Psychology at Lancs

Hey guys! I’m hoping to come to Lancs this September to study Psychology(C800). I’ve never studied psychology before as my school didn’t offer it as an A-Level (Boo!). So although I’ve done lots of reading up about the subject and know the basic principles of psych, I’m still a bit worried that I’ll be behind everyone else.

Can any lancs psych students possible inform me of what topics you cover in the 1st year and any useful websites or text books you can recommend? I have plenty of time on my hands to do a bit of background reading :smile:

Also, on the website where it says coursework is part of the assessment, what does this involve? Essays/experiments/presentations?

Sorry for all the questions!

Reply 1

Jengerbil89

Message LaurenFah, she's just done her first year of Psych at Lancs..

And she's a feckin' nutter.

Lancaster University

Lancaster

Visit website

Reply 2

randomgirl

I did psych during first year.
I also did psych A level so I did have a bit of background knowledge.

From
http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/ug_psychology/courses.php

In Part I Psychology, the Psyc101 course introduces you to the four main approaches to Psychology that you will be studying over the three years of your degree:

Developmental Psychology (e.g. How do infants perceive space, patterns, objects and events? How do they develop a sense of emotional attachment to others?)
Cognitive Psychology (e.g. How do we recognise faces? How do we store and remember information?)
Social Psychology (e.g. How is our behaviour influenced by the real or imagined presence of others? How do we develop a sense of personal and social identity?)
Neuroscience: (What is the structure of the cortex? How and why do neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson's Disease or Alzheimer's Disease affect our behaviour?)

oh and the course was assessed on 2 essays (I think) and a bunch of web based assessments as well as the exam. I'm not sure about psych 102 (which i think the first year psych majors do?) or whatever though.

Reply 3

LaurenFah

Randomgirl basically summed it up.

In basic (as in, not going into separate modules) - you have 2 'sections' of psychology. 101 = Approaches etc.
102 = Mainly statistics.

You do 2 essays in first year, and do WBAs (weekly 'quizzes').
You also have weekly 3 hour lab classes (which is in 102) where you do practicals and apply statistics.

Two exams at the end are one on 101 (which is MCQ's, and 1 essay), and one on 102 (which is all MCQ's... negatively marked).

One book I got was "Hilgard's Introduction to Psychology" by Atkinson, Atkinson, Smith, Bem, Nolen-Hoeksema. It's listed in the optional reading list in our handbook, but has proved to be good "background" knowledge for me, though not directly related to the course.

Feel free to message me if you want anymore details :smile:

Reply 4

LaurenFah

Jengerbil89

Message LaurenFah, she's just done her first year of Psych at Lancs..

And she's a feckin' nutter.

....

I might be.

Reply 5

Jengerbil89

LaurenFah

....

I might be.

I got groped by an overly-camp gay man.

Reply 6

LaurenFah

Jengerbil89

I got groped by an overly-camp gay man.

I feel for you, I really do.
When I stayed in Blackpool for Pleasurebeach I was staying opposite a swingers hotel. Suffice to say it scared me off a night out there.

Think of the positives - PJ & Duncan :wink: