Psychology

This course considers the ways in which humans grow, change and mature across various life stages. Students consider the behavioral, emotional, physical, and cognitive changes which occur during these developmental stages. This course offers students opportunities to explore core development milestones during childhood such as language, moral and gender development, and core psychological topics such as the formation of relationships and how people learn. The course also focuses on real-world application; providing opportunities to consider the environmental influences upon development and critical consideration of the extent to which theories are applicable in the educational context.

The course introduces students to selected areas of work psychology, including how organizations identify and select talent (personnel selection), individual differences, teamwork, motivation, leadership, stress in the workplace and career management. The course focuses on the application of psychological theory and research to help students from any discipline develop their future careers and to thrive in the modern world of work.

Forensic psychology can be thought of as an umbrella term to bring together two different streams of research in psychology and law: legal psychology is the application of psychological research and methods to the process of law, and criminological psychology is the application of psychological research and methods to the understanding of criminal behavior. This course introduces students to some of the main topics and questions in forensic psychology, so that students can appreciate the different perspectives, methods, and applications involved in the discipline. The course focuses on the application of research findings to the criminal justice system, and the understanding, treatment, and reduction of criminal behavior.

This course introduces students to some major neuropsychological disorders and outlines how an understanding of these deficits can inform our understanding of brain function and enlighten cognitive neuroscience. Impairments of higher visual functions such as agnosia, optic ataxia, and hemispatial neglect are presented in detail and their relevance to models of brain function outlined. Students also become familiar with cognitive neuropsychological tests.

The course allows students to hear from a broad range of experts in social psychology, social cognition, and social neuroscience at UCL. The course offers interdisciplinary perspectives that are at the cutting edge of social experimental research. It has the following objectives: To provide students with an understanding of social determinants of cognition, judgment and behavior; and the interplay between social processes and individual processes, to familiarize students with basic methods used in social psychology, and to help students critically discuss research in social psychology in an interdisciplinary manner, in order to establish connections between social phenomena and psychological functioning.  

This course teaches about the role of attention as a fundamental cognitive process and how it relates to short and long-term memory. It examines the phenomenon of learning, looking at learning theories and neuroimaging evidence to discover how learning occurs in the brain; and investigates the role of cognition in language, sleep, and consciousness. Throughout the course students learn about the methods involved in studying Psychology and how to think critically about empirical research. Introduction to Cognitive Psychology offers a solid foundation for future study in Psychology and provides an opportunity to hear about cutting-edge research taking place at the University of Oxford.

This course begins with an overview of the definition of personality and the primary research methods used in personality psychology. It systematically introduces major theoretical perspectives, including psychoanalytic approaches, phenomenological and humanistic theories, trait theories, and contemporary social-cognitive, cultural, and neurobiological perspectives. Across different course units, the instructor incorporates recent data science and neuroscience research related to personality, drawing in part from the instructor’s own ongoing work in these areas. In the research project component, students engage in collaborative interactions with AI tools (LLMs). Through this process, students not only learn how to use AI to deepen their understanding of theoretical frameworks, but also enhance their creativity and competence in applying personality theories to empirical research.

Developmental psychology describes and explains the changes that occur at different stages of life across various domains (social, cognitive, emotional, etc.). Beyond the average trends of human development that can be identified, this course introduces the issue of developmental diversity and variations in individual functioning in interaction with their living environments. The different levels of variability in the study of development are introduced and illustrated throughout the course with concrete examples of typical and atypical developmental trajectories in children and adolescents.

This course provides a broad overview of neural engineering concepts and principles for recording outgoing (efferent) and generating ingoing (afferent) neural signals. These concepts form the basis for neural interfaces or human-machine interfaces. This area is interdisciplinary and encompasses the fields of neuroscience, physiology, signal processing, machine learning, and robotics. The course provides insights into existing and future neural interfaces, neural prostheses, and neurorobotics. The course introduces principles and technologies of neuroengineering applications including basic human neurophysiology and -anatomy, brain stimulator, spinal cord stimulation, functional electrical stimulation (FES), neural-machine interface for motor prosthesis control, artificial visual, and auditory devices for augmented sensory perception. Assumed prior knowledge: Mathematics, Physics and Physiology (eg. EXTG50).

In this course, students discuss the psychology of inequality. The course begins by focusing on the consequences of the overall level of economic inequality within a society; first placing the current level in historical context and then discussing its consequences for health and well-being. It then shifts to focusing on the consequences of occupying a specific position within an unequal society by discussing the psychological consequences of social class, education, poverty, wealth, and power. The course then discusses the consequences of inequality for groups, including the stereotypes associated with high or low status groups, the psychological processes associated with gender inequality, and the strategies low-status groups use to cope with their position.