BSc (Hons) Psychology

Semester 1

Communication Skills

You will develop communication skills and understanding of different methods and styles of communication. You will consider appropriate methods of communication in both formal and informal environments. You will develop your understanding of social media and how to use it effectively. By looking back at previous activities and considering the choices you made and how you may do things differently in the future, you will enhance your skills on reflection.

Digital and Research Skills

You will learn how to navigate responsibly around the internet using different search engines and resources, including AI, and will develop your understanding of how to stay safe online and create an appropriate online presence. Learn about interpreting information you find; how relevant and accurate it is and how to present it. Discover a variety of learning resources and understand the importance of academic integrity. 

Sustainability and Society

You will explore the UN Sustainable Development Goals and how sustainability has a wider impact on society. A problem-solving approach to global sustainability will be adopted and you will be encouraged to think about the role you and others play in addressing sustainability issues and an understanding of who is accountable. Also looking at both the broad concepts of sustainability and the aspects which are relevant to your chosen discipline.

Semester 2

Foundation Year Project

Develop your research skills by learning how to choose, plan and carry out an investigation into a chosen topic. Discover the importance of ethics when conducting research and practice presenting research. This module helps prepare you for entry onto Level 4 of the degree programme through the formative e-portfolio containing a log of activities, your 2000 word written project and your video presentation.

Shaping Skills for Success

This module will enable you to develop wider skills that are needed to succeed during your studies and beyond. You will be introduced to different types of skills and how to track and reflect on your skills development. You will develop your skills by participating in sessions focused on specific skills and hearing from a variety of guest speakers. You will take part in a group challenge designed to develop your teamwork and communication skills and reflect on the skills you develop during this module as part of your Foundation Year Project.       

Core Concepts of Psychology

Introducing you to some of the key theoretical concepts in psychology. In addition, you will be encouraged to reflect on some of these areas and think critically about some of the implications of the theories. You will also be given the opportunity to develop your research skills and group work in preparation for planning and completing coursework.

Choose one*:

• Core Concepts of Law
• Core Concepts of Computer Science
• Core Concepts of Criminology and Policing
• Core Concepts of Business

*Options available are indicative and available subject to numbers and the campus chosen. Students will also complete the Shaping Skills for Success programme.

Full-time

• The Psychology of Mental Health
  This module introduces core concepts in the psychology of mental health, evaluating historical and contemporary perspectives on psychological distress. By contrasting clinical diagnosis with psychological formulation, you will develop advanced critical evaluation and diagnostic problem solving skills. You will examine the complex aetiology and treatments surrounding psychosis, addiction, neurodiversity, and severe distress, prioritising the lived experiences of individuals. You will build the clinical data literacy and communication skills necessary to navigate high stakes healthcare environments. 
• Understanding the Person
  This module introduces foundational concepts in personality and developmental psychology, tracing the historical, philosophical, and scientific influences that shape our understanding of individuality. By evaluating psychodynamic, humanistic, and social learning theories alongside language and cognitive development, you will build essential skills in scientific inquiry and critical evaluation. You will analyse empirical evidence to navigate complex conceptual conflicts, such as the nature nurture debate and theories of intelligence. 
• Academic and Career Success
  This module aligns your future career aspirations with the vital competencies required for both academic excellence and graduate employment. Focusing on long term career planning and professional identity, you will build actionable strategies while developing key skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and digital fluency. You will master effective oral and written communication alongside collaborative teamwork. The module cultivates a growth mindset, personal resilience, and proactive wellbeing management. Your development culminates in a comprehensive professional portfolio, mapping your readiness for the modern workplace. 
  
• Research Methods Design
  This module introduces the core building blocks of psychological research, teaching you how to design reliable studies, handle ethical issues, and analyse complex information. By exploring qualitative and quantitative research methods including experiments, surveys, interviews, and sorting data by themes you will master how to collect and evaluate evidence. You will develop highly practical workplace skills, including advanced math confidence, hands on experience with industry software (SPSS and NVivo), and sharp critical thinking. Through interactive case studies, ethical debates, and weekly practice quizzes, you will strengthen your practical problem solving and professional communication skills. 
  
• Brain and Behaviour
  This module introduces foundational cognitive and biopsychological perspectives, exploring the intricate relationship between brain architecture and human functionality. By analysing functional neuroanatomy, neuron structures, and synaptic activity, you will develop key skills in scientific inquiry and data literacy. You will examine the biological mechanisms driving language, memory, attention, reproductive behaviour, and the impacts of drugs and psychopathology, sharpening your critical evaluation. 
  
