MSci Advanced Applied Psychology 

Social Minds: Exploring Human Interaction

The module will explore the experience of relationships through the processes related to forming an impression of people, feeling attracted or not to them, wanting to be their friend, getting to know them and forming a relationship with them, through a variety of behaviours, such as approaching them, talking to them, and meeting them socially.

Psychological theories and empirical findings from investigations into impression formation will be introduced, and methodology will be explored.

Thinking Like a Social Scientist: Study and Research Skills

This module introduces research design skills essential for success and growth throughout your degree.

It provides you with guidance on the basics of data analysis using JASP software and covers key concepts in time management and teamwork.

Critical thinking skills are developed to enhance the ability to present convincing arguments and evidence in written work. Academic reading skills are also supported to enable access to complex scientific reports.

Additionally, the module offers instruction on producing high-quality assessments, including creating references and citations using APA style, presenting information effectively, and writing well-structured essays.

Reflection on strengths and weaknesses is encouraged to facilitate continuous improvement and progress toward academic goals.

Sports Exercise Psychology in Action

Interacting with others is a natural occurrence in everyday life. The aim of this module is to explore and develop essential interpersonal skills that applied practitioners require as they engage in person-to-person interactions and develop sound working relationships.

You will explore effective verbal and non-verbal communication, learning how messages are conveyed and interpreted. Through a range of teaching strategies, you will be taught to understand the skills necessary to navigate complex interpersonal interactions.

Additionally, you will explore individual and contextual differences when interacting in group and one-to-one contexts.

By the end of the module, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the psychological processes behind human interaction and how to apply these skills in both academic and applied contexts.

Facilitating Wellbeing: Positive Perspectives

Based on the discipline of Positive Psychology, the module will explore the experience of living well, relating the need to understand well-being, emotions, motivation, aspirations and goals to self-development, personality traits, needs for achievement, self-efficacy, and self-esteem, environmental influences and the enhancement of well-being.

Psychological theories and empirical findings from investigations into needs, motivation and traits will be introduced, as will the use of selected nonparametric statistics.

This module aims to give you an understanding of a broad area of everyday functioning and experience in terms of the behaviours, feelings, attitudes, and mental processes involved in that experience.

The module also aims to use functional analysis so that a broad experience can be broken down into a series of questions concerning the sub-functions and behaviours involved, allowing the psychological constructs and theories that are associated with those behaviours to be elucidated and explored.  Exploration will involve appropriate methods to investigate what psychological constructs and theories relate to relevant behaviours and function.

The module will explore the experience of positive psychology relating the need to understand one’s own motivation, aspirations, and goals to self-development, personality, need for achievement, self-efficacy and self-esteem.

Psychological theories and empirical findings from investigations into emotions, traits and environments will be introduced and non-parametric methodology will be explored.

Mind and Machine

The module aims to develop an understanding of a broad area of everyday functioning and experience in terms of the behaviours, feelings, attitudes and mental processes involved in that experience.

You will use functional analysis so that a broad experience can be broken down into a series of questions concerning the sub-functions, psychological states and behaviours involved, allowing the psychological constructs and theories that are associated with those states and behaviours to be elucidated and explored.

Exploration will involve appropriate methods to investigate what psychological constructs and theories relate to relevant behaviours and function.

The Science of Behaviour: Theory to Evidence

This module aims to introduce the conceptual and historical issues in psychology and the work of prominent figures who influenced the development of modern psychology. You will begin to explore key thinkers in psychology, focusing on how key thinkers design and conduct research in their field.

Human Cognition and Individual Differences

This module explores how we think (Cognitive Psychology) and how we differ from one another (Individual Differences).

The aim of this module is to introduce you to basic theory, research findings and methods of investigation in perception, attention, learning, memory, face and object recognition and problem-solving.

Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology involves the study of development and maturation in cognitive, personality and social processes.

The aim of this module is to introduce you to fundamental theory, research findings and methods of investigation in infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and overall lifespan development.

The module will aim to provide a critical understanding of ways in which behaviour is influenced by developmental factors, the nature of developmental processes, and ways in which empirical research can help us to understand how developmental processes influence what we do.

Research Methods: Experimental Design and Analysis

The module aims to develop an understanding of experimental designs and associated methods of analysis related to psychology, and introduces you to research ethics. The introduced methods are variants of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), a method that allows comparison of groups and/or conditions.

Biological Psychology

Biological Psychology involves the study of the biological and psychological bases of mind and behaviour.

