School of Culture, Communication and Society

Speech and Language Therapy (BSc Hons)

Introduction to Psychology

SALC05H

MODULE HANDBOOK

Term 1
2008

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 Module overview

Welcome to the Introduction to psychology module. The module aims to give

students an introduction to psychology, its epistemological basis and how
theories can be readily applied to both the individual learner and professional
practice.

The module runs for 11 weeks during the first term of the academic year.
Teaching sessions for all students are held on Tuesdays.

The assessment is a 2,000 word essay which will be due in on Thursday 11th
December 1pm.

Teaching team
Module leader is Hazel Bending, contact via email at hbending@marjon.ac.uk

The teaching team consists of Hazel Bending and Esther Pettit.

Teaching sessions

Lectures
The lectures will give students an introduction to the topic. The lectures are led
by one member of the psychology teaching team. The lecturer will indicate when
she is willing to answer questions relating to the topic.

Workshops
Workshops are an opportunity for students to ‘try something out’ they rely on full
student participation and a little prior preparation.

Seminars and tutorials

The seminars and/or tutorials are an opportunity to discuss the topic. Seminars
are student led, you are expected to prepare for the seminar, see the relevant
section in the handbook and keep an eye on ‘emily’( http://emily.pahc.ac.uk) for
updates on the seminars. For your learning the seminars will be run in small
groups – 11 or 12 students to 1 tutor therefore swapping sessions is not
permitted.

Directed reading and activities.

Following some sessions the lecturer may give the students some reading and/or
activities to complete in order to enhance learning. The activities are not marked,
nor carry any assessment weighting, However, experience shows us that
students who complete the reading and activities tend to find to assessment
much easier to complete!
Details of these can be found on ‘emily’ or are given at the end of the teaching
session.

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If you would like to discuss the directed activities please book into a tutorial
session.

Module details

Content:
The syllabus will typically include:
 Core theoretical perspectives, such as behavioural, cognitive, cognitive-
behavioural, social and psychodynamic.
 Key components of memory and learning specifically those relating to the
individual learner
 Key areas of psychological concepts, such as emotion, motivation,
personality and intelligence

Intended Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module, students should:

1. Understand the epistemological basis of the discipline of psychology

2. Be familiar with the concepts of memory and learning as applied to the
individual learner
3. Understand the psychological processes which have an impact on behaviour
and communication

Reading list

The core texts are:

Carlson, NR, Martin, GN and Neill MG (2006) Psychology: Science of Behaviour,

Boston, Allyn Bacon
OR
Martin GN, Carlson, NR and Buskist W ( 2007) Psychology, 3rd edition, Harlow,
Pearson education
OR
Martin, GN, Carlson, NR and Buskitt, W (2004) Psychology: Science of
behaviour, Harlow, Allyn Bacon

Indicative reading
You may find the following useful.

Atkinson, RL. Atkinson, RC. and Hilgard, E. (1987) Introduction to psychology, 8th
edition, San Deigo, Harcourt Brace.
Atkinson, R Atkinson, RC, Smith, E, Bem DJ (1999) Hilgard’s Introduction to
Psychology, London, Wadsworth

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Bear, MF. Connors, BW. and Paradiso, MA. (2001) Neuroscience: exploring the
brain, Baltimore, Lippencott, Williams and Wilkins
Beatty, J. (2001) The Human brain: essential of behavioural neuroscience,
Thousand Oaks, Sage
Bettelheim B,(1988) Uses of enchantment. The meaning and importance of fairy
tales, London, Penguin
Bhatnager, SC. and Andy, OJ. (1995) Neuroscience for the study of
communicative disorders, Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins
Black, K. (1983) Short term counselling : a humanistic approach for the helping
professions, Menlo Park, Addison-Wesley
Carlson, NR. Martin, GN. and Buskist, W. (2004) Psychology, Harlow, Pearson
Education
Coolican, H. (1996) Introduction to research methods and statistics in
psychology, London, Hodder and Stoughton,
Cooper, C. (2000) Individual differences, London, Arnold
Dow-Nelson, P. (2003) Lecture outlines for note taking for Atkinson and Hilgard’s
Introduction to psychology, London, Wadsworth
Forgas, JP. (2001) Handbook of affect and social cognition. Mahwah, Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates
Graham, H. (1986) The Human face of psychology: humanistic psychology in its
historial, social and cultural contexts, Milton Keynes, Open University press
Groome, D. (1999) An introduction into cognitive psychology: processes and
disorders, London, Blackwell publishing,
Gross, R. (2003) Themes issues and debates in psychology, London, Hodder
Arnold
Gross, R. (2005) Psychology, the science of Mind and Behaviour,
London,Hodder Arnold
Hayes, N. (2000) Foundations of Psychology, An introductory text, London,
Thomson Learning
Hewstone, M. Stoebe, W. (2001) Introduction to social psychology, European
perspective, Oxford, Blackwell Publishers
Johnson, MH. (1997) Developmental cognitive neuroscience: an introduction,
Oxford, Blackwell,
Kovel, J. (1978) A complete guide to therapy: from psychoanalysis to behaviour
modification, London, Penguin
Morrison, V. and Bennett (2006) An introduction to health psychology, Harlow,
Prentice hall
Ogden, J. (2004) Health psychology, Maidenhead, Open university press
Schultz, DP. and Schultz, SE. (2004) A history of modern psychology, Belmont,
Wadsworth
Scott, M. Stradling, SG. and Dryden, W. (1995) Developing cognitive-behavioural
counselling, London, Sage
Sheldon, B. (1995) Cognitive behavioural therapy, research, practice and
philosophy, New York, Routledge
Smith, E. (2003) Atkinson and Hilgard’s introduction to psychology, London,
Wadsworth publishing

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Temple, C. (1993) The Brain: an introduction to the psychology of the human
brain and behaviour, London, Penguin
Thompson, RF. (1993) The Brain: a neuroscience primer, New York , WH
Freeman and co
Walker, J, Payne, S Jarrett N and Smith P (2004) Psychology for Nurses and the
caring professions, Maidenhead, Open university press
Walker, S. (1984) Learning theory and behaviour modification, London,
Routledge.
William, Y. and Carr, JH. (1987) Behaviour modification for people with mental
handicaps, London, Croom helm,
Webster, D. (1995) Neuroscience of communication, San Deigo, Single Pub
group.

