The aim is to introduce students to fundamental concepts in statistics and research design as applied to psychological research. These include summary descriptive statistics, an introduction to the principles and practice of research design (both quantitative and qualitative approaches), and the use of inferential statistics. Building upon this framework, the unit of study aims to develop each student's expertise in understanding the rationale for, and application of, a variety of statistical tests to the sorts of data typically obtained in psychological research.

This unit is designed for students who would like to learn about the core concepts of clinical and biobehavioural psychology, and their applications to therapies, and an individual's behaviour. The emphasis is on behaviour, emotions, and motivational processes. You will learn how to analyse the environmental cause of behaviours, and how to use reinforcements, punishments and incentives to modify and motivate behaviour. Clinical Psychology will focus on emotional and motivational disorders, such as anxiety and depression, addiction, sexual disorders, and eating disorders. The way in which these processes arise and are shaped in people will be presented in the section on Developmental Psychology. Neuroscience will focus on the evolutionary, genetic, neurobiological, and pharmacological mechanisms underlying the phenomena taught in the other sections. The practical classes are designed for students with an interest in clinical and applied Psychology, and will train students to design and implement a behaviour modification programme.

This advanced-level unit is designed for students who would like to learn about the core concepts of clinical and biobehavioural psychology. The advanced unit has the same overall concepts as the mainstream unit but the practical material offers a greater level of challenge and academic rigour. The emphasis of the lectures is on behaviour, emotions, and motivational processes. You will learn how to analyse the environmental causes of behaviours, and how to use reinforcements, punishments and incentives to modify and motivate behaviour. Clinical Psychology will focus on emotional and motivational disorders, such as anxiety and depression, addiction, sexual disorders, and eating disorders. The way in which these processes arise and are shaped in people will be presented in the section on Developmental Psychology. Neuroscience will focus on the evolutionary, genetic, neurobiological, and pharmacological mechanisms underlying the phenomena taught in the other sections. Students enrolled in the advanced stream will participate in different practical exercises with a focus on research methods used to examine the links between the brain and behaviours, emotions, cognitions, and their disorders.

In this unit of study, you will study three of the core topics of Psychology: Perception, Cognition, and Intelligence. Our sensory systems generate our experience of our bodies and what exists in the world. In the perception component, you will learn how our sensory systems influence our ability to act in the world and the conditions and consequences of perceptual errors. The cognition component of the course will focus on the theoretical and methodological issues that arise in how we attend to, remember, think, problem solve, and make decisions, and consider the consequences of how biases and heuristics influence our choices. The intelligence component will explore the historical evolution of the concept of intelligence, issues in its measurement, the relationship to concepts of creativity, emotional intelligence, and the influence of the environment. You will participate in inquiry-led tutorials that will reinforce and expand on concepts in the unit, and develop broad thinking skills to relate evidence to rational arguments and choices that can be applied to any problem solving domain.

All of us observe our social worlds and try to understand why people behave, think, and feel as they do. In this unit you will study a number of influential theories, philosophical and empirical approaches in Personality and Social Psychology. You will examine key topics in the scientific assessment of personality, attitudes and emotions, including an introduction to psychometric testing (e. g. , validity and reliability) in Personality and Social Psychology. Specifically, in the Personality component you will be exposed to conceptual analysis and will be expected to examine critically theories from the Social Cognitive and Psychometric traditions. In the Social Psychology component you will examine salient social constructs such as social influence, the causes of prejudice and possible reduction strategies, and explore how cognitive processes affect social judgment and behaviour. In this unit you will develop a broad understanding of the leading theories and research in the areas of Personality and Social Psychology.

This unit of study expands upon students' knowledge of the general linear model and its applications in the analysis of data from psychological research. One half of the unit introduces students to contrast analysis and interaction analyses as an extension of ANOVA, which allows for more focused analysis of data where group comparisons are the primary interest. Another half focuses on multiple regression and its extensions, which are used when the primary interest is to predict or explain a particular variable based on a set of other variables.

This unit addresses the fundamental concepts and more important research findings related to contemporary theories of associative learning in animals and humans. It examines the application of such fundamental research to issues such as drug use and food choice. It is designed to foster skills in reading primary sources in this area, and provide the opportunity for hands-on experience in carrying out a research project.

