Newcastle University

Psychology BSc Honours
UCAS Code: C800 (3 Years)

• Course Overview
• Modules
• Entry Requirements
• Careers
• Finance

Psychology is an experimental science that explores why people and animals think and behave as they do.

Some human behaviour, such as the blink reflex, is fairly simple. Other behaviour is astonishingly complex, such as the interaction between politicians.

At Newcastle, you will study the foundations of psychology in your first two years, before having free choice of modules in your third year, to tailor the degree to your own interests.

• In Stages 1 and 2, you study topics such as cognitive psychology, developmental and social psychology, visual perception and abnormal psychology.
• In Stage 3, your module choices are closely linked to our internationally recognised research in areas such as neuroscience, ageing and health, health and society, and linguistics and language sciences.

Psychological explanations of these varied behaviours range from considerations of evolutionary biology, through aspects of the brain systems that actually mediate actions, to the social and cognitive processes that underlie human behaviour and language.

Psychology therefore crosses traditional subject boundaries. It shares elements with the arts, sciences and social sciences, areas in which we offer strength and breadth at Newcastle. This allows us to enrich your study programme with teaching and research from fields as diverse as:

• business (consumer and organisational behaviour)
• zoology (animal behaviour)
• language sciences (language acquisition, acquired and developmental speech disorders)
• physiology (hormones, sleep addiction)
• neuroscience (the structure and function of the brain)
• biochemistry (neural transmitters)

Our British Psychological Association-accredited Psychology BSc Honours degree provides you with established facts and enables you to formulate and test your own hypotheses, through experiments and projects. 

We place a strong emphasis on graduate employability skills including report writing, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, computing and presentation skills. You can also gain practical research experience through our vacation scholarship scheme and certified research apprentice scheme.

Quality and ranking

Psychology at Newcastle ranks in the top 200 universities in the world in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Professional accreditation

This degree is professionally accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), providing the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (providing you achieve the minimum standard of a lower second-class Honours).

Having Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership means you can join the BPS and go on to further training or practice in psychology.

For information on the benefits of studying an accredited course, visit the BPS website.

Teaching and assessment

Many of the academic staff who teach within the School of Psychology are also professional researchers. Research-informed teaching features particularly heavily at Stage 3 where you can choose from topics that reflect the research expertise in the School, including:

• evolutionary and comparative psychology
• abnormal, clinical and health psychology
• developmental psychology
• cognitive neuroscience

Modules are assessed by course work and examination. In the third year you carry out a piece of research of your own, alongside your choice of specialist modules that are typically assessed by written examinations or assignments. Teaching and assessment methods may vary from module to module; more information can be found in our individual module listings.

Research opportunities

As well as your Stage 3 research project, there are also opportunities outside of your course for you to gain additional research experience. This can provide an insight into what postgraduate study will be like as well as giving you the chance to gain valuable research and problem-solving skills.

All of our students can apply for a paid scholarship to work on a summer vacation research project through the University's Vacation Scholarships scheme. The School of Psychology and our research institute, the Institute of Neuroscience, both participate in the scheme with different projects available every year on a competitive basis.

The School also runs a certified research apprenticeship scheme, under which student volunteers work on ongoing projects under supervision.

Practical experience

At Newcastle, we teach you how to:

• formulate theories
• conduct experiments
• use statistical techniques to identify important findings
• write up research reports

You will also play an active part as participants in staff and student psychology projects from your very first year. This is a useful experience that you can draw on when you are in your third year and running projects of your own.

School of Psychology

As a student at Newcastle, you will be based in the School of Psychology in the University's Ridley Building. We have excellent, modern facilities for carrying out experiments and extensive computing facilities.

All first-year psychology students join a study group of approximately 10 students. Your group will be led by an experienced and trained final-year student who will also act as your mentor for your first year. You will also be assigned a personal tutor who will provide a source of support and advice for the duration of your course.

Socially, the student-led Psychology Society runs a lively programme of events throughout the year to help you meet people from all years of study. This includes visiting speakers, social events and weekends away to visit other student psychology societies.