BSc (Hons) Psychology and Economics

BSc (Hons) Psychology and Economics is based in the Department of Psychology at Heriot-Watt University and draws on our well-established undergraduate programmes in economics and psychology.

This programme is comprised of core courses in both psychology and economics, ensuring that students graduate with a deep understanding of the nature of both disciplines and the many impactful links between them.

Heriot-Watt University enjoys an established reputation for teaching and research in both psychology and economics, and both disciplines promote a high level of interdisciplinary research.

On this degree, students will take courses in all core areas of psychology with an emphasis on social and cognitive psychology, which will equip them with the tools necessary to understand the links between individual and social behaviour.

They will also study courses in microeconomics and macroeconomics, introducing them to the principles of economic analysis, applied to individual decision making within a rational choice framework, and to the behaviour of economic systems.

In Level 3 and Level 4, students will take courses at the intersection of psychology and economics, studying axiomatic analysis of decision making and observationally based models of choice, so that they can explore the implications of these distinct, but complementary, explanations of (human) behaviour.

Finally, they will undergo training in research methods and statistical analysis, culminating in a dissertation, which will run across both semesters of their final year.

At all stages of the programme, there will be opportunities to take optional courses, allowing students to tailor their studies to meet their own interests. The precise choice of courses at each stage will change over time, adapting to students' interests and the research specialisms of academic staff.

If you do not meet the entry requirements for this degree, have a look at Heriot-Watt Global College, where you can follow an accelerated pathway which will get you onto the second year of this degree.