Postgraduate Psychology 2016-2017

A major component of the MRes is the Research Module. For this, students complete their own research project supervised by a member of staff who is an expert in the relevant field.  They also attend departmental seminars, present their research at a postgraduate psycholoquia and take part in journal clubs.

This course provides an introduction to postgraduate study in psychology, including issues surrounding ethics and data protection. It also includes sessions on the history of psychology and philosophy of science.

This course aims to provide students with a good understanding of the biological basis of behaviour and cognition. The course is split into two sections: Section 1 focuses on psychopharmacology, which is the study of the effects of drugs on normal and abnormal brain function; Section 2 examines neuropsychology, which focuses on the relationships between specific brain structures and psychological processes

Psychological assessment is used by psychologists in a number of areas, including clinical, occupational and forensic settings. The aim of this course is to introduce students to psychometric theory, real life applications of psychological assessment, and the legal and ethical issues surrounding test administration. Topics covered on this lecture based course include: IQ and mood assessment, clinical neuropsychological tests of cognitive function and memory, assessment of dementia, and forensic aspects of assessment (legal malingering).

The aim of this course is to consider a range of approaches to human perception, from historical beginnings to recent innovative research. Topics covered include visual attention, colour perception, face recognition, and perception of painspecific brain structures and psychological processes.

This course aims to introduce students to a broad range of methods used in psychological research. Lectures cover methods used to collect physiological data (e.g. brain imaging techniques), behavioural data (e.g. measures of task performance) and self-report data (e.g. survey, questionnaire and interview techniques).   Practical classes involve students working in small groups to design studies, collect and analyse data, and write reports. Practical sessions are also used to teach students to use a statistical software package (SPSS) to analyse data collected in psychological studies.

These courses provide training in advanced design and statistical techniques including analysis of variance and multiple regression, as well as an SPSS practical class.

These courses in advanced design and statistics include sessions on both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Statistical techniques covered include logistic and multiple regression, confirmatory factor analysis and multidimensional scaling. The principles of questionnaire design are explained.

Social Psychologists explore the psychological factors that influence behaviour in social situations. As such, the aim of this course is to provide students with an introduction to the range of topics within experimental social psychology, with a defined focus on social cognition. Topics covered include: Stereotypes, social perception and action, self-control, consciousness, and mimicry.

The aim of this course is to expand on the material covered in the “Introduction to Methods and Analysis” course by covering a range of more advanced research methods and statistical techniques, including analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression, as well as providing a thorough grounding in qualitative approaches to research. This is a ‘hands-on’ course, where students will have the opportunity to conduct a small research project, as well as practice carrying out different sorts of data analyses.

The Memory component of this course aims to introduce students to the main theoretical components of memory (e.g. working memory, autobiographical memory), psychological theories of forgetting, and applications to the study of eyewitness memory. The Language component will introduce students to key issues in psycholinguistics, including sentence processing, language production, and factors that influence communication in different settings.

This course takes a developmental approach to the question “What does it mean to be human?”, covering a range of psychological attributes that change with age. The course aims to introduce students to theories of perceptual, language, social and emotional development along with encouraging debate on some key conceptual issues (e.g. nature versus nurture). Specific topics covered within this course include: Awareness of mental states, information processing theory, and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

These courses introduce more of the core skills required for a career in research, including report writing, preparing for the viva examination, dealing with non-academic audiences, and planning a career route.

This course provides an introduction to the issues associated with conducting research with various populations including children, clinical patients, and older adults. It covers the process of working in collaboration with industry, and the techniques available for collecting data over the internet.

Students will complete an empirical project, under the supervision of a member of staff, where the student collects and analyses data in answer to a specific research question.   The aim is to further develop the skills and knowledge necessary to carry out psychological research at a very high standard.