Course Catalogue

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To introduce students to core material in the area of biological and cognitive broadly defined, including an introduction to research methods in Psychology and a practical introduction to data wrangling and visualisation using the programming language R. 

One-hour lectures weekly on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. One hour laboratories every week throughout term.

Entry to the class is guaranteed to new university entrants who put the UCAS Psychology code on their UCAS form as part of their application to Glasgow University and who firmly accepted an unconditional offer or a confirmed conditional offer of a place to study Psychology either single or joint honours. The class will then be open to all other students or returning students up to a class limit of 600.

None

Coursework (60%) AND Degree Exam (40%). The degree exam will last 1 hour and take place at the completion of the course in December.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

It is not possible to provide reassessment opportunities for components that require participation in a lab and groupwork such as a group project. In such cases, where there is accepted good cause, the assessment would be set aside. 

To introduce students to core material in the area of biological and cognitive psychology broadly defined, including an introduction to research methods in Psychology. This includes learning programming in R and a practical introduction to data wrangling, working with real and messy data to ensure in a suitable format for analysis, and visualisation. The course also teaches practical skills focussing on research methods, basic data management skills and professional standards in the communication of research based critical evaluation. Communication skills are also encouraged by means of regular practical classes and group discussions/presentations. Groupwork is a core part of the course and students will work in small teams during practical labs.

Although the lectures, together with Psychology 1B, form part of a programme which leads to an Honours degree with the Graduate Basis for Chartership with the BPS, the course is also intended for students who wish to exit after Psychology 1A. It therefore can serve as an introduction to the field for students taking the course as part of the general degree or as an outside subject in another honours programme.

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

■ Describe, explain, and evaluate a broad range of theories and research findings in Psychology which will introduce students to Research Methods; Biological Psychology; Perception and Visual Cognition; Human Memory; and, Language.

■ Discuss and evaluate the methodological bases for psychological research.

■ Explain the nature of current and historical issues in Psychology as a field.

■ Practice and understand data wrangling and visualisation with real, large data in a practical context using the programming language R.

■ Report empirical work adopting professional standards.

■ Discuss and critically evaluate psychological ideas in a written format.

■ Express and explain psychological ideas orally in front of an audience.

■ Summarise and critically evaluate psychological theories and research findings in an examination.

■ Operate within a team to complete in-class exercises addressing psychological issues using theoretical knowledge and practical research skills relevant in psychological research

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