The course gives students general competence, in the form of understanding the field of psychology's social foundation, knowledge of key theories on personality, and an understanding of basic aspects of scientific research method, including understanding of the difference between quantitative and qualitative methods.

As regards personality, students must acquire knowledge about how traits, biology and intrapsychic factors can explain personality. They must further have knowledge about communication and social influence, social phenomena like conflict and collaboration, prejudice and discrimination, conformity and deviation, friendship and love, prosocial and antisocial behaviour, and have basic knowledge about groups. As regards research methods in psychology, students must have basic knowledge about operationalization, the term 'variable' and issues related to monitoring. They must also have basic knowledge about different non-experimental methods, and about the basic aspects of experimental design.

After completing the course, the student's skills must include familiarity with the most central research methods in personality psychology and how personality can be measured. Students must also have skills that allow them to account for different perspectives on the development of social psychology, define central terms like norms and roles, attitudes and values, and understand basic aspects of social interaction. In research methods in psychology, students must have skills that allow them to explain what a scientific paradigm is, provide an overview of research ethics dilemmas, and explain the main differences between experimental and non-experimental design.

Knowledge

When the course it completed, the candidate must be able to:

• Account for the contribution of trait theory to personality psychology (how traits can be stable and be changed).
• Account for the biological contribution to personality psychology (genetics, physiology, evolution).
• Discuss the intrapsychic contribution to personality psychology (psychoanalysis, newer psychoanalysis, motivation).
• Account for phenomena like social understanding, social construction, perception and attribution.
• Account for the basic aspects of communication and social influence.
• Account for key social phenomena like conflict and cooperation, prejudice and discrimination, conformity and deviation, friendship and love, prosocial and antisocial behaviour.
• Be familiar with central aspects of social life in groups and between groups, and the function, structure and process of groups.
• Be familiar with what is meant by operationalization, the term variable, scales of measurement, reliability and validity.
• Be familiar with non-experimental methods (observation, cases, archive studies, surveys, field methods, interviews and text analyses).
• Account for basic aspects of experimental design.

Skills

When the course it completed, the candidate must be able to:

• Account for the main research methods in personality psychology.
• Know how to measure personality.
• Account for historical, cultural and social perspectives on the development of social psychology.
• Define key concepts and theoretical perspectives on norms and roles, attitudes and values.
• Account for different perspectives on the self and identity, and the group as a social unit.
• Understand the basic aspects of social interaction in different relations, in different arenas and in different cultural contexts.
• Explain a scientific paradigm.
• Provide a general overview of ethical dilemmas associated with research.
• Account for the main differences between experimental and non-experimental design.

General competence

When the course it completed, the candidate must:

• Be able to define personality and account for the different main perspectives on personality.
• Be able to provide an overview of the main themes in social psychology.
• Account for basic aspects of scientific method, terms and issues in theory of science, and account for similarities and differences between quantitative and qualitative methodical procedures.

• PS102 + PSYK102 = a 5-credit reduction
• PS103 + PSYK102 = a 5-credit reduction
• PS104 + PSYK102 = a 5-credit reduction
• PSYK202A + PSYK102 = a 5-credit reduction

Contact the Information Centre at the Faculty of Psychology for more information at tel.: +47 55 58 27 10 or e-mail: studierettleiar.psyfa@uib.no