Psychology Modules

The Psychology modules listed below will be offered in academic year 2012-2013. Please note that the modules listed may be subject to change and that final module selection will depend on academic approval of your module choice at both the point of application and the academic advising session before Matriculation.

Level 4

PY40027 - Animal Minds: A comparative approach to social development

30 credits, year long
Comparative Psychology offers an alternative methodological perspective which challenges and compliments the field of developmental psychology. The intention is to provide a fresh perspective on existing knowledge; highlighting the difficulties inherent in designing research for non-verbal populations and putting children's development into evolutionary perspective.

PY40024 - Decision Making

30 credits, year long
This course aims to give a relatively broad understanding of human behaviour from the fascinating approach of decision making. It is feasible to make the argument that decisions underlie all of human behaviour. Therefore if we want to understand how we and others behave, we need to understand what motivates us and how we make decisions. Core themes discussed include: how we conceptualise and understand the decision process; how our emotions and other people influence our decisions; how our decisions are influenced by how information is presented to use; procrastination and impulsivity.

PY40016 - Group Processes and Social Identity

30 credits, year long
This module offers an introduction to the issue of group processes and intergroup relations, as seen from a 'social identity' perspective. The groups discussed range from small face-to-face groups to large organisations such as political parties and religious institutions. Topics discussed include formation of group norms; conformity, cooperation; cohesion; minority influence; dissent and the 'black sheep effect'; factionalism and schism; power; leadership; intergroup conflict and harmony; crowd behaviour; group identification and health.

PY40029 - Introduction to Clinical Psychology

30 credits, year long
This course covers the basic aspects of clinical psychology, from assessment and formulation to the therapeutic approaches and areas of controversy. Attention is paid to issues regarding forging a career in the profession. The course content includes: diagnosis, classification and epidemiology; cognitive behavioural approaches; anxiety disorders; mood disorders; psychosis; professional ethics and behaviour.

PY40018 - Developmental Psychopathology

30 credits, year long
This course offers an introduction to abnormal brain and behaviour development, psychological, and neurological disturbances and disorders, which occur in infancy and childhood. Topics include: normal and abnormal brain-behaviour development, mental disorders in infancy and childhood, diagnosis and research methods of mental disorders occurring in early development.

PY40020 - Language and the Mind

30 credits, year long
Understanding language is something we effortlessly manage to achieve everyday, and we take our ability for granted. However, it is not instantly apparent to us how we extract the meaning of the word as we hear or see a mere string of sounds or printed characters. Also, understanding sentences takes more than simply combining meanings of each word in the sentences: structural and semantic relationships must be worked out - but exactly how is it achieved so rapidly? We often fail to see the very real mystery surrounding how we manage to interpret sentences. The purpose of this course is both to highlight, and to unravel, some of this mystery.

PY40022 - Vision in the Real World

30 credits, year long
Can we ever understand how vision really works from studying it in the lab? In this course you will learn why understanding vision requires us to run real world experiments. We are only now beginning to understand how we use vision to help us get through our activities of daily life. You will learn how vision is used in a range of everyday activities, and sporting activities. In all of these it is clear that vision and action are intimately linked: the eyes are used to search out relevant information to plan our actions and vision tends to lead action by up to a second.

PY40015 - Dissertation

30 credits, year long
You will also carry out an investigation of a topic of your own choice, under the guidance of a member of staff, which you will write up as a dissertation. The research can take place "in the field" (for instance, schools, hospitals, businesses) or in laboratories specialised in the study of brain activity, eye movements, perception, motor control, reading, communication, infant behaviour and group dynamics.