School of Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology with Sociology

UCAS tariff 112 - 128 Contextual offers
A contextual offer is an offer to study at university that takes personal circumstances that may affect grades into account.
UCAS course code C8L3
Institution code P60
Duration

3 years

(+ optional placement)
Course type

Full-time
Study location Plymouth
Register for open day
Apply at UCAS.com

Interested to learn how we think and behave and how the social influences and structures of our everyday lives affect us? With this combined honours course, you’ll cover all aspects of human behaviour and our underlying thoughts, feelings and motivations. You’ll learn about the rapidly changing nature of contemporary society and graduate with a true understanding of the interaction between the individual mind and the social world in which we live.

Have you considered?

Careers with this subject
Our psychology students have tremendous opportunities to gain the knowledge and skills necessary for employment in a variety of work settings, from professional psychology, management and teaching, to social services, health services, probation and marketing. Our hands-on approach to experiential learning embedded in the course will provide you with topical skills and experience that you can apply to the wide range of career options open to psychology graduates.
Understanding where your degree subject could take you is an important first step in career planning. Due to the transferrable nature of the skills you gain from your studies, you may discover that there is a much wider range of opportunities open to you within this profession that you may first appreciate.

Key features
  • Take your first step to becoming a professional in your field – as a successful graduate, you’ll be eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the British Psychological Society, putting you on the ladder to becoming a professional psychologist.
  • Expand your horizons and experience with opportunities for international exchange and a year studying abroad (in Year 2).
  • Develop your skills as a scientist working alongside leading researchers with the Research Apprentice Scheme.
  • Maximise your learning with a personal tutor assigned throughout your studies to provide the support and guidance you need to get the most out of your course.
  • Shape your own study path with an exciting range of topics available through lectures, optional courses and project supervision.
  • Gain invaluable experience and cultivate professional contacts by taking an optional placement year.
  • Benefit from studying on a course that the Research Assessment Exercise rates as excellent for research and the Quality Assurance Agency praises for its quality of education.
  • Immerse yourself in an innovative and imaginative curriculum that’s continually shaped by the latest developments in psychological research.
  • Make the most of our specialist facilities – we’ve got 22 labs to choose from, including a virtual reality laboratory with 3D modelling software, sound-proof cubicles with a range of stimulus equipment and computer laboratories. You'll be able to get your hands on everything you need for your own research.
  • To complement your formal learning we offer regular Peer-Assisted Learning Scheme (PALS) sessions that provide the opportunity for you to learn with and from your peers. Share knowledge, discuss ideas, and ask questions in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Course details

  • Year 1

  • In your first year, you’ll study the basic theories of psychology, covering learning, social, developmental, clinical, cognitive and physiological psychology. From methods of psychological research, to information technology, communication and critical thinking, you’ll begin developing important skills for the workplace. On the sociology side, you’ll study key concepts and theories surrounding real world issues such as poverty, social exclusion, work, community, religion, media, crime, education and more.

    Core modules

    SOC4002
    Social Identities and Inequalities 20 credits

    This module explores how and why social inequalities influence lived experience and social identities. It focuses on a range of substantive issues, such as poverty, social class and hierarchies, health, gender and sexuality, family and kinship, neo-colonialism and 'race', and violence and ethnicity. This module explores how these influence culture, social identities and lived experience throughout the life-course.

    100% Coursework

    SOC4004
    Introduction to Social Theory 20 credits

    This module introduces students to key features of classical social theory. These features are placed within the context of the Enlightenment, Modernity, the emergence of modern science and social science, and their use for contemporary social analyses.

    100% Coursework

    PSYC421
    Cognitive Psychology 20 credits

    This module introduces some of our fundamental mental processes, such as learning, memory, attention and reasoning. Across a series of lectures and practical workshops you’ll explore some of the core concepts in cognition – designing and testing your own experiments to build skills and experience in basic research skills, such as problem solving, hypothesis testing, data collection and the communication of your findings

    100% Coursework

    PSYC422
    Clinical and Developmental Psychology 20 credits

    This module will establish an understanding of clinical and developmental psychology. You will learn about contemporary issues relating to mental health and neurodiversity, as well as the history of how conditions are classified, diagnosed, and treated. You also examine how cognitive, social and emotional abilities develop and change over childhood, informing our understanding of their origins and limitations on maturation.

    100% Examinations

    PSYC424
    Social Psychology 20 credits

    Introducing fundamental topics forming the basis of social psychology you will learn about the formation of personality, relationships and our perceptions and prejudices of others, as well as our understanding of how particular social situations affect our thoughts and behaviours. Embedded workshops provide practical training on the research skills and techniques specific to the study of social psychology.

