Psychology

Susipoo

Hi All! I've applied to do psychology a a mature student and I've got an interview!!!! I know that one of the questions I'm sure to be asked is 'What do you know about the course?'

I'd love some feedback from anyone studying psychology on what to expect from the course, how you found each year etc. I've been studying psychology a bit at night in UCD so I've a fair idea about psychology itself.

Any feedback would be delightfully received

Joe_Dull

I second your thoughts OP - anyone out there who can shed light on what the course is like?

The Black Oil

I did the conversion Dip, not the BA, so I'm coming from a slightly different perspective. You'll spend a good deal of time dealing with stats through lectures, seminars and lab work. You'll learn how to use different methods, where they're applicable and of course, SPSS. You'll be writing reports, reports and more reports.

In the early years you'll be doing foundation courses such as cognition, perception, intro to psych, developmental, abnormal psych and some neuro stuff. In later years you can do more advanced courses on mental health, culture, etc. Then of course there's the FYP...

Tutorials...they're OK and not everyone's cup of tea, but the quality of tutor and their expectations seemed to vary quite a bit. Overall, I'd say the course mainly taught me to be prepared to be critical.

The Black Oil

I was looking over my old emails and found a reading list. Bear in mind that it's probably out of date now. If you send a really polite email to one of the executive officers in the psych department they might send you yours. Buying books isn't essential, but I bought most of my from amazon marketplace, saved a lot. The odd time I've seen a few of these in Chapters on Parnell St, too. Wait until your lecturer points out what's important before buying. Some of these are also updated every other year...

School of Psychology - Recommended text books

*PS1003/PS1006 Practicals, Methodology and Statistics

Gravetter, F.J. & Wallnau, L.B. (2004). Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (6th edition). Wadsworth

PS1009 Psychological Disorder

Davison, G. C. & Neale, J. M. (2000) Abnormal Psychology, 8th Edition

Eysenck, M.W. and Keane, M.T. (2005). Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook. (5th Edition).
Hove: Psychology Press.

PS1201 Introduction to Psychology

Gazzaniga, M.S. and Heatherton, T.F, (2005). Psychological Science: Mind, Brain and Behaviour.
WW Norton & Co. publishers, New York, London.

PS1205 Evolutionary Psychology

Daly, M & Wilson, M. (1983) Sex, evolution and behavior. Wadsworth.

Buss, D. (1999) Evolutionary Psychology, Allyn & Bacon

PS1208 Fundamentals of Neuroscience and Behaviour

An Introduction to Brain and Behaviour: Kolb and Whishaw, 2005, Worth Publishers

Supplementary texts: Biological Psychology – Kalat – Brooks/Cole, 1997

PS1209 Introduction to Psychometrics

Kline, P. (1995) The Handbook of Psychological Testing. Routledge. London

Rust, J. & Golombok, S. (1999) Modern Psychometrics: Science of psychological assessment.
Routledge. London

PS1230 Personality and Individual Differences

Pervin L. and Oliver, P . Personality: Theory and Research (9th edition) New York, Wiley 2005

Cooper C.: Individual Differences, London: Arnold 2002

Same list as above but without: PS1201 and PS1009 and include:

*PS2001 Practicals, Methodology and Statistics II (same as for PS1003/1006 above)

Gravetter, F.J. & Wallnau, L.B. (2004). Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (6th edition). Wadsworth

PS2007 Developmental Psychology

Core Text: Shaffer, D.R. & Kipp, K. (2007) Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence (7th ed.) Belmont:
Wadsworth (also 5th and 6th editions of this book are recent)

School of Psychology - Recommended text books

*PS1003/PS1006 Practicals, Methodology and Statistics

Gravetter, F.J. & Wallnau, L.B. (2004). Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (6th edition). Wadsworth

PS1009 Psychological Disorder

Davison, G. C. & Neale, J. M. (2000) Abnormal Psychology, 8th Edition

Eysenck, M.W. and Keane, M.T. (2005). Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook. (5th Edition).
Hove: Psychology Press.

PS1201 Introduction to Psychology

Gazzaniga, M.S. and Heatherton, T.F, (2005). Psychological Science: Mind, Brain and Behaviour.
WW Norton & Co. publishers, New York, London.

PS1205 Evolutionary Psychology

Daly, M & Wilson, M. (1983) Sex, evolution and behavior. Wadsworth.

Buss, D. (1999) Evolutionary Psychology, Allyn & Bacon

PS1208 Fundamentals of Neuroscience and Behaviour

An Introduction to Brain and Behaviour: Kolb and Whishaw, 2005, Worth Publishers

Supplementary texts: Biological Psychology – Kalat – Brooks/Cole, 1997

PS1209 Introduction to Psychometrics

Kline, P. (1995) The Handbook of Psychological Testing. Routledge. London

Rust, J. & Golombok, S. (1999) Modern Psychometrics: Science of psychological assessment.
Routledge. London

PS1230 Personality and Individual Differences

Pervin L. and Oliver, P . Personality: Theory and Research (9th edition) New York, Wiley 2005

Cooper C.: Individual Differences, London: Arnold 2002

Same list as above but without: PS1201 and PS1009 and include:

*PS2001 Practicals, Methodology and Statistics II (same as for PS1003/1006 above)

Gravetter, F.J. & Wallnau, L.B. (2004). Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (6th edition). Wadsworth

PS2007 Developmental Psychology

Core Text: Shaffer, D.R. & Kipp, K. (2007) Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence (7th ed.) Belmont:
Wadsworth (also 5th and 6th editions of this book are recent)

Joe_Dull

The Black Oil wrote: »

I was looking over my old emails and found a reading list. Bear in mind that it's probably out of date now. If you send a really polite email to one of the executive officers in the psych department they might send you yours. Buying books isn't essential, but I bought most of my from amazon marketplace, saved a lot. The odd time I've seen a few of these in Chapters on Parnell St, too. Wait until your lecturer points out what's important before buying. Some of these are also updated every other year...

:eek::eek::eek:

Buying all those would cost enough bankrupt Lichtenstein!

sd2002

Joe_Dull wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek:

Buying all those would cost enough bankrupt Lichtenstein!

You can get away with buying very few books in a course like Psychology.

Wait until you get your reading lists & recommendations from lecturers
and then see how many copies of these core texts are in the library already.

The books you'll "need" to get are those that are in high demand and short supply - although a lot of the time you can get your hands
on similar textbooks which have the same information in them.