Web site logical path: [www.psy.gla.ac.uk] [~steve] [best]

Compilation (for printing) of pages on Studying psychology as a visiting student

This compilation was assembled on 21 November 2024.

Last changed 13 Sept 2012 ............... Length about 3,000 words (24,000 bytes).
This is a WWW document maintained by Steve Draper, installed at http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/resources/foreign.html.

Studying psychology as a visiting student

photo The visiting student liaison for the Psychology department/school is Lorna Morrow.
(This page is maintained on her behalf by Steve Draper.)

(A single combined page for convenient printing is here.)

To find out the room a lecture course is to be held in, my advice is: Consult, on the day before the first lecture, the online timetables (or my hand-made alternative entry to them).

Contents (click to jump to a section)

Introduction

Lorna Morrow is the organiser / liaison faculty member of the School of Psychology for students who are visiting from abroad: that is, JYA/exchange students and others who are visiting Glasgow University while mainly registered at a university in some other country. This now includes Erasmus/SOCRATES students visiting from the EU (who may also wish to look at this page and the University notes on Erasmus); and home students (i.e. already studying psychology at Glasgow university) who want a year abroad away from here (e.g. in USA or Germany).

This page collects some links and tips about this part of my job i.e. about my understanding of what is involved for foreign students visiting this university and doing some psychology. This page may change as I improve my grasp of the issues.

The main difficulty you are likely to face in understanding what psychology courses to take is that our teaching is fundamentally not designed as a set of standalone courses of a single standard size on the North American model. For instance, the most important practical and course-work is not part of the individual modules, but done (by home students) separately. The modules themselves thus mostly have no coursework or practical work as part of them. Another of the consequences is that getting registered for the courses you take here is likely to be more of a nuisance for you than the registration processes organised in many US universities. That is not only because we may be less computerised than your home institution, but because you are selecting courses of a quite different kind, in quite different combinations, to the home students, for whom the process is different.

A word about terminology or jargon

Here's a few notes on the terminology (actually, vile jargon) used here. The problem is that you may not be familiar with the way we use words like "course" or "level" or "professor" here; that it is probably often a silly way, though terms elsewhere are no more rational, just different; but you have to understand them or you can't understand the information we do actually provide.

Our local or home students do 4 year degrees, and we refer to these as level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 4. Levels 3 and 4 and also referred to as "Honours classes", as opposed to "Ordinary classes" (levels 1 and 2).
HOWEVER the university catalogue now uses "level" to mean something different e.g. "Level 3 (SCQF level 9)". If you have done a good Introductory Psychology course before coming here, we expect you to do our Level (year) 3 and 4 courses, all of which are listed in the catalogue as "Level 4 (SCQF level 10)" courses; and NOT the ones listed in the catalogue as level 3, which are less demanding and which are not used by our home students who want a qualification recognised by professional bodies.

The University recently reorganised, abolishing departments, and in many cases renaming them "schools" or else merging them into schools. If you see or hear someone say "department" then first assume they mean the school of the same name, then assume they refer to a subject group embedded within some larger school. I haven't found a convenient web representation of this, but if puzzled you could look at my rough notes on this.

There is no agreed use of the word "course" at this university. You are likely to find many people who say there is, but in fact they don't agree with each other. You may find it used for everything from a whole degree programme down to a tiny element worth a few credits or less. The same may apply to "module", "option", etc.

The word "paper" here not only may, but is more likely to, refer to an exam rather than to writing a long essay as coursework. Thus here people may talk of a student taking 5 papers for their finals (meaning 5 separate exams).

In North America, the three main grades of university teacher are Assistant, Associate, and full Professor. Here, they are generally called Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Professor.

This university has gone over from terms to semesters. If you hear someone say "term" they now probably mean "semester". Semester 1: from late September until Christmas. Semester 2: from January onwards.

What courses are available?

Our local or home students do 4 year degrees, and we refer to these as level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 4. Levels 3 and 4 and also referred to as "Honours classes" (cf. "upper division"), as opposed to "Ordinary classes". Roughly speaking, you may take the whole of our level 1, level 2, or level 3 courses; or you may take any mixture selected from most of our level 3 and level 4 elements.

Note that the what the catalogue calls "Level 3 (SCQF level 9)" courses, which have course codes in the 3,000 range, are not intended nor normally suitable for visiting students.

  • By far the most detailed information is in the school/department's course handbooks ("course information documentation"), which gives almost lecture by lecture specifications of the course contents, and which are available on the web (see below).
  • I maintain a listing of psychology courses for visiting students. This attempts to be an up to date version of what is in the catalogue, shows which are available to visiting students, and may have better information on which courses are not running this session.
  • The University catalogue of officially approved courses.

    I also have, and try to maintain with up to date accurate information, a listing of the course codes for psychology courses that we offer to study-abroad students. This is mainly important for administration.