Journals
There is a large number of journals available in the library or electronically which
support this module.

Websites
Recommended websites are:
http://allpsych.com/psychology101/index.html
http://www.spring.org.uk/
http://www.open2.net/home.html

We do not recommend the use of Wikipedia.

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 Timetable

30th 9.30- Introduction to psychology and this Lecture : all

Sept. 10.45 module students
Brief history of psychology
Psychology and Speech and
Language Therapy
7th 9.30 Behavioural perspective Lecture : all
Oct. 12 Humanistic perspective students
14th 9.30 Behaviourism and humanistic Red group
Oct. 12 workshop @9.30
Blue
group@12
21th 9.30 Cognitive perspective and Lecture : all
Oct. neuroscience students
12 Cognitive-behavioural perspective
28th Reading and preparation week
Oct.
4th 9.30 Intelligence Lecture : all
Nov. students
11th 9.30 Memory workshop : all
Nov. 12 learning students

18th 9.30 Emotion Red group

Nov. IQ debate Blue group
12 Emotion Red group
IQ debate Blue group

25th 9.30 Psychodynamic perspective Lecture : all

Nov. 12 Personality students
1st 9.30 What works? Red group
Dec. 12 @9.30
Blue
group@12
8th t.b.a.
Dec.

After each lecture reading suggestions may be given to further your

knowledge and understanding of the topic.

Tutorials
Sign up tutorials for assessment and module help are available on Tuesday
afternoons. Sign up via the discussion board on emily.(http://emily.pahc.ac.uk)

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 Learning and memory workshop

Content:
In this session we will be looking at the topics of learning and memory and how
these topics can be applied to you and your studies.

To prepare for the session:

To prepare for the session you should be able to identify how the perspectives
covered in the module account for learning skills and information, use your
lecture notes and the set texts in order to do this.
You should also read about schema theory.

What works?

To prepare for the what works session you need to have read all your lecture
notes and completed all the directed reading.

IQ seminar

Content:
In this seminar we will be looking at whether nature or nurture plays the major
role in the development of IQ.
We will hear a 15 minute argument from both sides of the debate and then spend
upto 15 minutes discussing the topic and the arguments.

To prepare for the session:

You will need to read around the subject of IQ : what is it? How is it tested?
When is IQ score utilised? Etc.

In your groups of 5/6 you will need to prepare a 15 minute argument for your side
of the debate.
You will need to prepare argument and evidence.
Ideas :
Nature side : look into evidence from the genetics, biology – neurotransmitters,
twin studies
Nurture side: environment, middle child, parenting.

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 Emotion workshop
Content:
During this workshop we ( students and lecturer ) will be delivering a
lecture/presentation on the various aspects of emotion, from the triggers to
emotion, through the expression and recognition of emotional responses to why
as SLT student you need to study the topic of emotion.

Your task:
In your groups you must prepare upto 2 powerpoint slides on your topic and a
short (maximum 5 minutes) presentation around these slides.
You should email these slides to hbending@marjon.ac.uk by Monday 3rd
November.

The topics:
1. Conditioned emotional response
2. The role of the Orbitofrontal cortex.
3. Impact of the Phineas Gage study
4. Role of the amygdala
5. Impact of the social environment and of isolation on the production of
emotions
6. Cultural control of emotional expression
7. Emotional recognition (including Ekman and Friesan study)
8. James-Lange theory of emotion
9. Cannon-Bard theory
10. Schatcher and Singer model
11. Emotion processing and Alzheimers.
12. Emotion recognition and Aspergers .
13. Emotion expression and Parkinsons.

Groups to be allocated a topic after the behaviourism and humanistic workshop

on 14th October.

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 Assessment
Hand in by Thursday 11th December 2008, 1pm

2000 words on either:

1. Compare and contrast three psychological perspectives, you may

choose from : behavioural, cognitive, cognitive-behavioural,
humanism or psychodynamic.
2. Compare and contrast how two psychological perspectives account
for the acquisition of language.
3. Compare and contrast how two psychological perspectives account
for behaviour change.

In your essay you must:

Include an accurate word count at the end of your essay
Include the essay question
Include a reference list using the Harvard system
Not exceed the word count by more than 10%
Not include your name
Use Arial 12 font, 1½ line spacing and leave a margin down the right hand
side for comments and feedback.

Where to start?
All the questions are asking you to compare and contrast perspectives and
different arguments.
You will need to read around the perspectives and decide how to limit your
answer – you cannot write about everything. State in your introduction what you
are going to write about and don’t forget to summarise in your conclusion.
Look up and read around the perspectives, identify the similarities and
differences, along common themes, for example what do they both say about
research? How do they gather evidence? If you are answering 2 or 3 think about
how you can apply your comparisons to either the acquisition of language or
behaviour changes.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for evidence of reading around the subjects, from a variety of
sources. That you understand the perspectives, the difference between the
perspectives and that you can apply them.

If you want advice, just ask!