Psychology for the Public Good - PSY00020I
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2025-26 |
Module aims
As individuals our actions are guided by many different psychological systems and processes, yet our individual actions can collectively have major consequences for other people and society at large. What are the different psychological factors – both individual and social – which can motivate people to change real-world behaviour in ways that benefit themselves…and which also increase public good? This module introduces a number of psychological factors which have been studied by fields within Psychology, Health Sciences, Environmental Sciences and Economics (among others) as tools for motivating beneficial changes in behaviour.
Module learning outcomes
- To describe theoretical models of the psychology of behaviour change.
- To explain how psychological factors can motivate real-world behaviours relevant to the public good.
- To describe and apply methods for empirically studying the links between psychology and real-world behaviours.
Module content
This module introduces a number of psychological factors which have been studied by fields within Psychology, Health Sciences, Environmental Sciences and Economics (among others) as tools for motivating beneficial changes in behaviour. Some of these factors are individual, they concern our own knowledge and beliefs about a behaviour, its costs and benefits to us personally. Other factors are social, they concern our beliefs about what others are doing or what others want us to do, and how this might affect us. Some specific examples of factors are: Perceived Susceptibility to disease, beliefs about Self-Efficacy for overcoming barriers, Attitudes about a behaviour itself and its outcome, the Intention-Behaviour Gap, Descriptive Norms and Social Norms. Students will use their understanding of these (and other) factors to (i) generate proposals for how interventions can change real-world behaviours, and (ii) to conduct their own research on how psychological factors predict real-world behaviour.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
The marks on all assessed work will be provided on e-vision.
Indicative reading
None specified.