APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY - 2020/1

Module Overview

Please note: This module is part of the Applied Psychology stream of Level 6 optional modules and will not be running every year. In some years an alternative optional module within the Applied Psychology stream will be offered instead.

This module will introduce the students to the concept of public policy process, the theories and practice of risk governance (risk perception, risk management, risk communication) that are essential in public policy process and the models of behaviour and social change that inform public policy development and agenda setting. By the end of the course students will have an understanding of the range of theoretical approaches to understanding policy processes and agenda setting; the awareness of the dominant frameworks informing current policy development such as risk management and behaviour change; and an awareness of the role of psychological and social sciences in influencing policy and creating impact. 

Module provider

Psychology

Module Leader

TIMOTIJEVIC Lada (Psychology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Successful completion of FHEQ level 5 in Psychology. This module has a capped number and may not be available to ERASMUS and other international exchange students. Please check with the departmental exchange coordinator.

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Introduction to policy making: Psychologists are increasingly asked to influence public policy. To do this effectively, it is necessary to develop better understanding of policy processes and the challenges associated with both the development and implementation of policy.


• Risk: Increasingly, social problems are defined in terms of risk. We will address why risk is important for policy makering, how policy makers assess and manage risk and what psychology can contribute to the debate and practice of risk governance.


• Intervening: Psychology has for many years explicitly focused on intervening to achieve positive change. We will learn how policy makers make decisions about interventions and critically reflect on how we can employ insights from psychological and social theory to address public policy challenges.


• Proposal development: Psychologists can influence policy, and one of the direct ways of doing this is through developing interventions for change to achieve a partical policy goal.  We will engage in practical work to develop a research proposal to address a policy issue.


• Evidence based policy development and Big Data: We will learn how policy makers conceptualise of good evidence, how it is used in defining policy problems and solutions, and discuss why we need to critically reflect about the nature and role of evidence in policy.  

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Students who take temporary suspension partway through this module may not be able to complete the remaining classes for this module on their return if it is not running in the following academic year. Such students will have the choice to take a replacement module, or, if they have already completed an assessment for the original module, to attend classes from a new optional module within the same stream (area of psychology) and complete an alternative assessment based on this content that meets the learning outcomes of the original module. The specific alternative assessment will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate

The summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Risk communication leaflet (1 page) in one of the risk domains provided;  this will be accompanied by a 3 page risk communication strategy to justify and explain the rationale for the leaflet – written feedback and mark


• An proposal (6 pages) – written feedback and mark

• Small group sessions/presentations – verbal feedback

Module aims

• This module aims to provide students with the critical awareness of the role of psychological and social science in policy development. It aims to illustrate the main issues of policy process in practice and demonstrate the role of psycho-social research in influencing policy

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• Engage students to critically contribute to the current policy issues


• To apply their knowledge of psychological theories to critically reflect on policy


• To use their research skills to address a policy problems

• Lectures (9x1hour), small group discussions (9x 1hour), workshop (1x2 hours), student presentations (1x2 hours), prescribed reading

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: PSY3104

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2020/1 academic year.