Course description
A psychology degree provides a good education for a wide range of careers. You can follow a specialist field within the discipline, such as clinical psychology, educational psychology, counselling psychology, forensic psychology or occupational psychology, or opt for a career that is open to graduates of any discipline.
Psychology graduates, for example, have gone on to careers in management, marketing and accountancy, teaching and, after short conversion courses, law. City’s Psychology programme will give you a number of relevant skills that employers will find attractive, including computer skills and the ability to undertake independent analysis and to evaluate complex material critically.
Language options are available and you can spend a year studying abroad in between your three years as an undergraduate.
You will join a Department that has extensive research and postgraduate teaching activity. The range of options reflects staff research interests and these will also inform your own research for your final-year project. Particular areas of strength at City are cognitive psychology, and social and developmental psychology.
Modules: BSc Psychology
Year 1
In the first year we introduce the main areas of psychology and experimental laboratory methods. You will study seven core modules and one optional module chosen from a range of other social science programmes. You can also learn a foreign language, a skill that is becoming more and more central to career advancement.
Core modules include:
* Specialist Background in Psychology
* Cognitive Approaches to Mind and Behaviour
* History and Theory of Psychology
* Biological Approaches to Mind and Behaviour
* Lifespan Psychology
* Research Design and Analysis (Quantitative Methods)
* Research Design and Analysis (Laboratory Methods)
Year 2
In the second year you will take seven modules in the core knowledge areas of psychology, including research methods, biological psychology, and social psychology.
Core modules include:
* Research Methods in Psychology
* Cognitive Psychology 1 (Thinking and Perception)
* Cognitive Psychology 2 (Memory and Language)
* Biological Psychology
* Developmental Psychology
* Social Psychology
* Personality and Differential Psychology
Year 3
In the final year you will undertake an empirical research project in psychology and choose six elective modules from a range of selected areas of particular interest drawn from diverse theoretical and applied areas of psychology. Many of the electives are taught by leading researchers and practitioners in that field.
Elective modules are constantly under review. Currently they include:
*
Approaches to Autism
*
Abnormal and Clinical Psychology
*
Concepts and Categorisation
*
Health Psychology
* Judgment and Decision Making
*
Memory: Trends and Issues
*
Neurobiological Approaches to Perception, Attention and Action
*
Normal and Disordered Word Processing
*
Organisational Psychology
*
Positive Psychology
* Psychology as Philosophy
*
Social and Emotional Development: The Early Years
*
Sound and Symbol in Written Language
*
Topics in Cognitive Neurosciences
Duration
3 years; 4 years with a year abroad or professional placement.
Professional Accreditation
The programme is accredited and conferrs eligibility for the Graduate Basis for Registration, provided the minimum standard of a Lower Second Class Honours is achieved. This is the first step towards becoming a Chartered Psychologist.
Teaching and learning
Teaching and learning involve lectures, lab classes and tutorials. Lectures are supported by office “clinic” hours where students have the opportunity to discuss the content of lectures or coursework with the lecturer. Lab sessions are in smaller groups, and involve collaborating with other students, with the support of postgraduate demonstrators. Statistics lectures are supported by computer classes which provide the opportunity to work through exercises with a class tutor. You will also have a personal tutor to advise you and to help you with any academic or personal issues that arise. In your final year you will work closely with a supervisor on a research project of your choosing, usually in one of the active research areas within the Department.
Assessment
Assessment is based on coursework, project work and examinations. The course is modular with exams in January for term 1 modules, and May for term 2 modules. Marks for each of the three years of the BSc programmes are weighted in the ratio of 1:3:6 to produce an overall aggregate from which the degree classification is determined.
