Major in Psychology (BA or BSc)

Degree Requirements (for students who enrolled before 2003)

Students of the BA or BSc (Psychology) will complete the following programme of study:

100-Level

Foundations in Psychology A
Introduces students to the science of psychology. Content will focus on the way the individual's biological and psychological systems function. In particular, the subject will examine the biological bases of human behaviour, lifespan development, motivation and emotion, personality, and consciousness.

Foundations in Psychology B
Examines the way in which individuals perceive and learn about their world, the ways in which group membership influences behaviour, the nature of psychological dysfunction, and the role of psychology in influencing health. Topics covered include learning, perception, memory, cognition, psychology of abnormality, social psychology, and human relations.

Theory, Design and Statistics in Psychology
Introduces students to scientific methods, the design of psychological research, data analysis and interpretation. Emphasis will be placed on the acquisition of fundamental statistical skills and a capacity for critical evaluation of research design, in both experimental and non-experimental applications. Ethical issues in psychological research will be addressed.

200-Level

Research Methods and Statistics (or PSYC 247)
Provides students with the skills necessary to understand variability, and probabilistic behaviours, developed around an understanding of experimental and quasi-experimental methods. It focuses on an understanding of experimental methods and choice of appropriate statistical analysis for a given experimental design. Students will experience extensive use of the SPSS statistical package.

and three electives, which must include at least one subject from each of the following Groups:

Group A:

Personality
Provides overviews of, and bases of comparison between, many of the major approaches to personality. These include psychoanalysis, behaviourism, existentialism, personal construct psychology, neo-Freudian approaches, trait theory, social learning theory and humanistic psychology. Coverage includes both accounts of normal and abnormal personalities, individual differences, developmental dimensions, relevant research and therapeutic relevance where appropriate.

Developmental and Social Psychology
Discusses core issues in child and adolescent development with an emphasis on individual behaviour in the social context. The first half of the course provides a developmental framework from the pre-natal stage to the transition to adulthood. The second half emphasises the contributions of social psychology to understanding individual behaviour.

Group B:

Biological Psychology and Learning
Introduces the physiological mechanisms underlying behaviour and changes in behaviour brought about by experience, as well as the psychophysiological measures frequently employed to study these processes. Topics include the nervous and endocrine systems, arousal, attention, learning, memory, language, Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, habituation and orienting reactions.

Cognition and Perception
Provides an overview of two broad content areas in experimental psychology. Perception is the study of how information is acquired from the environment through sensory organs. Cognition is concerned with the storage, manipulation and retrieval of such information. Topics covered include visual and auditory perception, memory, language, categorisation and reasoning.

Students may also choose to study as electives:

Introduction to Psychological Assessment (or PSYC 248)
Focuses on the assessment of human psychological dispositions and behaviour. It explains the conceptual rationale underlying psychological assessment, and the practical aspects of using psychological tests. Discussion includes the psychometric basis of tests and ethical issues related to psychological testing and assessment. Students use the SPSS statistical package for the psychometric data analysis.

Psychology of Physical Activity
Examines key aspects of the body of evidence on the health benefits of physical activity, how physical activity habits may be conceived of and measured; and, how physical activity is distributed in populations and its major determinants. It also considers relevant theory and method from health psychology and exercise science and has a strong health-outcomes, epidemiological and population-health flavour. It deals with how psychological theories or models can guide both smaller- and large-scale interventions to promote physical activity; with the evidence base on which interventions can be developed; and, with the evidence on the effectiveness of individual, small group, community and mass-reach intervention strategies.

300-Level

Three electives including at least one of:

Psychology of Abnormality
Involves a systematic examination of the variety of mental disorders found in adults and children. In addition to the descriptive psychopathology, necessary to identify the disorders, contemporary issues relating to theories of causation and treatment are examined. Clinical assessment and methods of therapeutic intervention make up an important component of this course.

Change Throughout the Lifespan
This subject focuses on the kinds of changes that occur to people throughout their life and ways to facilitate and cope with those processes. Changes in intelligence, personality and social interactions in adulthood and old age are considered. Theories concerning the nature of life-span change are addressed, along with relevant empirical studies. One approach to understanding and facilitating changes, personal construct psychology, will be considered in detail. Some personal exploration will be undertaken by those enrolled.

Assessment and Intervention
Provides students with an overview of the assessment procedures and intervention programmes commonly used, and the efficacy of these programmes for psychological problems including anxiety, depression, eating, substance abuse, and common disorders among children. Strategies used in cognitive-behavioural assessment and therapy will also be covered.

Social Behaviour and Individual Differences
This subject allows students to study selected topics in social psychology in more detail. The emphasis is on the extent to which one can explain social behaviours (e.g. prejudice, crime, close relationships, particular adolescent behaviours) in terms of individual differences and personality traits. An integral part of the subject will include the formulation of a research proposal by each student.

History and Metatheory of Psychology
Introduces (1) the origins and development of major approaches in modern psychology, and (2) important conceptual issues in psychology. Topics include materialist and causal views of psychology, behaviourist analyses of mental processes, psychoanalytic explanation, rationalist and phenomenological accounts of mind and ethical and ideological considerations in psychology.

and at least one of:

Memory and Language
Extends students' knowledge of cognitive psychology from the framework acquired in 'Cognition and Perception'. It provides a detailed examination of four areas: (i) short-term memory, (ii) visual object recognition, (iii) the psychology of reading, (iv) applied aspects of long-term memory. Students working in groups will be required to carry out a small original research project on a topic relevant to the course.

Current Issues in Learning and Judgement
This subject will extend students knowledge of psychology in the areas of human learning and judgment. It provides a detailed examination of four areas : (i) implicit learning, (ii) human reasoning, (iii) judgement under uncertainty, (iv) causal learning. Students will be required to carry out a laboratory report on a topic relevant to the course. In addition there will be a full program of experimental laboratory classes.

Visual Perception
Covers each of the visual perceptual modalities in turn - lightness and colour; motion; shape and object perception; depth and stereopsis; spatial and temporal resolution - and the applications of each, uniting them by focusing on the environmental variables to which the visual system is sensitive, and the neural mechanisms underlying such sensitivities.

Psychophysiology
Concentrates on psychophysiology as the systematic examination of peripheral and central physiological correlates of perceptual and cognitive functioning. Students will attain a basic level of proficiency in the electrical recording and assessment of a range of autonomic measures (muscle, respiratory, cardiovascular, and electrodermal activity), as well as the traditional central indicators (EEG and event related potentials).

and note that Design and Analysis is a further optional subject within the major

For Honours candidates, these two subjects must be included:

History and Metatheory of Psychology
Introduces (1) the origins and development of major approaches in modern psychology, and (2) important conceptual issues in psychology. Topics include materialist and causal views of psychology, behaviourist analyses of mental processes, psychoanalytic explanation, rationalist and phenomenological accounts of mind and ethical and ideological considerations in psychology.

Design and Analysis
Develops skills in the design and analysis of research investigations involving statistics. Topics covered: statistical techniques in psychological research, experimental and observational research designs, analysis of survey data; analysis of variance and covariance; regression; factor analysis; multivariate analysis. Statistical computing is an essential part of the course.