Program Overview

How do we understand relationships and interpret the behaviour of others? What drives people to act, respond, remember and recognise things in the way they do? Is it possible to predict with complete certainty how someone will behave? At Essex, satisfy your curiosity about how our mind works and what drives human behaviour.

Our Integrated Masters provides one of the most immersive and exciting experiences of studying the human mind in the UK through incorporating in-depth coverage of all areas of psychology and an exceptional understanding and practical skills in advanced research methods. This will include combining modules from existing courses and building on skills learned to an advanced level of research methods.

You’ll learn from our researchers and work together in the same space via our Research Experience Scheme (RES) which gives you the opportunity to work one-on-one with a psychologist as their research assistant. Upon completion of the course you'll graduate with a Masters-level qualification, a strong theoretical background and specialist expertise through advanced independent research. This combination makes our graduates attractive candidates for many employers.

Our staff have a wide range of research interests, which means you’ll gain a critical and detailed understanding of the core areas of psychology, plus some specialisation. You’ll also learn research methods to an extent which will enable you to devise, carry out and analyse an empirical research project. Our course will equip you with a critical and detailed understanding of the core areas of psychology (development, cognitive, social, biological, personality) plus training in research methods and statistics.

Topics you’ll explore include:

• Visual and auditory perception and cognition
• Language, concepts, memory and attention
• The relation between brain and behaviour
• Developmental psychology
• Social psychology

Placement year

You can also undertake a placement year in which you gain relevant work experience within an external business, giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market and providing you with key contacts within the industry. You will be responsible for finding your placement, but with support and guidance provided by both your department and our Employability and Careers Centre.

If you complete a placement year you'll only pay 20% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.