Psychology

Something extraordinary happens to children around the age of four or five. They suddenly realise that other people can think differently than they do. From then on, they start thinking about other people’s thoughts. They become amateur psychologists. When you choose to become a psychologist, you take this one step further. You can start to apply scientific knowledge and methods to gain an understanding of what other people think, feel, desire and do.What drives a person?Human behaviour often appears to be predictable. But on closer inspection, it turns out to be less obvious than you think. Can behaviour ever be understood? And can it – where necessary – be influenced? These questions are explored in the Psychology Bachelor’s programme. This programme not only looks at the general characteristics of human behaviour, but focuses particularly on differences between behaviour. Questions that may be explored include:How do people respond to stress?Can mental training improve athletes’ performance?What exactly is being in love?Why does one person perform better at school than another?Why is one person friendly and relaxed while another may often seem tense and stressed?One of the most important instruments available to the psychologist is research. By using scientific methods to do research, a psychologist can gain insight into human behaviours.