This module provides the opportunity to explore the interdependence between feelings and human behaviour. It is organised into different themes (e.g. relationships, mood and sensations). Introductory sessions will be used to provide a knowledge base upon which the rest of the module will build. Then, within each theme, a range of topics will be explored, drawing on theory and research from different perspectives (e.g. biological, developmental, evolutionary, cross-cultural, cognitive, differential, and atypical psychology).
This module explores three themes, considering them in their own right and also in the light of their development from infancy through to adulthood. Firstly, how we gather and process information from the world around us, covering perception and attention processes. Secondly, how we use this information to act in the world, highlighting the ways in which we learn from the information that we have gathered from our environment. Thirdly, how we remember what we have experienced, covering the cognitive and biological machinery underlying short-term and long-term memory structures and how our socio-cultural milieu influences these processes.
The module will be taught with both undergraduate and postgraduate level content, supporting your developing knowledge base to critically and creatively deal with the complex issues involved.
This module provides the opportunity to explore a number of the major concepts, theories and methods encountered in understanding how and why we behave in the ways we do when in the presence of other humans. The focus of this module is to understand how our social behaviours may change according to the real, imagined or implied presence of other individuals. The module focuses on a variety of approaches to examine a number of questions. For example: a) whether we are social beings and why, b) what the ‘social’ brain looks like, c) how social behaviours develop across the lifespan, d) which mechanisms have been used to explain how we interact with the implied, real or imagined presence of others, e) how culture affects our social interactions, and f) how group membership affects our social behaviours.
This module provides the opportunity to explore a number of the major concepts, theories and methods encountered in understanding how we communicate with others, solve problems and make decisions. This module will help you understand the development of human communication, both cognitive and social. You'll learn what different psychologists think intelligence is, how it develops, and how it can be measured. You'll explore internal and external influences on the development of reasoning and decision making, and whether innate mechanisms underlie these capacities or whether they develop over time.
We keep the mathematics to a minimum as we introduce you to a range of quantitative and qualitative research methods used by psychologists. You'll consider the ethical principles and issues that surround psychological research and the historical and theoretical concepts that have shaped psychology as it is today.
Seminars and workshops will allow you to put your new skills into practice using the statistical software SPSS.
You'll have the opportunity to develop your own original piece of independent research under the supervision of an established member of staff. Some projects may end up being published in peer-reviewed academic journals.
