Undergraduate Psychology 2026-2027

PS1009 introduces you to major concepts and theories in psychology to provide you with a strong understanding of the human mind and behaviour. You will attend lectures on biological, social and cognitive psychology and participate in tutorials where you will work with peers to discuss topics related to the lecture materials. Studying psychology is beneficial to a wide range of careers including management, education, and counselling, to name a few.  

This course will help you learn the skills you need as a researcher in Psychology, including how to design a research project, how to treat participants ethically, how to present your data in visual format and how to write it all up in a report. The skills you learn will also be transferable to other domains so this course is a valuable addition to any degree.

The Access Psychology Course is delivered at SCQF Level 7 and provides a foundation for undergraduate study. The course covers key topics in Psychology: The scientific method; qualitative and quantitative research methods; cognition; individual differences; social psychology, developmental psychology and biological psychology. It will also introduce students to academic life and foster the general literacy, numeracy and critical thinking skills required to succeed in Higher Education.

PS1509 introduces you to major concepts
and theories in psychology to provide you with a strong understanding of human mind and behaviour. You will attend lectures on evolution & emotion, lifespan development, and sensation & perception and participate in tutorials where you will work with peers to discuss topics related to the lecture materials. Studying psychology is beneficial to a wide range of careers including management, education, and counselling, to name a few.

This course builds on from PS1511. It will help you hone the skills you need as a researcher in Psychology, including how to design a research project, how to treat participants ethically, how to present your data in visual format and how to write it all up in a report. The skills you learn will also be transferable to other domains so this course is a valuable addition to any degree. In addition, you will learn how to analyse your data with a statistical test – which is where this course builds on from PS1011.

This course builds on the material covered in the 1st-year courses, expanding on psychology’s concepts and theories. The course covers three core areas of psychology: language and cognition, perception, and individual differences.

This course introduces students to fundamental concepts and methods in psychological research and data analysis. Lectures cover distributions and probability, null hypothesis significance testing, t-tests, chi-square tests, and correlations. Practical classes involve the application of these methods to research examples from different areas of psychology, using the statistical software package SPSS.

This course builds on the material covered in the 1st-year courses, expanding on psychology’s concepts and theories. The course covers four core areas of psychology: social psychology, behavioural neuroscience and developmental psychology.

This course covers a broad range of data collection and analysis methods used in psychological research. Practical classes involve the application of these methods to research examples from different areas of psychology.

The course provides an overview of key topics in biological psychology including psychopharmacology and neuropsychology.

The main aim of this course is to help students prepare and run their own Psychological research.  As such this is a ‘hands-on’ course, where students will have the opportunity to conduct a qualitative research project and practice using statistical software for a variety of statistical analyses. The course provides a thorough grounding in qualitative and quantitative research methods through a lecture series.  Examples of topics covered in the course include verification and falsification of results; understanding reliability and validity, ANOVA and qualitative research strategies.

The course provides an overview of key topics in biological psychology and cognition from a behavioural and neuropsychological perspective covering topics such as (but not exclusive to) neuropsychology and psychopharmacology, human memory, language processing, and attention and perception.   

The aim of this course is to consolidate and extend students’ knowledge of a number of core areas of developmental psychology, focusing on the age range of young children (3 years) to adolescence. This course will examine both historical and contemporary issues and findings in (1) social-emotional development and (2) cognitive development.

Social Psychologists explore the psychological factors that influence individual behaviours within social situations.  As such, the aim of this course is to provide students with an introduction to the range of topics within experimental social psychology, with a defined focus on social cognition.

Topics covered within this lecture based course include: Stereotypes; social perception and action; self-control; consciousness and mimicry.

This course provides a scientific explanation for social phenomena, making it ideal for students with an interest in individual and group behaviour.

This course builds on the skills already developed through participation in Methodology A. Similar to that course the aim is to help students prepare, evaluate and run their own Psychological research. As such this is a ‘hands-on’ course, where students will have a second opportunity to conduct a small research project and practice using SPSS for a variety of statistical analyses. The course also builds on the thorough grounding in qualitative and quantitative research methods provided in Methodology A through a second lecture course.  This course also features workshops on employability, providing students with information on career planning, networking etc.

The human brain is one of the most complex structures known to us. What does the brain do that makes possible the wide range of activities that humans engage in? This course will provide an in-depth introduction to the state-of-the-art developments in cognitive neuroscience that address such fundamental questions. The last two decades have led to an explosion of experimental techniques and theories that have provided substantial insights into the neural mechanisms of normal and abnormal cognitive processing in the brain. This course will be a window into that exciting field.

