Psychology

Course summary

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain and behaviour. Throughout the course you will develop an understanding of the role of biology and the environment in determining our behaviour and mental health. The reasons why humans conform to social pressure, perform poorly when asked to recall important events and suffer mental illnesses will be explored, along with many other issues surrounding human behaviour. Expect complicated questions rather than easy answers. Unlike traditional sciences, psychology doesn’t claim to know everything. Instead, it explores often difficult and sometimes socially sensitive questions, always taking into account alternative perspectives. You will learn about both qualitative and quantitative research techniques and how to conduct and evaluate experiments. Be prepared to do some critical thinking and pick apart case studies, experiments and surveys to discover biases, problems and inconsistencies.