Bachelor of Social Sciences in Psychology

Single Degree

Programme Type

Full-time

The Bachelor of Social Sciences in Psychology curriculum is a four-year programme. Students will complete core and elective psychology courses in conjunction with a series of broadening courses in other academic disciplines.

Psychology is the study of behaviour and cognition, and is both a social science and life science. The broad-based undergraduate programme reflects this dual nature. Humans are studied in interaction with others, and to answer questions about how we perceive our world, learn, formulate goals, react to stress, and interact with others. Psychology is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on neurophysiology, sociology, philosophy, and mathematics. A student with varied interests can frequently find a place for them in psychology.
Psychology is the study of human mind and behaviour. It is an interdisciplinary subject, spanning topics from biological science, medical science, neuroscience, to social science. The broad-based undergraduate programme offers students a comprehensive education in psychology, with basic knowledge of the main fields of psychology, as well as opportunities for focused study in more specialised areas such as clinical psychology, cognitive neuroscience, psychological study of culture and social cognition. Students develop strong research and writing skills, and become good problem solvers, with a well-developed critical thinking ability when it comes to analysing, synthesising, and evaluating information. 
The curriculum provides students with a comprehensive education in psychology—from the principles, mechanisms, and development of human perception, to motivation, personality, and other areas of psychology.
 
Students are also introduced to professional practices of psychologists and are equipped with the skills and training need to enter postgraduate training, should they prefer to continue their education. 
For GCE 'A' level certificate holders:
• NTU General Admission Requirements
• A good grade in H1 Level Mathematics
• A good grade in General Paper/Knowledge & Inquiry
 
For local Polytechnic Diploma holders:  
• NTU General Admission Requirements
• A good grade in 'O' Level Additional Mathematics
 
For International Students & Students with other qualifications:
• A good grade in Additional Mathematics at Junior High School Level/Mathematics at IB Standard Level
• A good grade in English at Senior High School Level/ IB Standard Level
Successful Polytechnic applicants will be exempted certain courses that will be confirmed before the start of their first semester.
The Bachelor of Social Sciences in Psychology curriculum is designed as a 4-year programme.  Students will complete core and elective psychology courses in conjunction with a series of broadening courses in other academic disciplines. 

To graduate, students are required to complete 128 academic units (AUs) from the Psychology Major Requirements and General Education Requirements (GER). The distribution of the courses of study and the number of academic units are shown in the table below.

Course Type AU
Major-Core 27
Major-PE 42
GER-Core 17
GER-PE Business and Management (BM) 3
Liberal Arts (LA) 3
GER-PE in Any Category (STS, BM or LA) 3
GER-PE in Any Category (STS, BM or LA) 3
GER-UE 30
Total AU 128

A. Major Requirements (69 AUs)

The Major Requirements for Psychology Major consists of 2 components:

  • Major Core Courses (27 AUs)
  • Major Prescribed Electives (42 AUs)

Requirements of the Psychology Major:

A1. Major Core Courses (Major-Core)

The 9 Major Core courses (27 AUs) are compulsory foundation courses designed to provide broad overviews of major areas of psychology. They serve as the foundation for more advanced studies in psychology. Each course is equivalent to 3 AUs.

Level 1000 courses should be completed in Year 1. The remaining core courses should ideally be completed by the end of Year 2.

HP1000 Introduction to Psychology
HP1100 Fundamentals of Social Science Research
HP2100 Research Design and Data Analysis in Psychology
HP2200 Biological Psychology
HP2300 Developmental Psychology
HP2400 Social Psychology
HP2500 Personality and Individual Differences
HP2600 Cognitive Psychology
HP2700 Abnormal Psychology

A2. Major Prescribed Elective Courses (Major-PE)

Major Elective courses provide students with opportunities to explore specialized areas of psychology in more depth and intensity. The students may select their courses of study according to their own interests and career goals.

Students must choose 10 electives (34 AUs) from the wide range of Psychology Prescribed Electives with 6 level 3000 courses and 4 level 4000 courses.

