Introduction to Psychology

The course is designed to give students a basic grounding in modern psychology, including the relationship between genes and the environment (nature/nurture); the relationship between the mind and the brain; the nature of consciousness, memory, attention, and perception. The emphasis is on participatory and reflective learning.

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About the Course

Tutor Profile: Dr Jane Humphreys Jane Humphreys studied English Literature at King’s College Cambridge, and in doing so was one of a small band of 30 women to break the college’s 500-year-old tradition of allowing only male students to enrol. She later took her doctorate at Bristol University in the Experimental Psychology department, with a thesis investigating the processes by which we transfer information from the printed word into meaningful mental representations. Jane has recently retired from leading a team of experimental psychologists at the University of the West of England, where her interests mainly focussed on child development, and human cognition (memory, learning, language, attention and perception). Jane has taught students of all ages but particularly enjoys responding to the enthusiasm and interests of adult learners.

Course Details

If you have ever wondered about why we do the things we do, why we remember some things and not others, why first impressions are important, then this course might be for you.

If you have ever wondered about what goes on in a new-born baby’s head, why your lovely 12-year-old suddenly turns into a monster at 13, whether pregnancy really does make you dumber, and why some people suffer age-related cognitive decline and others don’t, then this course might be for you.

If you have ever wondered why two siblings from the same family can have such different personalities, or what makes you, “you”, then this course might be for you. If you have ever wondered about the relationship between the “mind” and the brain, or how we experience consciousness, or how visual illusions “work”, then this course might be for you.

We approach topics from a scientific perspective and look at historic and modern experiments into understanding the mind, brain, and behaviour, but no previous scientific knowledge is assumed. We use undergraduate textbooks, video resources and primary source material from peer-reviewed journals in order to furnish students with some answers to the questions raised above; but, such as is the nature of psychology, you will probably leave the course with more questions than you started with!

Topics covered

History of psychology

Main debates and theories in modern psychology

Key areas of current research and thinking

Developmental including attachment, child development, and adolescence

Social behaviour including group norms, conformity, obedience and social identity

Cognitive approaches, including memory, language, attention and visual perception

Neuroscience: a look at the brain, and the effects of brain damage

Competing and complementary ways of explaining human behaviour

Research methods and data analysis

The experimental approach

Ethical issues in psychology

How to carry out a piece of research, analyse the results and interpret them in the light of psychological theories and research

Course Timetable

Course Reading List

All readings for the course will be provided on arrival.

If you would like to read around the subject a little before you arrive, you could try the first chapters in

Atkinson and Hilgard's Introduction to Psychology 15th edition by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Barbara L Fredrickson, Geoff R Loftus, and Willem A Wagenaar, published by Cengage Learning

You could also try:

Psychology: A very short introduction by Gillian Butler and Freda McManus, published by Oxford University Press

Other optional reading that you might like to dip into:

Beyond Freedom and Dignity by Burrhus Skinner

The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

Freud: A very short introduction by Anthony Storr

The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker

Phantoms in the Mind by V Ramachandran

Your Memory: A User's Guide by Alan Baddeley

**Please note** While every effort is made to give participants an accurate description of the course content and structure, they should note that details of course content and structure may change as a result of tutor availability, interests, and expertise. In addition, participants should note that tutors will make efforts, where practicable, to address, and include material relating to, students' specific interests and requests where these are notified beforehand.

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