This module provides you with an introduction to questionnaire design and qualitative methods by which psychological research is conducted, data collected and analysed, whilst also addressing the ethical issues relevant to a range of experimental and non-experimental methods. You will undertake blocks of exercises in which you will design, report and evaluate different forms of psychological research through questionnaires and surveys, in addition to interviewing and qualitative analysis.

Working in small groups, you will design and implement research projects on a given topic, followed by independent analyses and interpretation of the results, which are then written up in the research reports. You will also engage with the various ethical issues affecting psychological research on human participants and the strategies for addressing those issues in conducting psychological research with integrity. The module will support further your abilities to be clear, accurate, complete, and concise in writing up research. You will also develop the ability to use appropriate software and online resources in the generation and analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative data.

Social research is at the heart of social science perspectives on criminology. Research provides an important means of producing evidence within criminology and in the planning and evaluation of policies and provision within the criminal justice system. The module introduces the theoretical foundations and processes of different forms of social research used within criminology focusing in particular on criminological fieldwork.

This module concerns the study of basic mental processes, such as memory, attention, learning, and categorisation. You will explore the current issues, debates and approaches in many key areas of cognitive psychology. We will see how research has evolved in these fields, both in terms of the practical challenges, and the development of psychological theories. We will also investigate how basic findings in cognitive psychology can have a wider application to society, such as in treatments for psychological disorders, or in the influence of misinformation in belief formation.

By the end of the module, you will understand more about these core topics, and will be able to show a critical appreciation of research methods, approaches and outcomes in cognitive psychology. You will develop skills to write about a topic in cognitive psychology in an informed and reflective way.

This module introduces students to a range of contemporary crime ‘problems’ through a study of academic debates and perspectives. The historical, socio-economic and cultural contexts will be explored whereby students will be encouraged to critically analyse the process of criminalisation, criminal justice responses, and how these criminal or ‘deviant’ activities have come to be considered problematic. Specialist areas of criminological debate will be addressed, such as cultural criminology, the criminology of everyday life and the relationship between crime, pleasure and transgression.

What role do police forces play within the criminal justice system? What are some of the contemporary issues in policing? Where do the police fit into a broader framework of security, governance and regulation?

This module tackles fundamental questions such as these and helps you to think and write critically about key concepts connected to the nature, culture and structure of police forces in the UK.

The module is led by research-active staff and its content is informed by their latest research. You will explore a range of issues that shape UK policing, including:

• police use of force
• policing ethnic minorities
• policing protest
• victims and the police
• women in policing

We have excellent links to Lancashire Police, which inform this module. A combination of lectures and seminars is used to enhance your critical thinking skills and your verbal and written communication. Assessment through a group presentation will give you experience of public speaking and team-working.

This option can be taken alongside half-unit modules in Criminology taught in the second year. You can take one of the Criminology option modules and be assessed in the usual way (one essay plus exam) for a half-unit, and can also undertake this half-unit extended essay on a topic related to that particular module. However, the topic does not have to relate directly to a taught module and you can talk to staff about carrying out a small piece of documentary or other research in relevant areas of Criminology.

This module aims to provide you with knowledge and understanding of:

• The range, extent and nature of cybercrime in the 21st Century.
• The role of the Internet and other ICT in criminal networking, planning and communication for both cyber (online) and 'traditional' (offline) crime.
• The challenges inherent in responding to cybercrime and online aspects of traditional crime and criminality.
• Criminal justice and other (e.g. personal and private security) responses to cybercrime and criminality.
• The application of established criminological theories to cybercrime and online criminality.

The module covers human development from foetus to the end of adolescence, covering changes in cognitive, social, language and emotional abilities over this time span, as well as how these changes can be explained: it is important to ask not just what changes, but also why such changes occur and how the course of development is shaped by multiple interacting factors.

The course provides a foundation for understanding developmental psychology as a discipline from different theoretical and methodological perspectives. The lectures cover a variety of key topics in developmental science, from prenatal to later childhood development and adolescence, spanning motor, perceptual, cognitive, communicative, social, emotional and cultural aspects.

The fundamental questions of development: what capacities make infants able to learn so much about the world, by what mechanisms are capacities acquired, and how development can take an atypical trajectory, are addressed on the course together with the theoretical debates that have surrounded these questions.

The module will introduce you to the fundamental neuronal principles underlying cognition and behaviour, with particular emphasis on perceptual, cognitive, emotional and language processes. You will be provided with basic knowledge about the anatomy, physiology, and functions of the central and peripheral nervous systems.

You will become acquainted with a range of theories and research methods in cognitive neuroscience and explore how knowledge of neural and physiological processes can aid our understanding of a wide range of human behaviour. The module provides you with the essential preparation for neuroscience-related advanced modules in your third year.

How does society respond to environmental harms? What is the legal response to such issues? Which social and/or economic factors cause environmental risk? What influence or impact does media coverage have on ‘green’ issues?

