PSYC11010 - Fundamentals of Psychology 1: Understanding Human Behaviour

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit provides an introduction to the primary philosophies and key theories and frameworks that are fundamental to the study of psychology. You will examine the interplay of biological and social factors that underpin our understanding of people and behaviour. The biological content of the unit explores the structures and functions of the brain and nervous system, sensory and perceptual processes, learning and behaviour, and states of consciousness. The social content of the unit introduces you to motivation and emotion, human lifespan development, social cognition and perception and cross-cultural psychology, personality, psychological disorders, and intelligence. This unit is applicable to students studying a psychology course and those students from a variety of courses.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2023

Term 1 - 2023 Profile
Adelaide
Bundaberg
Cairns
Online
Rockhampton
Townsville
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Adelaide
Bundaberg
Cairns
Online
Rockhampton
Townsville
Term 3 - 2023 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

To view Past Exams, please login
Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 87.69% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 24.07% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback
The lectures in 2021 were on a Friday afternoon, which made it difficult to meet the Monday morning due date for the weekly Stop and Review questions. This meant that these questions needed to be completed at the same time or shortly after the content was being delivered.
Recommendation
Take into account class timetabling when setting the due date of the weekly Stop and Review questions. If the class is again timetabled late in the week, amend the due date so that it is later the following week (rather than Monday morning).
Action Taken
The assessment in this unit underwent a major review as a part of a larger review of the undergraduate psychology course. Thus, Stop and Review questions are no longer included in this unit.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
More example concept maps available to explain the marking and assessment requirements.
Recommendation
Provide additional concept maps on Moodle from previous years to demonstrate assessment requirements.
Action Taken
Concept map examples were provided to demonstrate assessment requirements.
Source: Student evaluation feedback.
Feedback
Some students stated they would prefer to do the quizzes in the week following the lectures instead of in the same week that the content was delivered.
Recommendation
Move quiz 1 from week 6 to week 7 and move quiz 2 from week 12 to week 13.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: In-class requests from students.
Feedback
Many students wanted to devote tutorial time to discussing the concept map.
Recommendation
Allocate tutorial time to discuss the concept map and answer student questions.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Describe the biological and social contributors to human behaviour.
  2. Discuss the major principles and theories related to the study of human behaviour.
  3. Reflect on, and engage with, key psychological concepts in an objective manner.


Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
4 - Information Literacy • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10