This class introduces you to the core principles, skills and sources in History. You will learn about key debates and controversies through historical case studies, including immigration, nationalism, terrorism, institutional care, vaccination, childhood and diplomacy. Through examining these case studies you develop critical analysis and communication skills. The class entails one lecture and one tutorial each week, which will involve the examination of select sources, as well as a discussion of that week's topic.

You will learn about important transformations in the British economy, society, culture and politics over more than three centuries. You will explore how Britain and British people have impacted cultures and societies across the globe, and how these interactions shaped British society. As in semester 1, this class entails one lecture and one tutorial each week, which will involve the examination of select sources, as well as a discussion of that week's topic

You'll take this class in semester 1 and are not expected to have any prior knowledge of psychology. It explores learning theory, developmental psychology, personality, biological psychology, and the scientific basis for psychology.

This class is taught in semester 2 and covers sensation and perception, cognitive psychology, social psychology, abnormal psychology, and research methods.

This class provides an introduction to Glasgow’s history, culture and identity from its origins to the present day. An interdisciplinary and international perspective will adopted throughout the course and Glasgow will serve as a lens through which students will be exposed to the various factors (politics, religion, geography, immigration, health, culture, science and technology) that impact upon a place and how it is perceived by the world.

This class provides a broad introduction to the historical relationship between diseases and human societies in the early modern and modern periods. It examines the core thesis that diseases and other health conditions have had dramatic impacts on history, shaping economic relations, political and social structures and cultural and religious beliefs. However, it also explores the reverse of this, the thesis that human activities, ideas and behaviours have radically altered the diseases and conditions that afflict our societies over the last five hundred years. The course is grouped around three themes, infectious disease, chronic disease, and society's responses to disease.

This class examines the relationship between war and society over the past 100 years, particularly the everyday experience, memory and representation of modern conflict. Focusing predominantly on the two World Wars, but also looking at more recent conflicts such as the Cold War, Vietnam and the Gulf Wars, the class is informed by national and transnational perspectives and adopts a range of historical approaches, including military history, social and cultural history, gender history, life history and the history of trauma. Drawing on a variety of sources, including official reports, propaganda, films, images and personal testimonies, we will examine how war has been studied in political, social, legal, economic, ethical and cultural terms.

This class examines the International History of Europe from 1914 to 2022, a period marked by:

• world wars
• revolutions
• Cold War rivalry
• decolonisation
• the beginnings of European integration
• Brexit
• Russian invasion of Ukraine

From the legacies of empire to the global consequences of European wars, students will examine how Europe has influenced, and been influenced by, the international order. 

This class reveals how our understanding of higher mental functions has been enhanced through:

• theoretical and experimental studies of normal human cognition
• neuropsychological studies of how cognitive functions may be damaged as a result of brain lesions

This class introduces social psychological theories and research that provide insights into why people believe what they believe, and why they behave the way they do.

Topics covered include attribution theory, aggression, prosocial behaviour, group influence, norms, conformity, obedience, and attitudes.

It ends with an introduction to health psychology, demonstrating how social psychological principles covered earlier in the class are applied to pressing, real-world health issues such as dietary behaviour, smoking/alcohol-use, and suicide.

You'll be introduced to the main features of measurement, research design, and statistical analysis in psychology.

Following a general introduction, the course presents fundamental concepts, issues, and debates in the field of research methods.

You'll also become familiarised with the conceptual basis for inferential statistical testing, and introduced to different inferential statistics. Finally, a brief introduction to qualitative research methods takes place.

This module examines the maritime dimensions of the Atlantic world in the early modern period, moving away from the dominant landed view of empire to delve into the seascapes that underpinned and shaped the development of Atlantic empires and the modern world more generally. Focusing on maritime activities and possessions throughout the Atlantic Ocean, including Europe, West Africa, and the Americas, you will investigate how the ocean was more than a passive highway for the movement of diverse goods, peoples, and ideas but was also as an active force in that history, which shaped where, when, and how such movement occurred. 

This module examines the political, ideological, military, intelligence and cultural rivalries that defined the Cold War, with particular emphasis on their enduring significance for understanding the contemporary international order. This module moves beyond traditional bipolar interpretations centred on the United States and the Soviet Union, and instead critically assess the agency of European powers within the Cold War system.

