Psychology and Sociology

Psychology and sociology are disciplines that address human behaviour and social life from complementary perspectives. Psychology examines how individuals think, feel, perceive, learn and act, using experimental and observational methods drawn from natural science. Sociology examines how social structures, institutions, inequalities and cultural forces shape the conditions in which individual psychology develops and operates.

Studying them together develops a fuller understanding of what it means to be a person in a society than either can achieve alone.

At the University of Stirling, this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to engage with psychology and sociology in a different academic and cultural environment. You will study the core areas of psychological science alongside sociological theory and empirical research, examining how individual mental processes and social structures intersect in shaping experience, behaviour and wellbeing. Research methods in both traditions are developed, including experimental design, statistical analysis, ethnographic methods and interview-based research.

You will engage with topics including cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, abnormal psychology, the sociology of inequality, work, health and culture. The programme develops your capacity to move between psychological and sociological explanations and to evaluate which framework is most illuminating for different questions.

Graduates go into careers in health and social care, human resources, education, research, the civil service, charities, community development and organisations that need people who understand human behaviour and social context. Some go on to postgraduate study in psychology, sociology, social work, counselling or public health, including routes to professional registration in psychology or social work.