BSc (Hons) Psychology

Course details On this course you will usually be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. Year 1 Developmental & Applied Psychology: Exploring developmental change across the lifespan and the ways in which psychological knowledge and theory is applied in real world contexts. Controversies, Issues and Psychological Skills: Developing your awareness of contemporary and mainstream issues in psychology and the history of psychology, in order to contextual contemporary issues in the discipline. Biological & Cognitive Psychology: Examines the relationship between the biology of the brain and how we process information, think and make decisions. Social Psychology & Individual Differences: Discover the ways in which human behaviour is affected by the social context in which it occurs and how behaviour differs between individuals. Experimental Methods & Statistical Analysis 1a: Planning, designing and conducting experiments as well as the analysis and effective communication of experimental findings. Experimental Methods & Statistical Analysis 1b: Second semester continuation from Experimental Methods & Statistical Analysis 1a, continuing to develop and carry out experiments and analysis. Year 2 Core units Biological Psychology: The study of the neural correlates of various core brain functions and impairment associated with brain damages. This unit will develop your analytical thinking, synthetic thinking and your ability to search for, recognise and critically evaluate information. Personality, Intelligence & Social Psychology: Explores the measurement of differences in personality and intelligence, identity and self-perception, attitudes, social cognition, and group processes. Developmental & Clinical Psychology: Provides further in-depth analysis of human development as well as introducing topics such as autism, prosopagnosia (face blindness), dyslexia and dementia. Cognition & Language: Examines the psychology of attention, memory, and problem-solving. Also explores the effects of brain damage (e.g. aphasia, spatial neglect). Experimental Methods & Statistical Analysis 2a: Further developing experimental skills, statistical analysis, interpretation and reporting of experimental findings. Experimental Methods & Statistical Analysis 2b: Continuing from Experimental Methods & Statistical Analysis 2a, this is the final Experimental Methods & Statistical Analysis unit before the final year project. Year 3: optional placement You may choose to complete an optional a 30-week minimum work placement which can be carried out anywhere in the world. The placement year offers a chance to gain experience and make contacts for the future. Year 3/4 (Final year) Core units Project: You'll carry out your own piece of research, working one-to-one with a member of academic staff. You will be expected to design your experiment, gather data, analyse it, and write it up as if it was a scientific paper. Option units Educational Psychology & Special Educational Needs (SEN): An introduction to educational psychology, SEN, labelling and inclusive education. You will discuss how psychological theories and research have influenced our understanding of child learning and teaching, and consider the effects on schools and teachers. Memory & Decision-Making: This unit builds a comprehensive understanding of key contemporary issues in memory research and decision-making research. Mind, Brain & Evolution: Through comparative psychology study the course will consider the differences between humans and animals, explore how the mind can be unmade after a stroke and examine consequences of mental disorders. Eye Tracking & Cognition: Using state of the art laboratory equipment, you'll design, program and analyse your own eye tracking experiment. Forensic Psychology: This examines current research at the forefront of knowledge exploring the application of psychology in forensic contexts. Occupational & Consumer Psychology: You'll investigate employee wellbeing, assessment and training, and consumer behaviour. Cyber Psychology: Examines the psychology of the internet on individuals, groups, organisations and society, plus tackles topics such as cyber-bullying, website trust and e-health. Face Recognition and Its Disorders: Examines the psychological processing involved in face recognition and explains why some individuals fail to recognise even those close to them. Health Psychology: This unit will provide you with an understanding of the role of psychology in promoting health and well-being, and the impact of this as we grow older. Applied Clinical Psychology: Using current research and clinical experience, the emphasis will be on exploring therapeutic practice, investigating NHS, local authority and third-sector service provision, and understanding the role of service users and carers in recovery from mental illness. Eating, Weight and Behaviour Change: For those who are interested in a career in health or clinical psychology. You will gain an understanding of bio-psycho-social factors that impact on both healthy eating and eating disorder behaviours as well as methods and models to support behaviour change and treatment in these areas. You will also explore individual differences (e.g. personality, gender, age etc.) in eating and weight behaviours. Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year. Scheduled learning and teaching activities Contact hours The hours below give an indication of how you can expect to spend your time during each year of this course. You will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops and practical sessions. Your independent learning could include reading books and journal articles, working on group projects, preparing presentations, conducting library research and writing your assignments. As this course is accredited by the BPS they require a certain element of independent study work and therefore although there will be scheduled learning and teaching factored into the course such as lectures, tutorials and seminars, you will also be expected to develop your independent study skills. This will involve extensive reading around your subject and working in groups to develop projects and presentations. Year 1 – 17% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 198 hours Independent learning: 1002 hours Year 2 – 16% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 195 hours Independent learning: 1005 hours Year 3 - 15% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 186 hours Independent learning: 1014 hours 59% of the course is assessed by coursework Year 1 60% Year 2 60% Final year 57% Throughout the course you will be assessed by coursework culminating in your final year research project, but you will also undertake group work and written exams. Programme specifications Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used. Download the programme specification for BSc (Hons) Psychology. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance. All statistics shown are taken from Unistats, Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE), BU institutional data and Ipsos MORI (National Student Survey) unless otherwise stated.