Psychological Science

Psychology is a discipline of both scientific research and applied practice. As a science, psychology is concerned with the study of behaviour and its underlying mental and neural processes. Students gain an integrated and comprehensive education in main discipline areas, including developmental, social, cognitive, biological, physiological and abnormal psychology. The program also develops research methods skills. Psychology has many areas of cutting edge interdisciplinary research and application and students have an option to pursue individual interests, choosing electives from a range of specialist areas, including psychology and law; psychology and work; development disorders; psychopathology; health psychology, language, cognitive science, neuroscience and others.

The degree allows students to complete an accredited Psychology degree across three years. The program is also designed to allow the additional study of an appropriate associated major in a related discipline where there is a professional and/or academic rationale that supports the proposed combinations. Majors that may be taken from outside of the Faculty of Science include marketing, human resource management, management, criminology, linguistics and philosophy. From the Faculty of Science students may study majors in neuroscience or vision science. Students wishing to take a complementary major in other areas may be allowed to do so with the permission of the Program authority. Should students choose to specialize in Psychology, the degree gives students the opportunity to complete an additional fourth year Honours in Psychology, subject to satisfying the entry requirements for honours study outlined below.

The basic rules for the degree are set out under Program Objectives and Academic Rules. Students in the Bachelor of Psychological Science program need to ensure that they complete a minimum of 78 units of credit (UoC) in Psychology (as defined below). The remainder may be taken in Faculty of Science or other Faculties. Please consult School of Psychology for detailed definitions of Complementary majors and their appropriate program structures.

Stage 1

• PSYC1001 Psychology 1A (6 UOC)
• PSYC1011 Psychology 1B (6 UOC)
• PSYC1111 Measuring Mind and Behaviour (6 UOC)

• 30 UOC electives 1(see 'Notes' below)

Recommended elective (this course is not required but is recommended as a good complementary course for this program; it is only available to first-year students who have taken less than 48 UoC of Level I units):

• PSYC1031 Science of Resilience (6 UOC)

Stage 2

• PSYC2001 Research Methods 2 (6 UOC)
• PSYC2061 Social and Developmental Psych (6 UOC)
• PSYC2071 Perception and Cognition (6 UOC)
• PSYC2081 Learning & Physiological Psych (6 UOC)

• PSYC2101 Assess Person Psychopathology (6 UOC) 2 (see 'Notes' below)
• 18 UOC electives 1(see 'Notes' below)

Stage 3

• PSYC3001 Research Methods 3 (6 UOC)
• PSYC3011 Psychological Applications (6 UOC)

• 18 UOC of Level III Psychology courses from the elective streams A and B below (at least one course from each of the two elective streams must be completed)3(see 'Notes' below)
• 18 UOC electives 1(see 'Notes' below)

Electives Stream A:

• PSYC3051 Physiological Psychology (6 UOC)
• PSYC3211 Cognitive Science (6 UOC)
• PSYC3221 Vision and Brain (6 UOC)
• PSYC3241 Psychobiol of Memory&Motivat'n (6 UOC)
• PSYC3311 Language and Cognition (6 UOC)
• PSYC3371 Multivariate Data Analysis (6 UOC)

Elective Stream B:

• PSYC3121 Social Psychology (6 UOC)
• PSYC3141 Behaviour in Organisations (6 UOC)
• PSYC3301 Psychology and Law (6 UOC)
• PSYC3331 Health Psychology (6 UOC)
• PSYC3341 Developmental Psychology (6 UOC)
• PSYC3361 Research Internship (6 UOC)

Notes:

1. As part of these electives students may need to take courses to satisfy the UNSW General Education Requirements. Please see 'General Education' below for further information. Where students elect to complete a complementary major, some or all of these electives will be used to satisfy the requirements for the complementary major. If undertaking a complementary major outside the Faculty of Science, students are not permitted to take GEN-coded courses to satisfy their free elective requirements.
2. PSYC2101 Assess Person Psychopathology can be taken in Stage 1 Semester 2 to facilitate completion of a complementary major.
3. Please be aware that not all Level III Psychology courses are offered each year.

Complementary majors available in this program:

• Neuroscience
• Vision Science*
• Human Resource Management (HRM)
• Management
• Marketing
• Linguistics
• Criminology
• Philosophy

• High school degree
• IELTS Academic version only 6.5 overall (min. 6.0 in each subtest)
• TOEFL Internet-based Test (iBT) 90 overall (min.23 in writing, 22 in reading, listening and speaking)
• TOEFL Paper-based Test  (PBT) 577 overall (min. 5.0 in TWE)