About This Course
This is a flexible part-time, level 7 postgraduate short course delivered online.
Do you want to understand what motivates people, and understand more about yourself at the same time? Then you will love this short course! The aim of this course is to understand the human condition; who we are, our underpinning motivation, and our interactions with others. We will propose tasks that psychologists use across all performance domains such as sport, medicine, the arts, and business.
Who is this Short Course suitable for?
This online distance learning module on Understanding Personality is suitable for anyone who has an interest in understanding individuals, especially as they pertain to elite performance.
Our learners have included people from across the UK, and more widely from across the globe. This short course is part of our MSc Performance Psychology (distance learning), and our alumni include:
- Professional sport coaches and instructors: Rugby, Cricket, Gaelic Football, and Endurance Running Coaches
- UK Coaching Team Members
- Elite Athletes: Professionals in football, gaelic football, cricket and rugby players, Golfers,
- Performance Directors for Professional Rugby Union Teams
- Opera Performers
- Professional Musicians
- Business Leaders
- Senior management from organisations such as MasterCard and Facebook
- RAF Helicopter Rear Crew
- Air traffic controllers
- Police Officers
- General Practitioners and Anaesthetists
- NHS Managers
Why study this course?
The main objective of this course is to provide a strong theoretical and empirical understanding of the development of personality and how such personality might affect performance in elite environments.
How long does this course take to complete?
This short course takes 12 weeks to complete. You will have access to all lecture material at the start of the course, which will enable you to go as fast or as slowly as your personal circumstances dictate.
Technical Requirements
This is an online course delivered via Blackboard Ultra. Students must have access to a stable internet connection, IT and up-to-date computer and software, a microphone and headphones or speakers.
Assessment
The assessment is twofold:
- a short-form questionnaire
- an account of the research literature as it pertains to a specific personality construct that is particularly relevant to high-performance domains (2,000 words)
Tutor
Professor Tim Woodman
Tim is a distinguished Professor of Performance Psychology with research interests in maximising athletic performance under stress and developing a model of human motivation that places risk at its core. He is an accredited sport psychologist, yoga instructor, and body-centered psychotherapist. Currently, he is leading two significant research grants: one with Manchester City Football Club focused on elite performance, and another with the England and Wales Cricket Board centered on mental health.
He has a young family, whom he adores. He is allergic to forms. He is fascinated by the human condition.
Course Content
What will you study on this course?
You will learn about early and contemporary theories of personality and how they apply to performance environments. In doing so, we will cover the empirical research in a critical manner and apply that to real-world settings. We will cover the most traditional views of personality and how they pertain to performance environments, and we will also cover personality theories and research as they pertain most specifically to performance environments, all of which the research team in the Institute for the Psychology of Elite Performance has specific expertise. In other words, you will learn directly from the team that has conducted much of this research.
Learning Units
- Introduction to module and assessment overview
- Early Personality theory
- Contemporary Personality theory
- Specific Personality Traits in Specific Performance Contexts
- The Specific Case of Personality and Risk-taking
- Module recap review, live seminar/lecture and assessment details
Course Cost
Entry Requirements
Candidates will typically require at least a 2.ii honours degree. We also encourage applications from those with non-graduate or alternative professional qualifications and from those who can demonstrate at least 3 years relevant work experience within a high-performance environment (e.g. as an athlete, coach, professional musician, business or finance executive or within a broad range of other professional roles).
Application
How to Apply
Please make sure you read and follow the step-by-step application guide as this will specify which sections of the application form are compulsory for the type of course you want to apply for and save you time.
Please prepare the following information (in a Word document):
- Current employment details;
- Years of experience, and employment history (where relevant)
- Name of staff member and organisation that have approved your funding for this module.
This will speed up the process of completing the application form.
To apply for this course, you need to create an account in our APPLICANT PORTAL
You will need access to the email address you specify while creating your account to confirm it.
After creating an account, you will see a homepage with several tabs:
- Personal
- Programme
- Info
- Contact
- Education
- Employment
- Language
- Finance
You need to complete all sections before submitting your application.
When a section is complete, a ‘tick’ symbol will appear below it.
- Click on ‘Non-graduating applications / Stand alone Modules’, then select ‘Non-graduating postgraduate’.
- In the next section, select Non-Graduating Taught Modules in Sport Health and Excercise Science (NGGT/SHES) Click Save and Continue.
- On the next page, the default for the first question is Full Time. You need to change this to ‘Part time’:
- You now need to input the module code. Understanding Personality: the code is JXH-4102. This section must be completed for your application to be processed.
- You also need to state the start date. Please make your selection, then click ‘Save and Continue’.
- IMPORTANT: You do not need to write a personal statement to apply for this course. Instead, please upload the document including employment, experience and education information that you have created prior to starting the application that contains the name of your current employer, the number of years of experience you have, and your highest qualification to date. Click Save and continue.
You only need to enter the details of your highest qualification to date, e.g. if you have a postgraduate qualification, please only only include this.
You will be asked for evidence of the qualification. Please either upload a copy of your qualification if it's easily accessible, or upload the Word document again (that you prepared earlier).
details not required as you've already prepared this
Please scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘I have no employment history’ (as you have already provided this in your Word document).
If you are self-funding, please provide all details as appropriate.