This module will introduce you to basic theory, research findings and methods of investigation in behavioural genetics, neuroscience and neuropsychology.

The module will aim to provide a critical understanding of the ways in which behaviour is influenced by biological factors, how we study these biological processes and why these processes are important in applied psychological settings.

Legal and Forensic Psychology

In this module, you will have the opportunity to explore a comprehensive range of key constructs, theories, and research in mental health and forensic psychology.

We will examine the numerous ways that psychological research, methods, and expertise are applied to both the study of psychopathology and to issues that come before the legal system.

Different types of criminal law will be discussed, and case studies will be used to consider how these might be dealt with.

Research Methods: Survey & Qualitative Designs and Analysis

The module aims to develop an understanding of survey and qualitative designs and associated methods of analysis related to psychology.

The module will develop knowledge of survey and qualitative approaches to investigating and analysing psychological data. The relationship between correlational analysis and predictive reasoning will be outlined. Areas covered include multivariate analysis (multiple regression) and thematic analysis.

Independent Project

The Independent Project provides an opportunity to apply appropriate knowledge, concepts, techniques and research methods of psychology to an in-depth study of a particular question or problem related to psychology.

This module aims to foster a greater understanding of the processes involved in undertaking a research project and marks the culmination of your learning experience.

The study will enable you to produce a written research report, and a poster presenting a summary of your research and findings.

Project Management and Presentation Skills

This project will support you to develop a wide range of skills, from project management, to the ability to present your research results in an accessible form. You will develop your scientific reasoning and reporting skills and produce a poster to present your research work.

Professional Skills in Clinical Settings

Professional Skills in Clinical Settings aims to put theory into practice.  This module aims to introduce and explore important aspects in clinical settings and the role of the therapeutic relationship.

Interviewing skills in clinical settings will be explored in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of structured and semi-structured interview methods.  You will gain experience of participating in a recorded interviewing session in the role of interviewer.

In this module, you will participate in a supervised administration of a standardised intelligence test that will give experience of and insight into psychological assessment typically conducted by child psychologists, educational psychologists, clinical psychologists and occupational psychologists.

Applied Organisational Psychology

This module aims to provide a critical understanding of organisational psychology, as well as introduce and explore important aspects of the working environment, their relationship to psychological reactions in employees, and consequent job and organisational performance.

The ways in which psychologists work with business and industrial organisations will be outlined, and the career pathways of work and organisational psychologists explained.

Cultural and Social Issues in Psychology

The module will provide an introduction to psychological and interdisciplinary studies, with a focus on issues of current social and cultural concern. The areas of diversity, power and conflict in society, economic and consumer society, reproductive health matters, environmental issues, health and illness will be investigated in terms of underlying theory and empirical research.

By integrating insights from psychology about people from other cultures, the module aims to contextualise the knowledge gained throughout the course, fostering a fuller, deeper, and richer understanding of psychology.

Dissertation

The dissertation provides you with an opportunity to show evidence of your ability to: identify problem areas, locate issues within a wider context, obtain relevant data, analyse findings, work within relevant theoretical/conceptual frameworks, synthesise complicated material, employ relevant and innovative research approaches and present findings in an accessible manner.

Advanced Applied Social and Health Psychology

The module will explore cutting-edge developments and issues in applied psychology.  You will apply psychological research to real-world issues:  for example, group violence, health, education, persuasion, media and advertising, industry (as faculty availability allows).

During this module, you will critically appraise interventions for children and adults and also consider how psychology can be used in the conduct of everyday life (e.g. at home, in the workplace, in education and in health care settings).

Advanced Research Methods and Approaches

The module will engage you with an in-depth and critical knowledge of advanced applied research design and associated analytical techniques, developing an advanced understanding of cutting-edge applied research skills and designs in psychology and criminology.

The module is designed to equip you with a wide range of methodological skills to conduct research of high quality and impact in your chosen fields, enabling you to become successful professional researchers in your applied discipline.

Clinical Psychology, Life Coaching, and Technological Applications

This module further develops your understanding of underlying theory and enhances your experience with practical skillsets across a wide range of professional psychology careers, including advanced research.

You will cover aspects of psychotherapy and clinical diagnosis, life coaching/mentoring skills, and work with a wide range of technical equipment with psychological applications.

You will also critique approaches to psychotherapy and clinical diagnosis, gain a good foundation in functional analysis of psychological problems, evaluate coaching/mentoring, gain experience in working with technical equipment such as Virtual Reality software and fNIRS, while further developing critical assessment and report writing skills.