Environmental Psychology

Theories and principles from across psychology are presented to explain the causes of environmentally destructive behaviour, and generate solutions for a sustainable future. This course will teach you principles of behaviour change, and how you can apply them in your home, workplace, and community. PSYC341 is designed to be practical and engaging. It includes weekly online exercises and discussions, and an applied behaviour change project.

15 points

Any 120 points at 100 level from any subject.

Health Psychology

Health psychology is a rapidly emerging field of basic and applied research looking at the interplay between psychological processes and physical health. Health psychology seeks to understand the role behaviour plays in the development, treatment and prevention of disease. This paper provides an introduction to health psychology. Topics include: health behaviour change, community health promotion, biopsychosocial pathways of health and illness, stress and coping, psychological aspects of illness, patient care and chronic disease management.

15 points

PSYC206

PSYC339

Psychology of Social Media

Not everyone uses social media the same way. Depending on platform, culture, usage styles, and individual differences, social media experiences can be dramatically different, and research on understand these varied effects of social media is still in its infancy. This course will focus on the cultural aspect of social media, by examining how different platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch, attract different audiences, and how online communities can be formed and maintained within or even across platforms. This course will also explore how the user can be impacted by these platforms, through examining effects on individuals’ well-being and stress, psychopathology, and interpersonal relationships.

15 points

PSYC213

Culture and Cognition

Humans speak thousands of different languages, have drastically different systems of grouping and naming features of the natural world, and have a bewildering number of social norms. Underlying this variation in cognition and behaviour is the human capacity for culture. This course overviews the scope and limits of cross-cultural variation in human psychology, highlights the importance of culture in psychological research, and discusses the implications of cultural diversity in modern societies, including Aotearoa.

15 points

PSYC206

Human Factors: The Forces that Shape Behaviour with Products, Technology, and Systems

Why do some products satisfy while others frustrate? What human factors lead to the acceptance and repeated use of new technologies? Designers want their products to be useful, usable, and desirable. Organisations want their people to thrive in their work environments, and engineers want their technologies to be functional and safe. This course looks at these and other topics as it examines the science behind why, and how, people think about, experience, and engage with the ‘artificial’ or human-made world. More particularly, students will learn about the specific human factors (e.g., cognitive, emotional, and physical) that shape our behaviour-with everything from bleeding-edge technologies to the design of workplaces, transportation, healthcare, websites, artificial intelligence, and even cybersecurity strategies. Along the way, students will develop foundational knowledge for researching and applying psychological science to a wide range of products and environments. As the demand for human factors expertise in nearly every industry (and in every corner of the workforce) continues to expand, there is a vast array of possibilities open to students with the skills and knowledge they gain from this course.

15 points

PSYC206 or 60 points at 200 level from any approved subject. RP: PSYC213/PSYC209 or PSYC208.