BSc (Hons) Psychology with Integrated Foundation Year

Foundation in Knowledge and Skills

In this module, you will develop your basic knowledge and skills to support your academic development and improve your confidence in your academic writing and reading.

Stories, Evidence, and Truth in Society

This module explores how stories, evidence, and claims to truth shape identity, society, and systems of meaning. You will investigate how individuals and communities construct narratives, how evidence is interpreted, and how truth is contested in social, historical, legal, and cultural contexts. 

You will examine how stories influence personal identity and collective memory; how narratives are used; how psychological processes shape our understanding of truth; and how creative and historical narratives influence society’s perception of reality. 

Through case studies and examples from literature, media, legal cases, and historical events, you will build foundational academic skills and develop confidence in analysing how truth is created, communicated, questioned, and validated.

Human Behaviour, History, and Justice

This module introduces you to the ways human behaviour, historical change, and justice systems shape one another.

Drawing on subject-specific areas, the module develops foundational academic skills while encouraging you to critically understand why societies behave as they do, how ideas of justice emerge, and how individuals and communities respond to change. 

You will explore how historical events influence contemporary social behaviour; how justice systems evolve; how psychological explanations inform decision‑making and social norms; and how social, political, and cultural forces shape the human experience. 

Project

This module is an applied piece of work related to your chosen degree. It will require you to apply the knowledge and skills developed throughout the foundation year and will enhance your ability to work individually and as part of a team.

During the project, you will develop in-depth knowledge of your chosen future specialisation. You will be encouraged to demonstrate creativity in the design, planning and execution of a project.

Society: People, Groups & Relationships

To understand a broad area of everyday functioning and experience in terms of the behaviours, feelings, attitudes, and mental processes involved in interpersonal and intergroup relations. 

The module 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 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. 

Becoming a Social Scientist: Study & Research Skills

The module introduces research design skills essential for success and growth throughout an undergraduate degree. It provides 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.

Study skills are developed within a supportive and psychologically safe environment, offering opportunities to build confidence and knowledge without fear of judgment.

Learning is facilitated through various teaching methods, including lectures, discussion groups, interactive workshops, labs, problem-solving exercises, group work, independent study, and research participation.

The module accommodates all levels of ability, welcoming both those new to academic study and those seeking to further enhance their skills.

Consumer Psychology

In this module, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of consumer behaviour, looking at traditional psychological theories as well as contemporary digital and ethical contexts.

You will evaluate how internal, social and technological factors shape decision making, applying your insights to real-world marketing challenges. A strong emphasis on digital environments, sustainability and global trends ensures relevance to modern marketing practices.

Positive Psychology, Wellbeing & Human Flourishing

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 understanding a broad area of everyday functioning and experience in terms of the behaviours, feelings, attitudes, and mental processes involved in that experience. 

The module 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.    

Thinking with Machines: Cognitive Science in the Age of AI

The module will explore the experience of using everyday technologies such as cash machines, mobile phones, electronic tablets, computers, and AI-driven systems (e.g. chatbots and recommendation systems, alongside key AI approaches such as Narrow AI, Generative AI, Reinforcement Learning, Expert Systems, Computer Vision, Multimodal AI, Robotics, and Artificial General Intelligence). It will relate the need to learn and remember how to operate them to processes of memory, attention and decision-making on the one hand, and their usability and human–machine interaction on the other.

Psychological theories and empirical findings from investigations into learning, perception, memory, attention and human–computer interaction will be introduced, alongside emerging perspectives on human interaction with artificial intelligence, including issues of trust, agency and ethics. Experimental methodology will be explored, including how psychological questions are translated into testable designs.

The module will also introduce foundational statistical concepts to support the interpretation of psychological research, including descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), relationships between variables (correlations), and an introduction to group comparisons (t-tests). Emphasis will be placed on understanding and interpreting data in applied contexts rather than complex calculation.

Big Ideas That Shaped Psychology

This module aims to introduce the Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology and work of prominent figures who influenced the development of modern psychology and encourage students to begin to explore for themselves key thinkers in Psychology, focussing 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 across the Lifespan

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

The aim of the module is to introduce students 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 which empirical research can help us to understand how developmental processes influence what we do. 

