PL4S155 - Applied Social Psychology 01 Sep 2023 - 31 Aug 2028 | Version 2

Associated Module Information

Module Code: PL4S155
Module Title: Applied Social Psychology
Faculty: Faculty of Life Sciences and Education
Faculty Group: Psychology and Therapeutic Studies
Faculty Sub Group: Psychology
Module Leader: Rachel Taylor
Module Team: Sarah-Anne Evans, Kirsty Richards, Alexis Jones, Dan Bowers, Leigh Attwood
First Intended Intake: SEP 2027 Final Year of Intake: 2027
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 20 Credit Level: 7
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100493 - applied psychology 100497 - psychology
HECOS Code Weighting: 50 50

Document Version Information

Version 2
Valid From 01 Sep 2023
Valid To 31 Aug 2028

Module Aims

To provide students with core coverage of social psychology necessary for BPS accreditation.
To encourage critical assessment of social psychology’s impact on local, national and global issues.

Content Summary

This module will address core topics in social psychology including the self and identity, social cognition, attribution, attitudes and attitude change, close relationships and intergroup relations. Students will be encouraged to consider social behaviour at three different levels of analysis – individual, interpersonal and intergroup – and the interrelationships between these levels.
The first section of the module will provide a foundation in these topics as well as identifying some of the domains where social psychology can be applied. These could include education, business, health, criminal justice and environmental contexts. The applied problems will then be explored critically in the second section where students will generate solutions to several problems during class sessions and select one of these to present a more detailed solution including an assessment of ethics, feasibility and outcomes. The nature of the applied issues may change from year to year and will include input from external stakeholders, current research, policy and practice.

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Seminar 12
Independent Study 143
Directed Study 15
Formative Assessment - Scheduled 5
Formative Assessment - Independent 5
Groupwork 5
Interdisciplinary work 5
Problem / challenge based learning 10
Total Hours Selected 200

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Critically assess the utility of social psychological research in applied contexts.
LO2 Use social psychological frameworks to propose feasible and ethical solutions to issues with local, national or global impact.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Student Choice 1 In addition to the report students will choose one of the following formats to disseminate their proposed solution: a pre-recorded oral presentation, a poster or a template for an information page on a website. Each dissemination should be created as if to be delivered to a group of practitioners working in the field. 5 minutes for oral assessments; 1000 words for poster or webpage assessments 0 N/A 30 No 50
Asynchronous Assessment Report 1 A written solution to an applied problem. This should include critical appraisal of different social psychological research, an assessment of ethics and feasibility of the solution and an account of the proposed outcome measures. 0 3000 70 No 50

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Student Choice 1
Report 1

Reading List

Forgas, J., Crano, W., & Fiedler, K. (2020). Applications of social psychology how social psychology can contribute to the solution of real-world problems Routledge.

British Psychological Society Code of Ethics and Conduct (2018). Available at https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/bps-code-ethics-and-conduct

British Psychological Society Practice Guidelines (2017). Available at: https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/practice-guidelines

Plus, relevant journals such as:
Annual Review of Psychology
British Journal of Social Psychology
Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology
Journal of Personality & Social Psychology