Psychology, MRes

Contents

Course ContentTypical Modules

Compulsory Modules

* Graduate Research Skills and Professional Development
* Dissertation

Elective Modules

One of the following:

* Applied Research Methods
* Research Methods in Psychoanalysis

Optional Modules

(Choose two)

* Cross-Cultural Variations in Psychological Finding 1
* Cross-Cultural Variations in Psychological Finding 2
* Foundations of Psychoanalytic Studies
* Clinical Interventions in Psychoanalysis
* Symptom and Society
* Principles of Neuroimaging
* Cognitive Neuroscience
* Practical Neuroimaging
* Visual Neuroscience
* Evolutionary Psychology
* Animal Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology

Compulsory Modules

* Graduate Research Skills and Professional Development
* Main topics of study: reviewing research aims and objectives; choosing research methods; study design, sampling, and analytical issues in the use of such methods; appropriate resources for such studies; using information technologies; managing a research project, presenting research information.
* Dissertation
* The specific topics and/or research problems to be addressed in the dissertation are based on the student´s particular research focus and interest in Psychology, and the student´s own mode of data collection and analysis.



Elective Modules

One of the following:

* Applied Research Methods (compulsory for ESRC-funded students)
* Main topics of study: the development of appropriate research strategies; sampling techniques; questionnaire and interview design and construction; piloting; content analytic techniques; diary methods; projective techniques; quantitative data analysis; data standardisation; ethical considerations; writing-up reports.
* Research Methods in Psychoanalysis
* Main topics of study: psychoanalytic epistemologies; knowledge and truth in psychoanalysis; induction, deduction and abduction; the logic of psychoanalytic discovery; the validation of psychoanalytic theory and practice; how to set up a psychoanalytic research project; logical reasoning and the anticipation of certainty; the object and the subject in psychoanalysis; how to access psychoanalytic resources; how to develop a psychoanalytic argument; the interface between theory and practice in psychoanalysis.



Optional Modules

(Choose two)

CROSS CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY

* Cross-Cultural Variations in Psychological Finding 1
* Main topics of study: controversies in defining culture; assessing culture; the development of cross-cultural dimensions (individualism/collectivism, the work of the Chinese Culture Connection, Trompenaars model, Inglehart's work, Schwartz's value circumplex) and a critique of cultural dimensions; the self across culture, emotion and appraisal across cultures.
* Cross Cultural Variations in Psychological Findings 2
* Main topics of study: cultural variations in inter-group relations; national stereotypes; perception; bi-lingualism; theory of mind; concept of self; well-being; personal relationships; acculturation; culture; health and social change.



EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

* Evolutionary Psychology
* Main topics of study: cognitive adaptationism and domain specificity; environments of evolutionary adaptedness; cross-cultural human universals; selective impairments; social status and reputation; cognitive sexual dimorphism in mate preferences and jealousy; attractiveness and symmetry; gustatory adaptations, social exchange and cooperation; coalitional psychology; interpersonal and coalitional aggression; violence and homicide; spoken language; face recognition and prosopagnosia; functions of the emotions; kinship psychology (recognition, altruism, and inbreeding avoidance); gene-culture co-evolution.
* Animal Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology
* Main topics of study: levels of analysis, animals as "strategists"; sexual selection: competition for mates; sexual selection: post-copulatory competition; sexual selection: mate choice; parental care and parent-offspring conflict; foraging and predation; comparative reproductive strategies; life history strategy; cooperation and conflict; animal models of psychopathology; sexual differentiation; hormonal regulation of behaviour.



PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDIES

* Foundations of Psychoanalytic Studies
* Main topics of study: the origin and development of psychoanalysis; sexuality and the unconscious; neurosis, perversion, psychosis; the foundations of psychoanalytic technique; Freud's case-studies; the second topography; the work of Melanie Klein, Donald W. Winnicott, Jacques Lacan; psychoanalytic theories of psychosis; psychoanalytic views on addiction; the so-called `new symptoms' in contemporary society.
* Symptom and Society
* Main topics of study: Freud's cardinal works on culture and society; the Lacanian concept of the object; recent psychoanalytic developments on the issues of groups, social identity and community life; the relationship between contemporary symptoms and the so-called `decline of the paternal function' within Western society; sadism; murder; the representation of violence and the question of ethics; psychoanalytic interpretations of representations of violence (Pasolini's `Saló; Lars von Trier's `Dogville'; Michael Powell's `Peeping Tom').
* Clinical Interventions in Psychoanalysis
* Main topics of study: the case-study of the Rat Man; the case-study of the Wolf Man; paradigmatic cases in the psychoanalytic literature; differential diagnosis; the direction of the psychoanalytic treatment; interpretation, transference and countertransference; the position of the analyst; psychoanalysis and suggestion; professional case presentations and their clinical difficulties; a case of auto-erotic asphyxia; psychoanalytic theory development and clinical practice.



NEUROIMAGING AND NEUROSCIENCE

* Cognitive Neuroscience
* Main topics of study: learning and memory; language and the brain; cerebral lateralization and specialization; the control of action; executive functions and frontal lobes; emotional mechanisms; aging, development and plasticity.
* Practical Neuroimaging
* Main topics of study: experimental design, with particular reference to EEG, PET and fMRI; operating an MRI scanner, using Siemens SYNGO software; using EEG equipment; data preprocessing; statistical analysis of functional neuroimaging datasets; analysis of structural MRI data; statistical inference; data presentation; project planning and management; safety in neuroimaging practice; ethical issues in neuroimaging.
* Principles of Neuroimaging
* Main topics of study: overview of functional neuroimaging techniques (including MRI, EEG, MEG, PET TMS); the course will focus on individual imaging modalities and cover topics such as: historical perspectives, principles of operation, and safety; signal generation and image formation; neuroimaging signals and brain activity; spatial and temporal properties of signals, and noise; comparisons between neuroimaging techniques; combined used of neuroimaging techniques (eg simultaneous fMRI and EEG).
* Visual Neuroscience
* Main topics of study: visual pathways; visual motion and the dorsal stream; biological motion; object recognition and the ventral stream; face recognition; disorders of vision; visual development; visual imagery; visual awareness; synaesthesia; visual attention; neuroaesthetics.

These modules may be supplemented by a Guided Study Module. Apart from the compulsory modules, the range of options for the other modules available will vary with staff teaching/research interests.



Teaching and LearningTeaching methods typically include lectures, seminars and tutorials.



AssessmentA variety of assessment methods in used. Most modules are assessed by coursework (usually a term paper), some by examination. Other assignments include oral and poster presentations. A dissertation of up to 15,000 words is also required.