Course overview
This course, together with PSYCHOL 1000, provides an introduction to the basic concepts and core topics within contemporary psychology. The two courses may be taken singly or in combination. Core topics covered over the year will include the development of the individual over the lifespan; the study of the person in a social context; differences between people with respect to their intelligence and personality; issues related to individual adjustment and maladjustment; the biological bases of behaviour; the interpretation by the brain of sensory signals from the external environment; the mechanisms underlying learning; the encoding, storage and retrieval of information; the nature of motivation and emotion; culture and cross-cultural psychology. The courses will also provide an introduction to the methodological approaches employed by psychologists to study these topics. Major findings to emerge from psychological research will be presented, and the practical significance of such work will be discussed. Practical work will address the conventions of psychological report-writing and the ethical principles underlying psychological research and practice.
Pre-recorded lectures will be posted online via MyUni and face-to-face teaching will take the form of interactive lectures and workshops.