BA (Hons) Psychology

Personality and Individual Differences is a multifaceted module that covers the history, cornerstone theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches of personality research. The structure of human personality is examined using a trait-based approach, which is applied in a variety of sub-topics leading to a comprehensive understanding of how personality and individual differences influence thought and behaviour in different settings. The contributions of biological and environmental factors in the development of personality and individual differences, as well as associated controversies are also explored. You will consolidate your learning by utilising psychometric methods to design and run a quantitative study in an area of personality research of your choosing. Accordingly, this module helps to prepare you for your third-year dissertation module in providing experience of the research process, from design, gaining ethical approval, data collection and analysis to reporting and discussing findings.

This module provides you with an experience of work in the form of a placement in a community-based setting. It enables you to apply your developing knowledge and skills in a real-life context offering you a valuable experience to draw on when you present yourself to employers or selectors upon graduation. The placement also offers you the opportunity to apply psychological knowledge and understanding, and to reflect upon your own interactions, communications, behaviours and responses within a complex organisational dynamic. This work experience offers an invaluable opportunity for you to reflect upon issues of ethical practice and responsibility, and these will be attended to in detail in supervision. The module aims to provide you with increasing knowledge of community-based issues through experience of a local placement, and opportunities to take up longer-term volunteering. This is with a view to gain a better understanding of psychological relationships within different environments. This will provide you the opportunity to identify areas of interest for research purposes and/or potential career paths identified by the BPS. The module will also focus on employability, looking at Employment skills such as psychometric testing, CV writing, transferable and interviews skills, along with professional practices in terms of safeguarding, confidentiality, ethics, and diversity, difference and the law. This work will be supported in elements by BG Futures who will provide ongoing support and feedback during the volunteering and employment process. Visiting speakers and external visits will be providing an insight into a range of support offered to vulnerable individuals and groups within the community, and you will have the opportunity to experience first-hand the challenges that brings.

This module will develop your knowledge and understanding of social psychology, one of the core areas of psychology introduced in Researching Psychology I. Social Psychology will engage you with the breadth and diversity of social psychology as a discipline from social constructionism and group processes through to social cognition, collective behaviour, and social interactions. The purpose is to help you gain a detailed understanding of how people think, feel and act in relation to others and the world around them. Key topics will engage you with the indexical nature of the discipline locating historical and contemporary research and theory within its broader socio-economic and cultural context.

This module will build and extend on core methods and statistical techniques acquired at level 4 in Researching Psychology I. You will develop knowledge and skills integral to advanced psychological research designs, including the use of quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques. Specifically, this module covers three research methods strands including experimental, psychometric, and qualitative methods. Statistical underpinnings and application of techniques relevant to experimental (e.g., One-way ANOVA, Factorial ANOVA) and psychometric-based research (e.g., Regression, Multiple Regression) are covered and directly extend methods learnt in Researching Psychology I. Additionally, you will develop applied methods skills by utilising specialist software such as SPSS for the analysis of quantitative data. A variety of qualitative approaches, methods and analyses will also be considered such as interviewing skills, diaries and photo elicitation, discourse analysis, polytextual thematic analysis and descriptive phenomenology.

In this module, you will be introduced to the main themes in Evolutionary Psychology such as Sex and Mating; Parenting and Kinship; Group Living, and Life History Theory. You will draw on knowledge acquired earlier on in the degree as all aspects of psychology feed into and can be contextualised within an evolutionary psychological theoretical framework. You will develop an understanding of ultimate explanations for human thought and behaviour, and how they are observed cross-culturally as well as historically. The module will further explore the unique characteristics of human evolution, including the Social Intelligence Hypothesis.

This Level 5 module will enable you to develop your communication skills through developing resources for public engagement with Psychological research and theory around behaviour change. The module will introduce you to the psychology of persuasion - you will draw on to disseminate Psychological knowledge to lay audiences and a range of relevant stakeholders. The module also builds on research skills developed at levels 4 as well as the theme of community engagement which is embedded into the core modules for this programme at all levels. The focus of the module on dissemination and public engagement also links to the development of transferrable skills which will aid employability. Finally, as the module is grounded in Psychological theories of health behaviour change you will engage with institutional and national policy to examine the Psychological underpinnings of initiatives like ‘Change 4 Life’. Indicative content for this module will include: Theory of Planned Behaviour; Theory of Reasoned Action; Protection Motivation Theory; Transtheoretical Model of Change; Social Cognitive Theory; Self Efficacy; Behavioural Capacity; Central and Peripheral routes to persuasion; Elaboration Likelihood Model; Fear Appeals; perceptual salience; mass communication; writing for lay readers; Visual Rhetoric; Action Research.

This module will develop your knowledge and understanding of statistical methods used in psychological research. Specifically, you will be introduced to meta-analysis (which allows for the systematic summarising of large bodies of evidence) as well as multi-level modelling (which deals with data that are structured in a clustered/hierarchical manner). You will also be introduced to a syntax-based statistical program called R, where code is used to define and specify advanced level statistical models.