This is a social history class on everyday life and the Troubles in the north of Ireland. Much of the historiography of the war in Northern Ireland (NI) has focused on the dynamics of the conflict and on the political manoeuvring that orbited those dynamics. This module takes a different tack to consider everyday life during the Troubles, and in particular the way in which people from the north of Ireland intervened in everyday life in both mundane and spectacular ways.

Drawing on various case studies (housing protests and the emergence of social housing; the feminist movement; the punk scene; gay and lesbian activism; prisons and imprisonment), you will engage with oral histories, documentaries, novels and other primary sources to consider how these movements emerged from and related to the war. In doing so, you will become aware of the global dimensions of a conflict sometimes misunderstood as atavistic or anachronistic, the connections between Irish and British social history, and the issues around 'dealing with the past' in contemporary NI.

The study of war has, until recently, tended to focus upon leaders, combatants and military strategies. This module, however, will analyse the experience of civilians on the Home Front, using World War Two Britain as a case study. An exploration of the cultural representations of non-combatant roles in war will be central to this module and we will engage with the historical debate about the relationship between war and social change. It will take a thematic approach and aims to make you familiar with both events and themes in the history of the Home Front.

This class examines the institution of slavery in different historical periods and in different regions of the world. Beginning with definitions of slavery, the class will examine slave-holding in ancient Greece and Rome, Asian and African forms of slavery, the Atlantic slave trade and the development of slave-based economies and societies in the New World. Among the themes to be considered will be the status of slaves and slaveholders in different societies; the economic significance of slavery and slave trading; the demography of slavery; issues of race, religion, gender and slavery; the survival of slave cultures; slave rebellion; the role of female slaves; the meaning of freedom in slave-holding societies; pro- and anti-slavery opinion and abolition.  There will be opportunities for comparison with other systems of bondage, such as serfdom and indentured servitude.

This class offers third year students the opportunity to spend eight weeks on a placement of their choice where their wider historical knowledge and set of skills can be applied; placements can range from museums, libraries, archives, historical associations to schools, charities, community organisations, healthcare providers, local authorities. This module aims to provide you with an insight into the day-to-day workings of an organisation, in order to develop history-specific vocational skills and promote reflection on employability as well as the issues involved in disseminating history outside academia. 

This class is compulsory for students who want to study history at Honours level.

It introduces you to the methods used by historians to reconstruct the past, exploring and analysing the techniques used by historians in doing primary research. The class is designed to demonstrate how you can use these techniques in your own work, particularly your 4th year/Honours dissertation. The class will introduce you to the subject of historiography – the history of history – and the ways in which our understanding and construction of history has evolved. The class is designed to promote independent learning and encourage you to reflect more deeply on the subject matter.

This class explores how mental illness has been explained, treated and experienced, from ancient times to the present, particularly in western cultures. Mental illness has been and continues to be one of the most controversial areas of health and medicine and one of the goals of this module is to examine why this has been the case. You will investigate not only how thinking about mental illness has changed over time, but also the many cultural, economic. technological and political factors that have influenced notions about mental health and psychiatry. You will engage with, and think critically about, primary sources ranging from popular literature and film to newspaper articles and medical studies.

Who are the Irish diaspora? This class explores the history of the Irish diaspora and the relationships between migrants and the homeland. It examines the history of Irish people in a variety of locations, including Scotland, England, the United States, Argentina and Australasia, and also investigates how emigrants shaped the history of Ireland itself. We focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and examine themes of political activism, labour, religion, gender, ethnicity, race and discrimination. We will also examine the relationship of the Irish diaspora to major events of modern Irish history: the Great Famine and the Irish Revolution. 

The Russia Revolution of 1917 was a seminal event in the history of the Twentieth Century and it changed the world. This module introduces you to major debates in the history of the Russian Revolution, especially through the eyes of those who either participated in revolutionary events or were affected by it. In particular, the course aims to combine discussion of key interpretive texts with an analysis of eye-witness accounts, memoirs, as well as rich cultural production-poems, art, and literature - which was inspired by the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. Arranged chronologically, ‘The Russian Revolution’ covers the Bolshevik victory in 1917, the Russian Civil War, and investigates the first ten years of Bolshevik rule.

This class examines the social history of drugs and medicines in modern societies, looking at why access to powerful medicines has been restricted, the reasons that useful medical innovations have often been rejected, and the social and cultural change driven by the introduction of new products and substances. The module is taught through weekly lectures and seminars.