    100% Coursework

    PSYC425
    Perception and the Brain 20 credits

    In this module you will learn about the biological bases of behaviour and the mechanisms of sensory perception. One strand of lectures focuses on the fundamentals of neuroscience, brain anatomy and function, and research methods in neuroscience including studies of disorders of the mind and brain. Another lecture strand concerns perception, with a particular focus on the mechanisms of human vision and hearing.

    100% Examinations

    HIPL400
    Interprofessional Learning 1

  • Year 2

  • With a focus on developing research and practical skills, your psychology modules will give you additional hands-on experience in designing and testing your own experiments to explore a range of topics. You also continue to build upon your knowledge of the core areas of psychology, getting to grips with key concepts from across cognitive, developmental, social and clinical psychology. Sociology topics include the processes of social change and sources of social identity in the modern world. You’ll also learn about consumer culture, ethnicity, globalisation and politics and the state.

    Core modules

    CPIE202
    Career and Placement Planning

    PSYC513
    Cognition and Biological Psychology 20 credits

    This module provides a comprehensive examination of the core topics in cognitive and biological psychology. Here you will learn about the key phenomena, theories and biological mechanisms that underpin our cognitive processes and emergent behaviour in learning, memory, reasoning, and language.

    100% Examinations

    PSYC514
    Individual Differences, Social and Developmental Psychology 20 credits

    This module provides an in-depth and critical understanding of research in individual differences, social and developmental psychology. Here you will critically examine the leading theories that compete to explain our social behaviour and underlying psychological processes, how they developed, and why they can lead to such different outcomes.

    100% Examinations

    PSYC519
    Research Skills in Practice 1 20 credits

    Here you will develop your understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research methods through practical experience. Across a series of workshops, you will formulate a research question, design an experiment, collect data and learn about a range of statistical and qualitative techniques to analyse your findings. This will provide increasing confidence with the research process, project management, and ethics.

    100% Coursework

    PSYC520
    Research Skills in Practice 2 20 credits

    Building upon prior learning, in this module you receive practical instruction on how to undertake and communicate research of increasing complexity. Working in supervised groups across a series of workshops you will develop and empirically test research questions on inter-group differences, presenting your findings in oral presentations and a written report.

    100% Coursework

    SOC5001
    Culture, Structure and Experience 20 credits

    This module explores the relationship between culture, social structure, social identities and lived experience. Drawing from and range of theoretical approaches it enables students to explore the relevance of the sociological imagination to understanding a range of contemporary socio-cultural topics and how these exemplify social change, identity, belonging and social exclusion.

    100% Coursework

    SOC5004
    Contemporary Social Theory 20 credits

    The module introduces contemporary disputes in social theory framed within the context of classical social theory. These debates are linked to historical events and social research that reciprocally influenced contemporary theoretical change. Foundational disciplinary questions are broached, and formative critical workshops assist in developing theoretical argument, analysis and evaluation.

    100% Coursework

    HIPL500
    Interprofessional Learning 2

  • Year 3

  • If you choose, you can take an optional work placement after your second year, expanding your knowledge of psychology in a real world context across the UK. Apply to spend a year honing your skills on a psychological professional/work placement. Gain invaluable experience, make professional contacts and receive a Certificate of Professional/Industrial Placement. Please note some placements may require Occupation Health and/or Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

    Core modules

    CPIE501
    Placement: Psychology 0 credits

    In this professional placement you will develop and apply your psychological knowledge in the workplace, gaining invaluable working experience and connections in a psychological discipline. Our placement team will help you to secure a placement in a vocation of your choosing and, alongside your personal tutor, will guide and support you to achieve your desired learning outcomes and vocational experiences.

  • Final year

  • You will have complete freedom of choice about the topics you specialise in for your final year. In psychology you'll study four current topics from a list of sixteen options, taught by world experts in their fields. A typical year’s list includes options in forensic, developmental, health, clinical, occupational, cognitive, social, and neuropsychology . You'll also choose to work on your own research project, supervised by one of our staff. All of our staff are active researchers, and all of our staff teach, unlike other universities. As a large school, you can be confident that we can cover almost every area. In sociology you will choose from a list of modules exploring issues like media, resources, health, and culture.

    Core modules

    PSYC600
    Careers Planning 0 credits

    This zero-credit module is home to careers talks.