This unit addresses the fundamental concepts and more important research findings related to contemporary theories of associative learning in animals and humans. It examines the application of such fundamental research to issues such as drug use and food choice. It is designed to foster skills in reading primary sources in this area, and provide the opportunity for hands-on experience in carrying out a research project. In the advanced unit of study students will learn techniques to model learning and behaviour, and independently apply these skills to experimental data that they have collected.

This unit extends the theories and methods of investigating memory and attentional processes discussed in PSYC2013/PSYC2016 to consider a number of domains of higher cognitive processing including memory, language, object and face recognition, categorisation, and reasoning. An integrating theme of the course will be how such cognitive capacities contribute to skilled behaviour and expertise across a range of domains of human behaviour, and how they are implemented in artificial intelligence systems. The practical program will expose students to a variety of the research methods used to investigate higher cognitive processes, develop their understanding of how these methods can be used to investigate hypotheses about mental processes and consider applications of cognitive research to real-world problems and issues.

How do we know what’s out in the world? Indeed, how do we know anything at all? Sensing the world around us and turning that into a reliable representation that can guide behaviour and knowledge is fundamental to everything we do. The acts of ‘seeing’ and ‘hearing’ seem effortless and instantaneous, yet perception poses enormous challenges and is probably the most complex problem the brain must solve. In this course, you will learn how we see colour and movement, how we perceive surfaces and know materials, and how a robust perception must combine other senses such as sound, vision and touch, or taste and smell? You will also learn about the limits of perception, and surprisingly, how much it uses guesswork, prediction and filling-in to compensate. This unit draws on multiple perspectives (behaviour, neurophysiology, modelling, neuroimaging) to answer these questions and deepen your understanding of perception. The lecturers are all research-active leaders in the field and present the latest work on these research topics. Students will gain conceptual tools for evaluating the empirical and theoretical worth of recent research in perception and the tutorial component will involve working in small groups to formulate a hypothesis and develop a simple experiment to test it by collecting and analysing data. Students thus gain practical research experience that gives them valuable insight into the scientific process as it exists both in professional work and in empirical research project for Honours.

How do we know what’s out in the world? Indeed, how do we know anything at all? Sensing the world around us and turning that into a reliable representation that can guide behaviour and knowledge is fundamental to everything we do. The acts of ‘seeing’ and ‘hearing’ seem effortless and instantaneous, yet perception poses enormous challenges and is probably the most complex problem the brain must solve. In this course, you will learn how we see colour and movement, how we perceive surfaces and know materials, and how a robust perception must combine other senses such as sound, vision and touch, or taste and smell? You will also learn about the limits of perception, and surprisingly, how much it uses guesswork, prediction and filling-in to compensate. This unit draws on multiple perspectives (behaviour, neurophysiology, modelling, neuroimaging) to answer these questions and deepen your understanding of perception. The lecturers are all research-active leaders in the field and present the latest work on these research topics. In the advanced course, the tutorial component involves small groups taking a deep dive into key concepts at the forefront of the field, complemented by student presentations and discussion and some hands-on experience in a research lab.

This unit of study will focus on approaches to studying neurosciences incorporating molecular, pre-clinical and clinical models of brain function. These biological models of brain function will be linked with behavioural, affective and cognitive function and dysfunction. The implications of focal cognitive deficits in neurological patients for models of normal cognitive function will also be explored. Specific topics to be covered will be selected from the following areas: sensorimotor integration and the neural and molecular basis of learning and memory, attention, language, visual cognition and praxis. In addition to lectures, a practical component will cover basic neuroanatomy and neuroscientific methods. The practical component will also introduce students to experimental and neuropsychological approaches to studying the relationship between brain and behaviour.

This unit of study will focus on approaches to studying neurosciences incorporating molecular, pre-clinical and clinical models of brain function. These biological models of brain function will be linked with behavioural, affective and cognitive function and dysfunction. Specific topics to be covered will be selected from the following areas: sensorimotor integration, and the neural and molecular basis of learning and memory, attention, language, visual cognition and praxis. The lecture material will be the same as for PSYC3014, however, the practical class is targeted for those who would like to learn more about the experimental study of behaviour and the neurosciences. The practical component of the advanced stream will cover basic neuroanatomy, histology and neuropharmacology and will introduce students to experimental approaches to studying brain-behaviour relationships.

This unit of study addresses current issues in personality, psychological testing, intelligence, and individual differences. Students are introduced to different theoretical models used in personality, intelligence, emotional intelligence, and metacognition and expected to critically evaluate these theories based on the supporting research evidence. This unit also presents different psychological testing techniques and methods.

