Psychology

Psychology is concerned with the study of human behaviour and experience. People trained in psychology work in a wide variety of areas in health, education, industry, commerce, welfare and government. Psychology has been a part of a tradition of academic excellence and research achievement at The University of Melbourne. Established as a department in 1946, Psychological Sciences is part of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. It is one of the largest departments of psychology in Australia. Psychological Sciences offers an innovative fourth year program that has been designed to provide students with flexibility and choice in coursework areas, as well as a significant research component.

Entry Requirements:

The minimum entry requirement for Psychology honours is completion of all the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science and a major in Psychology with a weighted average of at least 70% in second and third-year subjects within the major, or equivalent. In computing the weighted average, second year subjects are normally assigned one-third of the weight of third-year subjects.

Please Note: There is no mid year entry into this course.

The objective of the fourth year program is to help students acquire the knowledge, skills, and scholarship necessary for achieving excellence in psychology. More specifically, the fourth year program is designed to provide students with the opportunities to learn the intellectual background, ethical principles, and content areas of psychology as a scientific discipline, and to acquire the general skills for:

• critically analysing the existing knowledge about a research topic prior to one's own research (eg. sophisticated conceptual analysis of relevant content area/literature/intervention program etc., critical appraisal of one's own and others' research, generation of productive research questions);
• constructing a research plan (eg. research design, methods of observation) to address one's research question;
• executing one's research plan adequately to obtain data;
• analysing the data so as to address the research questions appropriately; and
• discussing the implications of the results coherently within the context of the existing knowledge relevant to the research topic.

Students undertaking honours in Psychology must complete:

• three compulsory subjects (which include the research project) (75 points); and
• two elective subjects (25 points)

Total 100 points

Compulsory subjects:

Total 75 points

Elective subjects:

Students must choose two electives (25 points).