The class provides a broad survey of Scottish social history since 1914. The aim of this class is to explore the nature and development of Scottish society in the twentieth century by assessing the impact of industrialisation and the problems associated with de-industrialisation, as well as the development of an urban society. By the end, you should have expanded your knowledge of contemporary Scottish history and have a good idea of the diversity of issues, techniques and arguments which historians have deployed in the study of twentieth-century Scotland.

This class equips you with a broader, more advanced set of methodological and analytic skills. These skills are essential for carrying out the year 4 dissertation and for being able to read and understand articles published in academic journals.

You're encouraged to think scientifically about conceptual and practical issues related to the study of individual differences, with specific reference to intelligence and personality. You'll gain the chance to put this knowledge into practice by designing your own measurement instrument.

You'll be introduced to some of the core topics in cognitive psychology

• Perception and action, particularly how we perceive time and recognise faces
• Memory and learning, including models of episodic and working memory
• Language, including word production, sentence comprehension, and discourse processing
• Thinking, specifically problem solving, deductive reasoning and judgement and decision making.

This class reviews the ways that children develop from infancy right through to the end of adolescence. Key theories are presented and used to explore the extent to which children’s development is continuous or stage-like and whether specific skills develop more quickly than others. Issues relating to infancy, ‘theory of mind’ (understanding others’ thoughts and beliefs), executive function (planning and monitoring abilities), language, and communication form the core themes in the class.

The purpose of this class is to provide the opportunity for you to learn the basic principles of brain function, and to encourage you to address the implications of this understanding for their own view of how behaviour is generated. It includes coverage of electrophysiology and psychopharmacology, neuroanatomy, research methods in neuroscience. There are focused sections relating to the visual system and the motor system.

This class allows you to consider current ideas and positions within social psychology. Four themes drive the class

• Attitudes and attitude change, covering the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Health Belief Model
• Identity, with a focus on social, personal and group identities
• Prejudice, connecting both attitudes and identities, and covering a broad range of areas such as social representations, stereotyping, prejudice and conflict
• Epistemology, where consideration is given to the theory of knowledge, how social psychological knowledge is produced, and to what effect

The class offers an introduction to the Environmental Humanities through an investigation of human-environment relations from the fifteenth century to the modern day, charting a crucial period of colonialism, commercialism, and globalisation that has shaped how environments are conceptualised, represented, and engaged with across time, space, and cultures. You will examine human attempts to manage, control, know, and live with diverse environments, such as soil, forests, oceans, and lakes.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 sets out a universalising idea of childhood which is assumed to apply across the world.  However, childhood is not a self-evident biological category, but a social construct that has varied across time and space.  By focusing on nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this class seeks to understand how childhood has been imagined throughout history; how children’s lives have been impacted by that changing definition; and how a particular construction of childhood, which emerged in the context of modern Europe, has come to be viewed as universal. 

This class looks at the period of Covenanting rule in Scotland within the wider context of early modern British and European History. Its focus is on the period 1637 to 1651, from the emergence of the Covenanting movement to the Cromwellian conquest of Scotland. These were some of the most turbulent years in British History. In addition to considering political, economic, military, diplomatic, religious and constitutional issues, the course also examines social issues in the context of the drive for a godly society and a significant amount of witch-hunting.

Sexual practices and attitudes to sex have changed dramatically since the nineteenth century. This module will examine how and why these have been transformed through an exploration of the social, cultural and medical history of sex and reproductive health in modern Britain and Ireland from the late Victorian period to beyond the ‘sexual revolution’ of the 1960s and 1970s. How was sexuality understood by ‘ordinary’ people, the state and the medical profession? How did men and women limit their families? How did sexual and contraceptive practices change over time? In addition to answering these questions, you will examine how sexuality was understood and defined by the medical profession and how responses to reproductive health issues were shaped and influenced by social, political and cultural factors.

As well as introducing you to the main secondary readings on these topics, you will get to grips with a range of primary sources including individuals’ and patients’ narratives, literary texts, visual sources and films. We will assess the power of governments over men and women’s sexual and reproductive rights, for example, through an examination of debates over the legalization of contraception and abortion in two different cultural contexts.

We will also investigate the interactions between sexuality and public health, for instance, by exploring the history of venereal disease and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

You will additionally explore topics such as dating and popular culture, adolescence, sex education, and the sexual revolution, assessing the interactions between sexuality, medicine and society over a period of rapid social change.  

