MPsych Advanced Psychology

Don’t worry if you’ve missed the UCAS January deadline. 

If you want to study with us in September 2018, contact us for advice about available spaces on this course.

Get in touch with our friendly admissions team on +44 (0)1752 585858 or email us at admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.

The final deadline for UCAS applications is 30 June 2018.

• Experience an invaluable placement with a professional psychologist relevant to your chosen pathway as part of your final year. You’ll also have the option of a placement between years two and three.
• Receive funding for your masters year with a student loan. Unlike postgraduate masters courses this course is fully eligible for student loans.
• Focus on and become an expert in a specialist area of psychology that interests you the most, choosing from behaviour change, foundations of clinical psychology or cognitive brain sciences.
• Take your first step to becoming a professional in your field – as a successful graduate, you’ll be eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the British Psychological Society, putting you on the ladder to becoming a professional psychologist.
• Expand your horizons and experience with opportunities for international exchange and a year studying abroad (in Year 2).
• Develop your skills as a scientist working alongside leading researchers with the Research Apprentice Scheme.
• Maximise your learning with a personal tutor assigned throughout your studies to provide the support and guidance you need to get the most out of your course.
• Shape your own study path with an exciting range of topics available through lectures, optional courses and project supervision.
• Benefit from studying on a course that the Research Assessment Exercise rates as excellent for research and the Quality Assurance Agency praises for its quality of education.
• Immerse yourself in an innovative and imaginative curriculum that’s continually shaped by the latest developments in psychological research.
• Make the most of our specialist facilities – we’ve got 22 labs to choose from, including a virtual reality laboratory with 3D modelling software, sound-proof cubicles with a range of stimulus equipment and computer laboratories. You'll be able to get your hands on everything you need for your own research.
• Receive outstanding student support with our award-winning Psychology eBooks scheme – we’ll give you free eBooks when you start, saving you over £1,500 in printed copies. Our Psychology eBooks scheme won the award for Teaching Excellence in The Guardian University Awards (2013).

• Year 1
• In your first year, you’ll lay the foundations for your studies in psychology, getting to grips with the core theories and developing important intellectual and practical skills. Whether it’s social, developmental, clinical, cognitive or physiological psychology, your work will stretch across the psychology spectrum. You’ll develop your skills in the methods of psychological research, information technology, communication and critical thinking.

  Core modules

  • PSYC411 Learning

    This module explores how we gather information, with an emphasis on the scientific method. The module will introduce students to different perspectives on learning, including how to learn effectively, the biological and cognitive basis of learning, and social learning.

  • PSYC412 Psychological Science

    This module will provide an introduction into a broad range of fundamental topics in psychology. Across eight independent topics, from across the entire breadth of psychology, students will learn key theories. Students will also learn how those theories have been applied to real-world situations and will be asked to explore these theories in practice in Labplus activities.

  • PSYC413 Debates in Psychology

    This module covers both current and historical debates in topics drawn from across the breadth of psychology, involving discussion of theoretical issues and application and practice. The module will involve independent study sessions exploring some of the empirical differences seen in the literature and practice, and tutorial sessions will support extended writing development.

  • PSYC414 Relationships

    This immersive module focuses on the Psychology of Social Relationships across the lifespan. This topic is introduced and analysed from different disciplines in Psychology, including Developmental, Social, Biological, Clinical and Individual Differences perspectives. Lectures introduce methodologies, key findings and concepts for understanding Social Relationships. Lectures will be supported by workshops and tutorials.

  • PSYC415 Topics in Psychology

    This module will provide an in-depth exploration of four topics from core areas of psychology. Each of the topics will run for four weeks with interspersed group-based linked Labplus activities. These will allow students to get involved in a continued project, within the scope of a particular topic, which might involve data collection and subsequent statistical analysis of that data.

  • PSYC416 Connecting Psychology

    This module will link psychology to other disciplines by exploring how the study of human and animal behaviour is investigated in collaboration with scientists and practitioners in a variety of other fields. A series of topics will be interspersed with independent study activities that allow students to get involved in a continued project, involving data collection and analysis.

• Year 2
• We have updated our course for 2018/19 entrants, and you can find details of the new course here. You will study three modules in parallel in each semester, covering the whole breadth of the British Psychological Society curriculum. All modules include practical exercises in PsychEL, which you will record in your LabBook. The coursework includes authentic reports such as case studies, executive summaries, group presentations, data visualisations, interview skills and reflective reports. These will give you the confidence to step right into work when you graduate. Current students will take the following modules in 2018/19:

  Core modules

  • PSYC201 Conducting Psychological Research A

    This module extends the treatment of research methods and statistics to more advanced topics and introduces the student to the principal concepts in the history and philosophy of psychology.

