PSBA033 Bachelor's State Exam

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 0 credit(s). Type of Completion: SZK (final examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Marek Blatný, DrSc. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Iva Burešová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Jaroslava Dosedlová, Dr. (lecturer)
Mgr. Hana Jahnová (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Martin Jelínek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Vojtěch Juřík, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Helena Klimusová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
PhDr. Kateřina Koros Bartošová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Petr Květon, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Hana Přikrylová Kučerová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
PhDr. Zuzana Slováčková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
PhDr. Zdenka Stránská, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Tomáš Urbánek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
PhDr. Dalibor Vobořil, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jaroslava Dosedlová, Dr.
Department of Psychology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jarmila Valchářová
Supplier department: Department of Psychology – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
Preconditions for the Bachelor's State Exam are to submit a Bachelor’s Thesis and to obtain relevant number of credits - i.e. a total of at least 180 credits (required courses: 129 credits, selective courses: 33 credits and elective courses: 18 credits).
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The final bachelor's state exam is an oral exam, the immanent part of which is the defense of the bachelor's diploma thesis and the examination of the mentioned subjects in the scope of the curriculum of one-branch study of psychology:
• General psychological sciences (general psychology, psychology of personality)
• Methodology of psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Social psychology
• Psychopathology
Learning outcomes
Students will demonstrate their ability to link the knowledge of individual psychological disciplines that are part of the final bachelor's state examination.
Syllabus
  • Areas for the course PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY:
  • 1. Concept of personality in psychology; approaches to definitions and concepts of personality.
  • 2. History of psychology of personality. Definitions of personality. Normality, abnormality. Three traditions of research.
  • 3. Nature vs. nurture discussion. Twin studies.
  • 4. Personality traits. Main trait models (Allport, Cattell, Eysenck, and Big Five).
  • 5. Temperament. Classic and modern theories (Pavlov, Kretschmer, Jung, Eysenck, Buss and Plomin, Thomas and Chess, Kagan, Cloninger)
  • 6. Intelligence. Factor-analytic, contextual, developmental, and systems models. Emotional and social intelligence.
  • 7. Attribution, cognitive style.
  • 8. Motivation. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Homeostatic and growth models. Main models (Freud, Murray, McClelland, Festinger, Maslow, self-determination theory).
  • 9. Self-concept. Cognitive and emotional dimensions. Behavioral dimension of self-concept. Main models (Markus, Higgins, Greenwald, Festinger, Snyder, Carver and Scheier, Bandura, Baltes).
  • 10. Actual research in psychology of personality (subjective well-being, dark triad, HEXACO model).
  • 11. Overview of fundamental theoretical approaches to personality research. Theory and her functions.
  • 12. Psychoanalysis and subsequent theories: Freud, Erikson, Horney, Fromm, Murray, Sullivan.
  • 13. Analytic and individual psychology: Jung and Adler.
  • 14. Behaviorism and related theories: Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Dollard and Miller.
  • 15. Humanistic psychology and existential analysis: Goldstein, Rogers, Maslow and Frankl.
  • 16. Cognitive approach and related theories: Lewin, Kelly.
  • 17. Trait approach: Allport, Cattell, Eysenck, five-factor model of personality (Big Five).
  • 18. Social learning theory and social-cognitive approach: Rotter, Bandura, Mischel, Seligman.
  • 19. Further directions of psychology of personality: positive psychology, feministic psychology, narrative psychology.
  • Areas for the course METHODOLOGY PSYCHOLOGY:
  • 1. Introduction to science. Different ways of acquiring knowledge. Science as subject-matter oriented, systematic, critical, reproducible knowledge. The research in psychology according to the objectives and research designs. Objectives of research in psychology - description, prediction, explanation. Basic concepts - theory, hypothesis, construct, operationalization, variable. Basic research designs - experiment, quasi-experiment, correlation studies. Specific research strategies, longitudinal and cross-sectional research.
  • 2. Measurement in psychology. Indirect measurement of constructs, validity and reliability of instruments. Validity of the research - the validity of statistical procedures, construct validity, external and internal validity. Types of variables according to their role in research.
  • 3. Qualitative and quantitative data, types of scales. Descriptive and inductive statistics. The principle of falsification, hypothesis testing, the null hypothesis in the process of hypothesis testing, type I. and II . errors.
  • 4. The research sample. Population vs sample. The compilation of the sample. Representativeness. Probability vs non-statistical sampling. The sample size.
  • 5. A causal interpretation of relationships, Mill's canons of induction. Experiment versus correlation study. Types of experimental designs according to manipulation with the independent variables. Variants of one-factor and multifactor experiments. Sources of threats to internal validity.
