PSY-30096 - Module Specification
School of Psychology
Faculty of Natural Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

Does money make you happy? Is music the cure to a bad mood? Can laughing reduce stress? Is it better to help other people, or to undertake thrill-inducing activities like jumping out of aeroplanes, to alleviate the boredom of work? Can work itself be a pleasurable activity?
This module looks at ways of increasing your understanding of your own happiness and wellbeing, and understanding more about how those around you might be able to do the same. As an interdisciplinary module it will introduce you to the theories and philosophical foundations of approaches to happiness and wellbeing from across the social sciences. You will also encounter cutting-edge research in a range of areas: indicative topics include social relationships, motivation, community engagement, emotions, and wellbeing in the workplace. The module consists of a series of weekly seminars on a range of different topics related to wellbeing, and a set of mini-interventions where you will put these ideas into practice through a series of exercises and reflect on how these change the way you think. You will also design, conduct, analyse and write up your own independent exercise to study a specific aspect of your own wellbeing, relating this to some of the theoretical approaches.

To enable students to engage with high-level theory and practical applications of approaches to happiness and wellbeing across the social sciences;
To support students through a practical project which will increase their understanding of their own wellbeing as well as that of others;
To deliver high quality cross-disciplinary research-led teaching.

Intended Learning Outcomes

critically discuss contemporary social scientific research on happiness and wellbeing, and explain key topics and concepts within this field: 1
reflect on how theory and research in happiness and wellbeing apply to their own life situation and that of those around them: 1
review and evaluate the range of theoretical foundations informing contemporary research on happiness and wellbeing, and place their own project work within this: 1
design and execute a small-scale research study which addresses a given research question: 1
report the results of social-scientific research using appropriate conventions: 1
communicate complex ideas in writing: 1

Study hours

Attendance at seminars: 12 hours
Preparation and follow up asynchronous work in between sessions: 38 hours
Design, conduct, analyse and report individual project: 100 hours

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment