Entry requirements

General entry requirements and Mathematics 2a/2b/2c, Social Studies 1b/1a1+1a2 or Mathematics B, Civics A

Learning outcomes

Sub-course 1: Introduction to psychology, 7.5 credit points After completing the sub-course, the student should be able to: · Define and describe central subject areas within psychology. · Reproduce essential main features of the most common theoretical methods within the above mentioned subject areas. · Lead discussions about and make connections between theory and everyday situations. · Identify and suggest ways to prevent methodological problems in scientific studies of human behaviour with regard to choice of method and design. · Account for basic theoretical principles in descriptive statistics and elementary statistical inference and apply these principles to methodological issues. · Practically use a computer-based statistical program and thereby be able to provide descriptive data from a data set. Sub-course 2: Psychology of learning and cognition, 7.5 credit points After completing the sub-course, the student should be able to: · Define and describe the subject areas cognition and learning within psychology. · Reproduce current central theoretical models of cognitive psychology and describe how these can explain different observed phenomena, and identify possible shortcomings of these models. · Report generally how psychological principles of learning may be used to influence behaviours. · On the basis of psychological principles of cognition, give suggestions for applications within e. g. learning situations. · Formulate a scientific problem within cognitive psychology and identify methods to solve this problem. · At a basic level, plan and carry out a smaller study of a cognitive phenomenon with human participants. · Compile and describe data and draw basic conclusions on the basis of the results. · In group collaboration, produce a written report that broadly follows established formal criteria and basic requirements of scientificity. · Orally lead critical discussions of scientific method regarding another students work and defend ones own work. Sub-course 3: Developmental psychology, 7.5 credit points After completing the sub-course the student should: · have acquired knowledge about and understanding of central developmental theories, and be able to account for and compare these · have acquired knowledge about human development, particularly during childhood and adolescence, and be able to account for the main features in sensorimotor, cognitive, linguistic, personality and socio-emotional development · have acquired knowledge about how an individuals development is dependent on cultural and social circumstances and be able to account for the importance of cultural and social factors in individual development · be able to account for research in problem areas within developmental psychology Sub-course 4: Personality psychology, 7.5 credit points After completing the sub-course, the student should be able to: · Account for central theories of personality and place these within a context in terms of psychological theory formation. · Account for relevant arguments in the discussion regarding whether and how personality can be measured. · Account for methodological approaches to the study of personality, for example within biological personality research and by means of a personality test. · Account for the principle of operationalisation of concepts within personality psychology by means of a scale with inter-related items, and comment, in a simple report, on the outcome when data have been collected using such a self-constructed scale.

Content

The courses overall aim is to give an overview of the central subject areas within psychology and an introduction to methods and statistics. Include in the course, in addition to a general introduction, are areas such as the psychology of learning and cognition, developmental psychology, and personality psychology. Sub-course 1: Introduction to psychology The sub-course is divided into three parts, of which 2 are awarded credit points: 1. Psychology as a science and subject area (6 credit points). The subject content at this level is introductory in nature and should among other things give an idea as to what the coming studies entail. 2. Basic methods and statistics (1.5 credit points). This part contains basic methodology and descriptive statistics, e.g., different measures of central tendency and variance. 3. Research presentations (0 credit points). This part contains a presentation of the current research that being carried out at the department. Sub-course 2: Psychology of learning and cognition The sub-course gives a general introduction to the psychology of learning and cognitive psychology. The section on learning (corresponding to 1.5 credit points) focuses on how behaviours develop in interaction between an individual and the environment with an emphasis on classical and operant conditioning. The main emphasis of the sub-course lies on cognitive psychology (corresponding to 4.5 credit points) that focuses on thinking and knowledge processes, with among other things, memory as a central component. Other areas that are considered are neuropsychology, knowledge representation, decision making, visualisation, language and problem-solving. In a laboratory part, an experimental study illustrating cognitive-psychological phenomena is carried out (corresponding to 1.5 credit points) with the aim of providing an applied introduction to scientific problem formulation, methods and writing reports. Sub-course 3: Developmental psychology The sub-course gives a general introduction to the area developmental psychology and contains the following parts: Central developmental theories: This part intends to highlight theories of human development from different perspectives: maturational, learning theory, cognitive, evolutionary psychological and psychodynamic. Functional development: The teaching reflects aspects of human development and provides basic knowledge about individual circumstances, about the interplay between genes and environment and about sensorimotor, cognitive, language, personality and socio-emotional development Sub-course 4: Personality psychology The sub-course contains the following parts: The course first gives a general theoretical introduction to the bases of personality psychology. The theories and methods of measurement within trait psychology are considered, as is psychodynamic personality theory. A cognitive/social-cognitive perspective on personality is presented. Personality in relation to biology and health as well as personality and mental disorders are presented and discussed. Time is devoted to the concept of personality and its measurement in practice. The course also contains a laboratory session in personality psychology (corresponding to 3 credit points).

The course contains recurring behavioural scientific seminars.

Instruction

The teaching consists of lessons, seminars and supervision in connection with laboratory sessions.

Assessment

Examination is conducted using written individual examinations and by way of written and oral reports in connection with group exercises and laboratory sessions. The behavioural scientific seminars are mandatory. For examination the grading system used is failed, passed and passed with distinction. To receive the grade passed with distinction for the entire course, passed with distinction is required on three of the following four parts: Introduction: Psychology as a science and subject area (6 credit points), Cognitive psychology (4.5 credit points), Developmental psychology (7.5 credit points) and Personality psychology (4.5 credit points). Upon request from the student, this supplemental information is presented on a certificate.

Other directives

Attendance at laboratory sessions and group exercises are compulsory. In addition, attendance is compulsory during research presentations under the heading research introduction. In the event of further compulsory attendance, this is presented in the syllabus, timetable or other information before each sub-course. The course may also be included in the Behavioural science Bachelor programme.