  • 6. Within-subject experiment. Randomization and balancing. Design of control groups and control conditions in psychological research.
  • 7. Within-subject experiment. Effect of condition order, the progressive effect, effect of the transfer. Counter-balancing - complete and partial balancing, reverse balancing, block randomization.
  • 8. Quasi-experimental design. Design with non-equivalent control group, multiple time series designs. Specifics of threats to internal validity.
  • 9. Correlation studies. Limited conclusions of the correlation studies. Confounding factors in the correlation study - spurious correlation, developmental sequence, missing middle variable, double cause.
  • 10. Ethical aspects of psychological research. Issue of participants’ deception. Informed consent. Anonymity, risk of harm, debriefing, scientific value of the study. Scientific deception – fabricated data, plagiarism.
  • 11. Research proposal. Structure of the research project - name, theoretical background, research aim and hypotheses, method, discussion, sources.
  • 12. Difference between every day and scientific knowledge, comparison of qualitative and quantitative methodology.
  • 13. Typology of qualitative approaches. Participating and non-participating methods, archival methods. Characteristics of qualitative methods.
  • 14. Symbolic interactionism and related approaches. Pragmatism, realism, constructionism. Ethnomethodology.
  • 15. Background and methods of discourse analysis, Foucault tradition and psychology of discourse, limitation of obtained results.
  • 16. Methods and principles of grounded theory, open, axial and selective coding.
  • 17. Phenomenology, goals and usage in psychology.
  • 18. Case studies in scientific research, types of case studies, their problems and limits.
  • 19. Criterions of qualitative research evaluation.
  • Areas for the course DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY:
  • 1. Developmental psychology: definition, subject, goals, methods (phylogenesis, anthropogenesis, current genesis of psychic processes).
  • 2. Methodology of developmental psychology: methods, types of research, twins research.
  • 3. Developmental science: development and general features of psychological development, developmental change (differentiation, integration, interiorization, fixation), development factors, ways of realization of psychological development.
  • 4. Knowledge and anchorages: phenotype, genotype, socialization, mental development, developmental change, intraindividual and interindividual differences, intraindividual change.
  • 5. Socialization factors in development.
  • 6. Developmental trends (trends). Sensitive and critical phases of development (developmental phase, developmental milestone, developmental crisis).
  • 7. Periodization of human life; criteria of periodization systems, compliance and differences in the definition of developmental stages. Developmental theories: Classic theories of development and modern theories of development, theories focused on specific periods of development.
  • 8. Developmental psychology schools: Geneva school, Vienna school, Paris school. Significant authors of developmental psychology and their contribution.
  • 9. Developmental psychology in the Czech Republic; Brno school of developmental psychology.
  • 10. Developmental scales.
  • 11. Periodization of developmental periods and their characteristics.
  • 12. Meaning of drawing, play and fairy-tale in development.
  • 13. Developmental disorders.
  • Areas for the course SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY:
  • 1. Introduction into social psychology Subject of study SP, SP in the context of related disciplines. History of SP. Basic trends in SP of 20th century, current influential paradigms. Research methods in SP, possibilities of application in SP.
  • 2.Social cognition a)social perception and categorization Associationist and constructivist models of social cognition. Scheme of processes of social perception. Creating of impressions of other people, connection between perception and motivation. Distortions and mistakes in social perception. b) interpretation of social reality - theory of attribution theory of attribution (Heider, Fiske, Taylor, Jones, Davis, Kelley). Theory of causal schemes, basic principles of attribution. Mistakes in attribution processes (fundamental attribution failure), attribution of success and failure. Optimism as an explanatory style (Seligman), depressive attributional style (Abramson, Seligman, Teasdale). c) self-relationship as a product of social interaction Self-concept, self-esteem (Rosenberg, Tafarodi, Swan), ego defensive mechanisms. Socialization.
  • 3. Social processes a) Microsocial processes Basic characteristics of the small group. Group development, group dynamics. Leadership styles. Social influence (social facilitation, loafing, deindividuation, group polarization). b) Macrosocial processes Crowd, depersonalization. Introduction to the intercultural psychology (Hofstede). Ethnic relations.
  • 4. Social Communication. Communication process. Syntax, semantics, pragmatics. Verbal, paraverbal end nonverbal communication. Communication axioms (Watzlawick, Bavelas, Haley, Jackson). Determinants of the efficient communication, assertivity.