This course prepares students for the transition from academic study to the workplace. Through a combination of applied psychology content, professional skills development, and reflective practice, students will explore how psychological science is used across a wide range of employment settings.

This course constitutes the final-year thesis for the single honours Psychology degree. The thesis is an empirical research project, where the student collects and analyses data in answer to a research question. The thesis itself begins in September and the final draft of the thesis is handed in for assessment at the end of the second term. The School has an international-level research culture and the final-year projects offer the students an opportunity to be involved in that culture. A number of student projects have contributed towards research publications.

This course constitutes the final-year thesis for the single honours Behavioural Studies degree. The project within the Behavioural Studies programme is a library-based one. Students perform a literature search focused on a topic or question agreed with their supervisor and produce a literature review in answer to this research question. The thesis begins in September and is submitted at the end of the second term.

This course constitutes the final-year thesis for the joint honours Psychology degree. The thesis is an empirical research project, where the student collects and analyses data in answer to a research question. The thesis itself begins in September and the final draft of the thesis is handed in for assessment at the end of the second term. The School has an international-level research culture and the final-year projects offer the students an opportunity to be involved in that culture. A number of student projects have contributed towards research publications.

This course will introduce students to a range of contemporary research developments and applications in psychology.

This course focuses on two broad areas of psycholinguistic research. The first half of the course covers developmental disorders of reading skills in children. The second half of the course provides an introduction to bilingualism research and covers key questions in the field. 

By the end of the course students will have a greater understanding of how social signals conveyed through the face, such as eye gaze and emotional expression, influence social information processing and the impact that healthy aging has on these processes. Students will also gain experience in critical appraisal and evaluation of methods used to derive theory and evidence in this area.

Human Factors is a broad topic, encompassing multiple disciplines such as physiology, psychology, systems, human-AI interactions, engineering and design. Through this course we will take an applied psychology approach to the study of Human Factors, with a focus on human behaviours, cognition, wellbeing and safety. You will learn via a series of interactive lectures, and real-world case studies, as we explore human factors across a variety of industrial contexts, such as aviation, healthcare, forestry and veterinary.

The Social Mind details the psychological processes through people understand the self and others. Emphasis is placed a range of core topic in social cognition; including: stereotyping and prejudice, mind wandering, self-control, and mind perception.

This course seeks to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical applications in the field of psychology. Students will explore the diverse ways in which psychological principles are employed to address real-world challenges across a variety of areas including education, social connection, and addiction.

The course provides an overview of key topics in biological psychology and cognition from a behavioural and neuropsychological perspective covering topics such as (but not exclusive to) neuropsychology and psychopharmacology, human memory, language processing, and attention and perception.

This course is designed to help students reflect upon an ongoing or recently completed work experience activity (e.g., a placement, an internship, a volunteering opportunity or part-time work), identify and evaluate the skills they had developed through this activity, and apply this to their ongoing personal and professional development. These experiences must be organised by the student themselves by the second week of term, with participation on the course limited to those whose engagement activities meet eligibility criteria.

The human brain is one of the most complex structures known to us. What does the brain do that makes possible the wide range of activities that humans engage in? This course will provide an in-depth introduction to the state-of-the-art developments in cognitive neuroscience that address such fundamental questions. The last two decades have led to an explosion of experimental techniques and theories that have provided substantial insights into the neural mechanisms of normal and abnormal cognitive processing in the brain. This course will be a window into that exciting field.

Face processing underpins human social interaction, allowing us to recognise friends and avoid enemies, identify social groups, decode emotional messages and find romantic partners. Despite the advice not to ‘judge a book by its cover’, people also form judgements of a stranger’s attractiveness and character within seconds of seeing their face. This course will examine how these aspects of face processing relate to contemporary real-world topics, including the rise of facial AI.

This course will canvass a range of theoretical and applied issues in forensic and criminal psychology.

The course will cover both psychological theories and classic empirical findings of the self and its latest research progress, with a focus on cognitive, affective and societal consequences.

Social Psychologists explore the psychological factors that influence individual behaviours within social situations. As such, the aim of this course is to provide students with an introduction to the range of topics within experimental social psychology, with a defined focus on social cognition.

We live in a world that is filled with social bias. Social bias is ubiquitous in our culture and in our brains. Yet, the consequences of social bias, such as prejudice and discrimination, are often deemed socially unacceptable and in many cases illegal.

This course examines the psychological causes and consequences of social bias for individuals and for society.