This course will appeal to those students who: are interested in exploring human behaviour; who want to take part in discussions on topics which will reflect upon their own lives; who would like to pursue careers working with people. Students will learn the fundamentals of Psychology and develop skills valued by Higher Education and employers, including critical analysis, independent thinking and research. Units of Study: Unit 1 - Introductory topics in Psychology: Social Influence - looking at conformity, obedience, explanations for resistance to social influence; Memory - models of memory, explanations of forgetting and eye witness testimony; Attachment - theories and explanations of attachements; Psychopathology - abnormality, phobias, depression, OCD.
Unit 2 - Psychology in Context: Approaches in Psychology - basic assumptions of learning theory, cognitive, biological, psychodynamic approach and humanistic psychology; Biopsychology - how the nervous system works, functions of the endocrine system, flight response, how the brain can be studied; Research Methods - methods used to gather data.
Unit 3 - Issues and Options in Psychology: Issues and debates in Psychology - gender bias, freewill vs determination, nature vs nature, holism and reductionism, idiographic and nomothetic approaches and ethical implications; Cognitive Development - theories of cognitive development and the development of social cognition. Schizophrenia - classification of schizophrenia, biological explanations, psychological explanations, drug therapy, cognitive therapy; Aggression - neural and hormonal mechanisms in aggression, evolutionary explanations of aggression, social psychological explanations of aggression, institutional aggression, media influences on aggression.