  • PSYC202 Individual Differences, Clinical, Social and Developmental Psychology

    This module examines four areas of psychology: individual differences in abilities and personality and their influence on behaviour, clinical approaches to psychological disorders and their treatment, contemporary approaches to social cognition, social interaction, and group behaviour, and the development of cognitive and social abilities in infants and children.

  • PSYC203 Biological and Cognitive Psychology

    This module covers several core areas of psychology: psychobiology (basic neurophysiology and neurochemistry of brain function); neuropsychology (the functional architecture of the brain); perception (visual and auditory processing) and language (language comprehension and production).

  • PSYC204 Applied Topics in Health and Cognition

    This module explores applications of basic research and psychological theory in two areas: health psychology and cognitive psychology. (This module is subject to availability)

  • PSYC205 Workplace Learning and Skills Development

    This module aims to allow students to learn about specific areas of psychological practice. Students will gain an understanding of how psychology is applied to specific problems, and will learn about the relevant theory and practice, developing relevant skills where appropriate. Learning about psychology in practice will encourage the student to explore their own vocational self-concept

  • PSYC206 Conducting Psychological Research B

    This module extends training in research methods and gives students practice in translating research questions into feasible studies and their design, execution, analysis and interpretation. Other elements develop students¿ understanding of statistical methods and give practice in relating psychological theory to applied problems

  • PSYC210 Personal and Professional Development

    This zero-credit module is home to a range of personal and professional development activities that focus on development through practice and reflection. Some activities are timetabled, such as tutorials and careers talks. In addition, this module is designed to assist Stage 2 students with their search and preparation for a work placement.

• Year 3
• If you choose, you can take an optional work placement after your second year, expanding and applying your knowledge of psychology in a real world context. Apply to spend a year of study honing your skills on a psychological professional/work placement, in areas from adult mental health to children, community, consultation, neuropsychology, forensic, research or education. Gain invaluable experience, make professional contacts and receive a Certificate of Professional/Industrial Placement. Please note some placements may require Occupation Health and/or Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

  Core modules

  • PSYC310 Personal and Professional Development

    During this 36 week placement, students will begin to apply their psychological knowledge in the workplace and develop the range of skills required to work within the specific placement setting. This zero-credit module is also home to timetabled careers talks and information for Stage 3 students who are away on placement.

• Year 4
• We have updated our course for 2018/19 entrants, and you can find details of the new course here. You will have complete freedom of choice about the topics you specialise in for your final year. You'll study eight current topics from a list of over twenty options, taught by world experts in their fields. A typical year’s list includes options in forensic, developmental, health, clinical, occupational, cognitive, social, and neuropsychology. You'll also choose to work on your own research project, supervised by one of our staff. All of our staff are active researchers, and all of our staff teach, unlike other universities. As a large school, you can be confident that we can cover almost every area. Current students will take the following modules in 2018/19 and 2019/20:

  Core modules

  • PSYC401 Social and Developmental Psychology

    This module has two elements. In the social psychology element, students will examine advanced topics in social cognition, social influence and persuasion, group behaviour, intergroup behaviour and sociological social psychology. In the developmental psychology element, students will focus on language development, theories of children's mind and the development of socialisation.

  • PSYC402 Psychobiology and Cognition

    This module provides advanced coverage in the core areas of psychobiology and cognition. In psychobiology, the module deals with evolutionary and comparative approaches to understanding human perception, emotion and self-awareness, goal-directed behaviour and social engagement. In cognition, the module deals with three key topics in higher cognition: language, memory, and thinking and reasoning

  • PSYC403 Current Topics in Psychology A

    This course allows students to develop an in depth and critical appreciation of two areas of psychological research (two topics drawn from the current research programmes of the school's staff).

  • PSYC404 Current Topics in Psychology B

    This course allows students to develop an in depth and critical appreciation of two areas of psychological research (two topics drawn from the current research programmes of the School's staff).

  • PSYC405 Psychology Dissertation

    This module aims to consolidate and put into practice the research training carried out in earlier stages by exploring a particular research problem. Students are required to conduct a complete piece of research, from establishing a research area, formulating a research question, conducting a literature search, designing and conducting the study, analysing the data, through to writing up a report of the project

  • PSYC410 Personal and Professional Development

    This zero-credit module is home to timetabled tutorials and careers talks. Tutorials include group and reflective work which tutors provide feedback for.