    PSYC601
    Current Topics in Psychology 1 20 credits

    In this module you have a free choice of two topics drawn from across the breadth of the psychology, delivered by specialist academic or practitioner from that field. This choice will allow you to focus and develop an in-depth critical appreciation, knowledge, and skill base in areas of particular interest and utility to you and your future vocation.

    50% Coursework

    50% Examinations

    PSYC603
    Current Topics in Psychology 3 20 credits

    In this module you have a free choice of two topics drawn from across the breadth of the psychology, delivered by specialist academic or practitioner from that field. This choice will allow you to focus and develop an in-depth critical appreciation, knowledge, and skill base in areas of particular interest and utility to you and your future vocation.

    50% Coursework

    50% Examinations

    PSYC605
    Research Project 40 credits

    In this module you will undertake a comprehensive research project to investigate an original psychological research question in an area of your own choosing. Research training is provided across a wide range of workshops such that, with close support from your research supervisor, you will design and conduct an experiment or study to address your question, analyse data and communicate your findings verbally and in writing.

    80% Coursework

    20% Practicals

    HIPL600
    Interprofessional Learning 3

    Optional modules

    ANT6003
    Gifts, Commodities and Crises: A contemporary guide to economic anthropology 20 credits

    This module that uses ethnographic evidence from across the world to examine how humans exploit their environments (and each other) to make a living. Focus will be on how “value” is socially produced, on how to make sense of the different ways in which people produce, distribute, consume, accumulate, and own resources, and on how economic practices interact with other spheres of society.

    60% Coursework

    40% Practicals

    SOC6001
    Media, State and Society 20 credits

    The media occupy key arenas whereby various social groups compete with one another to set public, political, commercial and cultural agendas. This module examines the relationship between media, state and society. It covers a number of substantive topic areas such as environmental issues, terrorism, war reporting, gender, crime and violence.

    100% Coursework

    SOC6002
    Food, Culture and Society 20 credits

    This module aims to provide a critical understanding of sociological issues relating to food and foodways, (the beliefs and behaviours surrounding the production, distribution and consumption of food both on an individual and collective level). The module encourages critical reflection and practical experience of research in the area of food and foodways, with a focus on lived experience.

    100% Coursework

    SOC6004MX
    Health, Medical Power and Social Justice 20 credits

    This module considers a range of issues concerning health, illness and medical power in contemporary society. The module seeks to develop an understanding of the impact of ‘medicalisation’ on everyday life, as well as the importance of social divisions, such as age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. There will be a focus on a range of sociological perspectives on health with an opportunity to focus upon areas of particular interest.

    100% Coursework

The modules shown for this course are those currently being studied by our students, or are proposed new modules. Please note that programme structures and individual modules are subject to amendment from time to time as part of the University’s curriculum enrichment programme and in line with changes in the University’s policies and requirements.

Entry requirements

UCAS tariff

112 - 128

Contextual offers: Typically, the contextual offer for this course is 8 points below the advertised tariff. A contextual offer is an offer to study at university that takes into account individual circumstances that are beyond your control, and that can potentially impact your learning and your exam results, or your confidence in applying to university.

Check your eligibility for a contextual offer

A level: 112-128 points from a minimum of three A levels from any subjects.
International Baccalaureate: 28-32 points overall.
All relevant international qualifications will be considered - please contact admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.
BTEC National Diploma/QCF Extended Diploma: DMM-DDM in any subject.
BTEC National Diploma modules
If you hold a BTEC qualification it is vital that you provide our Admissions team with details of the exact modules you have studied as part of the BTEC. Without this information we may be unable to process your application quickly and you could experience significant delays in the progress of your application to study with us. Please explicitly state the full list of modules within your qualification at the time of application.
Access courses: pass Access (i.e. science, humanities, combined, social sciences) with at least 33 credits units at merit.
T level: Merit, any subjects.
GCSE: 5 GCSE subjects at grade C/4 or above are preferred and this does not necessarily need to be Mathematics and English subjects.
Candidates concerned about meeting this offer are encouraged to contact the Institution direct.
Extended entry requirements
  • English language requirements
  • We welcome applicants with international qualifications. To view other accepted qualifications please refer to our tariff glossary. UCAS tariff
  • Students under the age of 18 at the start of the programme are eligible to apply for this programme.

Fees, costs and funding
New student 2024-2025 2025-2026 *
Home £9,250 £9,535
International £18,100 £18,650
Part time (Home) £770 £795
Full time fees shown are per annum. Part time fees shown are per 10 credits. Please note that fees are reviewed on an annual basis. Fees and the conditions that apply to them shown in the prospectus are correct at the time of going to print. Fees shown on the web are the most up to date but are still subject to change in exceptional circumstances. More information about fees and funding.

