University of Sussex

This course introduces students to descriptive English grammar and to central themes relating to sound patterns and pronunciation in English. The first part of the module, which focuses on grammar, provides you with an understanding of the way in which phrases and sentences are constructed and equips students with the skills to break sentences down into their constituent parts, to describe the category and grammatical function of those parts, to distinguish clause types, to distinguish the parts of the English verb group, to construct and test hypotheses and to represent sentence structure by means of tree diagrams. The second part of the course focuses on phonetics and phonology. Students acquire knowledge and understanding of the production of sounds and the skills necessary to describe, define, and transcribe consonants and vowels using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Students are also introduced to fundamental concepts related to contrast and meaning in sound structures and to fundamental concepts in phonology that go beyond the description of individual sounds, such as syllable structure, stress, and phonological processes and the relationship between pronunciation and spelling.

This course examines the biological underpinnings of selected mental health conditions. Topics include addictions, anxiety disorders, attentional disorders, dementias, eating disorders, mood disorders, and psychosis. Clinical observations, human experiments, genomic investigations, and studies using animal models may be used to illustrate the relationships between altered cognitive-behavioral states, biochemical processes, and functional neuroanatomy. The biological implications of therapies for mental health conditions are also discussed.

This course explores the application of psychological theory and research to criminological and forensic contexts. Students learn about how psychology can be used to understand and enhance aspects of criminological and security investigations, such as eyewitness testimony and the identification of suspects. In addition, students evaluate connections between crime and mental illness. Students gain knowledge of contemporary psychological theories and research related to forensic analysis and investigation and understand the conceptual and methodological issues involved in applying psychological research to real-life investigative situations. Students also evaluate the adequacy of empirical research on the topics covered, particularly in terms of its internal and external validity.