• Final year
• In your final year, having completed three years to at least a second class degree standard, you’ll progress onto one of the three specialist Masters pathways. You’ll choose to focus on either behaviour change, cognitive and brain sciences or foundations of clinical psychology. You’ll then study specific topics to an advanced level and experience an invaluable placement with a professional psychologist relevant to your chosen pathway.

  Core modules

  • PSY556 Statistical Methods for Experimental and Clinical Research

    A Masters-level module covering multiple regression, ANOVA, ANCOVA, and MANOVA. The module is intended to provide coverage of the techniques most likely to be applied by students in their own research.

  • PSY559 Experimental Research Design

    A series of lectures and workshops discussing the major issues involved in experimental designs including internal and external validity, statistical power and ethics.

  • PSY575 Advanced Applied Skills

    This module provides skills experience either in a lab or the work place that is relevant to the topic of the student's chosen master's pathway (Clinical psychology, Behaviour Change, Cognitive Neuroscience). Students will work under supervision on material which will extend their understanding of the application of knowledge in their chosen area of specialism.

  • PSY576 Advanced Research Project

    This module requires students to undertake an original project in an area associated with their specialist pathway and related to their placement experience. It comprises an independent piece of research work conducted by the student and written up as a research report.

  Optional modules

  • PSY555 Communication of Research for Psychology

    This module teaches students to communicate their research, both in writing and orally by introducing the skills required to write journal articles, present conference papers and posters, review journal articles and write grant applications.

  • PSY557 Quantitative Analysis of Complex Clinical and Behavioural Data

    This module extends knowledge of statistical techniques to cover discreet data, and nested data structures commonly found in complex interventions, and to introduce more advanced covariance modelling techniques.

  • PSY558 Evaluating Complex Interventions

    This module provides the background rationale for and training in the design of trials for evaluating complex interventions for behaviour change and psychological health.

  • PSY560 Qualitative Research Methods for Psychology

    This module will examine different qualitative approaches relevant to the human sciences. These approaches will cover the range of approaches from discourse-as-a-resource-for to discourse-as-the-topic-of investigation. Along the way we will critique the standard view of discourse as a route to 'things in the head'.

  • PSY561 Skills and Techniques in Psychological Research 1

    This module will focus on the development of practical skills in the implementation of a range of methods and techniques currently employed in advanced research paradigms within the areas of psychology and neuroscience.

  • PSY562 Skills and Techniques in Psychological Research 2

    This module will focus on the development of practical skills in the implementation of a range of methods and techniques currently employed in advanced research paradigms within the areas of psychology and neuroscience.

  • PSY564 Understanding Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

    This module introduces students to fundamental principles and techniques of the cognitive behavioural approach to addressing psychological difficulties.

  • PSY566 Issues in Behaviour Change

    This module covers contemporary issues in behaviour change, focusing on a topical problem behaviours and the theoretical and ethical issues of behaviour change that they raise. Based on this, students will examine and seek to change their own behaviour.

  • PSY567 Designing for Behaviour Change

    What makes a psychologically based intervention effective? This module covers a range of contemporary interventions for clinical psychological and behavioural problems, focusing on a critical analysis of the psychological mechanisms underlying interventions and explores how laboratory research can be translated into new interventions.

  • PSY568 Issues in Clinical Psychology

    This module introduces students to contemporary issues in clinical psychology and the evaluation of therapies aiming to address psychological difficulties.

  • PSY569 The Brain and its Disorders

    This module teaches students advanced functional neuroanatomy by studying the biological, psychological and social aspects of various common neurological disorders. This module will cover congenital/ developmental as well as acquired neurology.

  • PSY570 Issues in Cognitive and Brain Science

    This module focuses on how cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience approaches and techniques can be combined to provide convergent evidence about contemporary issues in understanding how the mind works.

  • PSY577 Foundations in Clinical Psychology: Children and Families

    This module introduces core concepts in clinical child psychology that underpin clinical practice. It will cover topics including early attachment relationships as predictors of psychological vulnerability and resilience; an introduction to systems theory and family relationships; a formulation approach to understanding psychological difficulties in children, and consideration of vulnerable children such as those with learning difficulties and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Every undergraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the course aims, the course structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest course structure and may be subject to change:

MPsych Programme Specification 4661

UCAS tariff

128