Psychology

Course summary

The course is broken up into 11 sections across 2 years. There are 3 papers of 2 hours in length at the end of year 2. • Approaches: from setting up the first psychological lab, through Pavlov’s conditioning, to Freud and the assumptions of the humanistic approach. • Biopsychology: brain structures, neuronal pathways, brain scans and more. • Social Influence: why we obey authority and why people conform. • Memory: how our memory works and how we can improve it. • Attachment: the bonds formed with our primary caregivers and the impact on society when this goes wrong. • Psychopathology: normality and how to diagnose and treat mental problems, such as OCD, depression and phobias. • Research methods: from case studies to lab experiments; the procedures, ethics and evaluation of methodology. • Year 2 topics: Issues and Debates, Relationships, Schizophrenia and Forensic Psychology.