* UK Government announcement on tuition fees

On Monday 4 November 2024, the UK Government announced a proposal to increase tuition fees for home undergraduate students from £9,250 to £9,535 per annum from September 2025 onwards. The University of Plymouth intends to apply this new fee from September 2025. However, implementation of this increase will be subject to parliamentary procedure. This change applies to new students starting their studies in September 2025. For current and returning students, the University is reviewing fees and will update you as soon as possible.

School of Psychology: undergraduate scholarships for international students

International students who have met the conditions of their University of Plymouth offer of study will be eligible to receive the School of Psychology Gold Scholarship to help towards the cost of tuition fees. You may also be eligible to apply for the University's Undergraduate International Academic Excellence scholarship.

Additional costs

This course is delivered by the Faculty of Health and more details of any additional costs associated with the faculty's courses are listed on the following page: Faculty of Health additional costs .

Tuition fees for optional placement years

The fee for all undergraduate students completing any part of their placement year in the UK in 2024/2025 is £1,850.
The fee for all undergraduate students completing their whole placement year outside the UK in 2024/2025 is £1,385.
 Learn more about placement year tuition fees

How to apply
All applications for undergraduate courses are made through UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service).
UCAS will ask for the information contained in the box at the top of this course page including the UCAS course code and the institution code.
To apply for this course and for more information about submitting an application including application deadline dates, please visit the UCAS website.
Support is also available to overseas students applying to the University from our International Office via our how to apply webpage or email admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.

Progression routes

International progression routes

The University of Plymouth International College (UPIC)offers foundation, first-year and pre-masters programmes that lead to University of Plymouth degrees. Courses are specially designed for EU and international students who are missing the grades for direct entry to the University, and include full duration visa sponsorship. You can start in January, May or September, benefitting from small class sizes, top-quality tuition and 24/7 student support.
Find out more at plymouth.ac.uk/upic or contact our team at info@upic.plymouth.ac.uk

Why choose Plymouth?

We've redesigned the way we teach psychology. We have listened to feedback from our students and created a curriculum where the focus is on active learning instead of attending lectures. As well as this hands-on approach there are many aspects to the course that we are immensely proud of.
Facilities within the School of Psychology
We have 22 specialist laboratories which can be booked by students and staff. Labs range from single participant rooms through to labs with a range of networked or standalone computers and social interaction or group participation rooms.
Placement Year
All of our psychology students can opt to take a voluntary placement year, so you do not have to apply for a particular course. You will gain invaluable experience and cultivate professional contacts. The process starts in your second year, with information sessions to help you decide if a placement year is right for you.
Psychology Research Apprenticeship Scheme
Every year around 60-70 first and second-year students volunteer to work with a member of staff as a 'Research Apprentice'. With this informally run scheme, you'll get first-hand experience of carrying out research – everything from literature searching through experimental design and data collection to analysis and even publishing papers.
Peer-Assisted Learning Scheme (PALS)
Learning alongside other students on your course can give you a greater opportunity to discuss ideas, broaden your knowledge, gain confidence and make friends. You will benefit from regular, coordinated Peer-Led Study Sessions planned and delivered by student PALS leaders from the academic year above. Your group will be small enough to work together, discussing ideas, completing tasks and checking understanding in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Discover psychology at Plymouth and explore our open days

Annabelle Lobb, BSc (Hons) Psychology with Sociology graduate
MPsych Clinical Psychology - image courtesy of Getty Images

Research in the School of Psychology

Plymouth is a centre of excellence in psychological research. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework assessment, 100% of our research environment and research impact was rated as either world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*), along with 73% of our research outputs (publications). Within Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, the proportion of our research impact rated as 4* or 3* was equal to or higher than institutions such as Nottingham, Aberdeen, Bath, UCL, Cambridge, and York. Overall, we were ranked above Durham and Bath on 4* and 3* research, and were the top rated department in a modern university.
We have a thriving PhD community, with around 80 doctoral students, as well as purpose-built research facilities.
Learn more about the research in the School of Psychology

Staff insight – Professor Caroline Floccia

...I was in my twenties, and I went to a party and I met somebody who told me for the first time about the existence of a field called cognitive psychology… a field in which people study how the brain and mind work… it was a revelation…
Find out why Professor Caroline Floccia is passionate about cognitive psychology.

Our labs

EEG lab
Nemo lab
Soft Lab

Academic Staff