  • 5. Interpersonal relationships and behaviour styles Aggression – forms, theories (Freud, Lorenz, Eibl – Eibesfeld, Dollard, Doob, Sears, Bandura, Geen), causes, consequences, control. Afiliation, social support. Interpersonal attraction, theories of human relations. Love and intimacy (Sternberg, Rusbult). Prosocial behaviour. Interpersonal behaviour styles (Leary).
  • 6.Attitudes and Attitude Change a) Attitude theory. Attitudes measurement (Likert, Thurstone, Guttmann, Bogardus, Osgood). Relationship between attitudes and a behaviour (LaPière, Fishbein, Ajzen, Madden). b) Attitude change Cognitive disonance theory (Festinger), Balance theory (Heider). Conformity and obedience to an authority (Asch, Milgram). Theory of persuasion.
  • Areas for the course PSYCHOPATHOLOGY:
  • 1. Definition – incorporation in the science-system.
  • 2. History.
  • 3. Social psychiatry.
  • 4. Transcultural psychiatry.
  • 5. Concepts of normality.
  • 6. Ethiopatogenesis of psychic disorders.
  • 7. Ethic in psychiatry.
  • 8. Classification of psychic disorders.
  • 9. Perception disorder.
  • 10. Attention disorder.
  • 11. Memory disorder.
  • 12. Thinking disorder.
  • 13. Speaking disorder.
  • 14. I.Q. disorder.
  • 15. Instinct disorder.
  • 16. Emotion disorder.
  • 17. Will disorder.
  • 18. Behaviour disorder.
  • 19. Consciousness disorder.
  • 20. Personality disorder.
  • 21. Incidence, epidemiology of psychic disorder.
  • 22. Types of intervention and therapy (synopsis)
  • Areas for the course GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY:
  • 1. Introduction – the emergence and antecedents of cognitive psychology (history, research methods, research goals)
  • 2. Cognitive neuroscience (organisation of neural system, brain structures and functions)
  • 3. Attention and consciousness (theories of attention, taxonomy of attention)
  • 4. Memory (taxonomy of memory, memory processes, models of memory, learning)
  • 5. Perception (sensation and perception, depth perception, colour perception, perception disorders, theories of perception),
  • 6. Mental representation (external and internal representation, analog and Propositional representation, theories and models of mental representation)
  • 7. Language (attribute of language, semantic, syntax, pragmatics, relationship between language and thinking)
  • 8. Reasoning, problem solving, decision making
  • 9. Intelligence (theories and models of intelligence, measurement of intelligence, cultural context and intelligence)
  • 10. Motivation as a process, basic terms of motivation (reflex, drive, instinct, homeostasis, motivation, motive, …)
  • 11. Basic theories of motivation and their comparison
  • 12. Achievement motivation (Field theory, Attribution theory, Zeigarnik effect, Flow - phenomenon…)
  • 13. Survival of an individual and of a specie (regulation of food and fluid consumption, sexual and parent motive...)
  • 14. Physiological rudiments of emotions, psychophysiological correlates of emotion
  • 15. Basic theories of emotion and their comparison
  • 16. Basic limitations during exploration of emotions, research ways of emotion, instrumental research methods
  • 17. Taxonomy of emotions from different point of views: strength of emotions, temporal perspective, ontological and phylogenetic perspective
Literature
    required literature
  • BLATNÝ, Marek. Psychologie osobnosti : hlavní témata, současné přístupy. Vydání 1. Praha: Grada, 2010, 301 stran. ISBN 9788024734347. URL info
  • CERVONE, Daniel and Lawrence A. PERVIN. Personality psychology : international student version. Edited by Arnaldo Zelli. twelfth edition. Singapore: Wiley, 2014, xix, 618. ISBN 9781118322215. info
  • Handbook of personality : theory and research. Edited by Oliver P. John - Richard W. Robins - Lawrence A. Pervin. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press, 2008, xv, 862. ISBN 9781593858360. info
  • GOODWIN, Kerri A. and C. James GOODWIN. Research in psychology : methods and design. Eight edition. Hoboken: Wiley Custom, 2018, xx, 455. ISBN 9781119510239. info
  • MIOVSKÝ, Michal. Kvalitativní přístup a metody v psychologickém výzkumu. Vydání 1. Praha: Grada, 2006, 332 stran. ISBN 9788024713625. info
