Oxbridge Pre-College Online Program in Psychology

Gain expert insights in an online summer school in Psychology

• Our Psychology Online Insights course will allow you to dive into the world of Psychology through the expert teaching of behavioural genetics, cognitive psychology, and more. If you’re intrigued by the human mind and want to leave Immerse with a greater understanding of your own mind and others, then our Psychology summer course will be of interest to you.

Aim of the Psychology Programme

• The Psychology programme is designed to build upon the foundation of skills that participants have already gained in a traditional classroom environment and highlight how this can be used to inspire further study at university. Participants are encouraged to explore new material in-depth and to form independent and considered opinions and ideas based on sound research and analysis of the facts. By the end of the programme, participants have a good understanding, not only of university-level content, but also the variety of degree programmes available in subjects related to History. Beyond this, participants also explore the career opportunities available to graduates in this field.

An Introduction to Psychology and The Brain

• In this session we will consider the interdisciplinary nature of Psychology and explore the range of fields that can influence, or are influenced by Psychology. We will examine the various branches and topics available for study within Psychology and broadly categorise these into Cognitive, Biological, Developmental, Individual Differences and Social Psychology. We will then explore the structure of the brain and its lobes, and consider how psychologists use scientific methods to learn more about the relationship between behaviour and the brain. To do this we will consider a number of fMRI images and famous case studies in the development of psychology.

Reasoning and Decision Making

• Every day we use logic, judgement and reasoning to reach thousands of decisions: what clothes to wear, when to cross the road, which words to write in response to a question, what to have for lunch. Considering the number of decisions we make, we might like to assume that we have a good understanding of probability. Yet research shows that humans consistently make poor or irrational judgements. In this session we will explore how and why humans make decisions and why these may sometimes be irrational. Armed with this knowledge, participants will design their own experiment to test the theory.

Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination

1. Understand what stereotypes are

2. Understand that we all use stereotypes

3. Explain how stereotypes can lead to prejudice and discrimination

4. Understand different types of discrimination

5. Understand ways in which we can challenge stereotypes and reduce discrimination

6. Learn about their own stereotypes

7. Be able to score and analyse a basic questionnaire

• In this session we will consider what we mean by a ‘stereotype’ and discuss whether the use of stereotypes is part of human nature, or a symptom of society. We will explore the link between stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination before taking a closer look at what constitutes discrimination. We will also try to understand the ways in which we can challenge stereotypes and reduce discrimnation, as well as the obstacles we may face in doing this. This session will introduce participants to questionnaires and their value to psychologists. We will consider the different ways that we can analyse the data received from a questionnaire.

Behavioural Genetics

• All humans have different behavioural traits, yet we know that some people are predisposed towards certain behaviours. Our genes, together with the environment, have been shown to influence our behaviour though no single gene is responsible for this. In this class we will explore the techniques that psychologists use to study behavioural genetics, namely twin studies, candidate gene studies and genome wide association studies. We will consider the utility of each of these methods and consider how they can be used by psychologists to understand illnesses such as schizophrenia. We will also ask the question ‘is intelligence heritable?’.

Family Psychology

• The definition of ‘family’ varies person to person and with increasing developments in technology, our definition of a modern family may be significantly influenced by those whom we encounter online, rather than exclusively in person. In this session we will consider the environment required for a child to develop healthy relationships with both themselves as the world around them. We will also consider how families function before turning to academic papers to understand how the family dynamic is affecting today’s children, and whether this has changed.

Cognitive Psychology

• All humans have a blind spot and we can fail to notice details when we are concentrating on something else. The unreliable nature of our sight is what enables visual illusions to be so effective, and yet we rely heavily on visual feedback to form memories. We will explore the accuracy of memory, consider the mis-information effect and the impact that this could have on the value of eye-witness testimony. We will also discuss the medical potential of drugs that interfere with memory consolidation and reconsolidation and the scenarios in which these might be of benefit.

Animal Psychology

• Does a big brain make you more intelligent? Surely this should be a simple case of comparing the intelligence of a mouse with the intelligence of an elephant? Clearly it’s not as simple as that. We rely on more sophisticated measures of information processing capacity, such as neuron density, conductance speed and connectivity to get a better measure of intelligence. Studying animals provides unique challenges for researchers, such as distinguishing between rich and lean interpretations of animal cognition. We will try to account for these difficulties when we design our own experiments for understanding animal cognition.

Bad Psychology

• It has been raining for three days and on each of the past three days, the cat has climbed the curtains though it has never done so before. Based on this information you may assume that there is a direct link between the rain and the cat’s behaviour. As psychologists we study data to look for patterns and often get very excited when we think we spot something. We do not have enough data to know that the rain is related to the cat’s behaviour and any other number of factors could be at play. In this session we explore best academic research practice in both interpreting and presenting research.

Psychopathology

• Medical diagnoses are not black and white whether they are physical or mental. To a varying degree the symptoms may overlap with other disorders, they may be influenced by the chemical balance in the body, environmental and social factors and many other considerations which will be unique to the individual. In this session we will consider the impact of social media upon our health and how this has been reported and portrayed in the media. We will then explore how mental health problems can be diagnosed that the challenges that this case pose.

Experiments

• Conducting experiments is the key means by which psychologists are able to observe phenomena and gather data that is measurable and that can be analysed. However, what we do with all this data is an important consideration. In this session we will discuss the importance of protecting personal data and how to present experimental findings in an academic paper. We will discuss the process required to produce a paper and the importance of evaluation both of our own work, and that of fellow academics.

Personal Project

• Throughout the fortnight, participants will be working on their own personal project. Having been provided with a brief, participants should research and prepare a presentation for their peers. This will build upon the theory that they have learnt over the course of the programme and is also an opportunity to showcase their ability to apply this to a concrete examples. Presentations are followed by questions from the audience and wider class discussion of particular points of interest. The tutor may also include feedback about the presentation in the written evaluation which is sent to participants after the programmes end.

• 20+ hours of academic contact time per week

• Subject tuition delivered by an academic from Oxford or Cambridge University

• 2 x 30 minute 1:1 tutorials

• Academic skills workshops

• End-of-day social activities led by Mentors (Oxbridge undergraduates)

• Detailed personal evaluation written by tutor

• Certificate of attendance

• Free premium membership to UniPrepare's 'Nurture' plan

Online Learning Platform - Virtual Classrooms

• All sessions are delivered on Zoom’s education platform – the world’s leading virtual classroom software.

• Before the course begins, all students will receive a welcome pack that includes information about their tutors, mentors, guest speakers, as well as their programme overview.

• Students will also receive an interactive timetable with links to each of their classes.

For students of all time zones

• Online Insights offers two “streams” – Stream A and Stream B.

• Stream A starts in the morning whilst Stream B’s classes take place in the afternoon.

• Note – as our faculty are all based in Oxford & Cambridge, all times communicated are in UK time.

Network with like-minded individuals

Daily social activities with participants around the world

• Students can connect with like-minded individuals from around the world, and are encouraged to socialise and make friends through daily activities and games after classes finish.

• Activities include virtual college tours, murder mystery parties and a ‘University Challenge’-style quiz.

• These sessions are led by Oxbridge undergraduates who act as Mentors for Online Insights participants. This is a fantastic opportunity for participants to hear from students at Oxford and Cambridge University, and receive guidance and advice on studying at one of the world’s top universities.