Psychology with Foundation Year

You’ll broaden your understanding of the specialisms within psychology and associated career pathways. You’ll be exploring what psychology professionals do in practice, how you would be trained, and what skills you need. You’ll explore and develop your skills to communicate psychological careers information to different audiences. 

Within this module you’ll develop your academic skills, such as academic writing, reading and referencing. You’ll develop your independent and groupwork skills whilst working on psychological topics. This will further develop your awareness of reflective practice, and reflecting on your own development using principles of positive psychology. 

Within this module you will explore how psychological theories and research can be used to understand current and topical issues, such as stories in the media or current affairs. You will develop your skills in applying relevant psychological theories to real-world issues. 

Within this module you will apply your research skills to answer current questions in psychology. You’ll engage in data collection, data analysis, and data interpretation, and develop an awareness and understanding of how to report research findings. You’ll be introduced to different quantitative and qualitative research methods, and consider how these methods can be applied to develop psychological insights.

The course develops language skills in academic English, notably writing and speaking, to give you confidence in written assessment and oral presentation. A further focus is listening and note-taking, for ease in following lectures. The development of reading, to aid analysis and interpretation of course material will also feature, and the module will additionally develop study skills, to assist you in the transition to Higher Education study.

In this module, we provide an introduction to the process of conducting quantitative psychological research. You will learn how to design robust psychological experiments; how to measure and collect data about thoughts, feelings, and behaviour; how to work with numerical datasets and apply analyses to discover patterns and test theories; and how to report findings using recognised scientific reporting guidelines. The module emphasises progressive ‘open science’ research practices and transferrable data science skills.

If you have ever wondered how the brain influences our individual characteristics and behaviour, this module is great place for answers. Mind, Brain and Behaviour introduces you to the structure of the brain and the role it plays in cognition (eg learning and memory) and individual differences (eg personality, self-regulation and psychopathology).

Contemporary Issues in psychology will introduce students to the different ways in which psychological issues can be understood from different psychological perspectives. A series of everyday issues related to staff research interests will be introduced and organised into themes (example themes may include stress, social media, mental health). The module will demonstrate how researchers working from different psychological perspectives may study the same topic from different viewpoints, and will feature discussion of the research conducted by our academic staff. This module will promote debate about how key and current psychological topics are researched and understood, and students will evaluate how well these topics are explained by the different perspectives featured in the module. 

Can our upbringing shape our values and attitudes, or are we a product of our biology? How do our early childhood relationships affect our interactions as adults? Within this module, we introduce a range of perspectives in psychology, and critically consider the contribution of each to understanding our thoughts and behaviour. 

Work experience can be vital for success in a competitive graduate job market, but how do students develop workplace experience, skills, and knowledge whilst studying on a full time course? The work-integrated learning in psychology module provides all students with an invaluable opportunity to gain this work based learning in one of a range of settings in and around Manchester. Support from your personal tutor is on hand as you develop your skills, knowledge, and self-awareness, and identify areas for your own personal growth and development. 

Real-world work experience is valuable in developing and applying a range of personal and professional skills and attributes. However, what does psychological research and theory highlight as the essential skills required for success at university and employment? Through a process of reflective practice, critical thinking and practical activities, this module focuses on identifying and developing specific skills including confidence, self-efficacy and goal orientation.

Transitions into psychology can be regarded as an 'extended welcome' to your undergraduate psychology degree. Using a small group collaborative working model, the module introduces you to the skills necessary for succeeding in psychology at university. Working in small groups facilitates social communication between peers, and enables effective personal tutor support and guidance. Above all, Transitions will help you develop effective skills to study, and develop an enhanced sense of belonging. 

Many research questions are better answered using discursive qualitative data, rather than numerical quantitative approaches. In this module you will learn the main methods and approaches in qualitative psychology, and the important contributions they can make to advancing psychological knowledge.

How can we use numerical data to test psychological theories and make predictions? How can we design, analyse, and report experiments, or use questionnaires to measure psychological constructs? This module introduces advanced research designs and statistical analyses to prepare you to address a wide range of psychology questions, and prepare you to report findings for a range of audiences.

Psychologists are interested in the things that make people different from each other, in ways that create diversity in society. Here we will look at intelligence, personality, and other aspects of our mental lives that enrich our interactions with others.

This module explores social psychological topics, and differences in approaches to social psychological knowledge. 

It will cover areas of social psychology outlined by the British Psychological Society, for example social cognition, attribution, attitudes, group processes and intergroup relations, culture, close relationships, social constructionism, self and identity, and leadership. Through the exploration of these topics you will consider alternative paradigms, perspectives and approaches in social psychology and the ways in which social psychological knowledge is impacted by the context in which it is gained. 

How do we learn new information? What influences our decisions? What are the factors that influence creativity? Through addressing various fascinating questions such as these, this module critically explores key areas of cognitive psychological theory and research. It provides a foundation understanding contemporary issues, debates, and methods in this interesting and core psychological field. Practical and real-world examples as well as experimental design issues are discussed throughout the module, and the historical and philosophical context of our learning is considered. 

Biopsychologists study how our behaviours, thoughts and feelings depend on the biology of our brains. We use highly advanced technologies to discover how differences in this biology between individuals, and across our lifespans, make us who we are. Throughout the module, we’ll look at how a new understanding of how our brains work has led to a changed insight into what it means to be human.

With a strong focus on individual and group reflection and growth, students will be encouraged to connect with, and develop, their own passions within psychology. The module encourages you to think and act critically in order to make a positive intervention or a critical interpretation of an aspect of your social or cultural environment. Developing you team-working skills, you will formulate an evidence based research rationale, consider the practicalities of conducting ethical research, and develop skills in team-growth dynamics.

Does our attachment with our primary caregivers really affect all our future relationships? Do our primary caregivers or friends have more of an influence on our understanding of morality? The lifespan development module is designed to explore questions such as these and a range of developmental psychological topics over the course of the lifespan.

Building on the knowledge and skills introduced at Level 4, this module considers how more advanced qualitative research designs are used to address complex questions in psychology. You are introduced to the importance of rigorous approaches to data collection, analysis, and reporting of qualitative data. 

Supported by an experienced academic supervisor and based on the research you have designed in the ‘Preparing for your dissertation’ module, you will collect and analyse data to answer your own research question. You will get the opportunity to apply the research skills you have learnt during the course to your own interests in psychology by working on a research project of your own choosing. 

Preparing for your dissertation is designed to help you turn your initial ideas and interests in psychology into clear research aims and questions, and to choose appropriate methodologies to answer these. You will look at existing research on a topic that fascinates you, and consider how to investigate that issue in a robust and ethical manner. The research itself will then be conducted as part of the Dissertation module.