Behaviour Analyst BA program (Psychology BA) at the University of Debrecen | Pszichológiai Intézet

Bachelor’s Degree

IN ENGLISH, FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS

Accredited in 2022

Divisions/Streams: The BA Program in Psychology is undivided

Area/branch of training: humanities, psychology

Training cycle: basic

Mode of study: full time

Faculty responsible for training: Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Duration: 6 semesters

Number of credits required for a degree: 180

Number of contact classes: min. 1785 contact classes + classes from freely chosen subjects

Time and type of and credits for field work: -

Training and degree requirements

1. Level of qualification to be acquired and its indication int he diploma:

• level of qualification: basic degree (bachelor, BA)
• qualification in English: Human Behavior Analyst

2. Area of training: humanities, psychology
3. Branch of training: psychology
4. Duration of training: 6 semesters
5. Number of credits required for the basic degree: 180
   • BASIC KNOWLEGE FROM THE FIELD OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES – DEVELOPING GENERAL COMPETENCIES 30 credits
   • GENERAL FIELD-SPECIFIC (PSYCHOLOGY) KNOWLEDGE 80 credits
   • INTERDISCIPLINARITY AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 50 credits
   • APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY AND HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY – compulsory courses, 10 credits
   • Optional subjects, 10 credits. Any subject from knowledge block „III: Interdisciplinarity and research methodology” are acceptable if the student accomplishes it beyond the expected credits from a specific block. Additionally, we offer some other optional subjects
   • Number of credits stated for the diploma thesis: 16 credits
   • Minimum number of credits stated for practical skills: 72 credits
   • Minimum number of credits stated for out-of-school practical training: -
6. Aim of the BA in Psychology Program

The aim of the program is to introduce students into the theoretical foundations and basic methods of psychology and also, to give an insight into the applied branches of psychology. The program develops the skills of the students and provides them with techniques that can be used in order to measure, explore and develop individuals, groups or organizations through professional measures and intervention. Students will obtain an integrated knowledge of education, communication, socialization, learning and human development. The BA program offers a solid basis (in terms of knowledge and approaches) for further learning in any psychology MA program.

Those having taken their BA degrees are expected to

a) Knowledge:

• Have a comprehensive knowledge on history of philosophy, societal issues, communication, information technology, library science, introduction to psychology, basic fields of psychology, and biological foundation of psychology.
• Have a comprehensive knowledge on topics of general psychology, social psychology, personality psychology, developmental psychology
• Have an insight about different communication and publication forms (oral and written) used in psychology
• Have an insight about culturally anchored social interpretation of texts and phenomena.
• Have comprehensive knowledge regarding research methods in psychology
• Being aware of work facilities available for human behavior analysts
• Use of English language with special respect to terminology
• Know that the degree „Human Behavior Analyst” roughly correspond to scope of activities of an assistant work helping a qualified psychologist

b) Competences

• Is able to interpret psychological phenomena, is aware of social-historical embeddedness of psychology
• Is able to identify causal relationships, thinks in a logical way and is able to complete comprehensive analyses with clear interpretations and summaries.
• Regards human behavior in a disciplined and distinctive way, can identify phenomena.
• Is able to record and evaluate basic psychological tests – with the control of a qualified psychologist
• Is able to make professional field-specific presentations
• Is able to see in an unbiased way what tasks fall in the competence of a human behaviour analyst.

c) Attitudes

• Is able to cooperate, to work in groups
• Is interested in and sensitive to psychological problems
• Can communicate and solve problems efficiently
• Shows ethical and humanistic behavior in human relationships
• Is tolerant, flexible, creative and has a high level of empathy
• Has a detailed and healthy self-knowledge and self-esteem
• Is committed to healthy approach to and way of life

d) Autonomy and responsibility

• Is committed to work with other professionals from the field of psychology and work in interdisciplinary cooperation
• is committed to the goal of developing own personality and professional skills
• Can initiate group work, and is socially responsible
• Takes responsibility for the work done
• Consciously works for improving groups and communities and can accept methods offered from other fields
• Is responsible for keeping to ethical norms of psychology, staying inside the borders of own competence included

LIST OF CREDITS TO BE OBTAINED IN THE BA PROGRAM

The program consists of the following modules:

1. Foundation courses 30 credits
2. General Psychology Knowledge 80 credits

• Experimental and General Psychology 20 credits
• Evolutionary and Developmental Psychology 20 credits
• Personality Psychology 20 credits
• Social Psychology 20 credits

3. Interdisciplinarity and research methodology 50 credits

• Biological modul 6 credits
• Societal modul 9 redits
• Optional studies from basic fields 6 credits
• Clinical and Health Psychology 9 credits
• Work- and Organizational Psychology 9 credits
• Pedagogical Psychology 9 credits
• Empirical Thesis 4 credits

4. Applied Psychology and history of Psychology 10 credits
5. Optional subjects 10 credits

FINAL EXAM

The final exam has a written and an oral part.

a.) Written exam

The written exam is a test. The four basic fields (general, personality, developmental and social psychology) are represented by 10-20 tests from each fields. The wider topics of the fields, but not specific tests are known by the students. These tests are chosen from a pool of tests. A set of tests is chosen for every exam.  The type of tests is simple choice: the only proper, or the only improper answer should be found among four alternatives.  Students complete this written exam computerized, in groups. The group size is limited by the number of computer sin the computer rooms. The program provides a feedback on success or failure right after the written exam was finished. The written exam consists of A and B parts. Every students should start with part A. A student can go ahead with the final exam to the oral part if at least one part (A or B was successful, e.g. the ratio of proper answers is above 50%). If both parts (A and B) are unsuccessful, the student fails the written part and have chance for the next exam only in the next season of exams. The result of the written exam is taken into account in the final evaluation.

b.) Oral exam

The oral exam has two parts. First the student presents his or her thesis and replies questions emerged. Second a topic, chosen from a list is introduced by the student in a short talk. The list of topics is know, and the student has time for working out the line of his or her talk.   The list of topics are provided at least a semester before the final exam by the departments of the institute responsible for teaching general, personality, social and developmental psychology.

The process of the oral exam is as follows:

1. The student present his or her empirical work in a 15 minutes’ talk on the main subjects, with the focus on that subject he or she collected data. Then replies to questions articulated in the written opinion about his or her thesis, and to those emerged in situ.
2. The student gives a 10 minutes’ talk on the topic he drew from the set of topics. Then replies in a 10 minutes’ time frame to questions set by the examiner.

The topics ont he list can change from year to year. Keywords are provided for every topic. Both components are evaluated on a 5-ponts’ scale by every members of the final exam committee. For a completed (successful) final exam not a single part of the exam can be failure.  The final mark comes from the average of the marks from the two parts. In cases of uncertainty written-exam results can orientate. The committee has at least four members. Three members are from the Institute of Psychology, one member is a professional who does not work for the University of Debrecen. The president of the committee is a leading lecturer, responsible for teaching one or the other basic field of Psychology. The final evaluation is a common decision.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

1. Basic knowledge from the field of arts and humanities

(30 credits, 465 hours)

1. General knowledge foundation (10 credits, 165 hours)