Scientific Inquiry: Quantitative & Qualitative Analysis

This module develops students’ understanding of key research designs and analytical approaches in psychology, including experimental, survey, and qualitative methods, alongside an introduction to research ethics and integrity.

Students will explore how different research designs relate to forms of reasoning, including causal inference in experimental research and predictive reasoning in correlational studies. The module covers core analytical techniques such as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for group comparisons, multiple regression for multivariate analysis, and thematic analysis for qualitative data.

Through this, students will gain practical and conceptual knowledge of how to investigate and analyse psychological data using a range of methodological approaches, as well as research ethics considerations.

Biological Psychology and Neuroscience

Biological Psychology involves the study of the biological and psychological bases of mind and behaviour.  The aim of the module is to introduce students 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.

This module will examine areas of behavioural genetics, brain development, brain structure, plasticity and neuropsychology in terms of underlying theory and empirical research.

This includes an introduction to the ways biological processes have been investigated, for example through brain lesions, neuroimaging and brain stimulation techniques. 

Sport, Consumers and Psychological Influence 

This module provides you with the opportunity to critique the commercialisation of sport.

Contemporary issues predominantly based in the UK are used to demonstrate to you the benefits and limitations experienced by sport as it develops according to business and commercial processes.

The intention is for you to grapple with the opportunities and constraints afforded by these relationships and clarify a critical frame through which to make decisions as leaders and managers when working in the sport industry.

The culmination is a consultancy-oriented assessment applied to a real-world local example. 

Criminal Behaviour: Theories, Evidence & Applications

This module is designed to provide the opportunity for students to explore a comprehensive range of key construct, 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.   

Forensic psychology, topics include antecedents of criminal behaviour, eyewitness testimony and identification, lie detection, psychological assessments, offender treatment, and correctional psychology. 

The module establishes who administers the law and the legally mandated professional roles that support this. Different types of criminal law will be discussed and case studies will be used to consider how these might be dealt with. 

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.

Managing Research Projects: Communicating Evidence with Impact

Applied Occupational and Organisational Psychology

The aim of this module is to provide a critical understanding of occupational and organisational psychology.

This module aims to 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.

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.

Coaching and Health Psychology

The aim of this module is to introduce the professions of Health and Coaching Psychology as career options for psychologists. During this module, you will gain insight into the theory, practice, and research undertaken by health and coaching psychologists.

The Module will be divided into three parts covering:

1. Theoretical underpinnings of health and coaching psychology (e.g. Behaviour change models, Goal Setting); understanding the importance of life context, social inequalities and health literacy;
2. Applications of Health and Coaching Psychology whereby the role of each discipline will be applied to health-related case studies (e.g. living well with a range of long-term conditions) in order to highlight the benefit of working as part of multi-disciplinary teams;
3. The future of Health and Coaching Psychology as a career option: how bigger picture issues such as technology developments and the Anthropocene Age might impact approaches to coaching and health-related interventions will be explored.

Contemporary Issues in Sport Business Management 

This module provides you with an advanced understanding and appreciation of contemporary topics, issues, and opportunities in the business industry of sport.

Beyond acknowledging the significance of a topic, the module is designed to encourage you to consider how such topics impact upon the strategy and operations of sporting organisations.

You are empowered to formulate personal opinions based off scholarly and industry insight across an array of topics with the intention of nurturing more critically applied graduates, as evidenced through their assessment components. 

Psychology of Social & Environmental Change

The module aims to provide a psychological and interdisciplinary understanding of contemporary social issues, with a particular focus on social justice, inequality, and environmental sustainability.

It explores how psychological processes shape, maintain, and challenge systems of power, and how behaviour change can contribute to more just and sustainable societies.

Leadership and Governance in Sport  

This module provides you with a critical appreciation of leadership and governance in sport. Premised at a decision-making level within sport, you will firstly better understand how different leadership approaches have emerged over time, often in complex and multi-faceted relations to each other.

The module extends this knowledge by showcasing how leadership can be developed before identifying contemporary issues with leadership in sport. Secondly, you will be afforded a critical examination of governance in sport.

Building upon a growing scholarship, you will appreciate different governance models, issues, and opportunities for change. Facilitated by innovative assessment components, you will grow an awareness of key decision-making within sport organisations and businesses.