    A note on assessment policy is available. Basically, students here in semester 2 will mostly do the same assessment as home students (usually exams in May), while students leaving earlier are most often assessed by extra term papers.

    Key links

    Finding us:
  • Lorna Morrow
  • How to find Lorna and the dept./school
  • the main psychology dept./school website
  • How to find the course administrators / secretaries: just find the dept./school: then the first offices inside the main door.
  • School's page about Erasmus and the University page about Erasmus

  • The university office for year abroad students: general web page, and the key person Colette McGowan (also here, or if necessary here).

  • My attempt at an up to date catalogue-like listing of the courses Psychology offers.
  • University catalogue: course list with summary descriptions. It may list some courses that are approved but not running this year.
  • List of the course codes for psychology courses.
  • Assessment policy

  • The department/school handbooks: The handbooks are most valuable for giving detailed course contents (almost lecture by lecture). They also give the days, times, and places of classes. They do not give course codes, credits, and the assessment details in them apply only to local students, and not to year abroad students.

    They are normally available from the department/school office ready-printed; but are also available on the web as fairly large (0.5Mbyte) PDF files, which can be printed out 2 document pages per side of printer-paper, and double-sided.

  • Print off a blank timetable to use in figuring out how to fit your classes together.

    The enrolment procedure

    See here.

    Further points

  • Information about exams and term papers is dealt with on my assessment page. Lorna Morrow is also available for you to consult about all written work for the department (including essays, lab reports, etc.), at all levels.

    Answers for some frequently asked questions

    Don't I have to do lab work?
    Practical work for our home students is done in separate projects, not associated with modules.

    Shouldn't I have assignments to hand in?
    No, except for the minority of level 4 option courses that have coursework as well as an exam.

    Won't I get any practice or feedback at exams?
    Not unless you organise it yourself. Past exam papers are available in the library. Home students will have had practice, and will be taking many exams all in the same format in this department/school.

    I'd like to do a psycholinguistics course.
    Psycholinguistics material is scattered as elements in:
    (level 3) Cognitive psychology
    (level 4) Interaction and communication
    (level 4) Psychology of reading and understanding

    Staff only

    The MyCampus query that gets all data on visiting students (brilliant) is here. Fill in the term (e.g. "2012") and click "View results"; then download a CSV version if you like.

    Last changed 29 Feb 2012 ............... Length about 2,000 words (15,000 bytes).
    This is a WWW document maintained by Steve Draper, installed at http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/resources/assess.html.

    Assessment for psychology courses for study-abroad students

    by Steve Draper, foreign student liaison for the Psychology school.

    This page is intended for students, staff, and course administrators together. Here I attempt a clear statement about what Psychology will do for assessment for visiting "study-abroad" students.

    The overall policy is that students will do the same assessments as home students wherever possible.

    If that is not possible, because the assessment is an exam in a semester that the visitor is not registered and present for, then a term paper will be substituted (IN ADDITION to any coursework that is part of the modules they are taking), one for each course taken. This possible substitution of a term paper does not affect students visiting in semester 2; nor semester 1 courses that can be examined in December. Currently the substitution of a term paper for an exam only applies to some of the level 4 courses:

    Students who are thereby required to sit exams must therefore be here in the exam periods which are published by the university, and are roughly (in 2011-12) 7-16 of Dec, and 16 April-18 May. This means they may not leave Glasgow early for Christmas or a summer break, take summer jobs that prevent them being here, etc. (This is now the policy recommended by this University's office for (international) student recruitment. It is also apparently required by some home universities e.g. the University of California. The thinking is that students should not be allowed concessions that are not permitted to home students here, nor would be permitted at their home institutions.)

    Note that some courses (especially in Level 4) have coursework in addition to the final exam or term paper: see the course documentation. Failing to hand this in will normally lead to failing the whole course. Which courses have such coursework is given on page 3 of the level-4 course documentation, along with the deadlines for coursework which are unrelated to deadlines for term papers or dates for exams.

    Students who would like some advice about doing written work for this school/department, may consult Lorna Morrow about all written work for the school (including essays, lab reports, etc.), at all levels.

    Exam assessment

    Students will sit the same assessment as home students as long as they are registered for the semester in which the relevant exam is held. This assessment is described in the course handbook for home students, and foreign students should study this and follow it exactly. In a few cases (e.g. a Critical Review module) the assessment may be by coursework. In most cases in Psychology, it is by a single final exam for each course.

    For level 3 courses for students only here for semester 1 we will use, not the exams organised by the university, but "class exams" organised within the school:

    Most level 4 options taught in weeks 1-5 of semester 1 will be examined in the regular University exams in December: Psy. of Abnormality, Leadership, Psy. of Will, Basics of Joint Attention. (The other level 4 options in semester 1 will have term papers, as listed above, and described below.)