HP3001 Learning and Behavioral Analysis
HP3002 Positive Psychology
HP3003 Engineering Psychology
HP3100 Selected Topics in Basic Psychological Sciences
HP3101 Applied Statistical Methods for Psychological Research
HP3200 Selected Topics in Social and Personality Psychology
HP3201 Evolutionary Psychology
HP3202 Alcohol, Drugs and Behaviour
HP3203 Conservation Psychology
HP3204 An Ape's Guide to Human Language
HP3300 Selected Topics in Applied Psychological Sciences
HP3301 Issues and Concerns in Adolescence
HP3302 Cognitive Development
HP3401 The Social Psychology of Human Communication
HP3402 Social Cognition
HP3501 Human Motivation
HP3601 Human Memory
HP3602 Reading Development and Disorders
HP3603 Sensation and Perception
HP3701 Psychological Adjustment and Mental Health
HP3702 Child Psychopathology
HP3703 Health Psychology
HP3704 Introduction to Clinical Neuropsychology
HP3705 Clinical Community Psychology
HP3706 Biofeedback & Neurofeedback: Health and Performance
HP3707 The Psychology of Pain and its Management
HP3708 Biopsychosocial Criminology
HP3801 Psychology in the Workplace
HP3802 Personnel Psychology
HP3804 Psychological Testing
HP3805 Managing Organisational Behavior
HP3806 Consumer Psychology
HP3807 Occupational Health Psychology
HP3901 Cultural Psychology
HP3902 Psychology in the Asian Context

Level 4000 courses are divided into four types: Laboratory courses, Professional courses, Seminars and Graduation Project/FYP (for eligible students).

  • Laboratory courses
    Laboratory courses focus on the hands-on training of research skills in psychology.
    All students who intend to complete a Graduation Project/FYP in Psychology are required to complete one laboratory course before starting the Graduation Project/FYP.

The fulfilment of at least one laboratory course is a requirement for graduation regardless if students are eligible to do the Graduation Project/FYP.

HP4021 Laboratory in Human and Animal Neuroscience
HP4031 Laboratory in Developmental Psychology
HP4041 Laboratory in Social Psychology
HP4051 Laboratory in Personality and Individual Differences
HP4061 Laboratory in Cognitive Psychology
HP4062 Laboratory in Human Factors
HP4081 Laboratory in Industrial and Organizational Psychology
HP4091 Current Research in Cultural Psychology 

  • Professional courses
    Professional courses offer students knowledge about the actual work of professional psychologists in applied settings.

    HP4101 Clinical Psychology
    HP4102 Trauma Psychology, Crisis Intervention and Management
    HP4103 The Forensic Psychology of Crime, Terrorism and Disasters
    HP4104 Evidence-based Practice in Clinical Psychology
    HP4105 Correctional Psychology
    HP4106 Mental Health in the Community
    HP4107 Industrial-Organisational Psychology in Practice
  • Seminars
    Seminars are discussion-based courses on an advanced research area. These courses often involve both undergraduate and graduate students in in-depth discussion of the up-and-coming research in a specialized area.

    HP4002 Qualitative Methods in Psychology
    HP4012 Applied Multivariate Methods for Psychological Research
    HP4200 Seminar in Selected Topics 
    HP4201 Technology and Social Behaviour
    HP4211 Agent-Based Computational Psychology
    HP4221 Primate Psychology
    HP4222 The Neuroscience of Love
    HP4231 Social and Emotional Development
    HP4232 Development of Self-Regulation
    HP4233 Psychological and Sociomoral Reasoning in Infancy
    HP4241 Interpersonal relations and family studies
    HP4242 Advanced Topics in Social Cognition
    HP4243 Intergroup relations
    HP4251 Psychobiology of Creative Personalities
    HP4261 Computational and Cognitive Neuroscience of Vision
    HP4262 Multisensory Integration
    HP4263 Language in Perception & Thought
    HP4271 Cognitive Neuroplasticity
    HP4272 Neuropsychology
    HP4273 Introduction to Functional MRI
    HP4274 The Last Dance: Psycho-social-cultural perspectives of Death, Dying and Bereavement
    HP4281 Psychology of Leadership
    HP4282 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
  • Graduation Project/FYP
    The Graduation Project/FYP exposes students to the elements that are inherent in independent research work in psychology.

    HP4099 Graduation Project/FYP (8AUs)

Note:

Students are recommended to take an average of 3 psychology courses every semester (except for the first semester of Year 1).

Students are strongly encouraged to read the Psychology Core courses as soon as they are offered. These courses form the pre-requisites for more advanced psychology courses. A failure to clear the core courses as early as possible will impose restrictions on the choice of courses in future semesters.

Students should complete one laboratory course in Year 3, before the start of the Graduation Project/FYP.

Important note to students going on exchange (both overseas and local)

  1. Students must complete all Major Core courses at NTU.
  2. Students are only permitted to complete up to a maximum of three courses during the exchange and have them count towards fulfilling their Major-Electives requirement.

B. General Education Requirement (GER) (59 AUs)

The GER-Core courses are specified by the School as being essential for the training of today’s Social Sciences graduates. The courses cover areas such as communication and environmental sustainability.

