MSc Developmental Psychology

This course focuses on infant and child development and will improve your understanding of both social and cognitive development. You'll also gain the academic skills which are necessary for developmental research.

The course deals with questions such as:

• How can we support social-communication impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorder?
• Does a self-awareness influence children’s memory?
• How does language acquisition differ in bilingual and school learning contexts?
• What does the latest research tell us about mental health and wellbeing in infants, children and adolescents?

You will have the opportunity to take part in ongoing research that the University is conducting in partnership with local education services. This will enable you to observe and participate in nursery settings, giving you the practical experience of conducting psychological research with young children.

The teaching draws on our research expertise in areas such as fetal and neonatal development, imitation, infant mental health, early self-awareness, attachment, pre-school prosociality, bilingual language acquisition, meta-cognition, executive functioning, developmental dyslexia, and autism spectrum disorder.

Our facilities include EEG labs, a variety of eye tracking technologies, 2D and 3D movement tracking systems, and offsite fMRI access via the Clinical Research Centre at Ninewells Hospital.

You will have access to your own dedicated social and study areas within the Psychology building. Our student-run Psychology Society organises social events, study skills sessions, and a range of academic and career-oriented talks.

Careers:

This course will improve your career prospects in the fields of psychology and child development, including educational psychology and clinical psychology. Several students have taken the course to move into jobs as support workers or advisers in educational or third-sector settings or to secure posts as assistant psychologists.

Other students use the research training to progress to PhD research.

This qualification will also help further your career if you are already working with children, for example as an educational practitioner or a speech and language therapist.