MSc Psychology

University of Essex

Students will gain a wide understanding of the relationship between the human brain (and other physiological mechanisms) and behaviour. The brain is an extremely complex organ, and many areas of interest to psychologists are as yet, beyond the reductionist approach adopted here. However, the module is designed to establish the possibility that most behaviours, even our deepest thoughts and feelings, arise from a combination of electrical and chemical interactions in the central nervous system.

This module explores the basic cognitive processes involved in thinking about the world, interacting with the world, and experiencing the world. Often as users of these processes they just work and the complexity of the underlying operations are hidden; a kind of "user illusion". You will learn about the emerging scientific picture of how these basic processes operate, thereby gaining a better appreciation of the underlying complexity, and a renewed appreciation of the brilliance of these operations. The module will consider examples of human talents; such as bilingualism, as well as human limitations, such as our working memory capacities. The module will cover core areas of cognition as defined by the British Psychological Society such as perception, mental imagery, attention, memory, language, and consciousness. These will be discussed both with reference to laboratory-based experiments, and also how these processes may be disrupted and may breakdown in various conditions, such as dyslexia, amnesia, and other neuropsychological conditions. Finally, the lectures will address how basic cognitive processes apply to complex real-world behaviours.

This module gives students a detailed review of personality, intelligence and individual differences. It provides a parsimonious account of theories and approaches to personality and individual differences. Several areas of Psychology will be covered, including cognitive, trait theories and biological.

This module will give you the background necessary to analyse and understand quantitative data, identifying and implementing appropriate statistical tests and interpreting outcomes. It will provide you with the skills needed for your final research project and knowledge about statistical analyses will be covered to the level required for British Psychological Society graduate membership.

This module will teach the background necessary to design, implement and report basic psychology research in order to test hypotheses and answer questions about human mind and behaviour. You will learn about a variety of techniques for studying behaviour within psychology. You will learn how to find, read and evaluate scientific research reports and to write your own.

This module combines the areas of medical and health psychology to explore the biological, psychological and social processes implicated in the development of ill health. We will address questions such as: What psychological processes are involved in modifying behaviours associated with health? How does disadvantage feed into negative health outcomes? Does living in line with our values improve well-being? How do people recognise symptoms in themselves and attribute them to illness? What is the link between early experience and brain development and parents' health-related behaviours? Questions will be addressed from different perspectives and will provide a comprehensive overview of how individuals think about health, how they experience health, and the role that social interactions play in this process.

Explore classical and contemporary themes of child development such as prenatal and perceptual development, early language acquisition, and cognitive and social development, whilst examining the research methods and designs employed in Developmental Psychology.

By studying a range of theory and research surrounding human thinking and behaviour in a social world you will develop a clear understanding of the topics social psychologists are interested in and how they approach their study. You will also discover how theory and research in social psychology might help us to understand current issues in society.

This research dissertation is an empirical investigation which is written up with a 10,000 word-limit. The project provides students with an opportunity to apply the statistical and research skills learnt, in an original piece of research. The topic will be chosen from a selection offered by members of staff in the department.