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Unit Summary
Unit type
UG Coursework Unit
Credit points
12
AQF level
Level of learning
Introductory
Former School/College
Unit aim
Introduces four central areas of psychological interest: biological bases of behaviour; the nature of consciousness; learning; and stress, coping and health. The unit focuses on the influence of biological processes and experience in the regulation of individual behaviour, and complements BHS11002: Introduction to Psychology II, which is focussed on the social milieu.
Unit content
Biological bases of behaviour
The nature of consciousness
Learning
Stress, coping and health
Learning outcomes
Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.
| On completion of this unit, students should be able to: | GA1 | GA2 | GA3 | GA4 | GA5 | GA6 | GA7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | describe the organisation of and communication processes in the human nervous system and summarise the key functions of the different brain components | Intellectual rigour | Knowledge of a discipline | |||||
| 2 | demonstrate an understanding of the basic issues and concepts in psychophysics | Intellectual rigour | Knowledge of a discipline | |||||
| 3 | understand the conceptual and methodological basis of scientific inquiry in psychology and describe data using graphs and appropriate measures of central tendency and dispersion | Intellectual rigour | Knowledge of a discipline | |||||
| 4 | describe and illustrate correlations between continuous variables | Intellectual rigour | Knowledge of a discipline | |||||
| 5 | describe the role of rewards and punishment (operant conditioning) in the shaping of human behaviour and describe the role of stimuli in eliciting behaviour (classical conditioning) | Intellectual rigour | Knowledge of a discipline | |||||
| 6 | apply conditioning principles to the understanding and modification of human behaviour and design a basic reinforcement schedule to increase or decrease specific behaviours | Intellectual rigour | Knowledge of a discipline | |||||
| 7 | define the various meanings of the term 'intelligence', describe the influence of culture in the conceptualisation of intelligence and explain the role of environmental and genetic influences on intelligence. | Intellectual rigour | Knowledge of a discipline | |||||
On completion of this unit, students should be able to:
- describe the organisation of and communication processes in the human nervous system
and summarise the key functions of the different brain components
- GA1: Intellectual rigour
- GA4: Knowledge of a discipline
- demonstrate an understanding of the basic issues and concepts in psychophysics
- GA1: Intellectual rigour
- GA4: Knowledge of a discipline
- understand the conceptual and methodological basis of scientific inquiry in psychology
and describe data using graphs and appropriate measures of central tendency and dispersion
- GA1: Intellectual rigour
- GA4: Knowledge of a discipline
- describe and illustrate correlations between continuous variables
- GA1: Intellectual rigour
- GA4: Knowledge of a discipline
- describe the role of rewards and punishment (operant conditioning) in the shaping
of human behaviour and describe the role of stimuli in eliciting behaviour (classical
conditioning)
- GA1: Intellectual rigour
- GA4: Knowledge of a discipline
- apply conditioning principles to the understanding and modification of human behaviour
and design a basic reinforcement schedule to increase or decrease specific behaviours
- GA1: Intellectual rigour
- GA4: Knowledge of a discipline
- define the various meanings of the term 'intelligence', describe the influence of
culture in the conceptualisation of intelligence and explain the role of environmental
and genetic influences on intelligence.
- GA1: Intellectual rigour
- GA4: Knowledge of a discipline
Prescribed texts
- Copies are available in the University Library. Older/newer versions are fine to use: Weiten, W, 2013, Psychology: Themes and Variations, 9th edn, Thomson. ISBN: 9781111354749.
- Copies are available in the University Library. Older/newer versions are fine to use: Weiten, W, 2013, Psychology: Themes and Variations, 9th edn, Thomson. ISBN: 9781111354749.