Studies in Psychology aim at providing all students with specific professional skills and with a general ability to work in positions requiring scientific psychological knowledge. The curriculum covers five main sectors: 1) educational, developmental and personality psychology, 2), psychology of health and mental health, 3) cognitive and neuropsychology, 4) psychology of work and organizations, and 5) research methods.

There are three lines of research in the department. Research in ‘Social cognition, emotions, and social functioning’ is directed at perception of socially relevant information and its neural bases. More specifically, the research is focused on how perceiving a human face and the information it conveys affects the recipient’s attention and emotions. Most of this research is basic research but a part of it is also directed at developing diagnostic and intervention methods. In the area of ‘Work, environment, and well-being’, the research is targeted at questions of well-being both in the work environment and more broadly, the physical and social environment. Well-being is studied from the viewpoints of stress, burnout and recovery. Research in ‘Mental health and interventions’ analyzes the prerequisites for mental health, healthy development and psychological well-being. It entails basic mental health studies as well as intervention and prevention research for upholding mental health and well-being and preventing mental health problems.

The department organizes teaching with other Finnish universities (Psykonet) at under- and postgraduate levels and arranges specialised professional education for psychologists, leading to the postgraduate degree, Licentiate of Psychology. The Licentiate’s degree can be taken with an emphasis either on the professional or on the academic psychology. In December 2009, there were 286 undergraduate and graduate students and 68 postgraduates in the Department of Psychology.

In the Department of Psychology, the following degree programmes are offered: Bachelor of Psychology, Master of Psychology, Master of Philosophy, Licentiate in Psychology, and Doctor of Psychology. The language of instruction in these programmes is Finnish. However, it is also possible to study psychology independently in English, for example, as a minor subject in the Bachelor of Social Sciences programme. This is done by following the module below, which consists of independent work in the form of literature examinations and essay writing.

Instruction in English

There is no tuition in English. The modules are to be completed by individual study and assessed on the basis of either a written examination or an essay written individually by the student.

• Study Modules taught in English
• Psychology/ISSS