Human Psychology and Counselling courses

Why are some people different?

Want to learn about schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, mania, childhood disorders? Why not take this course? Understanding abnormal behaviour is the first step toward dealing with it, both for professionals as well as friends, relatives and aquaintances This course can be of value to anyone who wants to understand more about common psychological disorders, their causes and treatment.

It is particularly beneficial for counsellors or support workers, for it will develop their ability to distinguish different types of psychological disorder, and determine when to refer clients for treatment. It is also of interest to anyone who finds human nature fascinating. We cover why different conditions may occur, what happens in different conditions and how we can treat them.

Ageing inevitably leads to physical decline. This can be due to –

• Poor diet
• Lack of exercise
• Lifestyle

Employment and career opportunities have been dramatically increasing over recent times in a whole range of jobs that focus on providing support for people in the later years of their life. Elderly people are provided with a diverse variety of assistance from the health and welfare professions, from  funeral homes and full time carers. This course can open opportunities for working with the elderly in these or other situations. For those who already work in aged support, this course can be a great professional development program, to help develop your knowledge and skills, to be able to do your current job even better.

Stress, anger, concentration, clarity of thought etc. are all influenced by your physical wellbeing (eg. fitness, general health, the food you eat). This course develops an understanding of how a person's state of mind influences their physical body; and the way in which their body affects their state of mind.

Graduate Comment: "I thoroughly enjoyed the course and found ACS to be wonderful in all aspects" D. Kenyon, ACS Biopsychology student

This course complements Biopsychology I, with a strong focus on the brain and the way it affects human behaviour. An individual's interaction with the environment will determine the development of the nervous system. An individual's neural activity will determine behavioural capacities and tendencies some of which are experience as thoughts feelings and memories.

Excessive stress for an extended period at first will cause unpleasant feelings, but in due course, it can cause physical damage to the body, fatigue, and in extreme situations, ultimately death. Excessive stress that causes physical damage has been called dystress (by Syle). The Greek prefix "dys" means bad. Dystress literally means "bad stress". Some stress is both inevitable, and in some respects, desirable. Dystress (or distress), however, is not desirable.

Modern humans with their new technology, do less physical work, stimulate themselves when tired (television, food, alcohol), and eat when they are not hungry, etc. This actually goes against all natural feelings "signals from the brain". Humans are actually depriving themselves, and this is a major psychosocial cause of stress. Another psychosocial cause of stress is "adaption" overload where people are being faced by constant or rapid change whether it be social, cultural, technological, etc.

Career Counselling is a valuable addition to your teaching, counselling, management, life-coaching, or community services qualification. It can also improve parents' ability to help their children choose suitable career paths, or student's ability to plan their own career or career change. 
Starting or changing a career can be quite a challenge. Without help, a person can easily become discouraged or overwhelmed. If you want to help others (or yourself) make sound career decisions and set realistic career goals, this course will set you on that path.

Effective counselling requires a certain predictive ability that is based on the situation as it really is, which is often not the situation as the client perceives it, or as the client or counsellor would like it to be. One aspect of informed prediction will be, of course, a sound knowledge of the current job market and opportunities, which is an essential part of the Careers Counsellor’s professional knowledge. Another aspect of informed prediction will be a realistic assessment of the client’s current and likely future state, which includes attitude, knowledge, skills, experience, interpersonal skills etc.

Careers counselling can be divided into three main areas: vocational or career guidance, vocational or career planning., and job seeking and application.

Careers/Vocational guidance

This refers to the process of helping the client identify the kind of work or field that most suits them. The basic question is "What vocation is this person most suited to?" The answers for this depend upon:

-What they enjoy doing

-What they are able to do

-What they want to contribute and to whom (perhaps to disabled, children)

-What they can and are willing to learn

-How much time and effort they are willing or able to commit to developing their vocation

-The current job-market and existing or anticipated need for their services.

While the client has come to you as an expert, your main role is to empower the client to make their own decisions. You will, of course, discuss decisions the client and help them understand the likely consequences of their decisions, but in the end, your job is to support their decision making and their decisions. Make sure that you are helping the client develop his or her goals, not what you think their goals should be.

Study Child Development

Develop an understanding of  how children think, and how their psychology changes as they develop. This course will be of value to anyone who works OR lives with children (e.g. parents, play leaders, teachers, etc).

Conflict Resolution and Management Course

Conflict is destructive when it:

Conflict is constructive when it:

This course will provide you with a range of conflict management techniques. You will better understand of conflict and conflict resolution

Many people use counselling skills in their daily lives. However, sometimes it may be inappropriate for people to use their usual methods of support. They may discuss their problems with friends and family usually, but sometimes they may not want to. They may feel that the person is too close, that they don’t want them to know their confidential problems or the person they would usually confide in might be part of the problem. Counsellors are trained to be effective helpers in difficult or sensitive situations. They should be independent, neutral and professional, as well as respecting our privacy. Counselling can help people to clarify their problems, identify changes they would like to make, get a fresh perspective, consider other options and look at the impact that life events have made on their emotional wellbeing.

Explore the kinds of problems and issues a person might face in overcoming stresses and limiting attitudes. Learn about the counsellor's role, the counselling process, and gain basic practical counselling skills that can also be effectively applied to many situations. Also recommended for parents, teachers and others who want to communicate in a more supportive, empathetic manner.
Develop your ability to support or counsel others through the processes of personal growth and change.
Pre-requisite: "Introduction to Psychology" or the equivalent.

Already have some counselling skills, but would like to be able to improve on them? Want to learn more counselling skills? Improve your counselling abilities? This may be the course for you. Counselling Skills II covers telephone counselling, online courselling, techniques for dealing with crisis situations and much more. Learn to demonstrate how micro-skills can be combined in the counselling process. Learn about the grief process, how we can support clients, the ethical issues of counselling and much more.

Pre-requisites: Introduction to Psychology (or equivalent)

"An in depth study of the theory of counselling techniques."

Develop your understanding of the major theoretical approaches to counselling and their application to the counselling process. The course does not adopt a particular stance but provides an overview and awareness of different types of therapy.

Learn about the different types of therapy that can be used to help clients. If you are a counsellor or want to be one, this is an indispensible part of your training or professional development.

Course Aim: "Explain the key principles and applications of different theoretical approaches to counselling and psychotherapy, including the theories of Freud, Erikson, Adler, Ellis, Rogers, Beck, and others". Pre-requisite: Introduction to Psychology

Develop an Understanding of the Criminal Mind

Profiling - when a crime has been committed a criminal psychologist may be called in to act as a criminal profiler. Many of us have an idea of what a profiler does through TV, cinema and crime novels. Criminal profiling involves a psychologist using his/her understanding of human behaviour, pathology and motivation to try to create a psychological profile of the offender. Profiles can be very accurate. The profiler can use information from the scene of the crime to infer behavioural characteristics of the person who committed the crime. The profiler will also use their knowledge of the "typical offender" who commits this sort of crime and predict how the offender is likely to behave in the future and what their physical appearance may be. Profiling can be very exciting, but there are not a lot of serial offenders around fortunately, so there are limited job prospects and training prospects. Once an offender has been apprehended, there are more opportunities for psychological intervention. It has been used in investigative police work, interrogation and police line up.

Develop your understanding of criminal psychology and how psychology is used in law enforcement and crime prevention.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIME, THIS IS THE COURSE FOR YOU!

Suitable for anyone who works within criminal justice, such as police, social workers, court workers, solicitors, lawyers, probation workers or anyone with an interest in the psychology of crime.

Crises happens to everyone, and intervention can take many forms, from family helping and support strategies to professional counselling strategies aimed at helping the individual cope with crisis in ways that reduce the negative psychological, physiological and behavioural effects of trauma on that person and his or her environment.