• AI Literacy for the Future Professional 
  This module explores the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in modern business, equipping you to leverage AI tools responsibly within academic study and your future career. By evaluating ethical frameworks, accountability, and the impact of technology on privacy and sustainability, you will develop advanced skills in ethical awareness and strategic problem solving. You will master effective, data driven working practices while mitigating risks to maintain academic and professional integrity. 
  

Full-time

• Neuroscience of Behaviour
  This module explores the biological foundations of human behaviour, examining how genetics, anatomy, and physiology shape our actions and experiences. By investigating the neural roots of sleep, memory storage, psychopathology, and emotion, you will develop advanced skills in scientific inquiry and data literacy. You will master critical research methodologies, including the interpretation of physiological signals and brain imaging techniques. Through engaging with real world case studies and collaborative formative tasks, you will learn to decode complex brain behaviour relationships and apply evidence based decision making. 
• Lifespan Development
  This module explores key theories of human psychological development across the entire life course, from prenatal genetics and infancy through to older age, death, and dying. By critically evaluating foundational developmental theories against contemporary empirical evidence, you will build robust skills in scientific inquiry and critical evaluation. You will investigate practical strategies to enhance psychological wellbeing at every stage of life, developing strong problem solving and ethical awareness. 
• Personality and Individual Differences
  This module explores historical and contemporary perspectives on personality and individual differences, examining how diverse theoretical frameworks explain the complexities of human behaviour. By evaluating psychoanalytic, trait, and evolutionary theories against empirical evidence, you will develop advanced skills in critical evaluation and psychometric data literacy. You will investigate the challenges of testing, assessing, and classifying clinical personality disorders, sharpening your diagnostic problem solving. 
• Mixed Methods Research
  This module equips you with the essential quantitative and qualitative methodologies required to conduct rigorous psychological research. You will master advanced statistical analytics, spanning normal distributions, parametric and non parametric tests of difference, ANOVA, and regression analysis. You will build expert skills in qualitative reflective analysis, including thematic analysis, grounded theory, and narrative transcription. 
• Social and Critical Psychology
  This module introduces advanced topics and alternative perspectives within social psychology, challenging mainstream experimental viewpoints through a critical lens. Exploring the social identity approach, social constructionism, and the psychology of the self, you will develop premium skills in critical evaluation and systemic thinking. You will analyse group dynamics, leadership, crowd behaviour, and the roots of prejudice, applying these insights to community focused settings. Delivered via weekly lectures and collaborative workshops, this module builds your strategic problem solving and communication skills as you debate evaluate real world case studies, and navigate complex ethical dilemmas within contemporary society. 
• Cognitive Psychology
  This module explores foundational theories, concepts, and empirical research concerning human cognition, tracing its historical roots to modern conceptual frameworks. By evaluating evidence from behavioural experiments, computational models, and neuropsychological investigations, you will develop advanced skills in scientific inquiry and data literacy. You will examine the mental representations underlying perception, attention, memory, language, and social cognition, alongside reasoning and consciousness. 
  

Take your studies global. Our undergraduates can now spend a semester abroad at one of our international partner institutions. It's a unique chance to experience a new culture, expand your horizons, and learn in an exciting new environment.*

*Subject to approval.

Full-time

• Work Based Learning
  This module provides a structured opportunity for applied professional development, bridging academic psychological principles with hands on clinical or corporate experience. Undertaking a minimum 40-hour voluntary placement across two semesters, you will cultivate essential workplace competencies, including advanced communication skills, health and safety awareness, and career planning. 
• Mental Health and Wellbeing
  This module delivers a comprehensive, in depth evaluation of psychological distress, systemic health inequalities, and structural neurodiversity. By contrasting traditional diagnostic models with psychological formulation, you will develop premium skills in clinical data literacy and diagnostic problem solving. You will analyse contemporary aetiological frameworks, behavioural changes, trauma informed interventions, and the vital lived experience movement, actively challenging stigma and discrimination. 
• Dissertation
  Your dissertation enables you to conduct an independent, supervised research project combining theoretical critique with empirical psychological investigation. Synthesizing advanced research methods, you will master electronic literature exploration, hypothesis generation, and robust methodological design. You will build high level skills in data collection, complex analysis, and critical evaluation while navigating strict ethical, practical, and health and safety parameters. Your research culminates in a concise, publication-ready scholarly report, showcasing your subject expertise and scientific communication. 

