Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. It includes a range of disciplines that share a common interest in understanding how humans and other animals interpret and respond to the external world. Bristol's School of Experimental Psychology has a friendly atmosphere and, with a high staff-student ratio, is the perfect environment to share our aptitude and passion for psychological science. We are a highly rated research school with a long tradition of supporting some of the most brilliant minds in psychological research.

Psychology courses

BSc Psychology (C801)

Why study Psychology at Bristol?

We work with ideas, people and techniques that we enjoy. We want to find students who will share a sense of fun and adventure in our science. Our courses have a fundamental emphasis on the experimental approach and objective measurement within psychology. Problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills are essential to our research led approach to teaching. Staff are diverse in their backgrounds and experience, but united in their meticulous, astute and inspired approach to scientific enquiry. You will gain confidence in handling and interpreting numerical information as part of our scientific approach. We also emphasise the significant biological content of all psychology degrees at Bristol.

What kind of student would this course suit?

We look for students who are bright, motivated and who show a genuine enthusiasm for psychology. Whilst many of our students will hold a psychology A-level this is not a pre-requisite. Instead, we look for our students to have had some training in the hard or soft sciences at A-level or above. In common with many other psychology courses, ours includes statistics, so some aptitude for mathematics is useful; however, you do not need to be a math genius, you just need to not be scared of it. Our course is centred around scientific enquiry - the final year research project forms a major part of our degree. So if you are scientifically minded, and want to know about psychology as its currently understood, then our course would suit you.

How is this course taught and assessed?

Our teaching is based on a combination of lectures, seminars, small-group tutorials, participation in research experiments and laboratory classes. Close working relationships between students and staff are built through our staff-led academic tutorials during the first year and develop through a combination of taught lectures and seminar-based discussion in the second year, leading to individual project work in the third year. We have diverse methods of assessment including coursework, oral presentation and examination, in addition to the final-year project dissertation.

What are my career prospects?

The multidisciplinary and scientific nature of psychology means that you will develop an impressive range of transferable skills: quantitative analytical research skills and numeracy; insight into the behaviour of individuals and groups; skills in critical evaluation, oral and written communications including report writing and presentation skills; IT skills, including word processing, spreadsheets, statistical software usage; and webbased data searching, data handling and interpretation.

Our Psychology degree is a pathway to professional training in psychology and postgraduate training. About 20 per cent of psychology graduates seek further professional qualifications and you may choose to become a professional psychologist after gaining appropriate postgraduate training in areas such as clinical, educational, occupational or forensic psychology, or counselling.

Alternatively, some graduates will choose to undertake research and follow an academic career that combines research and teaching. Others will find their knowledge of psychology useful for pursuing a high profile, nonscience, career in such varied areas as marketing, scientific and legal consultancy, banking and finance, HR and organisational management, the media, social work, non-university teaching, and much more.

Whatever your career choice, psychology’s blend of specialist knowledge and generic skills provides you with many of the characteristics most sought by potential employers.

What do you particularly like about studying at Bristol?

The wonderful resources, study areas and facilities. I also like the encouragement to think for yourself and question ideas which really gives scope for independent learning and thinking.

Nagham Al-Turaihi
BSc Psychology