Develop your ability to effectively counsel and assist clients in times of crisis. This course provides those already in the counselling or helping industries with knowledge and skills to give specialised counselling, and will contribute to comprehensive counselling training for those wishing to work in this field.

A solid introduction to how people's psychology (attitudes/state of mind) develops throughout life. This is a course for people of any age in a counselling, supporting, or teaching capacity, who will benefit from understanding how physiological and psychological changes over the lifespan affect human behaviour. Parents and carers will gain greater insight into issues that present particular challenges at different stages of the life span, especially from adolescence to old age.

Developmental Psychology considers the psychology of the human being as they develop, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood and finally to old age. Friendship is one of the topics we cover in the course -

"FRIENDSHIPS

Friendships are one of the most valuable resources a young adult can have. Having good friendships can make the difference between feeling full and whole verses feeling depressed and worthless. Research has shown that an open, accessible friend serves as a protective factor for late adolescents and young adults, insolating them against various risk factors such as drug abuse or criminal behaviour. The transitions and changes of young adulthood pose many challenges to adult friendships. This is particularly true for young men, who must learn to relate to other men in an entirely new manner: behaviours that were learned on the playground are often not helpful in forming adult relationships.

Friendships change in many ways during young adulthood. Young men and women who move away from home find themselves geographically distant from childhood friends. They have finished high school and they start a life of work find that work. Often family responsibilities prevent them from seeing their friends as often as they would like or as much as they did when they were younger. Not only does the amount of time that a young person can dedicate to their friendships change, but also the very nature of friendships begin to alter in response to developmental changes." (taken from the Developmental Psychology course)

Study Family Counselling by Distance Learning

• Learn to understand families and problems that typically arise in families.
• Learn techniques used to conduct therapy sessions for families, to assist with resolving problems

What is grief, why is it usually healthy and normal, and how can you help someone suffering grief?

Everyone suffers grief at some stage; and for some helping others deal with grief can be a significant part of their job.

Grief is either uncomplicated – “normal” grief or complicated. This is the reaction of a loved one to loss. Some grieving individuals may display symptoms that are characteristic of a Major Depressive Episode eg. Sadness, insomnia, poor appetite, weight loss. The bereaved person may think the depressed mood is “normal”, but others may seek professional help for the attendant symptoms, such as insomnia. The duration and expression of “normal” bereavement varies among different cultural groups.

This course provides a sound basis for understandsing and working with grief, as a counsellor or in any other capacity where such an understanding is required.

Work Education: Home Study Course in the psychology of the workplace

This course helps develop knowledge and skills for anyone involved in workplace situations, such as managers, supervisors, small business owners, union representatives, etc.

Learn why people act the way they do at work.

Develop a solid foundation in psychology including the nature and scope of psychology, neurological and environmental effects on behaviour, personality, consciousness, perception, needs, drives and motivation.

Start building an ability to analyse aspects of a persons psychological state and apply derived knowledge to motivate that person.

Gives greater insight into the human mind and how it works.  A must for any student of human behaviour.

The E learning course in Introduction to Psychology is offered at 10% less in price than the traditional Introduction to Psychology . 

Develop your ability to analyse aspects of a persons psychological state and apply derived knowledge to motivate that person. This course offers a fascinating insight into the mind of humans. It allows you to develop your understanding of how the human mind works, the effect of nature and nurture on our upbringing and personality, abnormal behaviour and much more.

The ACS course Life Coaching is the only course in Australia to be recognised by the Association for Coaching (UK), and that ACS Distance Education is the FIRST DISTANCE LEARNING ORGANISATION to be awarded course recognition status by the Association for Coaching (UK). For more information about the Association for Coaching, visit www.associationforcoaching.com

Life coaching is a rewarding and fulfilling career. This course will teach you how to help others. Support them to lose weight, be promoted, find a new career, resolve difficult problems. It will enable people in health, fitness, counselling, social work and other professions to help others set and achieve life goals. Develop your skills in setting and achieving goals, not only for yourself but for those who seek your assistance. Some students who have prior experience or training in a related field such as health, fitness, counselling, social work, psychology or naturopathy.

