Undergraduate - UnitAZA4445 - Social issues in psychology

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Offered	South Africa Second semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr M Damianova

Synopsis

The unit aims to increase students understanding of the issues of poverty, racism, sexism, violence and HIV/AIDS among others and psychology's role in their amelioration. Through student presentations and class discussion, students will be introduced to a number of current topics, contrasting theories and the contributions of psychology in Southern Africa, historically and currently.

Outcomes

On completion of the unit, students will be able to:

Explain contemporary research and theories applied to social issues in psychology.
Critically appraise current literature and theories in social issues in psychology.
Discuss the value of informed group discussion in evaluating psychological research.
Describe the historical role of psychology in Southern Africa.

Assessment

Presentation on a selected topic: 20%
Assignment - Essay on a selected topic: 20%
Examination: 60%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr M Damianova

Workload requirements

2 contact hours (face-to-face teaching)
10 hours for private study, including reading of prescribed and recommended literature, review of and familiarisation with a wider range of publications on the core content topics of the unit, work on assignments, preparation for class discussions and presentations.

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Psychology

Prerequisites

Students must have completed successfully a Bachelor degree with Psychology Major, and have achieved an average grade of minimum of 70% in core psychology units at the third year level.

Co-requisites

AZA4420, AZA4430, AZA4440, AZA4480