  • Handbook of child psychology and developmental science. Edited by Lynn S. Liben - Ulrich Müller - Richard M. Lerner. Seventh edition. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2015, xxv, 1094. ISBN 9781118136782. info
  • MILLOVÁ, Katarína. Psychologie celoživotního vývoje : uvedení do moderních teorií (Life-span psychology : Introduction to modern theories). 1. vyd. Brno: Host, 2012, 126 pp. ISBN 978-80-7294-699-0. info
  • VÁGNEROVÁ, Marie and Lidka LISÁ. Vývojová psychologie : dětství a dospívání. Vydání třetí, přepracov. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, nakladatelství Karolinum, 2021, 542 stran. ISBN 9788024649610. URL info
  • VÁGNEROVÁ, Marie. Vývojová psychologie. Vyd. 1. Praha: Karolinum, 2007, 461 s. ISBN 9788024613185. info
  • Sociální psychologie. Edited by Jozef Výrost - Ivan Slaměník. 2., přepracované a rozší. Praha: Grada, 2008, 404 stran. ISBN 9788024714288. info
  • Sociální psychologie : moderní učebnice sociální psychologie. Edited by Miles Hewstone - Wolfgang Stroebe, Translated by Dagmar Brejlová - Pa. Vyd. 1. Praha: Portál, 2006, 769 s. ISBN 8073670925. info
  • MYERS, David G. Sociální psychologie. Translated by Helena Vaďurová - Zuzana Paseková - Milena Bildová. 1. vydání. Brno: Edika, 2016, 536 stran. ISBN 9788026608714. URL info
  • ČEŠKOVÁ, Eva and Hana KUČEROVÁ. Psychopatologie a psychiatrie : pro psychology a speciální pedagogy. Edited by Mojmír Svoboda. Vydání třetí. Praha: Portál, 2015, 317 stran. ISBN 9788026209768. info
  • EYSENCK, Michael W. and Mark T. KEANE. Kognitivní psychologie. Translated by Miroslav Filip. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 2008, 748 s. ISBN 9788020015594. info
  • NAKONEČNÝ, Milan. Motivace lidského chování. 3rd ed. Praha: Academia, 2014. info
  • STUCHLÍKOVÁ, Iva. Základy psychologie emocí. Vydání druhé. Praha: Portál, 2007, 227 stran. ISBN 9788073672829. URL info
    recommended literature
  • BALCAR, Karel. Úvod do studia psychologie osobnosti. 2. opr. vyd. V Chrudimi: Mach, 1991, 217 s. info
  • DRAPELA, Victor J. Přehled teorií osobnosti. Translated by Karel Balcar. Vydání sedmé. Praha: Portál, 2021, 175 stran. ISBN 9788026217091. info
  • HALL, Calvin S. Psychológia osobnosti : úvod do teórií osobnosti. 3. vyd. Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo, 2002, 510 s. ISBN 8008033843. info
  • HŘEBÍČKOVÁ, Martina. Pětifaktorový model v psychologii osobnosti : přístupy, diagnostika, uplatnění. Vydání 1. Praha: Grada, 2011, 251 stran. ISBN 9788024733807. URL info
  • SCHULTZ, Duane P. and Sydney Ellen SCHULTZ. Theories of personality. Tenth edition. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013, xvii, 479. ISBN 9781111835231. info
  • ARNETT, Jeffrey Jensen. Emerging adulthood : the winding road from the late teens through the twenties. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015, xvi, 394. ISBN 9780199929382. info
  • Blatný, M. (Ed.) (2016). Psychologie celoživotního vývoje. Praha: Karolinum.
  • ŠVANCARA, Josef. Kompendium vývojové psychologie [Švancara, 1986]. Vyd. 4. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1986, 235 pp. info
  • THOROVÁ, Kateřina. Vývojová psychologie : proměny lidské psychiky od početí po smrt. Vydání první. Praha: Portál, 2015, 575 stran. ISBN 9788026207146. info
  • OREL, Miroslav. Psychopatologie : nauka o nemocech duše. 2., aktualizované a doplně. Praha: Grada, 2016, 338 stran. ISBN 9788024755168. info
  • STERNBERG, Robert J. Kognitivní psychologie. Translated by František Koukolík. Vydání druhé. Praha: Portál, 2009, 636 stran. ISBN 9788073676384. info
Teaching methods
The Bachelor Degree State Examination (Finals) consists of subjects, which are covered during respective courses in previous study.
Examination by committee.
Assessment methods
The Final Bachelor's State Exam consists of separately classified parts: defense of bachelor's thesis, and oral part. To complete a Bachelor's state exam, it is necessary to successfully complete all of its parts. The total result of a Bachelor's degree is assessed by one of the grades according to the classification scale provided for in Article 17, 1 of the Study and Examination Regulations of MU. Voting of the Examination Board on the Final Bachelor's State Examination.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught each semester.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2022, Autumn 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/PSBA033