This course will enable people in health, fitness, counselling, social work etc to help others set and achieve life goals. Develop an appreciation of how different perceptions of the world can be just as critical as knowledge, skill and opportunity in a person's success or failure. The course also covers such things as coaching processes, coaching skills and goal setting; and is equally relevant to developing both physical and psychological well being in the client.

ACS is now an organisational member (OMAC) of the Association for Coaching (UK)

Market segmentation focuses on the consumer end of the market. It breaks away from the old-fashioned view that consumers were one large undifferentiated market. Instead it focuses on target groups. Segmentation is the backbone of the marketing concept. Marketing Psychology looks at this and much more...

Once a niche in the market has been identified, a product can be positioned in the market place.

Today marketers are able to target their market segment and send personalised communications. This is known as a segment of one and is a return to producer-consumer relations that existed prior to mass production.

Develop your ability to understand how an understanding of Psychology can be applied to marketing.
Why do people choose to buy something?
What influences their thinking to decide one way rather than another?

The world is an increasingly small place with cultures mixing in many different ways. This course covers cultural diversity, cultural self-awareness, the impact of prejudice and racism, barriers to efective relationships and much more.

Cultural diversity refers to the differences between human communities based on differences in their ideologies, values, beliefs, norms, customs, meanings and ways of life - in other words, differences based on cultural differences. These differences are expressed and exemplified in social practices, attitudes and values, family interactions and expectations, values concerning education, ways of defining and treating health (physical and mental), business and management behaviours and practices, political practices, and our interpersonal relations.

Some consider these differences to be of great significance in determining human behaviour and thinking, whereas others view culture as just one of many factors that influence the behaviour of individuals and groups. The fact is, however, that cultural differences (within which we can also include what used to be called racial and ethnic differences) have become one of the major factors in conflict between groups. So while human cultures do share some key elements, culture does have a significant impact as a causative influence on the perceptions, interpretations and behaviours of human groups, and on the interactions between groups. For that reason alone, it behoves us to understand cultural diversity and find ways to reduce its potential for creating misunderstanding, and to reap its benefits, which are many. Yet keep in mind that even as you gain a deeper understanding of culture and cultural diversity, and learn more about specific cultures, you will probably also recognise what we have in common, the obvious and not-so-obvious universal aspects of human behaviour.

The course will enable you to develop your sensitivity to skills in culture, diversity and multicultural society, and an improved capacity to interact with people on multicultural issues.

How is a person's psychology is affected by anatomical and physiological characteristics of their nervous system?

The nervous system allows humans to adapt to changes. Changes can occur inside (e.g. too little oxygen while running) or outside (e.g. the anticipation of food or the chill of a winter wind). The nervous system will perceive the change and will take actions to adjust to it. The nervous system is rather like the look-out on a river boat - it monitors conditions and gives warnings when something unusual or dangerous is ahead. Once the warning is received, the body is able to take steps to avoid or correct the situation. The nervous system has to be highly complex to be able to perform such sophisticated services.

Until the late 1800's, scientists did not know if the nervous system was made up vast networks of connected nerve cells, or whether the cells were separate. We now know that they are, and that they carry out their enormous task of keeping the body alive and functioning, and our minds working, by means of chains of action. The human brain is estimated to have around 100 billion nerve cells working to help create apparently seamless and integrated action, thought, and body function. To understand how they interact, we must learn about their individual structure and behaviours.

This course provides a different perspective on psychology; with insights into how many psychological disorders can be more to do with the physical condition of a person than purely their experiences, attitudes, genetics or learning experiences.

It is a fascinating study for anyone interested in either psychology or human biology; and a useful course for anyone working in areas related to health or psychology.

Develop your understanding of the way a person's psychology is affected by anatomical and physiological characteristics of that person's neurological system.