    For other exams, it is each student's responsibility to find out about what exams they have to take, and when and where they will be held. Due to pressure on space in possible exam halls, final announcements about this, which are done by the Registry not the school, are often quite late in the year (e.g. early March for the April-May exams); although generally exams are in April to May. Students taking exams in more than one subject area may find they have a clash: it is their responsibility to detect this, and then immediately to consult with their Advisor about this. Such crucial information may be posted in various places, but the most official listing is on the Registry website. Pointers to this site, and to information about where exam halls are located, are collected here.

    Exam Practice

    Exams: Summary To-Do for students

  • Find out which exams you will take by consulting this page for level 3 courses and/or the handbook.
  • Consult the Registry web site, noticeboards etc. near the time to find out the time and place of each exam.
  • Check for clashes between exams in different subjects and take the initiative in sorting them out.

    Exams: Summary To-Do for staff

    No special actions required. Foreign students will be examined in the same way as home students.

    Assessment by term papers

    Students who are here for only the first part of the academic year will mostly be assessed (in addition to any coursework required for that module) by special term papers instead of exams, one for each course taken. These will be about 2,500 words long, will normally be decided by the staff member giving the course, available from the course administrator who posts them on the portal by half way through the course, and will be due by the end of the semester i.e. before the school closes for Christmas; in this case by Thursday 15 Dec. 2011. The questions should normally be from past exam papers, as QA requires that they have been vetted by the External Examiner.

    It is the responsibility of each student to obtain these questions from the course administrator. Currently, these are posted as they become available on the psychology portal: from the home page look in the side menu for "Visiting students" and click "information". (http://portal.psy.gla.ac.uk/) Half way through the course is a reasonable time to receive them.

    They should be word processed to the same standard as other student work in this school (see the course handbook). In brief: 2,500 words each, A4 paper, point size 10 or bigger, a standard font e.g. Times, a cover sheet explaining comprehensively what this piece of work is, the essay question being answered, and the course it is for. Additionally, two copies of each paper are required.

    Both copies should be handed in, not to the lecturer, but to the course administrator dealing with that course e.g. Karen Pirie for level 3 courses and Lynda Young for level 4 courses.

    Staff will receive the papers for marking at the end of semester, and should return them marked on the normal school marking scales by the start of the following semester. All translation of grades from our scales to other scales will be dealt with elsewhere.

    Term papers: Summary To-Do for students

  • The essay topics should be posted on the portal (see above). Nominally available by half way through the semester. If not, enquire of the course administrator (personally or by email) on each course for the topic for the term paper.
  • Hand both copies of your answer into the course administrator by the end of the semester. Clearly label each paper with the course, your name and student number, and that this is a "term paper by a visiting student".

    Term papers: Summary To-Do for lecturing staff

  • For every level 3 or 4 course running in semester 1, decide on a topic and send it (either email of dropbox) to the relevant course secretary saying what course it is for. Consult with any other lecturers on that course. Set one question per course. Mid-semester is a reasonable time for this: earlier is better.
  • The questions should if possible be from past exam papers, as QA requires that they have been vetted by the External Examiner. Just check that the one you choose is still covered by the course this year. There is no need to give students a choice: this is not an unseen exam.
  • If you don't have past papers to hand, you can get them online from the library: see here.
  • If asked for topics by a foreign student, tell them to collect them from the course secretary (and refer to them to this web page).
  • When you receive the scripts from the course secretary at the end of semester, mark them by the start of the next semester and return them to her.

    Term papers: Summary To-Do for admin. staff

  • When topics (questions) for term papers are sent into you, keep a record not just of what the question is, but WHO set it (as you will need to send the answers to that lecturer for marking).
  • Post them on the portal.
  • Foreign students should get the questions from there.
  • If no topic has been set, email the staff member(s) and remind them; and get me to pursue them further.
  • When answers are handed in by the students, these term papers should be treated rather like critical reviews: records kept of what was handed in (and when); the standard marking scale sent out with it; one copy of the essay kept in the office and the other sent for marking; one reminder sent IMMEDIATELY at the start of the January semester about overdue marks; a reminder a week later to me on the state of play, for me to follow up on.

    Administration

    Students will normally be registered using the same course codes as home students. Obviously for students staying a whole year and being assessed in the same way as home students, this will work normally. For shorter stay students, Registry is now set up to detect automatically that a student is leaving early, and to send to the school a results return (pink and white) form listing those students at the appropriate time (and not to ask again in June for results for those students). This depends on their Advisor (Colette McGowan) having entered in the correct codes marking them as leaving early. We should check that by a careful enough scrutiny of the records through MyCampus. Any Registry return forms should be sent to me.

    The essays should be kept, and made available (together with the marks given) for the examiners' meetings later in the session.

    Exam/course results

    Use MyCampus. This allows students to see their results immediately they have been accepted by Reigstry, from anywhere in the world. MyCampus will also allow students to change the address to which paper notification of results is posted.

