PSY4272 - Psychology in Practice

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

(1) demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of different areas of applied psychology
(2) demonstrate an understanding of professional and ethical issues relevant to a variety of applied areas of psychology and professional practice;
(3) demonstrate an understanding of conceptual and historical issues in applied psychology.

Content:

This module provides an introduction to the application of psychology both to everyday life and to various professional domains. Students are introduced to the notion of “psychological literacy” and encouraged to develop their critical thinking skills, to develop confidence in engaging with psychology and to reflect on psychology as an applied, dynamic and wide ranging discipline.

Indicative content includes an introduction to counselling psychology clinical psychology, occupational psychology, sports psychology, health psychology, educational and forensic psychology. We consider how psychology can be applied to the understanding of everyday life: explaining human behavior in real-word contexts, including personal relationships, group and individual behaviour, health and well-being, community and environmental psychology.

Topics such as ethics, professional issues and conduct are explored along with conceptual and historical issues including the use and potential abuse of psychology.

Please note that this module does not equip students with practitioner skills required in the professional areas above.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The module delivery will be based upon a combination of lecture and workshop-based teaching and use of a VLE. A wider range of materials will be provided on the VLE to support students as developing independent learners. The time allocated for guided self-managed learning activities will allow students to use a variety of library facilities such as book chapters, online resources, or journal articles.

The module will be delivered on the basis of two-hour lecture slots, incorporating activities eg case studies and discussions which will be integrated with the additional materials encountered by students in their self-managed activities as they embark on the journey towards becoming independent learners.

Module co-ordinators will be responsible for liaising with and briefing external contributors on delivery and assessment expectations.

Lectures and Workshops
Contact hours 40
Number of groups 1

Assessment: