Psychology

The course covers several major areas of information processing: working memory, attention, long-term memory, semantic knowledge, reasoning and decision-making, language and thought. One component of the course introduces the concepts of mental resources, models of working memory, and constraints on information processing. Another component of the courses discusses theories of attention, selective attention; visual search and scene perception; processing limitations, and cognitive control. Another part of the course covers basic processes and varieties of human memory: memory retrieval and interference; recognition and recall; forgetting and impairment of memory. The course also introduces theories of the structure of semantic knowledge, semantic memory processes, language and its biological underpinnings, neural correlates and methodological paradigms used to investigate the relationship between language and cognition. Finally, the course explores human decision making, rationality, heuristics and biases in judgements, probabilistic and logical thinking.

This course introduces the fundamental theories, methods, and key issues in psychology of sensation and perception. We examine the experimental study of the phenomena and processes of sensation and perception, their theoretical interpretation, for example direct and indirect perception approaches, and the contributions of physiological evidence to our understanding of these processes.

The material includes visual, auditory, and cross-modal perception. It covers the sensory processes, neural structure, neural coding and neural analysis; the structure and function of the visual system, auditory system and pitch perception. The course covers perception of colour, contrast, depth, motion, and optic flow, perceptual adaptation; illusions; perception of pattern, form, space, objects, time, mixing of the senses, synaesthesia, and cross-modal perception, perceptual aspects of memory, attention, imagery, and language; the construction of the perceptual world, orientation and movement within it.

This course can either be taken as a single combined course, or split into only Individual Differences or only Clinical Psychology.

This course examines the origins and measurements of individual differences in clinical and non-clinical areas. We start with the introduction to the psychology of individual differences. Its main focus is on personality and intelligence through the multidimensional approach that integrates the biological, cognitive-experimental and social-cultural theories and empirical evidence to explain how and why people differ from each other. The course introduces to the concepts of psychometrics, the development of measures of psychological traits, validity and reliability, test design and construction, factor analysis method, and issues and challenges in the measurement of individual differences. It starts with the discussion of personality and intelligence taking a multidimensional approach that integrates the biological, cognitive-experimental and social-cultural theories and empirical evidence to explain how and why people differ from each other.

The course then delves into psychological disorders, including theories of their aetiology, development, symptomology, and system of classification. The course covers issues concerning definition of abnormal behaviours and classification, and diagnosis of psychological disorders; and theories of aetiology integrating biological, cognitive, and socio-cultural approaches.

A number of psychological disorders including anxiety disorders, depression, schizophrenia, psychosis, eating disorders, and personality disorders are discussed in terms of definition and diagnosis, epidemiology, causal and maintaining factors, prognosis and treatment approaches. Empirical evidence from genetics, physiology, developmental, cognitive, and social approaches are considered within the framework of biopsychosocial approach.

The aim of this course is to explore various aspects of human social behaviour, and how individuals perceive, understand, interact and are influenced by a group and their general social environment. We investigate the biological and cultural background to social behaviour, research comparisons of animal and human social behaviour; examine cultural differences in behaviour and attitudes.

The course covers social influence including conformity, compliance, obedience, minority and majority influence, informative and normative influence, and persuasion. Another part of the course investigates the topic of social cognition, how individuals perceive, think about, and remember information about others and social situations. Social identity part of the course delves into how individuals perceive themselves in relation to others, how group membership affects beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours. The course also delves into the group performance and group decision-making; behaviour in organizations; and intergroup relations. Through the lens of social neuroscience the course considers the role of emotions in communication and empathy in prosocial behaviour. The course considers a range of theories, methodologies, and empirical findings in support of theories.

This course introduces the fundamental theories, methods, and key issues in Developmental Psychology. The course covers a range of theories of child development (e.g. Piaget, Vygotsky, Kohlberg), including theories and empirical studies of cognitive, social, emotional, language, and moral development. The course can cover the neonate, infant, pre-school, school children, and adolescent development. The course deals with the origins of our perception, with the beginnings of language and with other aspects of children’s intellectual and social lives, developmental aspects of perceptual and cognitive processes, behaviour, language and learning, motor skills, social skills, and moral development.