    Psychology level 1

    Semester 1     Level1     20 credits     psych-1001
    Semester 2     Level1     20 credits     psych-1002
    The course provides an introduction to the main areas and concepts of Psychology. The course also teaches practical skills involved with experiments on human subjects. Communication skills are also encouraged by means of tutorials. These courses are subject to numbers limits, but currently there are places available. Visiting students may take the second course without having taken the first.

    Psychology 2 (higher)

    Semester 1     Level2     30 credits     psych-2010
    Semester 2     Level2     30 credits     psych-2011
    These courses are subject to numbers limits, but currently there are plenty of places.

    The same broad areas are covered as in level 1, but to a markedly deeper level. The topics in the labs are much more varied than in level 1.

    It builds on the foundations laid in Psychology 1 to broaden and, especially, to deepen your knowledge of the subject area so that by the end of the course you will be able to summarise and discuss the theories and findings of psychologists who have conducted research in such areas as Abnormal, Cognitive, Developmental, Psychobiological and Social Psychology, the Psychology of Personality and of Perception and Applied Psychology. Through the practicals and tutorials it develops such transferable skills as the design of experiments in the behavioural sciences, the writing of research reports and the discussion of results presented in such reports. It aims to increase your awareness of the many different ways in which the methods and results of Psychology are applied in the world outside the laboratory.

    See the course handbook for details, and the breakdown of topics between the semesters.

    Level (year) 3 modules

    Current issues in psychology

    Semester1.     Level 3 (Non Honours)     30 credits     psych-3003

    This course is not offered to visiting students.

    Group Research Project_Psych Studies

    Semester1,2.     Level 3 (Non Honours)     30 credits     psych-3004

    This course is not normally offered to visiting students.

    Critical Review

    Semester1 or semester 2.     Level3     7.5 credits each     pscyh-4056
    This course is subject to numbers limits, and currently we are not normally offering them to visiting students.

    Cognitive psychology level 3

    Semester1     Level3     10 credits     psych-4002
    In this module we will cover important issues within the topics of memory, language and decision making.

    Conceptual and historical issues in psychology

    Semester2     Level3     10 credits     psych-4003
    This honours core course aims to introduce students to those aspects of the philosophy of science relevant for psychological research. It then reviews the recent history of Psychology in the 19th and 20th centuries and to explore this in the context of major schools of thought in Psychology. Students will learn to link present day research with the underlying historical debates. They will also be introduced to the varying systems and theories which still inform modern Psychology.

    Human development level 3

    Semester1     Level3     10 credits     psych-4006
    This module provides a review of the developmental changes particularly in the womb and early childhood, and presents the most relevant research and theories in this field. In particular it deals with face perception, theory of mind, early neuro development, and prematurity.

    Individual differences

    Semester2     Level3     10 credits     psych-4039
    To build on the study of theories of personality covered at Level 2 by elaborating on some of these and introducing a series of specialist topics within the area of personality studies. To inform the students on current statistical thinking in psychometrics and individual differences. To familiarise the student with the concepts of biological variation and explain tests of neurological function.

    Perception and visual cognition level 3

    Semester1     Level3     10 credits     psych-4008
    This module describes the processes involved in human visual processing, provides a theoretical background of important issues in perception and relates the theoretical issues to our practical experience of how we perceive the world.

    Physiological psychology level 3

    Semester2     Level3     10 credits     psych-4009
    Part 1: This module will cover the development of the nervous system. In addition it will discuss the role of genetics and the emergence of behaviour. Part 2: To provide a basic understanding of methods used, in the study of human autonomic, endocrine and skeletal muscular psychophysiology and a critical appreciation of theoretical and practical problems and applications to the study of specific psychological phenomena.

    Professional skills level 3

    Semester1     Level3     10 credits     psych-4011
    Through lectures, workshops, tutorials and practical exercises, to develop awareness of and raise the level of those skills required when working within the broad framework of psychology and when seeking entry to the profession or to an alternative career.

    Social psychology level 3

    Semester2     Level3     10 credits     psych-4036
    This module provides a broad-based understanding of classic and contemporary psychological theory and research in the Social Psychology of Attitudes. Following the course, students will be able to select and apply in research contexts the main methods of attitude assessment - to criticise the major theoretical models of attitude development, organisation and change - and to apply their knowledge of theory to experimental and 'real-life' problems in the area of attitudes.

    Statistics level 3

    Semester1     Level3     10 credits     psych-4037
    To provide an understanding of the inferential statistics appropriate to the analysis of psychological data through the framework of the General Linear Model. In addition, students will gain practical experience with the statistical programming platform "R".

    Level (year) 4 modules

    Adolescent Brain Development

    Semester2.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4013
    This course aims: 1) To present the most recent discoveries regarding the developmental changes in brain morphology during the teenage years and how this relates (or not) to behavioural changes, especially in the executive and social domains. 2) To trigger reflection about the methodological issues as well as the social impact of developmental cognitive neuroscience.

