Psychology and Sociology – BSc (Honours)

At a glance

Understand the world from both psychological and sociological perspectives on this course. Learn about the fundamental aspects of both subjects before specialising in areas that reflect your career aims and interests. Gain valuable experience and enhance your employability through a work-related learning module.

Key points• Study core subjects before specialising.
• Learn specialist research skills.
• Enhance your employability with our project management module.

What is psychology and sociology?
Psychology is the study of what drives human behaviour, such as brain/physiology, learning, genes, environment, social groups, individual differences in personality, and motivation. It focuses on an exploration of behaviour, thoughts and feelings, at an individual or group level.

Sociology is the study of what drives social activity, such as social policy, welfare, social structure, class, social mobility, and religion. It focuses on topics including the self and society, how we create, make sense of and are influenced by social worlds, the shaping and changing of societies, and the interactions between people in society.

This course

Gain a good understanding of both psychological and sociological perspectives of the world, on this course.

The course is ideal if you have an interest in
• the ways people behave and possible sociological and psychological explanations
• a career in a psychology-related discipline
• challenging commonsense views of the social world
• applying theoretical and methodological approaches to the real world

You study core modules in psychology and sociology for two years. In your final year, you also have the opportunity to study specialist option modules in the subjects that most suit your career aims and interests.

You also combine the skills and knowledge you have gained by carrying out an independent psychology research project. This is a great opportunity to develop your research skills as you have access to our research cubicles where you can use a range of psychological tools, conduct interviews or psychometric assessments.

As part of developing your research knowledge and skills, throughout the course you gain an insight into the varied and interesting research undertaken in the department. This research uses our specialist research facilities which includes an observation suite, eye-tracking technology and electroencephalography (EEG) equipment.

We support your future employment by building your career development and key employability skills. For example, you complete a work-related project management module, where you work as part of a project team to identify goals, take action and provide solutions. This module enables you to experience the challenges of implementing psychology and sociology knowledge and skills in real world contexts.

The projects for this module are typically sourced by the award winning Venture Matrix, one of the University’s work-based learning schemes. In previous years, projects worked on by students have included • market research for an external client • website development for a charity against human trafficking.

Each year you complete an academic and professional development module. These modules help to strengthen your competence and confidence in your academic skills, and you also learn about career management strategies and personal development planning. The modules are taught in small tutorial groups which enables you to have regular contact with your academic support tutor, and to tailor the support you receive to your individual needs.