B1. GER - Core (GER-Core) (17 AUs)

  • Communication Skills
    HW0111 Communication: A Journey of Inquiry through Writing and Speech (2 AUs)
    HW0208 Academic Communication in the Social Sciences (2 AUs)
    • Digital Literacy
      HD0101 Digital Society (3 AUs)
      HD0102 Making Sense of Big Data  (3 AUs)
    • Sustainability (1 AU)** - to be taken in Year 1
    • Ethics & Academic Integrity (1 AU)** - to be taken in Year 2
    • Singapore Studies (3 AUs) - to be taken in Year 2
    • Career Preparatory Course (1 AU)* - to be taken in Year 3
    • Enterprise & Innovation (1 AU)** - to be taken in Year 3

     * Online courses that will be offered in Semester 1 of every academic year.   
   ** Online courses that will be offered in Semester 2 of every academic year.   

B2. GER - Prescribed Electives (GER-PEs) (12 AUs)
Students to choose 4 courses from 3 categories of studies.

  • Science, Technology and Society
  • Business and Management
  • Liberal Arts

B3. GER - Unrestricted Electives (GER-UEs) (30 AUs)

There are no restrictions on the selection of courses to make up unrestricted electives. Students can choose any of the following:

  • Complete a Minor in another discipline.
  • Earn AUs under an International Exchange programme.
  • Earn AUs under the optional Professional Attachment programme offered under SSS.
  • Any course offered by any School as long as the pre-requisites are satisfied.
Our graduates go onto a wide range of sectors and many different types of jobs* 
 
Industries
• Public Administration and Defence
• Society and Community
• Healthcare
• Education
• Scientific Research and Development
• Advertising Services and Market Research
• Information and Communication
• Retail Trade
• Financial and Insurance
 
Job Titles
• Research Officer
• Social Work and Counselling Professional
• Psychologist
• Human Resource Professional
• Educator
• Social Research Analyst
• Police Inspector
• Health Services Manager
• Social Welfare Manager
 
*From NTU Career Tracks 2020 
The School has renamed the SSS degree titles to the Bachelor of Social Sciences. The decision for this renaming was taken after extensive consultation with our current students, our alumni and other stakeholders.
 
The renaming will apply to all SSS degree programmes starting with the cohorts that matriculated in 2017 and will be graduating in 2021. Students who matriculated in 2017, 2018 and 2019 will have the option of graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, if they choose.
The Minor in Psychology provides students with a broad understanding of the major principles in psychology, as well as knowledge and skills related to research methods commonly used in psychology. The Minor in Psychology can be combined with a major in a related field and will provide valuable skills for engaging with others and for understanding and analysing complex individual, group, and social processes. With the growing local and international interest in this field, a minor in Psychology provides an excellent background for students planning careers in a wide range of areas. This includes business (advertising, service sectors, human resources, management, marketing, and organisational behaviour), education, the military, the police, the media, in public affairs, the health sciences, social work, and psychology related professions.
 
Eligibility 
To take psychology as a minor, students must have taken HP1000 and obtained a B- grade or better. 
 
Requirements
To be awarded a Minor in Psychology, students must complete two Psychology core, one Psychology foundation, and two Psychology elective courses.
 
Psychology Core
Students must complete the following two Psychology Core courses. These two courses are prerequisites for most other Psychology courses.
HP1000 Introduction to Psychology
HP1100 Fundamentals of Social Science Research
 
Psychology Foundation
Students must complete one Psychology foundation course from the following list of courses: 
HP2100 Research Design and Data Analysis in Psychology
HP2200 Biological Psychology
HP2300 Developmental Psychology
HP2400 Social Psychology
HP2500 Personality and Individual Differences
HP2600 Cognitive Psychology
HP2700 Abnormal Psychology
 
Psychology Elective
Psychology electives are level 3000 courses. Students must complete two Psychology elective courses.
 
Important notes to all minor students
Please make sure that you complete HP1100 as soon as your schedule allows. Almost all Psychology courses require HP1100 as a pre-requisite.
Important notes to students going on exchange (both overseas and local)
• All Minor courses must be read as GER-UEs.
• All Psychology Core courses must be completed at NTU.
• Students are permitted to complete up to a maximum of two courses during the exchange and count them towards fulfilling their Psychology Foundation/Elective requirement.
• Students are not allowed to read level 4000 courses.
• To be awarded a minor, students must not opt for the Minor courses to be graded Satisfactory (S) / Un-Satisfactory (U).
 
The School has renamed the SSS degree titles to the Bachelor of Social Sciences. The decision for this renaming was taken after extensive consultation with our current students, our alumni and other stakeholders.
 
The renaming will apply to all SSS degree programmes starting with the cohorts that matriculated in 2017 and will be graduating in 2021. Students who matriculated in 2017, 2018 and 2019 will have the option of graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, if they choose.

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