    Advanced Qualitative Methods

    Semester2.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4050
    The aims of this course are to introduce and equip students with research ready skills in advanced qualitative methods and analysis. The course aims to support students to acquire a critical understanding of core issues in qualitative methods and analysis inclusive of; the role of epistemology, design, data collection techniques, process of analysis, write up considerations and awareness of rigour and quality.

    Atypical Development

    Semester1.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4051
    This course aims to provide an analysis of the nature, origins, developmental course and provision for atypical development. It will examine the origins and identification of different forms of atypical development and investigate the psychological and social impact for children. It will critically evaluate theories and research related to the psychological development of children with physical disabilities, developmental psychopathologies and gifted development.

    Autism Spectrum Disorders

    Semester2.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4014
    This course aims To introduce students to the broad range of current research on autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). By the end of this programme students will:

    Basics of Joint Attention

    Semester1.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4015
    The aims of this module are threefold: Firstly students will learn how humans and non-human primates establish a "shared view of the world" with their conspecifics. Secondly students will engage with recent findings in cognitive neuroscience research related to this topic and will learn how to critically evaluate different neuroimaging paradigms. Thirdly, students will improve their verbal presentation skills by presenting a research article to their peers

    Brain Oscillations in Action

    Semester2     Level4     10 credits     86JD
    This course will not run in 2012-13 due to staff changes.

    Child Abuse

    Semester1     Level4     10 credits     86JU
    This course will not run in 2012-13 due to staff changes.

    Cognitive Neuroscience Insights into brain plasticity

    Semester1.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4018
    This course will survey recent advances in understanding the brain-behaviour relationship through non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation, complemented by classical neuropsychological and modern neuroimaging approaches. Rather than focusing mainly on functional deficits, the course will highlight paradoxical (sometimes productive) effects of stimulation/lesions in healthy participants/patients and use these observations as windows to introduce some of the key aspects of brain organization.

    Cognitive Neuroscience of Ageing

    Semester1.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4019
    This course provides an introduction to the field of cognitive ageing, with a particular emphasis on age-related neuronal changes. Examples from the literature will be discussed, showing how the structural and functional alterations of neuronal networks affect cognitive performance in healthy and pathological ageing.

    Colour

    Semester2     Level4     10 credits     86JZ
    This course will not run in 2012-13 due to staff changes.

    Concepts and Empirical Results in Education

    Semester2.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4022
    This course introduces some of the biggest published effects in teaching methods in higher education, such as Mazur who increased the amount learned on his level one course by a factor of nearly 3 times. It then introduces several important educational concepts from the literature applying to higher education (HE): Laurillard's model, deep and shallow learning, Perry's model. It requires students to apply these to specific course designs, and use them to critique those designs; but equally, to critique the theories by identifying concerns and issues not covered by the theories.

    fMRI in Biopsychology

    Semester2.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4023
    Functional brain imaging has become an essential tool in Biopsychology and Neuroscience that has changed the way we think about the brain today. This course aims to give an in-depth introduction to the basics of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The course will cover physical and physiological basics of the fMRI-signal, experimental strategies, and analysis principles.

    Forensic Psychology

    Semester2.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4024
    This module looks at ways that psychology can contribute to the legal system, informing the evidence process, witnessing and the courts. By the end of this course students will be able to :

    Hearing by eye

    Semester2     Level4     10 credits     86JG
    This course will not run in 2012-13 due to staff changes.

    Human Motion Perception

    Semester2     Level4     10 credits     86KB
    This course will not run in 2012-13 due to staff changes.

    Interaction and Communication

    Semester2.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4027
    The course will explore recent research on linguistic communication and interaction. It will consider both one-way communication and two-way communication. It will also explore non-linguistic forms of communication, such as graphical communication and communication with manual gestures. The course will provide a thorough foundation enabling the student to understand specific processes of human communication.

    Language and Meaning

    Semester1.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4028
    The aim of this course is to develop students understanding of language processing and theories of meaning. Different methodological techniques will be explained and we will consider the different empirical questions these techniques afford. The neurophysiology of language will be discussed and we will consider current explanations of language related components, e.g. N400 and P600. We will also discuss our understanding of shallow processing, pragmatics and framing effects in language comprehension.

    Leadership

    Semester1.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4029
    These lectures explore aspects of research and theory in the area of Leadership with an emphasis on how research can be applied. By the end of this course students will be able to:

    Networks of Attention and Working Memory

    Semester2.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4030
    The aims of this module are threefold. Firstly students will learn how processes of attention and working memory are implemented in the human brain. Secondly students will engage with recent research articles in cognitive neuroscience related to this topic and will learn how to critically evaluate different neuroimaging paradigms. Thirdly, students will improve their verbal presentation skills by presenting a research article to their peers.

    Neuropsychological Deficits

    Semester1.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4031
    This course will not run in 2012-13 due to staff changes.

