Psychology with Criminology - BSc (Hons)

Program Overview

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It equips students with a solid foundation in psychology, research methods, and criminological theories, preparing them for careers in a wide range of settings, including law enforcement, social work, and mental health.

Program Outline

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Degree Overview:

This program explores the complex interactions between the state, the offender, the victim, and society. It delves into the factors influencing crime rates, the impact of social structures on crime and responses to crime, and the effectiveness of various criminal justice approaches.

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Objectives:

• Develop a critical understanding of criminological theories and topical crime and justice issues.
• Prepare students for careers in various settings, including probation, policing, the prison service, NGOs, local authorities, the voluntary sector, youth offending teams, teaching, social work, and administration.

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Outline:

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Year 1:

• Psychological research methods 1: Introduces students to the study of Psychology as a science, covering experimental design, ethical principles, and descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Introducing psychological approaches: Explores the philosophical foundations of Psychology, its historical development, and topics related to biological, learning, and emotional aspects of human behavior.
• Psychological research methods 2: Introduces students to qualitative research methods, including thematic analysis, and further explores quantitative research designs and statistical analyses using SPSS.
• Exploring psychological approaches: Covers topics related to memory, perception, attention, cognitive development, interpersonal behavior, group behavior, intelligence, personality, and atypical behavior.
• Deconstructing the crime problem: Examines the nature of crime, trends in different types of crime, and the social distribution of crime across society.
• Understanding Crime: Criminological Theory in Context: Introduces students to various perspectives and theories on crime, including its causes, prevention, and responses.

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Year 2:

• Psychological research methods 3: Builds upon Year 1's coverage of experimental designs, introducing single-factor and multi-factor experiments, psychometric testing, and data analysis using SPSS.
• The psychology of learning and memory: Explores perception, attention, short-term and long-term memory structures, and the influence of socio-cultural factors on these processes.
• The psychology of feelings: Examines the interdependence between feelings and human behavior, focusing on relationships, mood, and sensations.
• Psychological research methods 4: Introduces multivariate research designs, thematic analysis, and provides students with an opportunity to gain in-depth understanding of a specific complex research methodology.
• The psychology of behaviour with others: Explores the concepts, theories, and methods used to understand social behavior, including the influence of real, imagined, or implied presence of others.
• The psychology of thinking and communication: Examines human communication, problem-solving, decision-making, intelligence, and the development of reasoning and decision-making abilities.

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Year 3:

• New Module in development: Psychology professional practice and project: Requires students to design and implement a substantial piece of independent psychological research related to clinical psychology and produce a comprehensive report.
• Contemporary Criminology: Examines contemporary and specific areas of criminological debate and theory, encouraging critical exploration of topics and their application to wider criminological debate.
• Gender, crime and justice: Explores the gendered nature of offending, victimisation, and the workings of the criminal justice system, drawing on feminist perspectives and mainstream theoretical accounts.
• Plus two options from:
• Psychology of mental health and distress:
Examines the theoretical differences between perspectives on mental health problems, exploring social, cultural, biological, and psychological evidence for their causes and treatment.
• Health psychology: Explores psychological processes and mechanisms that link socio-demographic factors to health outcomes, including social inequalities in health and models used by health psychologists to study decision-making and behavior.
• Development of brain and behaviour in infancy: Focuses on the emergence of perceptual, cognitive, and social skills during the first year of life, relating them to brain development and considering both typical and atypical development.
• Psychology of inter- and intra- group processes: Explores social identity approaches, intergroup interactions, and intra-group functioning, combining basic theory with real social applications.
• Psychology of addictive behaviours: Introduces students to theories of addictive behavior, examining their empirical evidence and applying them to explain alcoholism and tobacco smoking.
• Applied psychometrics: Explains test construction and validation, considers various psychometric tests, and covers ethical and legal issues surrounding their use.
• Neuropsychology: Studies brain-behavior relationships, focusing on disorders and their impact on cognitive functions, methods used in neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience, and recovery and rehabilitation.
• Counselling psychology and psychotherapy: Introduces students to key theoretical approaches in counselling psychology and psychotherapy, covering various types of therapy and emphasizing critical considerations of power, ethics, difference, and research on therapeutic effectiveness.
• Psychopharmacology: Examines the scientific study of how drugs affect brain function and their therapeutic potential, covering recreational and abusive use of drugs, cognitive enhancing drugs, and the cannabinoid system.
• Thinking: Past, present and future: Explores key theoretical debates in contemporary cognitive science, adopting a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the nature of thought and challenging assumptions about what it means to be human.
• Lifespan development: Extends the focus of developmental psychology to consider social, emotional, and cognitive development across the lifespan, including typical ageing and neurodegenerative disorders.
• Psychology in the workplace: Covers topics related to work psychology, cognitive ergonomics, and behavior in organizational settings, addressing issues such as organizational change, stress and work, and designing inclusive workplaces.
• Psychology of the Performing Arts: Explores the psychology of theatre, music, and dance arts, covering topics such as actors' approaches to the script, actors' mental health, memory and acting, music psychology, and dance psychology.
• Sex gender relationships: Explores the sex-gender paradigm, sex-and-sexuality, family, and diverse relationship structures through psychological approaches, engaging with historical and socio-cultural changes, contemporary debates, and applied contexts.
• Psychology in the Criminal Justice system: Covers various aspects of forensic psychology, including psychological theories of crime, eyewitness testimonies, investigative interviewing, offender profiling, decision-making in court, and dealing with offenders.
• Clinical Approaches in Forensic Psychology: Examines the application of psychological knowledge to the understanding and care of individuals who have offended, focusing on reasons for offending, risk assessment, intervention approaches, and the importance of evidence-based practice.

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Assessment:

The program utilizes a variety of assessment methods, including:

• Essays
• Practical reports
• Unseen exams
• Multiple choice questions
• Scenario-based reports
• Case studies
• Posters
• Executive reports
• Portfolios
• Group work folders

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Teaching:

• Teaching is informed by current, cutting-edge research, with a focus on applied research.
• One-to-one support is provided through an academic tutoring system.
• Seminars, online learning environments, and specialist advice sessions are available for topics such as statistics and research methods.
• The psychology laboratory has dedicated computing and experimental equipment.

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Careers:

• The program prepares students for careers in various settings, including probation, policing, the prison service, NGOs, local authorities, the voluntary sector, youth offending teams, teaching, social work, and administration.
• With an accredited degree and appropriate postgraduate qualification, students can pursue a career as a chartered psychologist in health, clinical, forensic, child and educational, or occupational psychology.
• Other career options include counselling, teaching, market research, HR, and business.

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Other:

• The course is linked to the LSBU Crime and Justice Research Group, which organizes research seminars and public events throughout the year.
• Students are encouraged to attend and participate in these events to enhance their learning experience and meet with researchers, practitioners, and campaigners.
• GBR allows students to undertake Masters/Doctoral level study leading to Chartered Membership of the BPS.
• Students are encouraged to seek voluntary or paid placements as soon as possible.
• An assessed placement is available in the final year of study.

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UK Fees

£9250

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Fees

£15900