Do you work in counselling? Are you thinking of setting up your own professional practice? This is the course for you. It will help you to develop your understanding of appropriate practices and procedures within the counselling profession. Students will also gain knowledge of the self, personality and emotions and their effect on the counselling process as well as being introduced to some of the most common disorders. It also covers personal growth, psychometric testing, referral procedures and more.....

Pre-requisites: "Introduction to Psychology" (or equivalent)

Learn to determine why and when to use psychological assessment, and develop an understanding of the different types of assessment available (eg. Behavioural Assessment, Wechsler Inteligence and Memory Scales, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, etc).

Psychological tests assess and evaluate information that is given to the examiner by the client. This information is in the form of answers to interview questions or as answers on paper-or on a computer-to specific questions. Ultimately, a test's accuracy depends on how carefully and seriously the client answers the questions they are asked.

What is a psychological assessment?

A psychological assessment is when a skilled psychologist uses the techniques and tools of psychology to learn general or specific facts about another person, either to information others how they function or to predict their behaviour and functioning in the future.

Mahoney and Ward (1976) stated that assessments -

* Often use tests

* Typically, do not follow defined procedures or steps

* Contribute to a decision making process to some problem, often be redefining a problem, breaking the problem down into smaller pieces or highlighting parts of a problem

* Requires that the examiner considers, evaluates and integrates the data

* Is less inflexible and routine

* Is individualised

* Produces results that cannot be solely evaluated on psychometric grounds

Assessment is usually for the point of diagnosis or classification. That is, placing a person into a loosely or strictly defined category of people. This allows us to understand what they are like in general and assess the presence of other relevant characteristics based on people similar to them.

What is psychology ? You might not be sure about what exactly psychology is. Psychology is a science. It is the study of human and animal behaviour. Some say the study of mind or the brain. Whilst others consider it to be the study of personality. Psychology considers what motivates people to do what they do.

Work Education: Home Study Course in Psychology and Counselling

"Drugs" is a word used by the medical profession to refer to medicines that can cure or arrest disease or alleviate symptoms, ease pain or provide other benefits. Powerful drugs may have side effects, but commonly used drugs with less potential to harm can be sold over the counter. More powerful drugs often require a medical practitioner's prescription. Another definition of drugs is those substances upon which a person may become dependent. These range from mild stimulants eg. Caffeine, to powerful drugs that alter mood and behaviour. The term "drug" is therefore any substance which is psychoactive - that is, mind altering. It can cover -

• Legal drugs (eg tobacco, alcohol)
• Illegal drugs (eg ecstasy, amphetamines)

Medicinal drugs, (eg insulin, paracetamol, ventol).

Psychopharmacology is the study of the effects on the mind and body of pharmacological substances - drugs. This course will help you develop your skills in understanding the effects of legal, illegal and prescribed drugs on the mind body and behaviour.

Develop your skills in understanding the effects of legal, illegal and prescribed drugs on the mind body and behaviour. Topics covered include Stimulants, narcotics, hallucinogens, marijuana, steroids, alcohol, tobacco, caffine, solvents, sedatives, prescription drugs, etc.

What can psychology teach you?
- Why we act differently when we are in groups and when we are alone
- How to improve a person's motivation and performance
- How we develop certain patterns of thought and behaviour, and how to change negative patterns
- How we learn from the moment we are born
- How our biological development or condition affects our thinking
- How to raise moral children ......and that's only the beginning!

A broad-based foundation in theoretical psychology can be applied in many fields, such as business, counselling, helping services and teaching. It will give you a much deeper insight into human behaviour and factors (such as learning, environment and personality) that can affect it, and improve your ability to deal effectively with others. While this course will not qualify you as or a psychologist (which requires a university degree), it will develop your capacity to apply pscyhology for more effective teaching, management, consulting, parenting, marketing, or for your personal growth. The course may also provide a valuable stepping stone to further study in this fascinating field.

Psychology is a exciting and developing field. This course will enable you to develop your understanding of the field of psychology. Psychology is useful in many different careers, from law, human resources, personnel, marketing, social work, youth work, counseling and many more.

