MSc Psychology (Conversion)

This module presents a wide selection of interesting, detailed, and prominent psychological discoveries from topic areas such as child development to personality, brain functioning to interpersonal relationships. During the process, you'll learn how psychologists work in academic and applied settings, and how the discoveries made about the human mind and behaviour can inform both. You'll be given the tools to critically assess psychological claims to see how well they hold up once you've examined the evidence behind them, including the development of skills needed to understand and evaluate original research articles and claims made in psychology.

You'll become familiar with the foundations of biological psychology including the anatomy and function of the human brain and nervous system, psychophysiological processes, the endocrine system, behavioural genetics, and neuroscience measurement techniques, alongside the comparative and evolutionary models of human behaviour. During this module, you'll apply your knowledge to a variety of applied topics within biological psychology, ensuring you have an insight into how biological psychology can be applied to real-world scenarios relevant to your field of study.

In this module, you'll develop an understanding of social psychology as the scientific study of human behaviour that focuses on the interplay between individuals and groups. You'll learn about key theories, concepts, and empirical research in social psychology. This will enable you to gain insight into thoughts, feelings, and behaviour of individuals within social contexts.

Everybody's different, but how do we describe and measure that? This module focuses on how psychologists define and quantify individual differences and disorders in personality, where those differences might originate, and how those differences affect our personal and working lives. We'll consider the implications of being introverted or sociable, cautious or impulsive, neurotic or carefree, kind or psychotic, and what personality traits might be useful to predict behaviour, success, or wellbeing in applied contexts such as in organisational, health, educational, forensic, sports, or clinical psychology.

This module will allow you to gain an understanding of how humans grow and change across the lifespan, from conception to old age. You'll examine the biological, cognitive, social, and emotional development of individuals as they progress through different stages of life. Through this module, you'll learn how individuals acquire knowledge, perceptual abilities, memory, language, and higher-order thinking skills. You'll also explore the influence of relationships, social interactions, and societal factors on identity, self-concept, and emotional wellbeing. Through engaging with research and case studies, you'll enhance your ability to critically evaluate developmental theory and apply it to real-life situations. 

As you hurry about your everyday life, trying to get your shopping done, your assignments finished, your chores done, hoping for some time for a good chat with your friends, reading a novel or a comic, catching up on your favourite series, exploring the local sights, or maybe playing a game or dancing along to some music, you'll be using all your cognitive capacities. This module will uncover the amazing and complex skills that underlie these everyday activities and explore how cognition differs in animals, in people with acquired brain injuries, and in those who have extraordinary skills, such as polyglots and mnemonists. 

This module will take you through a journey of quantitative methodologies and their application within psychology. You'll acquire essential skills for designing and conducting practical research. Additionally, you'll master a range of descriptive and inferential analysis techniques, including gaining hands-on experience with relevant statistical software. Proficiency in professionally reporting psychological research findings is a key outcome. Beyond analytical and digital competencies, this module prepares you for potential quantitative research projects or post-study applications, as well as a host of other essential transferable skills.

In this module, you'll explore a selection of qualitative research paradigms and learn how their associated techniques are used across psychology and allied disciplines. You'll develop a nuanced understanding of the underlying philosophy of such paradigms, then use your knowledge to design and carry out your own research while learning how to present and evaluate it.

This is the final module of the course, where you'll put together all the psychological skills and knowledge that you've been learning in previous modules, to design and carry out an independent research project under supervision.