The Dissertation requires you to work independently in producing a substantial piece of research that demonstrates mastery of academic knowledge and research skills commensurate with Level 6. You will draw on your existing repertoire of experience garnered over the course of the degree in the development of a report akin to a journal style article, representative of the discipline. You will initiate your research protocol as defined in the first semester module, Research Project Design, and subsequently manage participant recruitment, data collection, and data analysis in accordance with the BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct. The Dissertation should aspire to produce published articles in the discipline (corresponding to the subject topic). The design of the study should successfully address the research question such that data collection and data analysis provide meaningful insight into the identified gap in the literature. You are expected to thoroughly scrutinise the findings in relation to relevant theoretical and methodological issues and in doing so, produce a meaningful contribution to the literature.

This module is an extension of the Level 4 module, Foundations in Clinical Psychology, and aims to equip you with a critical knowledge of the clinical psychology literature, as well as techniques relevant to working with specific clients (children, adolescents, adults, elders and their families). The module aims to develop your research, assessment, formulation, intervention and evaluation skills for work with specific clients. It will emphasise major theories of working with specific groups, and review literature on psychological disorders specific to different age groups. This module will emphasise the importance of ethics in clinical work (according to HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics; the BPS Code of Conduct, Ethical Principles and Guidelines and also the Professional Practice Guidelines of the Division of Clinical Psychology). You will consolidate your learning by having access to a series of case studies, documentaries and practical activities.

This module focuses upon the BPS Core domain Biopsychology, covering aspects of the biological basis of behaviours, emotions and mental health. The module aims to provide an overview of how the sub-disciplines within biopsychology (e.g., neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience) approach psychological research questions. The module will support development of an in-depth understanding of neural conductance and major brain structures/systems to particular neurotransmitter systems as explanations of how the brain affects behaviour. The module aims to develop your understanding of the anatomical and physiological processes that underpin psychological experience whilst exploring the methodologies used to examine contemporary issues in biopsychology. To achieve these aims, the module will enable you to critically examine how contemporary biopsychological models are developed and evaluate these as explanations for behaviour using key examples (e.g., emotions, memory and learning, drugs and addiction and mental health disorders). This module promotes the application of multiple perspectives (including knowledge gained of other domains in previous years) to critique biopsychological theory and to critically appraise information, using evidenced based reasoning.

This module develops knowledge and understanding of the BPS core domain of Cognitive Psychology which you will have been introduced to at level 4 in Researching Psychology I. Throughout this module, there will be discussion and critical evaluation of a range of different cognitive psychological constructs (e.g., processing resources, attention, memory, language) as a toolkit for theorising mental functioning. You will critically engage with core constructs in cognitive psychology, associated methodologies and key perspectives (for example cognitive neuropsychology, neuroscience, fundamentals of the experimental method). Throughout the module, the use of computerised experimental paradigms will be explored, which underpin theories. For example, you will have the opportunity to engage with classical experimental paradigms or paradigms with a cognitive basis such learning, memory and problem-solving computerised tasks, within workshop sessions. The module aims to showcase the breadth of approaches to understand cognitive processes whilst critically engaging you with relevant associated methodologies. You will have opportunities to engage in a variety of cognitive experiments to facilitate your understanding of key topics and experimental approaches.

The module provides an opportunity for you to build upon and apply the key intellectual, transferable and practical skills gained at Levels 4 and 5 of the programme in order to design an appropriate research project for your Psychology dissertation. Throughout the module a series of lectures, seminars and workshops will further develop your research design skills in experimental, quasi-experimental, surveys and/or qualitative research methods. In addition, you will develop a critical understanding of ethical challenges associated with carrying out psychological research leading to the development of a research project that adheres to the British Psychological Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct (2018) and BGU's Research Ethics Committee standards.

This module provides a critical overview of the broad nature, states, theories and approaches to studying consciousness. Specific examples will focus on staff expertise (for example dreaming, mindfulness). The module will draw together topics and methodological approaches from previously studied core content in Psychology, such as cognitive and biological psychology, and will require you to engage critically with the methodologies associated with those. You will need to gather data yourself and reflect upon its theoretical and methodological value in the assessment, building on subject specific and generic undergraduate level psychological skills. Indicative content includes: The nature of free will; hypnosis; whether identity can be biologically determined or is psychologically-oriented; drug-induced meta-states; the Freudian unconscious; disorders of consciousness such as agnosia, coma and persistent vegetative state; and familiar states of consciousness such as deja-vu, tip of the tongue and everyday amnesia.

Occupational psychology focuses on aspects of human functioning in work environments. The Psychology in Organisations module aims to build upon your base of knowledge regarding principles of psychology as applied to the world of work and organisations. The module will provide you with a grounding in the theory and empirical evidence of organisational psychology using three organising principles: the organisation as a complex system, its processes, and the people in the workplace. The module will present you with various concepts in the study of organisational psychology such as work motivation; stress at work; individual differences; stereotyping and prejudice at work environments; and the relationship between organisation and community. The module will take a diverse and international view of organisations and psychological theory as pertaining to them and contextualise both theory and practice. This provides a key opportunity to further develop work-readiness, employability skills and apply learning acquired across the degree.