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Unit of study_
PSYC2915: Brain and Behavioural Psychology (Advanced)
2025 unit information
This advanced-level unit is designed for students who would like to learn about the core concepts of clinical and biobehavioural psychology. The advanced unit has the same overall concepts as the mainstream unit but the practical material offers a greater level of challenge and academic rigour. The emphasis of the lectures is on behaviour, emotions, and motivational processes. You will learn how to analyse the environmental causes of behaviours, and how to use reinforcements, punishments and incentives to modify and motivate behaviour. Clinical Psychology will focus on emotional and motivational disorders, such as anxiety and depression, addiction, sexual disorders, and eating disorders. The way in which these processes arise and are shaped in people will be presented in the section on Developmental Psychology. Neuroscience will focus on the evolutionary, genetic, neurobiological, and pharmacological mechanisms underlying the phenomena taught in the other sections. Students enrolled in the advanced stream will participate in different practical exercises with a focus on research methods used to examine the links between the brain and behaviours, emotions, cognitions, and their disorders.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Science
| Study level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Psychology Academic Operations |
| Credit points | 6 |
|
Prerequisites:
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A mark of 75 or greater in PSYC1002 |
|---|---|
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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PSYC2011 or PSYC2911 or PSYC2910 or PSYC2010 or PSYC2015 |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. understand and describe the core concepts that underpin clinical and biobehavioural psychology, and their applications to therapies, organisations, and an individual's behaviour
- LO2. design and conduct an experiment to examine the link between an individual's environment and a neuropsychological function
- LO3. understand the core research design principles and statistical approaches used throughout psychology, to apply them in a critical manner, and to understand the main ethical principles guiding research in this discipline
- LO4. apply the APA style of scientific writing to the generation of a research report
- LO5. evaluate and debate the interactions between the individual, their environment, developmental, and neurobiological processes in complex contemporary issues around mental illness or socio-legal controversies
- LO6. understand how psychology is applied in clinical settings, and the roles of clinical psychologists within the broader health system and within our communities.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Semester 1 2025
|
Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
