Applied Social Psychology

Core Modules

• Psychology in Applied Settings

  The module aims to help students understand the challenges but also benefits of conducting research in applied settings, as compared to laboratory settings. After discussing general opportunities and challenges in conducting psychological research in applied settings, the module will cover a variety of topics in applied psychology delivered by experts on the topics and practitioners. These may vary each year, but can include selected topics in organisational psychology, forensic psychology, educational psychology, counselling psychology, and applied social psychology. Some example topics include eyewitness testimony in the court, parenting interventions, and understanding donations.

• Intergroup and Interpersonal Processes

  This module covers the social psychology of intergroup and interpersonal processes. As such, the course content is situated broadly in applied social psychology. It introduces theories and findings in this area and uses them to explain real-life phenomena. Lectures will cover issues like, for example, cross-cultural psychology, of intergroup relations, ethnic identity, conflict resolution, immigration, and interpersonal relationships. 

• Advanced and Applied Research Techniques

  In this module you will develop an understanding of many of the key research techniques that are used in social, health, forensic, clinical and developmental research. You will look at both qualitative and quantitative research techniques, covering forms of data collection such as questionnaires, online data, interviewing and focus groups, observational research methods, computerised cognitive measures, and social neuroscience techniques. You will also consider other forms of data analysis, including grounded theory, interpretative phenomenological analysis, thematic analysis, content analysis, and the use of secondary data and meta-analytic and systematic review techniques.

• Topics in Psychological Science

  Seminars will adopt an interactive, discussion-based style, focused around a topical research paper or a wider issue relating to psychological science. The topics for discussion will be drawn from a broad range of research areas, including neuroscience, cognition and social psychology. Many of the discussions will be student-led, and the topics for these sessions will reflect individual students’ particular areas of interest. The taught module will be complemented by a series of departmental research seminars, through which students will be able to hear about the latest research from a variety of external speakers.

• Statistics for Research

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the main statistical methods used in psychology research. You will look at basic descriptive statistics before covering more complex techniques, including analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, correlation analysis, and simple and multiple regression. You will examine advanced statistical methods, such as structural equation modelling and factor analysis. You will gain hands-on experience in applying these methods of analyses to actual datasets and problems using statistical software, considering their respective strengths and weaknesses, and what type of problems each approach is best suited to address.

• Social Research Project

  In this module you will carry out a piece of research, either empirical or non-empirical by nature, on a topic of your choosing within the broad area of applied social psychology.

• Academic Integrity

  This module will describe the key principles of academic integrity, focusing on university assignments. Plagiarism, collusion and commissioning will be described as activities that undermine academic integrity, and the possible consequences of engaging in such activities will be described. Activities, with feedback, will provide you with opportunities to reflect and develop your understanding of academic integrity principles.

   

Optional Modules

There are a number of optional course modules available during your degree studies. The following is a selection of optional course modules that are likely to be available. Please note that although the College will keep changes to a minimum, new modules may be offered or existing modules may be withdrawn, for example, in response to a change in staff. Applicants will be informed if any significant changes need to be made.

Year 1

• Adjustment and well-being

  The module will cover a variety of topics in adjustment and well-being delivered by experts on the topics and practitioners. These will include measurement of well-being, antecedents and consequences of well-being, ill-being and health psychology. Some example topics include materialism and well-being, delusions, and adjustment of personal values to life transitions.

• Forensic Investigations: Cognitive and Social Approaches

  In this module you will develop an understanding of cognitive, social and neuroscience approaches to forensic psychology. You will look at social approaches to different victim and offender groups, the neuroscience of psychopathy, interviewing victims, physiological approaches to deception, detection, and the role of eyewitness identifications in the legal system. You will also examine receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and confidence relationships as they apply to decision makers and estimator and system variables.

• Neuroscience of emotion and decision making

  This module will introduce you to the latest research concerning the neuroscience of emotion and decision making, train students to interpret and evaluate the research in this area, and train students to apply their knowledge to the analysis of real-life examples Lectures topics could include, for example: comparisons between human and animal models of emotion; emotion regulation; the links between emotion and decision making; neuroeconomics; the neural basis of understanding others; cooperative and competitive decision making.

• Methods in Applied Neuroscience

  This module will provide you with the possibility to gain some hands-on experience of neuroscience techniques that can be used in applied contexts, such as EEG, fMRI and eye-tracking. You will learn how to collect data and analyse the data in a meaningful way to gain insight into human neural processes underlying perceptions, decisions and emotions, within an experimental design. Throughout the module, you will make use of different programming languages to deal with the different types of neuroscientific data.