This special subject honours module introduces you to youth cultures of protest, resistance and activism in post-war Britain. The class will discuss movements across Britain, with a focus on Glasgow’s radical history – you will be encouraged to think about major political events ‘from below’ by examining how ‘ordinary’ young people in Britain challenged, influenced or reacted to government policies, state infrastructures and global political events.

You will consider questions like:

• What were the relationships between social movements, youth culture and the state, between organized political parties and spontaneous protests, between activism and humanitarianism?
• What gains were made as a result of political struggles and social movements in this period and what demands were defeated?
• How did social movements and youth subcultures influence popular culture or reimagine everyday spaces, places, institutions and practices?
• What can these histories tell us about how we understand gender, race, class, sexuality, youth, subcultures, work, migration, family life, infrastructure and the environment in Britain today?

More frequently than ever before, secret intelligence has become front-page news. Intelligence and security studies rank among the fastest-growing areas of academic research and public interest. However, the significance of recent intelligence can only be fully understood from a long-term perspective. In the past, learning the historical lessons of intelligence was challenging, more so than for any other profession, primarily because there was scant record of much of its past experiences. Nonetheless, the declassification of archival documents offers us an invaluable and largely unexplored field. This class aims to uncover some of the lost history of global intelligence, to illustrate how it reshapes current historiography, and to highlight its ongoing relevance to intelligence in the twenty-first century. Today, more than ever, national governments, global agencies, and significant multinational corporations have an escalating demand for experts with a profound understanding of intelligence issues, and who can exhibit exceptional analytical and judgment skills.

This special subject module examines the history of modern terrorism and political violence. Each seminar explores the challenges and problems associated with conceptualising terrorism through focusing on primary sources concerning key moments in the development of political violence in a variety of historical contexts.

In Part I of this class we investigate both state and insurrectionary terrorism mainly in the long-nineteenth century, beginning with the French Revolution, then moving to the revolutionary movements of the nineteenth century, colonial violence, white-supremacist terrorism in the United States, to the Suffragettes on the eve of the First World War. The key readings include primary materials such as the Russian terrorist Nechaev’s ‘revolutionary catechism’, anarchists’ court speeches, and Irish nationalists’ private letters about bombing London.

Throughout the course, we will discuss different historical and social science approaches to terrorism, its political uses, and reflect on how it has been represented in media. In doing so, we investigate a topic which holds vital significance in today’s society, though historical perspectives are too often absent from contemporary debates.

This special subject module provides an analysis of the key events and debates in the history of pharmacy.  It studies the creation of pharmacy as a profession from the Greco-Roman traditions, through the medieval apothecary guilds to the establishment of pharmacy education at university level in the twentieth century.  It assesses the struggles between doctors and pharmacists for the rights to dispense prescriptions and to control the medicinal markets and the historical roots of the division within pharmacy between the individual dispensing pharmacists and the establishment of the drug- store chains such as Boots in Britain and Walgreens in the USA.  

The class analyses the ways in which governments have regulated pharmacy defining between professionals and ‘quacks’.  It also studies the historical interaction between society and pharmacy, the challenges posed by the advent of the consumer society, the relationship between the pharmacist and the market and the impact on the drug trade of welfare medicine.

This special subject module introduces you to the social history of women in Ireland over 150 years from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries, a period of rapid social and cultural change in the country. The class will appeal if you are interested in understanding how women’s experiences in Ireland have changed over the period and how these experiences have been shaped by gender, religion and class. You will have the opportunity to utilise a range of primary sources, such as women’s magazines, memoirs and personal accounts, feminist publications, novels and literature, as well as drawing on contemporary film sources. We will explore the experiences of women both inside and outside the home, looking at themes such as education and work, institutionalisation, emigration, women's activism, sex work, philanthropy and criminality, as well as private matters such as contraception, marriage, sexuality, and pregnancy. In Semester 1, we will broadly focus on the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and in Semester 2 we will broadly focus on the later twentieth century.

This special subject module involves the detailed study of the 1703 to 1707 period in terms of the making and ratification of the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland. The focus of the class is on the use of primary sources and close reading and interpretation of specialised historiography. You are fully encouraged to articulate and develop your own arguments and thoughts, with regard to some of the most controversial areas of Scotland’s past.