Optional modules* (choose 2):

• Emotions in Psychology 
  This module delivers an advanced evaluation of affective science, exploring how emotions, moods, and feelings function within an integrated model of the brain, behaviour, and environment. Drawing on psychology and neuroscience, you will develop premium skills in systemic thinking and critical evaluation by analysing adaptive emotional regulation alongside maladaptive affective disorders like anxiety and depression. You will master the translational application of emotion research across practitioner fields, including forensic, clinical, and cyberpsychology. 
• New Sports and Exercise Psychology 
  This module focuses on how psychological principles support athletes and exercisers across varied performance contexts. By exploring motivation, self regulation, and emotional control, you will develop advanced skills in critical evaluation and strategic problem solving. You will learn to translate core psychological models into effective interventions that enhance performance, bolster wellbeing, and encourage sustained physical activity. 
• New Neuropsychological Disorders and Rehabilitation 
  This module delivers an in-depth exploration of neuropsychological disorders, analysing how brain dysfunction drives cognitive, behavioural, and emotional impairments. By investigating neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, and rare atypical conditions, you will develop premium skills in diagnostic problem solving and critical evaluation. You will master the application of modern assessment methods, neuroimaging, biomarkers, and targeted neurorehabilitation strategies while prioritizing patients' lived experiences. 
• New Society and Punishment 
  This module delivers a critical evaluation of the social, political, and cultural forces that shape modern justice and penal systems. By analysing the evolution of criminological theories, you will develop premium skills in systemic thinking and social responsibility. You will investigate pressing global issues, including mass incarceration, racial and gender disparities, the criminalization of migration, and changing policies surrounding state surveillance and sex work. 
• New Current Issues in Psychology 
  This module delivers an in depth exploration of the defining contemporary issues shaping global society and the discipline of psychology today. By evaluating environmental ethics, cyberpsychology, and future AI technologies, you will build advanced skills in systemic thinking and critical evaluation. You will investigate maladaptive human responses to modern social pressures alongside the replication crisis challenging global psychological science. 
• New Forensic and Criminal Psychology 
  This module delivers a critical understanding of the core principles defining forensic, criminal, and investigative psychology. By distinguishing psychological frameworks from legal and policing paradigms, you will build premium skills in critical evaluation and social responsibility. You will analyse high-stakes real world phenomena including theories of crime, eyewitness memory, false confessions, serial murder, and offender profiling while exploring practitioner roles in prison treatment and hostage negotiation. 
• New Health Psychology
  This module delivers a comprehensive overview of how psychological principles apply to health, illness, and healthcare practices. Building upon personality, lifespan, and research methods foundations, you will explore biopsychosocial factors, health related behaviours, and socioeconomic inequalities in illness outcomes. You will develop skills in systemic thinking and critical evaluation by examining contemporary topics such as stress, pain management, chronic illness adjustment, and behaviour change interventions. 
• Evidence, Testimony, and Forensics 
  This module delivers a critical evaluation of how evidence, testimony, and forensics construct definitions of crime and appeals for justice. By exploring historical and contemporary knowledge production, you will develop skills in systemic thinking and social responsibility. You will examine how marginalised groups face criminalisation through scientific descriptors, investigate the human rights implications of predictive surveillance technologies, and analyse how truth is contested within courts. 
• Crimes of the Powerful 
  This module looks at the damage and injustices caused by big companies, governments, and powerful politicians, shifting the focus from street crime to wrongdoing built right into major institutions. Using critical criminological and zemiological (social harm) frameworks, you will develop premium skills in systemic thinking and social responsibility. You will investigate under policed global phenomena, including state war crimes, corporate environmental destruction, financial fraud, and green criminology, alongside media narratives of denial. 
• New Policing and the Police 
  This module delivers a deep, careful look at the history, role, and cultural impact of law enforcement across diverse social contexts. By evaluating shifting ideas of police legitimacy from the nineteenth century to the modern day, you will build premium skills in critical thinking and social responsibility. You will investigate complex real-world issues, including the policing of protests, gendered violence, and marginalized communities, alongside the relationships between capitalism and state security. 
• International Criminology 
  This module delivers a critical evaluation of global injustices, human rights standards, and the legal frameworks governing international conflict. By examining atrocity crimes including genocide, war crimes, and transnational terrorism you will develop premium skills in systemic thinking and social responsibility. You will investigate the role of global institutions like the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, assessing how states and individuals are held accountable for widespread harm. 
• Society and Punishment 
  This module delivers a critical evaluation of the social, political, and cultural forces that shape modern justice and penal systems. By analysing how classical and positivist criminological theories influence systemic sentencing, you will develop premium skills in structural analysis and social responsibility. You will investigate pressing global issues, including mass incarceration, the war on drugs, racial and gender disparities, and the criminalisation of migration and sex work.

*All options are indicative and subject to availability.