Psychology

Course summary

Psychology is the study of behaviour, the brain and mental processes. Its purpose is to understand, predict and sometimes even manipulate behaviour. It is a diverse subject covering vast areas such as social psychology, cultural psychology, mental disorders, how the brain works, human relationships and the influence of genes on intelligence. The core of the course explores behaviour from biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches, and attempts to integrate these to produce a holistic understanding of human behaviour. Some of the core topics include: localising brain functions using brain imaging technologies, comparing models of human memory, and why people often conform to the behaviour of the group they belong to against their own judgement.