Introduction to Psychology

The course aims to introduce the student to some of the areas of specialisation within psychology. These include history of psychology, biopsychology and memory, genetics and evolutionary psychology, health psychology, developmental psychology, psychopathology and psychotherapy, and learning. Students are taught a great deal about plagiarism and develop skills necessary to write essays and prepare other submissions to the Psychology department.

DP requirements: Satisfactory completion of all assignments by due date, attend at least 80% of tutorials, complete all class tests. In addition, obtain one Student Research Participation Programme (SRPP) point or equivalent.

Assessment: Coursework (term assignments and tests) counts 50%; one two-hour examination in June counts 50%. Students are expected to complete the June examination as well as all coursework before being awarded a pass in this class.

The University of Cape Town awards credits based on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) to determine course and contact hour recommendations per course. 1 NQF credit represents roughly 10 notional hours of work which includes study time, assignments and examinations. Notional hours may very per courses depending on the course level and modality therefore, CEA recommends using NQF credits as a basis to determine U.S. equivalencies (1 NQF=.222 semester credits)