This fascinating and highly relevant module considers the above questions and journeys through the following topics:

• Anthropocentric environmental harms (human beings’ ethical relationship with the natural environment)
• Environmental victimisation (those harmed by changes in their environment)
• Socio-economic factors
• Socio-legal responses
• Media coverage of ‘green ‘issues
• Protest, movements and environmental activism
• Animal rights
• Zemiology (social harms)

The academics who lead this module are researching the Illegal Wildlife Trade overseas. They will introduce you to this research and will encourage you to consider the overlap between environmental harm and other areas of criminology.

What are human rights? How are they implemented or contravened? What is the relationship between complex human rights issues and society today?

This module uses the context of the European human rights regime to investigate civil liberties and human rights protection. You will adopt a critical and comparative approach as you gain a comprehensive grounding in the law of human rights.

We will tackle some of the most complex and relevant issues such as the right to life, freedom from torture, freedom of expression, and capital punishment. Specific case studies allow you to engage with issues and questions regarding whistle-blowing and enforced disappearances.

Our teaching is research-led and combines seminars, tutorials and lectures. You will be encouraged to read as widely as possible on the subject and we will help you to develop your skills in critical analysis, discourse and debate.

Many commentators claim that organised crime is one of the greatest problems facing contemporary societies. Law enforcement officials around the world have reported a significant increase in the range and scope of international criminal activity since the early 1990s. Worldwide shifts in social, political and economic arrangements- often described as ‘globalisation’ - have opened up opportunities for organised crime groups. The extent of groups involved in transnational organised crime (TOC) and the profits made means TOC has become a priority area for governments around the world.

Expanding on the knowledge gained in Part I, you will further develop your knowledge of theory and research in a number of core areas in this field. Starting with the history of social psychology, you will explore topics such as social beliefs and judgements, intergroup relations, and applying social psychology to everyday life.

The lectures will cover contemporary and empirical developments in the key areas of social psychology, and the accompanying seminar programme will help develop a range of your academic and transferable skills in relation to social psychological subject matters, including the use of technical language, integrating knowledge, analytic skills, argument construction, and presentation.

Our Youth Justice module is an opportunity to consider the tension between perceptions of children as ‘troubled’ and ‘troublesome’. We will also explore the criminal justice response to children who are in conflict with the law.

The competing themes of welfare and justice are closely examined, along with the recent history of youth justice policy. Following these thematic explorations, we take a more in-depth look into specific topics, including:

• female offenders
• youth imprisonment
• comparative youth justice
• children in care

This module is led by a research-active lecturer with an interest in children in the care and criminal justice systems; the lecture on children in care draws specifically on their cutting-edge research. The combination of lectures and small group teaching helps you to develop your understanding, deepen your criminological knowledge, and develop your critical evaluation skills.

In this module, you will explore current trends in cognitive neuroscience research, including topics such as speech perception, emotion and language, decision-making, brain plasticity, cognition in multilinguals, and the neural representation of concepts. You will also develop skills for critically evaluating different neuroscientific methods and designing your own experiment in cognitive neuroscience.

Informed by the latest research, this module critically examines the complex interactions between the media and crime.

Included in this fascinating area of study are:

• theories of deviancy, moral panics and newsworthiness
• representations of youth and female offenders
• sex and hate crimes
• revenge pornography and cybercrime
• critical explorations of the use of media in the context of crime and criminal justice

We take a multi-disciplinary approach to the module so you will study key media concepts and then discuss how these relate to crime, deviancy and criminal justice issues.

The module assessment is both novel and creative. You will produce a media portfolio - completing a literature review on a topic of your choice - before engaging in a critical analysis using sources such as newspapers, documentaries or social media content. This approach helps to ensure that you develop a practical understanding of media analysis and of the representation of crime in the media.

Our academic staff research extensively in the areas of crime and media. They will use their research to guide lecture content and, where appropriate, will provide you with data from their projects to analyse and discuss.

This full-unit option offers you the opportunity of developing and using research skills by undertaking a piece of documentary or field research in an area of criminology.

You will prepare a dissertation based on empirical research on a topic within the field of criminology. You should agree your topic with your supervisor, who will need to have expertise in the agreed area so that they can provide guidance for your research.

This option can be taken alongside third year taught half-unit modules in Criminology. You can therefore take one of the third year Criminology option modules and be assessed in the usual way (one essay plus exam) for a half-unit, and can also undertake this half-unit extended essay on a topic related to that particular module.

The topic does not have to relate directly to a taught module and, if you wish, you can talk to staff about a small piece of documentary or other research in relevant areas of Criminology.

For this extended essay you will be individually tutored and therefore the availability of the option is subject to the department's ability to provide a suitable supervisor for you chosen subject.

The module will enable you to engage critically and constructively with social psychological research and theory. The module encourages a broad range of skills that include the ability to critically evaluate academic arguments and to creatively apply social psychological theories and knowledge to real-world issues. The innovative assessments you will take involve the application of social psychological knowledge within a practical exercise. The topics covered in this module reflect current topics in social psychology that reflect active research interests among the lecturers, and have recently included: the psychology of religion, animal treatment, the moral self, online behaviour, smartphone use and social media, and the psychology of genocide.

