Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain and behaviour, allowing us to analyse and explain the link between them in understanding human behaviour. It is a combination of biological science, cognitive science and social science. Psychologists research brain structure and function, mental processes, such as memory, thinking and reasoning, and also social factors such as how other people influence us. We aim to answer questions such as, Is aggression a product or biology or environment? What causes a phobia to develop?, Why do we follow a crowd, when we know we shouldn’t? The course will introduce you to the theories and methods in psychology and offer you the opportunity to look at some of the explanations psychologists use to understand human behaviour and experiences and how theory and research has helped shape todays society. In the first year you will study the foundations of psychology. These are disciplines in which psychologists approach the investigation of human behaviour These include social psychology, cognitive psychology and biological psychology. You will also conduct your own psychological investigations, where you will have a chance design and implement research to verify theories you have studied. In the second year, we move onto the applied psychology unit and look at criminal and clinical psychology and how theoretical knowledge has benefited society. In the criminal topic you will look at the practical tools’ psychologists have developed to help police obtain suspects in criminal investigations as well as causes of crime and rehabilitations. Within the clinical topic you will explore diagnosis and treatment of specific disorders, such a schizophrenia, exploring possible causes and effective treatments. The final area considers how psychology conducts research on humans and animals and the wider impact psychology has in society, such as the ethical issues faced by psychologists when studying sensitive human behaviour or how manipulating human behaviour can be used for negative social control.