Psychology Graduate Diploma

Modules

The course covers current findings, conceptual issues and theoretical debates in the following areas:

• Psychological research methods
  You'll be introduced to a range of quantitative and qualitative research methods used by psychologists. You'll consider ethical principals and issues that surround experimental design. During lectures the conceptual backgrounds to research methodologies will be discussed. Seminars and workshops will allow you to put skills into practice using statistical software and SPSS.
• The psychology of learning and memory
  You'll explore development from infancy to adulthood through three themes. 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 psychology of feelings
  You'll explore the interdependence between feelings and human behaviour. You'll identify and describe how and why humans have feelings and identify the biological and evolutionary bases of feelings and emotional experience. You'll learn how developmental, personality and environmental factors affect feelings and emotions in the context of relationships with others.
• The psychology of behaviour with others
  How and why we behave the way we do in the presence of other humans. The focus of this module is to understand what psychologists have contributed to understanding our social behaviours according to the real, imagined or implied presence of others.
• The psychology of thinking and communication
  How we communicate with others, solve problems and make decisions. The module will help you understand the development of human communication, both cognitive and social. You'll learn what different psychologists think intelligence, how it develops and how it can be measured. You'll explore the internal and external influences on the development of reasoning and decision making.
• Empirical project (fast-track)
  You'll design and implement a substantial piece of independent psychological research including a formal report. You'll be able to study an area of psychology that interests you and present your findings at an informal conference. You'll learn how to interpret research findings and place them within the relevant psychological literature

• Psychology of mental health and distress
  Mental health is a highly contested area, module will examine the theoretical differences between these perspectives, through examining the social, cultural, biological and psychological evidence for the causes and maintenance of mental health problems. These factors will be looked at in general, and also in relation to specific forms of distress, such as depression, eating disorders and anxiety. The value and efficacy of diagnostic versus formulation approaches for the treatment of mental health problems will also be explored.
• Health psychology
  Morbidity and mortality have been shown to be influenced significantly by various socio-demographic factors like age, social class and education. Which factors create the link between these inputs and health-related outputs is less clear. This module will explore theoretically based psychological processes and mechanisms (e.g. cognitive dispositions and beliefs, social support, etc) which have been shown to relate social inputs with health outcomes. In early sessions students will explore social inequalities in health.
• Investigative forensic psychology
  You'll explore research in Investigative Forensic Psychology that focuses on different issues relating to offender profiling, interviewing suspects and false confessions, detecting deception, identification of suspects, and psychology in the courtroom. You'll be expected to read about research in the area and to critically evaluate it in terms of generalisability and ecological validity.
• Psychopharmacology
  This module focuses on the scientific study of how drugs affect brain function and how such research furthers our understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying behaviour. Topics covered in this module include recreational and abusive use of drugs, cognitive enhancing drugs, the cannabinoid system and the therapeutic potential of cannabis, and in-depth coverage of the drugs used to treat schizophrenia, anxiety and mood disorders. In these last three lectures, we will look at the use of animals in drug development in clinical psychopharmacology and discuss future avenues of research to develop more acceptable medications for mental health problems.
• Psychology of addictive behaviour
  Conceptual issues surrounding the utility of theories will be addressed, and the empirical evidence for or against each theory will be discussed. You'll have the opportunity to consider recent theories which attempt to synthesise extant models into a comprehensive account of addiction. You'll have the opportunity to apply, and critically evaluate a number of theories in regards to their ability to explain alcoholism, both during seminars and in their coursework assignment. Finally, various treatment and preventative approaches, and the evidence for and against each will be examined.
• Psychology of inter and intra group processes
  You'll consider how groups interact with one another (inter-group processes) and also how group members function within the group (intra-group processes). The module combines basic and theory with real social applications. Seminars provide an opportunity to explore issues and research in more depth, and apply theory to real life situations. As well assessment via a short essay and final exam, you'll be required to make a short group presentation.
• Counselling psychology and psychotherapy
  This module is designed primarily if you intend to go on to counselling psychology and psychotherapy postgraduate courses following their degree. Each week includes theoretical and practical components where students are able to try out various approaches in role-plays and triad work. The theoretical component of the module introduces students to key theoretical approaches in counselling psychology and psychotherapy (focusing on humanist/existential and cognitive behavioural) as well as covering various types of therapy (one-to-one, group therapy, brief therapy and relationship work). There is a critical emphasis throughout considering issues of power, ethics, difference, and research on therapeutic effectiveness and processes
• Professional placement in psychology
• Applied behaviour analysis and autism

You may also complete any of the following modules if they relate to your career ambitions:

• Eyewitness psychology
  You'll be introduced to psychological issues relating to eyewitnesses. These include theoretical and applied aspects of memory and suggestibility as well as consideration of methods of interviewing witnesses and their impact on accurate reporting of the crime in question. The issue of vulnerable groups is an important one in the context of eyewitness memory as vulnerability is often perceived as unreliability. Therefore, research into these perceptions, the reliability of testimony and interview techniques to enhance recall among such populations will be considered and evaluated.
• Thinking: past, present and future
  Cognitive Science is the scientific study of thought. This module provides you with the opportunity to explore some of the key theoretical debates in contemporary cognitive science, adopting a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the nature of thought and challenging assumptions concerning what it is to be human. The module will address the nature of the human mind in the past, present, and future, frequently using comparative psychology to identify those abilities that make us uniquely human and which mark us out from non-human animals and synthetic organisms.
• Art, awareness and the brain
  This module focuses on the subjective state of awareness as a phenomenal state, looking at both is biological underpinnings in the nervous system and also its cultural manifestation in art. While each level is important in its own right for the study of Psychology, so too is their interconnectedness because each sheds light on the other, allowing a fuller and more integrated approach and deeper grasp of awareness that is ordinarily available
• Applied psychometrics
  This module will begin by explaining test construction and validation in detail. Then goes on to consider a wide variety of psychometric tests available and their appropriateness for use in occupational, clinical and research psychology. Ethical and legal issues surrounding psychometric test use will be covered. You'll gain practical experience of psychometric test use.
• Neuropsychology
  This module begins with an introduction to the history of neuropsychology and its methods designed to lay foundations for the following content. Of particular importance is the relationship between normal and impaired functioning and the goal of deriving theories which explain both. The content areas examine different types of neuropsychological impairment, from traumatic brain injury, as found in Amnesic Syndrome, through the effects of strokes found in Unilateral Neglect to the pervasive effects of degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's Disease. An important part of the module is an appraisal of the likelihood of recovery and efficacy of rehabilitation.
• Development of brain and behaviour in infancy
  This option focuses on infancy, a period of rapid development, and examines the emergence of perceptual, cognitive, and early social skills during the first year of life. Emerging behaviours will also be related to brain development, to facilitate a more thorough investigation of what happens during development. Traditional and more recent methods used to assess both brain and behaviour in infants will also be considered. This module also offers the opportunity to consider a dominant theoretical debate in developmental psychology, that of the relative contributions of nature and nurture to development. The first part of the module focuses on typical development, while the second part looks at instances where development is atypical, such as in the case of developmental disorders (e.g. autism and Down syndrome) or the case of extreme environments (e.g. visual and environmental deprivation).

*These modules are currently available only in semester 2, therefore, should you wish to choose your optional module from this list it would be necessary extend the period of study from 3 to 4 semesters. This can be done readily by transferring to the part-time Graduate Diploma course after completing semester 2 and would incur no additional costs.