This course is different and unique, allowing you to gain a solid and broad base foundation in theoretical psychology at the same time as developing a variety of practical skills that will be useful in the workplace. Graduates are not psychologists (A psychologist needs higher university qualifications), but they will have a capacity to apply phychology in real life situations (eg. as a manager, a counsellor, a marketer or a consultant).

This certificate is designed for people working with children or teenagers; or interested in a pursuing a career of working with youth.

What is psychology?  

You might not be sure about what exactly psychology is. Psychology is a science. It is the study of human and animal behaviour. Some say the study of mind or the brain. Whilst others consider it to be the study of personality. Psychology considers what motivates people to do what they do.

This course is concerned with how a person develops throughout their childhood. Maternal Behaviour and Attachment is just one interesting topic covered in the Child Development course.

Maternal Behaviour and Attachment Formation

Many mothers would no doubt like to know exactly what maternal actions and attitudes willelicit a healthy degree of attachment in their children. Psychologists know that the failure to develop a healthy attachment to the caregiver can lead to all sorts of problems; amongst others it can lead to cognitive deficiencies, delinquency and anti social behaviour

The type of relationship we develop as an infant can continue to affect our relationships in the future. Many of the most successful psychotherapists base their methods of counselling on this belief. People become stuck in the same pattern of relating to others. Often this pattern was established in very early childhood, before our conscious memory.

It is designed to provide a foundation for understanding the mind of a child and the way it changes and develops as they grow toward adolescence and eventually adulthood

Biopsychology is also known as "Physiological Psychology", "Psychobiology" or "Biological Psychology".

Physiology is the study of the way living organisms function. It can encompass the way things move, chemical and bodily processes, growth, atrophy, and anything else that supports or causes physical or chemical changes to occur within the body. Therefore, it differs from anatomy, which is the study of the physical structure of the body.

There are obvious, observable or measurable associations between the physiology and the psychology of a person. For example, the mind and emotions can be affected by chemical processes caused by different foods, such as the soothing effects of bananas and carbohydrates. Intake of other substances, such as alcohol or other drugs, can affect the psychological state of a person. On the other hand, emotions can cause physiological responses. For instance, when people become stressed, their blood vessels may contract and the heart rate may increase. It has also been shown that focusing on positive thoughts such as love, appreciation or gratitude can cause immediate improvement in immune system function and regulate heart rhythm.

A foundation certificate, aimed at people working or looking to work in care or health care services. This course can also be used as a first step toward our Diploma in Counselling and Psychology.

What is Counselling?

Many people go through times when they find their lives overwhelming or distressing. This may be due to bereavement, illness, family crisis, relationship breakdown and so on. They may find it hard to cope or not have the resources to deal with the problem. Counselling can help them to retain their self-sufficiency, build better relationships and help them to make and act on their choices. Before moving on to specific skills, it is important to just repeat what counselling is.

Counselling means different things to different people. It is not a get well quick option, offering quick answers, but is asking the person to engage in a process and an exploration. There are many definitions of counselling. A simple version is that counselling is a working relationship where the client is helped to manage what is happening in their life and to explore their life. It is a form of psychological or talking therapy that offers people the ability to change how they live and feel. The aim of counselling is to provide the client with a more satisfying experience of life. Everyone has different needs, so counselling can be concerned with many different aspects of a person’s life.

This course is aimed at those who wish to gain a good insight into psychology. It is useful as a first step to further study, as an employment aid for those working in related fields, as a social tool for those wishing to understand more about the behaviour of themselves and others around them, or simply to broaden one’ s horizons. Psychology is a fascinating subject area that pervades our everyday lives. This course introduces the student to many well-documented psychological phenomena which will hopefully inspire them to want to know more.

