University of Bristol

This course provides a comprehensive overview of drug use and the problem of addiction. It provides a framework for further independent study of the key issues and current research. The course helps students to understand the process of addiction from initiation of drug use through to treatment of addiction and relapse. It addresses psychological, biological, and social factors that influence this process and explore how and why individuals differ in their propensity to take drugs and develop addiction. The course introduces current theories of addiction and approaches to treatment, including current research and theory on behavior change. The pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of different classes of drugs of abuse are considered in order to understand how and why patterns of drug use differ and why drugs have different abuse liabilities and associated harms. The course also presents and discusses several critical issues in drug use and addiction, including drug-related policy (such as drug legalization and harms classification) and social stigma. Students develop a deeper understanding of the complexity of drug use and addiction from both a biological and social perspective, and the challenges of developing effective treatment strategies.

The course covers the use of data analysis tools and techniques and data sources used to solve problems in a business and management environment. It focuses on how to use Excel to perform data analysis and how to interpret the resulting analyses involving uncertainty and variability; how to model and analyze the relationships within business data; and how to make correct inferences from the data (and recognize incorrect inferences). The course utilizes advanced computer modelling tools available in Microsoft Excel to analyze and present quantitative data. It therefore develops practical skills in statistical and mathematical techniques commonly used in business and management decision-making. 

This course introduces social and developmental psychology. It considers behavior in the context of social interaction, and on key stages of perceptual, cognitive, and social development. The course takes a biological perspective where appropriate and placing an emphasis on experimental findings. This course covers the ways in which social and developmental psychologists think, the major theoretical perspectives they might take, how they carry out research, and what the results of this research mean.