An engaging and highly relevant module, Drugs, Crime and Society examines the nature and extent of drug taking in the UK and beyond.

We will:

• explore the difficulties of researching hidden populations, like drug users
• engage with theories of drug use from a sociological, psychological and cultural perspective
• consider global and national drug markets
• investigate the links between drugs and crime
• evaluate policing responses to drugs

You will be taught by research-active lecturers who will introduce you to the latest research in this field and contemporary debate. For example, you might study current research and publications concerning cannabis cultivation, world markets, and drug distribution among friends (also known as ‘social supply’).

This module focuses on how psychology can help in forensic settings, including police investigations and dealing with antagonists and courtrooms. Specific topics discussed include offender profiling, lie detection, investigative interviewing and interrogation.

You will gain an appreciation of what can be learned from studying the behaviour of criminals in a scientific framework, and will be able to discuss different explanations and theories of crime and criminal behaviour. The module will explain how to apply psychological theories of behaviour to explain criminal case studies and experiences in criminal contexts, including within the court. You will also gain an understanding of the strengths and limitations of classifications of criminal behaviour.

This module will equip you with the skills to discuss the merits of different approaches to offender treatment, interviewing, and detecting deception, plus the capacity to think critically about a range of controversial issues within forensic/investigative psychology.

This module will focus on hate crime, but will draw on notions from a range of international sources and jurisdictions.

Issues covered will focus on the question of what is ‘hate crime’, before ensuring that you gain an understanding of the harms of ‘hate crime’. There will be a discussion of the perpetrators of ‘hate crime’ as well as the policing of such. The international perspective to this module will be gained from a discussion of ‘hate crime’ as a human rights problem, with a particular focus on freedom of speech. Substantive issues will also be explored, notably, the notion of criminalising collective memory, with a focus on outlawing Holocaust denial and other crimes against humanity.

This module will assess the legal and practical issues surrounding responses to massive violations of human rights, before the political and moral issues involved in using national and international courts will be discussed. The imposition of truth commissions as well as other techniques of ‘transitional justice’ to respond to massive human rights violations will be critically analysed in order to deduce the success of such responses.

How should we understand the role of punishment under democracy? How do the historical, cultural and ideological relationships that underpin and, to a certain extent, determine punishment inform our conceptions of Justice, Fairness, and Equality?

This module examines both the historical and philosophical dimensions of modern democratic punishment. We will probe the punitive landscape charted by theorists like Michel Foucault, Norbert Elias, and Emile Durkheim. This module will also consider the “new punitiveness” and the “old” in search of an explanation for the rise of the incapacitative approach to punishment, its permanence and its implications for the legitimacy of the democratic project.

This module will introduce the concepts of human psychopharmacology, as will the theoretical background of drug-induced modification of nervous system function and behaviour. The module provides insight into psychoactive drugs and how they act upon the brain to influence behaviour.

You will be taught about the biological bases of drug actions and how these might contribute to our knowledge of psychological function in general, the acute and long term consequences of psychoactive drug use, and current pharmacological treatment strategies for Alzheimer's, depression and schizophrenia.

The module will explore why individuals differ in responsiveness to psychoactive drugs and discuss current controversies in the area of psychopharmacology.

This module will introduce you to a range of sexual crimes and forms of sexual offending as defined by UK and international law.

The module will cover a number of key areas:

• types of sexual crimes governed by UK and international law – what constitutes a particular sexual crime, how it is sometimes committed, and the extent of such crimes;
• ways in which sex crimes and offending behaviour is explained – considering who the perpetrators are and why they commit crimes of a sexual nature, as well as the wider social context which may help explain why some sexual crimes are defined by law and how new crimes emerge as the social context changes;
• critically examine how the crimes are dealt with by the criminal justice system such as the laws and policies which surround these crimes, their implementation and how well they operate in practice in terms of treatments, support and punishments given to sexual offenders and their victims.

This module will enhance your knowledge of developmental psychology building on knowledge gained during Year Two. Specifically, you will gain a better knowledge of current developmental theoretical debates in developmental psychology, such as Nativist versus Empiricist accounts of development, and how the study of diverse settings can inform such arguments. The module samples specialisations in a diverse range of topics spanning the development of perceptual, cognitive, and social abilities, from before birth through to childhood.

In this module you will discover what clinical psychology is - learning about key theoretical frameworks and treatment approaches, and developing an understanding of how research is related to practice. Covering various populations (including children, adults and older adults), this module will discuss various psychological disorders in terms of their assessment, aetiology, research background and interventions. A small series of guest lectures delivered by experienced practitioners will introduce issues in professional practice and confer a realistic appreciation of the work of clinical psychologists.

By the end of the module, you will recognise and be able to discuss several specific and overarching aspects of clinical psychological practice, as well as a range of prominent psychopathologies.