This special subject module examines the debates surrounding the history of European integration with particular focus on the impact of British and French foreign policies on the process and evolution of European unity. Through the analysis of primary and secondary sources, you will develop a critical understanding of the major underlying forces that shaped British and French policies during the period under discussion and assess these policies in the wider context of the international history after 1945. These classes will examine the discussions about European unity that emerged following the Second World War, key developments on the road to closer integration such as the European Coal and Steel Community. You will assess the significance of the Treaties of Rome and examine the themes and deliberations surrounding the European Community’s enlargement. This class will consider the shifting and contested nature of the rhetoric associated with the political integration of Europe and the impact of Britain’s entry.

This class aims to engage you in the examination of themes related to twentieth century political history, as well as the history of communication and of warfare. Through the systematic use of a variety of primary sources, this class is also designed to help you develop a strong appreciation of theories and methodologies of historical research, key skills of the history graduate. This module examines means by which states conduct informal activities to promote their domestic and foreign objectives. In particular, it analyses the role of propaganda throughout the twentieth century, focusing on the use of modern mass communication and technology as well as the relationship between media and state and non-state actors. The class is structured around a number of historical themes, which help shed light on the emergence of propaganda, its interpretation and perception. Key themes analysed throughout the course include the First World War and Second World War as examples of ‘total war’; the growth of international radio broadcasting; the creation of centralised propaganda machines in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and Fascist Italy in a comparative dimension. During seminars, you will be exposed to relevant primary source material. Particular attention will be given to understanding the theory and practice of propaganda and analysing how technological developments have contributed to shape modern information and mass persuasion.

The dissertation is an opportunity for you to undertake an original piece of research, closely supervised by a single member of staff. Dissertations can be of such high standards that they are subsequently published in peer-reviewed academic journals.

This class will support students' development in applying their knowledge and understanding of psychological theory and evidence in a work setting, as well as their ability to articulate the knowledge, understanding, and skills they have developed through the placement, their studies, and other extra-curricular activities.

The class aims to provide students with an opportunity to gain practical, work-based experience in an area that is professionally relevant to psychology. The placement experience should encourage the transfer of academic psychological knowledge, understanding, and subject-specific skills to an applied context. Students will also be supported in developing reflective and professional skills, and the ability to articulate these skills. This class is intended to support students' transition into employment and/or further study after graduation. It is also anticipated that there will be benefits to placement providers in the roles fulfilled by students, and in the longer term in supporting the development of the future workforce.

The placement involves completing a minimum of 60 hours of active engagement within a suitable organisation. An additional 50 hours has been added to account for travel time.

Students will be responsible for setting up a placement with an organisation relevant to their interests. We hope to provide students a list of organisations who have indicated a willingness to receive applications from students seeking a placement. 

In the assessment for the class, students are required to submit a 2000 word written assessment that covers:

• An account of their role within the placement organisation, including a critical reflection on the student's professional practice in fulfilling the requirements of the role. The student will also relate back to the self-evaluation assessment written at the beginning of the placement;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the application of psychological theory and evidence relevant to the placement organisation and/or experience in the placement role;
• Discussion of their personal and professional development, following the placement, with a view to their future development.

Advanced Organisational Behaviour is an Honours year elective, which runs over two semesters, offered in the degree subject Human Resource Management (within the Department of Work, Employment and Organisation). It is also an elective in Psychology. There is no prerequisite for Psychology students and it is expected that students with no prior experience of HRM courses will be able to fully engage with this class. The class draws from organisational behaviour, work psychology and work sociology to explore current topics within work and employment, and the implications for people management.  

This optional class aims to help students gain an understanding of the ways in which human psychology is influenced by cultural context. This class builds upon your third-year psychology classes, attempting to expand the topics covered in these classes by emphasising the role culture plays in the mental life of human beings. This class will start with an introduction to cross-cultural psychology, discussing its various definitions and general theoretical orientations. Then, the class will explore the similarities and differences in social behaviour across cultures, and how culture influences people’s emotions and values. This class will also discuss intercultural contact (i.e., acculturation, cross-cultural competence).

This optional class will be delivered by a combination of lectures and seminars. An experiential/problem-based learning approach is adopted. Relevant theories and empirical research will be discussed, and students will have the opportunity to explore how the knowledge can be used to in real-world scenarios. Overall, this class will enhance students’ understanding of different perspectives on psychology and increase their awareness of cultural differences in psychology.