This unit examines our understanding of human psychological development, focusing on selected issues and empirical traditions within the discipline of Developmental Psychology. Students are expected to gain an understanding of the theoretical influences that have come to dominate developmental research, and students will also be introduced to a range of theoretical and research approaches in contemporary Developmental Science. These include: sense of identity, conceptual development, children's thinking, social cognition, moral reasoning and behaviour, and the role of genetic and environmental influences on development. The course will also consider applications of developmental research and theory in developmental psychopathology and in educational contexts, as well as exploring children's experience of art, literature and drama. Students are expected to gain knowledge of, and develop a critical approach to, the analysis of current research and theoretical issues in these areas.

This unit examines our understanding of human psychological development, focusing on selected issues and empirical traditions within the discipline of Developmental Psychology. Students are expected to gain an understanding of the theoretical influences that have come to dominate developmental research, and students will also be introduced to a range of theoretical and research approaches in contemporary Developmental Science. These include: sense of identity and self-worth, conceptual development, children's thinking, social cognition, moral reasoning and behaviour, and the role of genetic and environmental influences on development. The course will also consider applications of developmental research and theory in developmental psychopathology and in educational contexts, as well as exploring children's experience of art, literature and drama. Students are expected to gain knowledge of, and develop a critical approach to, the analysis of current research and theoretical issues in these areas. In the advanced unit of study students will collect, score, and analyse the data from children participating in research projects in the School's Developmental Laboratories.

This unit continues the coverage of topics in Social Psychology begun in PSYC1001 and PSYC2017. The unit is divided into topic areas, where the emphasis is on evaluating theories and the relevant evidence. Topics areas include among others: antisocial behaviours, discrimination, the self, emotion, cultural psychology, evolutionary psychology, and existential social psychology. Tutorials provide first-hand experience of research by involving students in a small group research project based on topics covered in the lectures. The tutorials also provide an opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to each step of the research process (e.g. ethical issues that underlie social psychological research, proper practice when collecting and handling data, how to communicate research findings in written and verbal form).

This unit of study critically examines the development, diagnosis, and treatment of key mental health conditions across the lifespan, from children through to adults. Beginning with an exploration of how mental health conditions are classified and diagnosed, this unit will then discuss what is known about the causes, prevalence and treatments of each of the main psychological disorders, including: anxiety disorders (e.g. generalised anxiety disorder); obsessive compulsive and related disorders; trauma- and stress-related disorders; depressive disorders; eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating); addictive behaviours (drug, alcohol, gambling); psychotic disorders; personality disorders; sexual dysfunctions; ADHD and conduct disorder. The ultimate goal of the unit is to improve awareness and knowledge of mental health conditions, to explore the challenges faced by those living with mental health conditions such as stigma, and to understand the evolving nature of this core psychological discipline.

The aim of this unit is to introduce students to various ways in which psychological theory and research can be applied in the real world. In particular, this unit will focus on Health Psychology, Forensic Psychology, and Organisational Psychology. The Health Psychology component of this course may include investigation into why we engage in risky health behaviours including smoking, overeating and alcohol use; inequalities in health including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island health; dealing with chronic illness including death and dying, and survivorship. The Forensic Psychology component of the course may include investigation into lie detection, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and eyewitness memory. The Organisational Psychology component of the course may focus on personnel selection, training in organisations, performance measurement, workplace motivation, leadership and aspects of positive psychology.

Across the unit we examine one of the most interesting aspects of the history and philosophy of science. viz., the scientific practices and assumptions involved in making human beings an object of study. We will examine the ways in which psychologists and psychiatrists have investigated human nature, the kinds of experimental approaches they have developed to that end, the major controversies in this field, and the basic philosophical assumptions that have been made in the sciences of human nature. We investigate the developments of psychological theories and investigative methods as well as the development of psychiatric theory, treatment methods, and institutions.