    Positive Psychology

    Semester2.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4032
    This course aims to introduce the field of positive psychology. To focus on the cases where practical exercises for individuals have been shown empirically to increase well-being. To develop critical thinking by addressing the nexus of self-help and empirical psychological science.

    Overall outline:
    This course introduces the relatively new field of positive psychology. It will focus on the cases where practical exercises for individuals have been shown empirically to increase well-being, and develop critical thinking by addressing the nexus of self-help and empirical psychological science. In fact many of the practical interventions are susceptible to more interpretations than the one given by their originators, and conversely, some themes reappear in different ways. For instance, there is work showing that writing about traumatic events can improve well-being; that writing about positive events can do so; and perhaps that just reflective writing is what improves well-being. Topics will include gratitude, both counting your blessings, and writing gratitude letters to others; exercises to counteract our tendency to leap from an event to a single (often the worst case) interpretation and prediction of its effects: both actively counter-reasoning, and accepting feelings without taking them as valid inferences about the world; the way happiness depends not only on pleasure but also on meaningfulness; and the way it depends on time affluence not material riches.

    Psychological Interventions

    Semester1.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4033
    This course aims to develop students' knowledge in the theoretical underpinnings and practical application of psychologically bases therapeutic interventions for a range of disorders; To develop students' knowledge of the origins, models and methods of art therapy as an intervention with a wide variety of client groups; To equip them with the skills relevant to assessing the effectiveness of present and new psychological interventions.

    Psychology of Abnormality

    Semester2.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4034
    The course will examine and evaluate different approaches to understanding and treating common psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression. In addition to psychological theories and treatment options, the emphasis in the course will be on the accompanying biological changes to provide an integrated overview on mental disorders.

    Psychology of Will

    Semester1.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4035
    The aim of this module is to provide an overview of theoretical and experimental work on the psychology of will. The emphasis is on very recent results from cognitive psychology and cognitive sciences more broadly. Recent developments will be related to their historical context. The course provides an opportunity to discuss will in relation to practical problems in the real world.

    Sleep and Circadian timing

    Semester1.2     Level4     10 credits     psych-4040
    To introduce students to current issues in sleep and circadian rhythms. To expose students to the variety of subjective and objective methods used to study sleep and timing. To enable students to critically evaluate case studies of disorders of the sleep and circadian timing systems. This option will be taught jointly with clinical staff.

    Social cognition

    Semester1.1     Level4     10 credits     psych-4012
    The aims are: To introduce students to key topics in the broad area of social cognition; To demonstrate the social cognitive processes involved in aspects of health psychology; To evaluate the social cognitive features of human attraction; To examine how social cognition varies with culture; To show how social cognitive processes affect internal thought monitoring.

    Syntactic Processing in Language Comprehension and Production

    Semester1     Level4     10 credits     86JS
    This course will not run in 2012-13 due to staff changes.

    Last changed 16 Aug 2011.............Length about 700 words (11,000 bytes).
    (Document started on 18 Sep 2003.) This is a WWW document maintained by Steve Draper, installed at http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/resources/times.html. You may copy it. How to refer to it.

    Course timetables 2010-11

    By Steve Draper,   Department of Psychology,   University of Glasgow.

    This page is about teaching times and timetables for the convenience and information of myself, foreign students, anyone else. However I have collected this information myself and it may have errors in: it is NOT official university information. Please let me know if you detect any errors.

    The department has detailed teaching timetables on the web here.

    Weeks and dates

    Teaching weeks are numbered from 1 to 11. The mapping from weeks to dates is shown on the right.
    Week Beginning Monday the:  
    1 22-09-2008 Monday /Start of Semester 1
    2 29-09-2008  
    3 06-10-2008  
    4 13-10-2008  
    5 19-10-2008  
    6 27-10-2008  
    7 03-11-2008  
    8 10-11-2008  
    9 17-11-2008  
    10 24-11-2008  
    11 01-12-2008  
    - 22-12-2008 Vacations starts
    -   Christmas Vacation
    1 12-01-2009 Start of Semester 2
    2 19-01-2009  
    3 26-01-2009  
    4 02-02-2009  
    5 09-02-2009  
    6 16-02-2009  
    7 23-02-2009  
    8 02-03-2009  
    9 09-03-2009  
    10 16-03-2009  
    11 23-03-2009  
    -   Easter Vacation
    - 27-04-2009 Exams begin
    - 22-05-2009 Exams end

    Course times / dates

    Below is a table showing when (which weeks) each course is run: the time (day, hour each week). However although level 4 courses have fixed days/times of the week, this is only approximate for level 3 courses which often have a few times off the main pattern. The first time shown is the main one (applies in the most weeks). See the course handbooks for exact details. Although most lectures are one hour at a time, some level 4 courses have 2 hour slots.

    The provisional course locations (rooms) are listed in this pdf document:
    Lecture rooms (and times). More up to date information may be in the online database. Instructions to finding some are here.