Mental health problems are a growing public health concern worldwide, at both personal and societal levels. This class will explore the application of psychology to the field of mental health, with the consideration of the theoretical, practical and ethical underpinnings of the mental health field. The class will also explore approaches to psychological assessment, formulation and treatment that are commonly used in mental health practice.

• Lectures will cover the following key areas:
• Psychological assessment
• Psychological formulation
• Overview of most common mental health problems (e.g. depression, anxiety)
• Clinical practice and psychological interventions
• Positive mental health

This class has two broad aims:

1. to provide students with an introduction to critical thinking and review some of the theoretical and empirical literature around critical thinking and epistemological thinking
2. to give students the opportunity to practice critical thinking and thereby develop and sharpen their skills in this important area.

Literature on critical thinking and epistemological thinking will be reviewed, and both everyday aspects of critical thinking (such as interpretation of articles published in newspapers and on the world wide web) and more technical aspects (such as critiquing journal papers within psychology) will be covered. Following three lectures setting out the theoretical background, teaching will be workshop-based, in which students will work in tutorial groups engaging in critiquing exercises. Different kinds of articles will be jointly critiqued, beginning with ‘everyday’ materials such as newspaper opinion pieces, thence moving on to informal presentations of psychological material in the form of discussion articles published in magazine-style journals such as ‘The Psychologist’, and ultimately building up to the critique of published articles in psychology journals. This will therefore simultaneously broaden the students’ knowledge on a psychological topic of great practical significance (just how good are ordinary members of the public at thinking critically?) and at the same time help to develop their skills in a way that should positively impact their studies of psychology at Honours level.

This class introduces students to the scientific study of belief in religion and belief in / experience of ‘paranormal’ phenomena.  The content is not concerned with the veracity of experiences or beliefs but rather how psychology can measure associated variables, explain the formation and maintenance of beliefs and examine the effect that holding such beliefs or having such experiences can have, both physically and psychologically.  Students will be expected to critically evaluate experimental methodology and theories of cognition in relation to the class content. 

This is a one semester class in which students will select an approved psychology topic for intensive, non-empirical study. Students will demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the conceptual and theoretical content of an area of psychology drawn from a list of approved topics. This class affords Honours students an opportunity to develop and demonstrate skills in literature search, information assimilation, evaluation and in depth critical analysis of a chosen topic. The class places emphasis on independent student learning. The course will help the student to develop critical writing skills over a period of time through independent writing and self-directed study. The aims are:

i. to develop an extensive in-depth knowledge of one key topic area in psychology.

ii. to develop critical thinking skills such as questioning the assumptions and conclusions of others and looking at alternative ways of dealing with questions, facts, and arguments.

iii. to develop and refine skills relating to the systematic acquisition of information.

iv. to develop and extend essay writing skills, including discussing and formulating arguments, summarizing, and presenting materials.

This class provides an introduction to the field of sleep health, which is a developing area of sleep psychology that focuses on the evaluation and treatment of sleep disorders by addressing behavioural, psychological, and physiological factors that interfere with sleep. Sleep disorders impair quality of life and contribute to physical and mental health problems. Despite this, they are an under-recognised and under-treated threat to public health. Sleep experts have long recognised the need for greater public awareness of the impact of poor sleep and the importance of promoting the evidence-base for appropriate assessment and treatment. This class will introduce students to the specialist, multidisciplinary area of sleep health with a very clear focus on insomnia disorder, the most common sleep disorder and the one of the most prevalent mental health complaints in Europe. 

In this class, we will cover the psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and real world applications of face perception and recognition. The class will cover current theory in relation to face recognition, but importantly we will also assess the critical use of faces in real world and forensic contexts. For example, faces are of critical importance in criminal identification in policing and the justice system (e.g. from CCTV, bystanders, juries and the victims of crime), and in the prevention of identity fraud (e.g. should we put our faces on our credit/debit cards?). There will also be a clinical aspect to this class as we’ll look at individual differences in face recognition, looking at patients with prosopagnosia and Metropolitan Police Super-recognisers. Each of these areas will be explored in detail, to show how our understanding of the science of face perception can inform us about our interest in, and reliance on, faces. 

