Psychology and Psychological Research MSci (Hons)

First and second years

In your first two years you will study the core theories and methods of psychology, covering child development, learning, abnormal behaviour, cognitive psychology, perception, personality, social psychology, and brain and behaviour. You will also learn how to design experiments and collect and analyse data.

As a current student you will have the opportunity to take a year abroad in between your second and third years, in a location such as the USA, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong or Singapore. If you take this option you will receive an MSci with Year Abroad.

Compulsory modules:

• Research Methods A: Basic Skills
• Research Methods B: Introduction to Psychological Investigation and Statistics
• Cognitive Psychology
• Introduction to Psychobiology: from Ion Channels to Behaviour
• Introduction to Learning
• Introduction to Developmental Psychology
• Developing Skills for Psychologists/Neuroscientists 1: Making it work at University
• Developing Skills for Psychologists/Neuroscientists 2: Engaging professionally

Compulsory modules:

• Social and Cognitive Development
• Introduction to Psycholinguistics
• Introduction to Social and Differential Psychology
• Neural Basis of Vision and Action
• Research Methods C
• Research Methods D
• Introduction to Forensic Psychology

Year 3 is designed to allow you to develop your individual interests and abilities. You will choose four modules from a wide range of subjects. The modules on offer may vary from year to year, but examples include: Understanding Emotions, Visual Cognitive Neuroscience and Art, Why we eat what we eat, and Clinical Psychology of Severe Intellectual Disability. Class sizes in the third year encourage discussion and places are subject to availability. For each chosen module, there is usually a weekly two-hour lecture plus workshops and/or seminars.

In Year 3 you will also complete an independent Research Project. Under the guidance of a supervisor, you will design a study in your chosen research area, collect and analyse the data, and interpret the data for an oral presentation and written report. This is a substantial piece of independent work that accounts for one-third of the year’s grade, and allows you to develop in-depth knowledge of a specific sub-field of psychology.

Compulsory module:

• Project

Option modules - Example option modules may include:

• Adolescence: Mind and Brain
• Adult Neuropsychological Syndromes
• Antisocial and Violent Behaviours: A Multilevel Perspective
• Brain Damage and Aging in the Attentional System
• Brain Imaging: a Toolbox for Understanding the Human Mind
• Clinical Psychology of Severe Intellectual Disability
• Communities and Social Action
• Development and Disorders of Language in Children
• Early Intervention: Can we improve atypical and neurodevelopmental outcomes?
• Higher Cognitive Function in Children, Adults and Non Human Animals
• Introduction to Programming
• Rehabilitating the Brain
• Sleep
• The Mind Detective: Understanding how the mind works by looking at what happens when it is damaged
• The Neurobiology of Mental Illness
• Visual Cognitive Neuroscience and Art
• Why We Eat What We Eat
• Why We Remember and Why We Forget
• Understanding emotions: A neuro-cognitive perspective
• Psychology of Popular Media Culture

In the fourth year of the MSci Psychology and Psychological Research, you study a range of modules all of which are at Masters level. You will carry out a three-month research placement and a six-month research project within the School, as well as receiving training in transferable skills and advanced scientific methods.

You will gain hands-on experience in cutting-edge research at an internationally competitive level through a research placement and an independent research project that are supervised by our academic and research staff.

Taught components are Masters-level modules. You will take taught modules on transferable skills (eg. presentation skills) and choose options from a list of modules that include advanced research seminars and training in advanced scientific methods (eg. functional brain imaging, computational modelling of behaviours).

Compulsory modules

• Research project
• Foundations in Critical Thinking
• Proposing Research in Psychology
• Current Research in Psychology

Option modules

• Introduction to Computational Methods
• Mind, Brain and Models
• Fundamentals in Brain Imaging
• Advanced Brain Imaging Methods
• Application of Electrophysiological Approaches in Cognitive Neuroscience
• Introduction to Neuroscientific Methods
• Foundations of Data Science

Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. Unless indicated otherwise, the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2020. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules after that date; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.