Psychology: An Introduction (Online)

Unit 1: Introduction

• The history of psychology as an academic discipline
• Psychology as a science
• Research methods
• Working with experimental results

Unit 2: This is your brain

• Brain neurophysiology at the cellular level
• The brain structures
• The separation of brain and mind?

Unit 3: The development of thought and language

• Learning to think
• The development of language
• Can animals learn language?

Unit 4: How memories are formed

• Memories are made of this
• The biological basis of memory
• Memory for future events
• Brain damage and forgetting

Unit 5: Behaving ourselves: Reward and punishment

• Learning to behave: Skinner’s theory
• Classical conditioning
• Applications to everyday life

Unit 6: The development and measurement of personality

• Early theories of personality – the four humours
• The ‘super three’ or the ‘big five’ traits?
• Reliability and validity
• Biological approaches

Unit 7: Why do we conform and whom do we obey?

• Conformity
• Compliance
• Internalisation
• Identification
• Obedience

Unit 8: Eating, drinking, sleeping and sex: Theories of motivation

• Biological and psychological theories of motivation
• Hunger
• To sleep perchance to dream ...
• Sex
• Psychological theories of motivation

Unit 9: Why do fools fall in love? Theories of attraction and relationship formation

• The formation of relationships
• How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
• Theories of romantic relationship formation
• Evolutionary theories of partner selection

Unit 10: When it all breaks down: Brain damage, tumours and strokes

• Brain damage
• The case of Phineas Gage
• Neuropsychological problems

We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.

To participate in the course you will need to have regular access to the Internet and you will need to buy the following text:

Nolen-Hoeksema S., Fredrickson B., Loftus G.R., Wagenaar W., Atkinson & Hilgard's Introduction to Psychology

The 16th or 15th editions are preferred. However, if you only have access to the 14th edition from 2003 (written by Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fridrickson and Loftus) you may use this.

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee for each course you enrol on. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. If you do not register when you enrol, you have up until the course start date to register and pay the £10 fee.

See more information on CATS point

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework, but only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.

All students who successfully complete this course, whether registered for credit or not, are eligible for a Certificate of Completion. Completion consists of submitting the final course assignment. Certificates will be available, online, for those who qualify after the course finishes.

This course aims to introduce students to an understanding of five approaches in psychology: biological, psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioural and social psychology.

• Guided reading of texts.
• Group discussions of particular issues.
• Online participation in mock experiments.
• Discussions of experimental and ethical issues.
• Students will be directed to websites relevant to each session (occasionally as a requirement, usually as optional additional reading).

By the end of the course you will be able understand:

• Aspects of psychology from multiple theoretical perspectives with reference to their history.
• The major theories of psychology and what psychologists do.
• How psychologists conduct experiments.
• Why some psychologists (e.g. Skinner, Freud, Milgram) used certain methods.
• The tools used for appropriate evaluation of the science behind the main topics in Psychology.

You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.

English Language Requirements

We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements please follow this link: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/english-language-requirements

FHEQ level 4, 10 weeks, approx 10 hours per week, therefore a total of about 100 study hours.