Course Catalogue

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This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop an understanding and critical appreciation of psychological approaches to conceptualising and measuring psychological, mechanisms, phenomena and effects related to environmental sustainability

The course will consist in 10 one-hour lectures and 4 one-hour seminars/workshops and will be run for 10 consecutive weeks. The course should start in Term 2, on the same week as the other MSc Psychological Studies courses. There will be a reading week in week 6, and the seminars/workshops will be in Weeks 3,5,7,9.

At least a 2:1 honours degree or equivalent

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The final proposal is as follows:

A single 2,000 word learning portfolio, split into two parts, submitted on one date at the end of the course:

Part 1 (40%): reflection on practical groupwork, on retrieved information about organisations working on sustainability and mock interviews. Students will work in groups to formulate questions destinated to organisations working on sustainability on psychological topics related to pro-environmental behaviour. Students will act as interviewers in mock interviews where peers of other groups will perform as teams of organisations working on sustainability and their interviewees. The answers in the mock interviews will be based on search of information about sustainability organisations and related to psychological topics relevant to sustainability. This practical groupwork will be the base of individual reflections. 800 words max.

Part 2 (60%): proposal for a start up on pro-environmental behaviour, where students need to demonstrate knowledge, understanding, critical thinking and communication skills when focusing on a topic of choice. 1200 words max.

This course aims to:

■ Engage students in critical analysis of key concepts and psychological models related to psychological processes involved in environmental sustainable human behaviour, including cognitive, developmental, health, social, emotional and motivational factors

■ Provide opportunities to evaluate the methodological approaches to explore psychological mechanisms and effects related to environmental sustainable human behaviour

■  Promote an understanding about the complex role of individual, social, and cultural factors on environmental sustainable human behaviour, considering a psychological and interdisciplinary approach

■  Provide opportunities to engage with and criticise psychological approaches and empirical studies on environmental sustainable human behaviour, linking their findings to real-world situations and contexts

■  Stimulate students to reflect on how communication about environmental sustainability can be improved via different channels and the effects it can have on different populations, considering age groups and cultural diversity

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Demonstrate detailed knowledge of key concepts and theoretical models related to cognitive, developmental, social, health, emotional and motivational psychological processes involved in environmental sustainable human behaviour

■ Critically evaluate psychological approaches and empirical evidence on environmental sustainable human behaviour, linking it to real-world situations and contexts

■ Explain the complex role that individual, social and cultural factors play on environmental sustainable human behaviour, considering also an interdisciplinary perspective

■ Understand and criticise different measurement methodologies to explore psychological phenomena and effects related to environmental sustainable human behaviour

■ Reflect on the psychological impact and effectiveness of communication about environmental sustainability on different populations, considering age groups and cultural diversity

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.