Positive Psychology (C8892)

15 credits, Level 6

Spring teaching

Positive Psychology is defined as the science and practice of improving wellbeing. Launched in 1998 as a rebellious scientific discipline and a social movement, Positive Psychology has captured the imagination of scientists, practitioners and the public, and has seen an extraordinary increase in its research output and social impact. On this module you will explore some of its key concepts, and experiment with some of its interventions.

You will examine classic topics within the field of positive psychology, such as:

• happiness
• wellbeing
• positive emotions
• optimism
• strengths and virtues
• mindfulness
• positive relationships.

You will also explore stress, coping and resilience, which have become core topics in positive psychology. You will follow an evidence-based, experimental and critical approach.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2021/22. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.