial essay on this topic and generally on writing examined essays. This tutorial will take place in Week 9. You are encouraged to submit one essay on the topic of this tutorial (optional).  The essay can have one of the following formats: (1) a fully referenced essay of between 2,000 and 2,500 words; (2) an essay written under exam conditions (hand-written, 45 minutes, with no notes). Exact dates TBC.

This module aims to provide you with an introduction to the study of music psychology. Lectures will focus on the perception, cognition and neural basis of musical understanding, perception of musical structure and emotions and theories about music’s evolutionary roots.

The scientific methods used in research will be explored in a research participation session and in lectures. The module will introduce you to music psychology. Lectures will focus on four main themes:

• Musical perception and cognition
• Musical cognition and learning
• Musical origins and emotions in music
• Musical creativity.

This module will examine self-processes in interpersonal settings, drawing primarily on recent research from social psychology and personality. The module will introduce how interpersonal relationships affect self-concept, identity, self-regulation, and subjective well-being, as well as discuss how self-processes, including individual differences, in turn affect the dynamics of self-other interaction and relational processes.

The module will seek to bridge the current literature in social psychology and personality between self and interpersonal processes among adults. The module will promote an understanding of how self-concept and identity continue to be shaped by our interpersonal interactions and how other people affect motivation, self-regulation, and well-being. The module will also explore how self-processes and individual differences, in turn, affect interpersonal relationships and promote our scientific understanding of the dynamic nature of this mutual influence.

This module aims to give an overview of the contribution that psychology can make to education. This will include subjects of direct relevance to the classroom, including learning styles, development or mathematical and reading abilities, as well as challenges in the classroom (for example dyslexia, behavioural problems, gifted and talented pupils).

This module will also cover more broad contributions of psychology to education, including how brain development across childhood and adolescence might inform education practice and a critical view of education intervention programmes.

Policy-relevant topics like inclusion for special educational needs, gender differences and antisocial behaviour will also be covered. This module will develop your applied skills and will be relevant for those interested in a career in educational or clinical psychology.

tbc

This module aims to explore the neural basis of cognitive functions such as attention, motor control, personality and social cognition. The lectures will cover the basic principles and methods that are used to study the links between brain and behaviour.

In the first week the methods used in Cognitive Neuroscience will be introduced. The lectures will then explore nine topic areas in more detail, guided by three main questions:

1. Which areas in the brain are important for the behaviour studied?
2. When are these areas activated?
3. How are these brain areas causally involved?

Every 2-hour lecture will include approximately 90 minutes of teaching, followed by discussion of a target paper or chapter. For every lecture, a small group of students will read the target paper or book chapter, prepare a short presentation and discussion points, and lead the discussion.

Magicians have developed powerful methods of manipulating our conscious experience. This module will examine a range of these techniques and relate them to psychological phenomena, such as misdirection attention and awareness, illusions, hypnosis, magical thinking, memory illusions and other confabulations.

This module will allow you to engage with social psychological approaches to understanding major social problems of contemporary society.

You will learn how to apply social psychology to analyse and solve social problems in intergroup contexts. You will gain experience in applying social psychological knowledge to understand and explain such issues as social inequality, tyranny, revolution and collective action, conflict escalation and resolution, genocide, terrorism and war.

This module aims to provide students with an introduction to the psychology of art appreciation, beauty and human preference, both from a basic science and an applied psychology perspective.

The lectures will focus on a wide range of topics, including aesthetic perception across the senses, including visual and auditory aesthetics, as well as the attractiveness of human faces and bodies. We will approach these topics from a wide range of theoretical and methodological angles, including neuroscience, cross-cultural and evolutionary perspectives. We will also focus on applications of aesthetic science in the real world, as in advertising and marketing.

The module will be structured to cover:

• Psychological theories of aesthetic appreciation
• Aesthetics across the senses: vision, audition, taste/smell and touch
• Attractiveness of faces and bodies
• The role of expertise, personality and cross-cultural differences in aesthetic perception

This module will provide detailed study of the scientific investigation of attention, a highly topical aspect of human cognition that plays a fundamental role in our awareness of the world and our engagement with it. Theories of attention will be introduced and cross-cultural and individual differences in attention and awareness considered in the light of these theories. Finally, the relevance of attention research to educational practice will be discussed.

Lecture sessions will often contain periods of guided discussion (focused on key readings reviewed in the lecture). They will be supplemented by an overview or revision lecture (focused on the exam) and two, one-hour tutorials (focused on the coursework). 

Topics covered will include background and models of attention, attention and culture, attention and emotion, attention and social psychology, attention and individual differences, and attention and modern media.

You will also be welcome to attend an additional more advanced lecture on the neurophysiological underpinnings of attention in clinical populations.