Drama and Psychology

The programme begins at a modest pace and ends by opening up conceptual and career possibilities that you may not have previously considered.

We begin by introducing you to the five main psychological perspectives: biological, cognitive, developmental, individual differences and social, alongside research methods. Additionally, the historical and conceptual underpinnings of Psychology will be explored throughout.

Year one
You’ll take a module that introduces you to the main psychological approaches – social, cognitive, developmental, individual differences and biological psychology (PS4001-40 Introduction to Psychology). You’ll also take modules in research methods including survey work and experimentation (PS4002-20 Research methods and Statistics), and Individual Differences (PS4003).

Year two
As you progress, the main areas covered in your first year are studied in greater depth in dedicated individual modules. Students on the single honours course have the option to choose a placement module. Those taking major or single honours Psychology will benefit from more advanced courses in research methods.

In Years two and three, you’ll be able to study the scholarly specialities of individual members of staff, such as Health Psychology, Criminological Psychology, and Neuropsychology. This means that for each of the modules, your tutor will have specific expertise and will be engaged in scholarly activity in that area.

Year three
You’ll continue your learning, with the same opportunities to study specialist topics as in year two. For those taking Psychology as a major or single honours course, there will also be a dissertation which involves working one-to-one with a member of staff on an original research project in Psychology.

Note that module choices may differ depending on route-way. Single honours students may opt to take a placement module in year two.

Assessment varies and includes essays, debates, research reports, group presentations and examinations.

Most modules involve a mixture of lectures and follow-up seminars. In the case of research methods, much of the teaching is conducted via practical classes.

You’ll participate actively in seminars; these are characterised by small-group work. Bookable tutorials enable you to have one-to-one discussions with staff.

The University offers an extra-curricular three-year Global Citizenship Programme which runs alongside the degree for all three years of the undergraduate degree. The programme includes a scholarship to fund international study (for UK and EU students only).

Further study abroad opportunities are available from our International Office and the ERASMUS programme.

We encourage you to undertake placement opportunities, especially in your second year. The opportunity to take a Placements module in second year is available. Students who take advantage of the Global Citizenship programme can use their scholarship to support the option of doing an international placement.

Our students make use of part-funded Santander internship and placement opportunities. Last year over 60 placements/internships across a variety of businesses were generated for students across all courses including Psychology. These provided students with experience in areas such as marketing, multimedia and product design, filming and editing, business management, HR, customer services, research and analysis, project management and events.

Some of our graduates have completed, or are currently taking postgraduate education at the Master's and PhD levels. Graduates with single or major honours in Psychology (accredited by the British Psychological Society) can apply directly for postgraduate training, in order to work towards becoming a professional psychologist.

The majority of Psychology graduates, across the country, do not become professional psychologists. Some of our graduates have gone on to train in counselling. Many students choose to undertake PGCEs and a number of these are gaining experience for Educational Psychology courses. Other students go into management, sales and advertising, probation work and human resources. Psychology is an attractive option since students learn both numerative/scientific skills and people skills.

At the end of the academic year, we award prizes to recognise achievements in academic success and reward effort and excellence. Prizes specific to Psychology are:

• The British Psychological Society Graduate Award
• Oxford University Press Prize for best dissertation.

This optional placement year provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for, and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of “with Professional Placement Year” to your degree title.

Before your Professional Placement Year, you'll work to secure your placement, constructing a development plan with your module leader and your placement coordinator from our Careers and Employability team.

On your return to University for your final year, you'll submit your Placement Portfolio, detailing your development on your placement.

This Psychology course is taught at our Newton Park campus. You'll have access to a wide range of excellent facilities including:

• Commons building
• Newton Park library
• Virtual Learning Environment.

Teaching resources include EBSCO (online access to over 400 Psychology-related journals), SPSS (statistical computer software for analysing quantitative data) and NVivo for qualitative data analysis. We also have a biopsychology lab where we make use of "biopac" equipment (computerised biological measures such as EEG) for practicals and project work as well as other shared and dedicated laboratory spaces for research.