Entry requirements

The student should be admitted to the Master's programme in Psychology.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to

- define and describe central subject areas within psychology

- present the essential fundamental features of the most common theoretical methods within the above mentioned subject areas

- have discussions of and make connections between theory and everyday situations,

- identify and suggest ways to prevent methodological problems of scholarly studies of human behaviour in connection with choice of method and design

- account for theoretical basic principles and concepts in descriptive statistics and elementary statistics, and apply these principles on methodological issues

- practically use a computer-based statistical program and by means of this describe an amount of data and interpret the results

- account for the different fields of the psychologist profession

- apply professional ethical arguments of using the ethical principles of psychologists in Scandinavia.

Content

The course presents an overview of the central subject areas, research methods and application of psychology. Seminars with compulsory participation are given in cognitive psychology, emotion and motivation, social psychology and personality psychology. In addition to these subject areas, basics of perception psychology, developmental psychology and neuropsychology are also reviewed. The course also contains an introduction of method and descriptive statistics and an introduction to the psychologist profession.

The course is divided into three parts.

1. Psychology as a science and subject area (6 higher education credits). The subject content at this level is introductory in nature and should among other things give an idea as to what coming studies entail.

2. Basic method and statistics (1.5 higher education credits). This part contains basic methodology and descriptive statistics, e.g., different measures of central tendency and variance.

3. In addition to these two parts, a compulsory part designated the Psychologist's vocational branch (0 higher education credits). This is studied both through written material, and by the students in various ways coming in contact with professional psychologists. The starting point is primarily the psychologist's traditional fields within school, work and clinical psychology. The psychologist profession and the development of the psychologist education mutual dependency on one another will be highlighted. This connection will be placed both in a historical and a future perspective.

Instruction

The teaching consists of lectures and seminars. An overnight stay of two days is included, as well as interviews with professional psychologists.

Assessment

Assessment of the student's knowledge takes place at exams, through written assignments, oral presentations and through compulsory attendance at certain dates Each part is examined by itself For examination, the grades are used passed and failed. The contents of lectures can constitute a basis for examination even when the lectures are not compulsory.

Other directives

Other requirements, prerequisites and conditions for participation in and the fullfilment of the course, e.g. compulsory attendance, design of own work, etc., are evident from information given at the course introduction. A student who does not meet the mandatory requirements for a passing grade is usually given the opportunity to complete remaining parts the following term and/or is given complementary assignments by the course director.