Penny Dawes Certificate in Psychology, Completed November 2007  After ten years as a nurse, Penny Dawes was ready to try something new but the thought of going back to study after such a long break was unnerving. She decided to ease herself into the routine of studying and assignments by doing a Certificate in Psychology through ACS Distance Education.  click through for more detail

1. Three psychology courses (300 hours in total).
2. A workplace project or work experience (approved by a tutor and equal to 200 hours duration)

There are many and varied reasons why relationships breakdown and irreconcilable differences is one of them. This occurs when two people differ in their beliefs and values and neither are willing to accept that the other person holds a different viewpoint. While agreeing to disagree would be a type of win-win in this situation, the way in which the difference is communicated and hence managed is often destructive. For example, one may continue to force the other to accept their position, through verbal attacks, or may give the ‘silent treatment’, not speaking to the other. When communication subsides into physical, verbal or emotional abuse (name calling, personal attacks, hitting, yelling, punching, pushing, verbal tirades, destroying personal items), the relationship is most often irretrievable. In fact, research has shown that once a poor or destructive communication cycle is established, it is rare that a reversal can take place as quite often, respect and trust is diminished to very low levels, and may take years of learning new skills to rebuild.

When communication is stifled, a ‘roadblock’ occurs that creates a brick wall to effective communication. One of the first signs that this has occurred is:

• the inability to listen to the other person (thinking about what you will say next rather than listening, wanting to push your point).
• a feeling of being overwhelmed (wanting to attack, run away, cry or feeling ‘frozen’).
• the third sign of a breakdown in communication is the inability to think rationally about what to do next (not knowing what to say or how to respond).

This course will enable you to develop your understanding of the role communication plays in creating, maintaining or destroying relationships, and your ability to assist others to improve their relationships communications.

What goes on in the mind when people get together?

Man is a social animal, and as such, it is very important to understand the psychology of how we interact with each other, or act as a group rather than as an individual.

Social psychology is concerned with studying the way people interact within groups. Given that most people work with other people, social interaction is natural at work. Some of this is informal, such as conversations with colleagues. Other contacts are more formal, such as the interaction of a working group carrying out a specific task in an organisation.

Social psychology can also involve interactions in other groups as well (e.g. social, clubs, societies, associations, churches, families, etc); though the main focus of this lesson should be interactions in a work situation.

Work groups are different in that they are compulsory groups, and the individual does not have much opportunity to choose whether to participate or not in the group.

Individuals differ from each other in many ways -physically, mentally, and psychologically -but just as individuals differ so within a group. They differ according to the physical work which the group is performing as a whole, or according to the mentality and psychological make up of the members. A group can be called a collection of people, but no two collections of people are the same. The differences between some groups may be very large (e.g. the difference between a temporary group and a permanent highly organised group.

Psychology School -Work Education home study in Sport and Exercise Psychology

"State of mind" can be just as important as physical ability when playing sport. Everone from amateurs to professionals can not only perform better, but also benefit more psychologically from participation in sport if they understand the mind better. Develop your skills and understanding of psychological principles for use in sports. This is a course for athletes, coaches, personal trainers, etc; right down to amateurs wanting to improve their game.

Develop your skills and application of psychological principles for use in sports. Learn about such things as psychological traits common to successful athletes, ways to maintain and increase motivation, leadership, aggression and team dynamics. S2

Learn about the Management of Stress

What is Stress? It is important to recognize whether you or someone you know or a client is under stress. Often, even if we are under the influence of a stressful condition and our body reacts to it internally as well as externally, we fail to realize the symptoms of our stress. This also happens when the causes of stress are there long enough for us to get used to them. The body may try to tell us that it is stressed or that something is wrong, through symptoms such as:

• heart palpitations
• dizzy spells
• tight and sore muscles or
• various body pains and conditions
• blurry vision
• inability to eat or over-eating
• loss of interest in usual activities
• unexpected emotional reactions and more…

It is important to remain attentive to such symptoms and to have a stress management system in place to counter the adverse affects of stress. Anxiety, tension, mental and emotional strain are all common problems in todays society. This course introduces you to some practical approaches to combating stress