    N.B. the "Time" column reminds you that classes may meet at different times in different weeks: see the level 3 timetable.
    Semester Time Level Credit Code Title
    1 Tues 1-2,
    Wed 11-12,    		 Level3 10 98EZ Cognitive psychology level 3
    2 Tues 1-2,
    Wed 11-12    		 Level3 10 98EC Comparative learning and cognition level 3
    1 Fri 12-1,
    Wed 12-1    		 Level3 10 92VK Human development level 3
    2 Mon 1-2,
    Wed 11-12    		 Level3 10 90DM Individual differences
    1 Mon 1-2,
    Wed 11-12    		 Level3 10 91JD Perception and visual cognition level 3
    1 Wed 12-1,
    Wed 11-12,
    Fri 12-1    		 Level3 10 98PN Professional skills level 3
    2 Wed 12-1,
    Wed 11-12    		 Level3 10 98PK Physiological psychology level 3
    2 Thur 12-1,
    Wed 11-12    		 Level3 10 98EB Social psychology level 3
    1 Thur 12-1,
    Wed 11-12    		 Level3 10 98NZ Statistics level 3
    1 varies Level3 7.5 40AA Critical Review
    2 varies Level3 7.5 40AB Critical Review
    1 Mon 2-4 Level4 15 90VV Abnormal psychology
    1 Wed 2-4 Level4 15 90WC Alcohol information processing
    2 Tues 1-3 Level4 15 90VW Applying psychology
    1 Tues 1-3 Level4 15 90WB Applying psychology to education and computers
    1,2 Tues 10-12,
    Thur 2-4    		 Level4 15 90VZ Biological bases of cognition and its disorders
    2 Wed 10-12 Level4 15 90WD Cognitive neuroscience of attention and executive control
    1 Fri 10-12 Level4 15 90WM Cognitive neuroscience of perception
    1 Mon 10-12 Level4 15 90WI Perception and visual cognition A
    2 Mon 10-12 Level4 15 90WJ Perception and visual cognition B
    1 Thur 2-4 Level4 15 93AV Interaction and communication
    1,2 Thur 11-12 Level4 15 88KW Psychological Interventions
    1,2 Fri 1-2,
    Fri 2-3    		 Level4 15 90YV Social cognition

    Last changed 22 Sep 2014.............Length about 1,000 words (23,000 bytes).
    This is a WWW document maintained by Steve Draper, installed at http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/resources/fcodes.html.

    Course codes for psychology

    by Steve Draper, foreign student liaison for the Psychology department.

    This page is my own records of courses and course codes, plus notes on unusual ones. It used to be important for visiting students, but nowadays the main University course catalogue is probably better.

    Other / formerly useful links:

    Semester Level Credits old Code new Code Title
    Semester1 Level3 10 98EZ psych-4002 Cognitive psychology level 3
    Semester2 Level3 10 86KS psych-4003 Conceptual and historical issues in psychology
    Semester1 Level3 10 92VK psych-4006 Human development level 3
    Semester2 Level3 10 90DM psych-4039 Individual differences
    Semester1 Level3 10 91JD psych-4008 Perception and visual cognition level 3
    Semester1 Level3 10 98PN psych-4011 Professional skills level 3
    Semester2 Level3 10 98PK psych-4065 (psych-4009) Physiological psychology level 3
    Semester2 Level3 10 98EB psych-4036 Social psychology level 3
    Semester1 Level3 10 98NZ psych-4037 Statistics level 3
    Semester1,2 Level3 10 40AA psych-4056 Critical Review
    Semester1,2 Level3 10 40AA psych-4057,8 Miniprojects for home students
    Semester1,2 Level3 10 40AA psych-4054,5 Miniprojects for visiting students
    Semester2.2 Level4 10 86JT psych-4013 [not running] Adolescent brain development
    Semester1.1 Level4 10 85HN psych-4050 Advanced qualitative methods
    Semester1.1 Level4 10 85HP psych-4051 Atypical Development
    Semester2.1 Level4 10 86JB psych-4014 Autism spectrum disorders
    Semester1.1 Level4 10 86JC psych-4015 [not running] Basics of joint attention
    Semester2 Level4 10 86JD - [not running] Brain oscillations in action
    Semester2 Level4 10 86JU - [not running] Child abuse
    Semester1.2 Level4 10 86JW psych-4018 Cognitive neuroscience insights - plasticity
    Semester1.2 Level4 10 86JX psych-4019 Cognitive neuroscience of ageing
    Semester1 Level4 10 86JY - [not running] Cognitive neuroscience of executive processing
    Semester2 Level4 10 86JZ - [not running] Colour
    Semester2.2 Level4 10 86JE psych-4022 Concepts and empirical results in education
    Semester2.2 Level4 10 86KA psych-4023 fMRI in biopsychology
    Semester2.1 Level4 10 86JF psych-4024 Forensic psychology
    Semester2 Level4 10 86JG - [not running] Hearing by eye
    Semester2 Level4 10 86KB - [not running] Human motion perception
    Semester2.1 Level4 10 86JH psych-4027 Interaction and communication
    Semester2.2 Level4 10 86JJ psych-4028 Language and meaning
    Semester1.1 Level4 10 86JK psych-4029 Leadership
    Semester2.2 Level4 10 86KC psych-4030 [not running] Networks of attention and working memory
    Semester1.2 Level4 10 86JL psych-4031 [not running] Neuropsychological deficits
    Semester2.1 Level4 10 86JM psych-4032 Positive psychology
    Semester1.2 Level4 10 86JN psych-4033 Psychological interventions
    Semester2.1 Level4 10 86JA psych-4034 Psychology of abnormality
    Semester1.1 Level4 10 86JP psych-4035 [not running] Psychology of will
    Semester1.2 Level4 10 86JQ psych-4040 Sleep and circadian timing
    Semester1.1 Level4 10 86JR psych-4012 Social cognition
    Semester1 Level4 10 86JS - [not running] Syntactic processing in language comprehension and production
    Semester1 level4 20 88HZ artmed-4004 Consciousness
    Semester2 Level4 10 86JR psych-4052 Educational psychology
    Semester2 Level4 10 86JR psych-4053 Health psychology
    Semester1 Level1 20 8ZTU psych-1001 Psychology 1
    Semester2 Level1 20 8ZWU psych-1002 Psychology 1
    Semester1 Level2 20 8ZXV psych-2010 Psychology 2 (higher)
    Semester2 Level2 20 8ZYV psych-2011 Psychology 2 (higher)
    Semester1,2 Level3 120 206H - Psychology 3H (single)
    - Level3 120 206H - Psychology 3H (single)
    - Level3 90 206K - Psychology 3H (principal)
    - Level3 60 206F - Psychology 3H (combined i.e. Joint)
    - Level3 0 9QBW C804-2209 Psychological Studies 3 ("designated degree")
    - Level4 120 206J - Psychology 4H (single)
    - Level4 90 206L - Psychology 4H (principal)
    - Level4 60 206G - Psychology 4H (combined i.e. Joint)
    Semester1 Level3 30 NLLW psych-3003 Current issues in psychology [PS]
    Semester1,2 Level3 30 NLMW psych-3004 * Group research project [PS]
    - Level3 10 NLJW psych-3001 Career skills [PS]
    - Level3 10 NLKW psych-3002 Cognitive [PS]
    - Level3 10 NLPW psych-3005 CHIP .. [PS]
    - Level3 10 NLNW psych-3006 Human Dev .. [PS]
    - Level3 10 NLQW psych-3007 Idiffs .. [PS]
    - Level3 10 NLRW psych-3008 Social .. [PS]
    HR Level5 10 - psych-? Atypical Development
    Level5 10 - psych-5034 Current issues in psychology [PGT]
    - Level5 10 - psych-5027 Conceptual and historical issues in psychology [PGT]
    - Level5 10 - psych-5028 Perception and visual cognition [PG conv.]
    - Level5 10 - psych-5029 Physiological psychology [PG conv.]
    - Level5 10 - psych-5033 Social psychology [PG conv.]
    - Level5 10 - psych-5030 Professional skills [PG conv.]
    - Level5 20 - psych-5031 Research methods I [PG conv.]
    - Level5 20 - psych-5032 Research methods II [PG conv.]
    - Level5 60 - educ-5839 Dissertation(PGT Conv)

    Notes on early exit routes

    If a student wishes to leave after year 3, having been admitted originally to the honours level 3 course, then the "early exit" route requires two components: a degree programme / plan for them to graduate from, and suitable course codes with credits to use.

    For the first component, the programme, then the route is to have them graduate with something like:

  • "C804-2209 Bachelor of Science(Sci-DD) Psychological Stds,BSc(DD)".
  • "C000-0000? Master of Arts (SocSci) (?? Not Hons) ??,MA(DD)". K25? K2J?
    Such programmes are in place for Science and SocSci students.

    If they are in the Arts faculty / college, then they must transfer into Science. Currently this is not a problem; but in future we need to create an early exit programme to use for Arts students, as such transfers to Science will not be allowed (when stats1C is no longer taught).

    The second problem is about course codes and credits. There are two 60 credit codes:

  • PSYCHOLOGY COMB AOS PSYCH3010
  • PSYCHOLOGY COMBINED AOS(B) PSYCH3011
    As we have moved to having many 10 credit courses in level 3, these AOS (Advanced Ordinary Special) codes are no longer useful for this.

    In future this will be fine, as we are moving to posting all 120 credits worth in level 3. However at the moment we have to make up a missing 30 credits based on coursework they have done, but not been examined on, in level 3. We can use PRACTICAL PAPER PSYCH4010 for this.

    Other lookup pointers