It is understood that our population is ageing; for example, the fastest growing age group comprises those aged over 85 years. The potential for health, economic, and social burden due to ageing is therefore increasing. With a better understanding of ageing processes, the burden of an ageing population could be minimised, successful ageing and better quality of life promoted, and the contributions of older adults to society celebrated. Contemporary psychological theories of ageing will be presented from a number of perspectives, and the class will draw upon research that has used a variety of methodological approaches. Students will also be encouraged to engage with the material via a range of teaching methods, including traditional lecture content, video clips, and interactive tasks. Typically, we will address: theoretical and methodological approaches to studying psychology and ageing; cognitive ageing; lifestyle factors; emotion in older age; ageing in society, including stereotyping; ageing in the workplace/retirement; wisdom; the positive influences of older adults in society. Teaching delivery is anticipated to be via 5 on-campus sessions and an online peer review task.  

This class will build upon knowledge developed in second (Cognition & Neuropsychology C8201) and third year level (Cognition C8304). Specifically, it will provide further understanding on how to apply principles of psychological assessment in broader contexts. The class will pursue three aims: 1) promote understanding and knowledge about the contributions and challenges of psychological assessment in various contexts and settings, 2) familiarise with aspects related to the selection of appropriate testing procedures and 3) the generation of hypotheses to guide such procedures and interpret their outcomes.

The class will offer a critical appreciation of a range of tests, procedures and techniques used to better understand a person’s psychological makeup and behaviour. Knowledge will be acquired on how such tests and procedures are used in experimental and applied settings. Learning will involve case discussions, discussion of commonly used tests, with students investigating cases and procedures. Students will develop an appreciation of the types of psychological testing.

The aim of the class is to facilitate the development of knowledge and understanding of theories and evidence-based research in relation to the psychology of physical activity. This class will provide opportunities for students to develop their critical evaluation skills of theory and research and to gain experience of measurement and behaviour change techniques in this area. The aim is also to give students the opportunity to apply what they have learned to a ‘real-world’ case study by implementing a behaviour change intervention to increase active behaviours.  This class extends material covered in previous years in biological, social, cognitive and health psychology but is applied to physical activity behaviour. Level 4 classes are very popular with students as they cover focussed, specialist topics and staff expertise.   

This lecture series will critically examine the contribution that evolutionary theories have made to our understanding of human mate preferences. It will cover fundamental questions in the area, such as how mate preferences are shaped by environmental and hormonal factors, and will have a strong focus on recent methodological and theoretical controversies in the literature. 

Sleep is a multidisciplinary field and is relevant for a variety of medical fields such as neurology, respiratory medicine, cardiology, and psychiatry. The focus thereby lies on the physiological aspects of sleep, as well as the organic sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea or narcolepsy. However, sleep is also a behaviour, and examining sleep through the behavioural lens has implications for the field of psychology at the individual and also the public health level. If we can understand how to change sleep behaviour, we can initiate change in the individuals and the public's health and wellbeing. In this class, we will explore the importance of examining sleep at the behavioural level, which can be modified to improve health and wellbeing. 

The class will offer you the opportunity to acquire an in-depth understanding of the theories and empirical data that are relevant within the field of neuropsychology of ageing and dementia. It will cover the differences between normal and pathological decline in old age and will provide information on the neuropsychological profiles and pathologies which characterize different forms of dementia. It will provide you with a solid foundation in neuropsychology. You will learn to identify the features which can aid early diagnosis and differential diagnosis of the dementias (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, Vascular dementia and Lewy body dementias). You will become familiar with how different aspects of cognition are distributed within the brain and will be aware of the consequences of impairment.

Different methodologies that are used for the study of the dementias will also be explored (e.g. neuropsychological assessment, functional and structural neuroimaging) and you will learn to critically evaluate the benefits and pitfalls of each method.
Overall, the class will provide you with key knowledge that will be relevant for the study of neurological conditions, for health-based research more broadly, and relevant should you choose to work in academia, healthcare or other industries (linked to older adults or neurological populations).

Cognitive Psychology (CP) is central to the understanding processes that are required for memory, attention, and learning. It can also provide insights into cognitive conditions that affect how people function and behave. CP underpins all aspects of psychological theory and practice (synonymous with developmental, social, educational and neuro psychology). The class will explore and critically examine key learning theory and consider transference and application from theory to real life contexts.  

This class is an option which is available to a restricted number of students who'll apply to take part. It involves a placement with a European University partner working in a research team during the summer between years 3 and 4. Additional assessment is to be completed during semester 1 of year 4.