Comorbid physical and mental health conditions are increasingly prevalent, requiring complex management and specialised interdisciplinary care. Health Psychology, a subdiscipline of psychology, is a rapidly developing field of study which examines the inter-relationships between biological, psychological, and social/cultural factors that affect health, illness, and recovery - recognising that health is far more than the absence of disease. This unit of study will cover the central tenants of Health Psychology: the promotion and maintenance of health; causes and detection of illness; prevention and treatment of illness; and, improvement of healthcare systems and policy. You will develop advanced understanding of: the impact of all phases of illness on patients and their families; how psychological theories and methods are applied to assess patient/caregiver outcomes; importance of health literacy; and how communication between clinicians, patients and family can impact health outcomes. You will also gain industry-recognised skills to apply new evidence in practice to particular health concerns, as well as skills in disseminating research findings in the industry setting. This unit will challenge you to critically evaluate social, cultural, and political aspects of health disparities in Australia, and explore how the needs of the most vulnerable groups in society may be met. At the completion of the unit you will be able to contribute to the development and delivery of evidence-based healthcare programs aimed at addressing current healthcare needs and challenges, particularly in vulnerable populations.

Most of us will spend at least one third of our lives in the workplace. Psychology has given us considerable insights into how people think, feel and behave as they do, and this has great implications for the workplace. Workplace psychology, sometimes called business psychology, refers to the practice of applying psychological principles and practices to a work environment. The goal is to identify and solve problems, increase employee satisfaction and well-being, improve workplace dynamics and to generally make the workplace a better place in which to spend one third of your life. In this unit of study there will be a particular focus on using positive psychology in the workplace. You will be equipped to use psychological principles in the workplace to make the workplace a more productive, fairer and a more need-satisfying experience. Drawing on Self-determination Theory you will explore the concept of the Positive Built Workplace Environment and how the interface between leadership, building design and workplace culture can produce sustainable, flourishing workplaces. You will also explore issues like overcoming procrastination and increasing productivity; positively influencing and leading people in organisations; the formation of effective teams; the psychology of negotiation and conflict resolution; facilitating wellness; preventing stress and burnout; psychopaths in the workplace and the creation of positive workplace experiences. You will also cover issues such as the evaluation of positive workplace interventions with data collection methods including questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, interviews and case studies. This theoretically-grounded but very practical unit of study gives you the tools to enhance the work experiences of yourself and others.

Coaching skills are now an essential part of the contemporary workplace. Research shows that the ability to coach self and others is one of the most important skills for employees, managers and leaders. However, to date, opportunities for learning evidence-based coaching skills at universities has been very limited. By completing this unit you will develop a solid understanding of the psychology of coaching in the workplace, in organisations and in relation to personal life matters and the ability to apply such theories in real life situations. We will explore the theoretical foundations of the psychology of coaching including self-regulation theory, goal theory, change theory and solution-focused approaches to coaching and show how to apply these to real-life issues and goals. Students will leave with a portfolio of applied coaching skills, the ability to conduct both formal and informal coaching conversations, the ability to evaluate and create conceptually coherent coaching processes and having experienced a personal coaching program. Active learning in the form of peer coaching is central to this program and will guide students to integrate their developing knowledge, skills and values about coaching in ways that question and build understanding. Students need to be prepared and willing to engage in peer coaching conversations.

The search for happiness and well-being is ubiquitous. Humans crave a sense of well-being, and resilience in the face of hardships has been a prized attribute since time immemorial. However, it is only relatively recently that psychology has turned its attention to the scientific exploration of well-being, resilience, happiness and the life well-lived. This unit of study teaches skills and pathways for cultivating wellbeing, resilience and happiness in individuals, groups, organisations and communities as a whole. The teaching in this unit advocates scientific methods and promotes critical thinking and analysis of key facets of positive psychology. We will explore the theoretical perspectives and conceptual frameworks that underpin positive psychology. The related empirical research will be examined and critiqued in order to identify best practice interventions and to facilitate the utilisation of this knowledge into effective real world methods. Active learning is a central feature of this unit. Students will be expected to apply positive psychology principles in their own lives and to reflect on these experiences. A wide range of learning approaches will be used including: debates, role plays, case studies, and reflective journal entries. These will form part of the learning and assessment activities.

Psychology is a science which relies on empirical research to back up its claims. This unit will provide you with the opportunity to plan, design and analyse your own research project within a small group of students. You will be supervised by an academic from the School of Psychology. In this unit, you will continue to understand and explore disciplinary knowledge, while also meeting and collaborating with students through project-based learning. You will identify and solve problems, collect and analyse data and communicate your findings to a diverse audience during a final symposium. All of these skills are highly valued by employers. This unit will foster the ability to work in teams, and this is essential for both professional and research pathways in the future.