Module PSYS3211: ADVANCED APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

Department: Psychology (Applied Psychology) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

PSYS3211: ADVANCED APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

Prerequisites

• Modules to the value of 100 credits from Level 2 Applied Psychology (C810) or Level 2 Psychology (C800)

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

Aims

• To introduce students to questions in the application of psychology in at least two different areas of psychology.

Content

• The content of this module will vary from year to year. At least two areas of applied psychology from those listed below will be covered each year.
• Educational Psychology (example topics: psychology in the classroom - theories of: promoting learning - motivation, metacognition; increasing attainment - learning styles, working memory; behaviour problems - bullying, comorbidity)
• Psychology and Educational Technology (example topics: designing representations for effective learning; the psychology of multimedia design; the psychology of graphs and diagrams)
• Applied Developmental Psychology (example topics: developmental disorders - diagnosis and aetiology; Abnormal vs. Delay - implications for pedagogy; SEN in schools - remediation and practical issues; language and numeracy development; early childhood language; environmental influences on language; symbolic skills and number development; children's real-world representations)
• Health Psychology (example topics: psychology and health promotion/disease prevention; the psychology of illness; judgement and decision research applied to health care; doctor-patient communication)
• Clinical Cognitive Neuroscience (example topics: methods in cognitive neuroscience; aetiology of brain damage; recovery after brain damage; using neuroscientific methods to understand, diagnose and treat neuropsychological and psychiatric disorders - this will be illustrated with respect to a number of different disorders, eg visuospatial disorders, emotional disorders, conversion hysteria, migraine etc)
• Applications of Cognitive Psychology (example topics: taxonomic thinking in the real world; lay scientific thinking; science in the laboratory; face processing; mathematical cognition)
• Forensic Psychology (example topics: psychological processes and crime - sociological and cirminological theories of crime; personality and crime; neuropsychology and crime; evolutionary psychology and crime; the process of offender profiling; children in the legal context; eyewitness testimony; interviewing in the legal context; juvenile delinquency)
• Advanced Research Methods in Applied Psychology (example topics: meta-analysis, factor analysis; confirmatory factor analysis; cluster analysis; structural equiation modelling, multi-dimensional scaling; network analysis; logistic regression)
• Psychology of Sex and Gender (example topics: diverse explanatory and theoretical approaches, crime, psychopathology, leadership, spatial cognition, verbal ability)

Learning Outcomes

• At the end of the module students should be familiar with a range of issues in applied psychology

• Students passing this module should be able to:
• Locate, read and review a body of research evidence.
• Adopt and critically evaluate different theoretical perspectives and see the relationships between them.
• Interpret and evaluate the significance of empirical work.

• Students passing this module should be able to:
• Undertake critical evaluation of the quality of evidence and arguments.
• Communicate complex ideas effectively in their written work producing clear, well-written summative assignments.
• Demonstrate independent learning.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Knowledge and understanding is developed through the weekly 2 hour sessions involving a variety of learning modes including lectures, video-based material and student presentations.
• This knowledge will be assessed in the summative assessment, and the written examination. These assessments will be essay based, providing students with the opportunities to demonstrate their abilities to appraise and apply empirical evidence and theoretical claims in a critical manner.
• Preparations for the summative assignment will promote students' abilities to locate, read and evaluate a body of evidence. These abilities are also assessed via the written examination. Feedback is provided for the summative assignments.
• All modes of teaching are designed to promote critical evaluation of evidence and arguments, to adopt different theoretical positions, and to interpret empirical work in terms of theory. These abilities are assessed via written assignments. Feedback is provided for the summative assignments.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Student presentations.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University