BSc (Hons) Psychology provides students with a strong foundation of knowledge and expertise within the subject. The single honours programmes and joint programmes in the School are accredited by the British Psychological Society as conferring eligibility for the Graduate Basis for Chartership

There is a tutorial system which supports the transition to academic study, and includes a series of scheduled one-to-one meetings. These personal tutorials aim to support the students personal development and continue over the three years of the degree. All academic staff are involved in teaching undergraduates.

At levels 2 and 3, students have a high degree of choice in the range of option modules that complement the core topics. The options focus on areas of cutting-edge research, vocational areas and specialist applied topics. The specialist research areas within the department include cognitive neuropsychology, vision and attentional processing, infant cognition and language, mental health, forensic psychology, and life span development. In the final year, student choice determines 75% of the programme, including the final year Independent Study (a major research project on a topic of your choice). The School also has a growing suite of masters programmes including in Forensic Psychology.

Teaching takes place in large lectures, smaller seminars and workshops and in small groups, depending on the level and the topic. In addition, staff use the intranet to provide materials to support teaching and have regular drop in sessions for students.  Most modules involve 2 hours a week timetabled time. Students are expected to contribute to small group sessions and to undertake independent study. There are dedicated Psychology Labs for student projects as well as the research labs that students may use as part of their final year research project.

Course Structure

To meet the accreditation requirements, there are a number of compulsory core modules and students have a range of choices at Levels 2 and 3.

Level One

• Research Skills 1
• Mind & Brain
• Development in Context
• Current Research Issues in Psychology
• Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology
• Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
• Social & Individual Psychology

Level Two

Core modules:

• Research Skills 2
• Social Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Investigating the Individual
• Cognition

Optional Modules

You choose two elective modules. Examples of Level 2 choices include:

Sleep, Dreaming & Circadian Rhythms, Perception, Evolutionary Psychology, The Psychology of Pleasure, Psychology in the News, Brain & Behaviour, Psychology of Spirituality.

Level Three

Core modules:

• Final Year Project
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Conceptual Psychology

Optional modules

A choice of four elective modules from those available. The usually reflect staff research interests and may include:

• Fantasy Neuroscience,
• Vision,
• Advanced Multivariate Statistics,
• Cross-Cultural Psychology,
• Spatial Language & Spatial Representation,
• Developmental Psychopathology,
• Organisational Psychology,
• Sleep Memory and Cognition
• Discourse,
• Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology,
• Autistic Spectrum Disorders,
• Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Theory & Practice,

Assessment

The aims of the module assessments are to provide a measure of the development and attainment of programme outcomes, including the attainment of high-level intellectual skills such as critical analysis and evaluation. Accordingly, the nature of the assessment varies across the three levels of the programme. The assessments at Levels 1 and 2 focus on the acquisition and understanding of knowledge and skills. In contrast, the Level 3 assessments place far greater emphasis on the ability to apply, analyse and evaluate knowledge.

The School of Psychology is quickly establishing itself as an important local, national and international centre of fundamental and applied research. We are committed to achieving excellence in scientific research with a focus on problems of contemporary relevance.

The research is currently organised under four umbrella groupings:

Evolution and Development
Staff in this research group study the evolution and development of motor, behavioural and cognitive processes, including language, social cognition and conflict management, vision, attention and memory. Further research foci are child safety, development of trust, social tactics, perspective taking, individual differences, atypical development, spatial language, handedness and decision making.

Members of this research group work with children, adults, non-human primates and other animals (e.g. dogs).

Forensic and Clinical Psychology Research is concerned with aspects of psychological functioning related to clinical and forensic problems. Most of the research is focused in applied settings and on clinical or forensic populations. This includes studying individuals in the community, special groups in hospital or clinical settings, as well as offenders both in and out of institutions. Research undertaken concerns staff, the environmental context or the individual, using a range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

Identity and Psychologies research addresses social and discursive constructions of identities, in particular, emerging adulthood, pregnancy and motherhood, ageing; in addition staff are interested in the effects of environment and physical changes on public perception of risk; the role of the environment in ageing identity; and constructions of terrorism.

Perception, Action and Cognition research focuses on the structures and processes underlying visual perception and attention. Past research has included, for example, comparative face perception, inhibition of return and neuropsychological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy. Other cognitively oriented work concerns linguistic structures and language processing, the impact of emotion on memory and social cognition. There is a newly set up Sleep Lab supporting research on the relationship between sleep and cognition.

The programme aims to equip graduates for postgraduate study and professional training in any area of psychology. A programme of ‘Careers in Psychology’ seminars is run throughout the final year of the programme. 2011 DELHE survey showed that over 60% of our 2010 graduates were in psychology graduate level employment or further study.