What (exactly) is Psychology?

Psychology covers a very broad range of topics, but at its simplest level it is the systematic study of the behaviour of individuals. It considers emotions, personality, and the way individuals interact, and it considers the neurophysiological, sensory and perceptual aspects of behaviour.

Psychology is a growing and ever-changing subject - that's what makes it so fascinating.

Questions psychologists may ask include:

• How do people perceive, learn, think, develop, behave and relate to each other?
• How does the structure of the brain affect our behaviour?
• What makes people different from each other?
• How does being in groups affect people's behaviours; how do social groups affect what we do?
• How do factors like culture, gender, poverty and mental illness affect the way we think and behave?

And on a wider level, psychology helps us to make sense of the human impact on the world in which we live. Political turmoil, conflict, corruption, drug abuse, crime, sexual abuse and poverty are fundamentally related to human behaviour. Psychology students see their subject as a way to understand and perhaps change or prevent the behaviours that cause those problems.

The Psychology Programme
Psychology can be defined as the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. However, this definition does not reveal the diversity of content that characterises psychology. Psychology can be considered to be both a natural science and a social science. As a natural science, psychology focuses on perception, cognition, learning, and the biological bases of behaviour. As a social science, psychology focuses on development, personality, social processes, and abnormal behaviour. The natural science and social science aspects of psychology are linked together by a common core of research methods, which includes experimental design, data analysis, and psychometrics. Another important aspect of psychology is its applicability to the world outside the laboratory, to assist in the solution of individual and social problems.

The range of psychology papers offered at Massey reflects the diversity of psychology. Undergraduate papers cover the natural science aspect of psychology, the social science aspect of psychology, research methods used in psychology, and applications of psychology. The table below shows how the various papers offered at Massey fit into the different categories. An introduction to both the natural science and the social science aspects of psychology is provided by the two 100-level papers. The 200-level papers offer further study of both aspects, and research methods are introduced. At 300-level, all aspects of psychology are covered in a wide range of papers, and applied areas of psychology are included.

Majoring requirements in psychology are structured so that students include papers from the natural science category, the social science category, and the research methods category within the major. There is also flexibility within the majoring requirements, so that students can pursue their particular interests within psychology.

Note:  Details of majoring requirements for Psychology (BA, BSc and BHlthSc) and Business Psychology (BA) are provided in the Degree & Course Information section.

What background is needed to study Psychology?
Psychology is a discipline that is commenced at university, so there are no pre-requisites. It is more important that students have logical minds and are prepared to learn, putting aside any pre-conceptions that they might already have about the nature of psychology.