Faculty of Psychology – Dukes Cambridge

Academic Content
Take part in 20 hours of psychology lessons each week, guided by an experienced tutor. Lessons combine interactive seminars with practical workshops, allowing you to explore key areas such as cognitive, developmental, and social psychology while learning how to apply psychological theories to real-life behaviour and thought processes.

Time to Shine
Put your psychological knowledge into practice through collaborative group projects that culminate in the end-of-week Time to Shine Ceremony. This is your chance to present your research and ideas, demonstrate critical thinking, and showcase your understanding of human behaviour in a creative and engaging way.

Fieldwork
Take your learning beyond the classroom and into the wider community. With guidance from your tutor, you’ll conduct field research in locations linked to psychology, gather data, and test ideas through observation and analysis. These sessions help you connect psychological theory to real-life situations, enhancing your ability to evaluate evidence and think like a researcher.

Dedicated Academic Coaching
Receive personalised academic coaching to support your progression towards studying psychology or related disciplines at university. Whether you’re developing your personal statement, refining your research skills, or preparing for a presentation, these sessions are designed to help you achieve your academic ambitions.

English Language Development
Throughout the programme, you’ll have regular opportunities to strengthen your English language skills — expanding your psychological vocabulary and building confidence in discussing and presenting psychological concepts, including during your Time to Shine project.

Psychology Lab — Memory and Recall Experiment

In this interactive group project, students design and conduct a live experiment exploring how memory works. For example, they might test how well participants remember a short list of words under different conditions — perhaps with background music, after a distraction task, or in complete silence.

The experiment is carried out with volunteers in front of an audience. The format mirrors a research seminar, where findings are shared as soon as they are gathered. It’s fast-paced, slightly unpredictable, and gives students the chance to demonstrate how psychological methods work in practice.

Psychology Lab — The Power of Social Influence

This project challenges students to investigate how people’s choices are shaped by those around them. Working as a team, they design and run a live experiment — for example, testing how peer responses affect individual decisions or how group settings change risk-taking behaviour.

Performed in front of an audience, the experiment exposes the hidden dynamics of social pressure. The findings demonstrate how psychology helps us understand everyday behaviour — and how subtle influences can shape the decisions we make.

Understand Core Psychological Principles
Build a solid foundation in key areas of psychology, including cognitive, developmental, and social psychology. Explore how each field contributes to our understanding of human thought, emotion, and behaviour.

Apply Psychological Theories to Practical Contexts
Engage with case studies, experiments, and observational tasks that bring psychological theories to life. Learn how to apply abstract concepts to real situations, developing the ability to analyse and explain everyday human experiences through a psychological lens.

Strengthen Research and Analytical Skills
Develop essential research skills by learning how to plan, conduct, and evaluate psychological investigations. Gain confidence in handling data, interpreting results, and drawing accurate, evidence-based conclusions.

Develop Communication and Collaboration Skills
Collaborate with peers to test hypotheses, present findings, and debate key psychological perspectives. These activities will enhance your academic communication skills, encourage teamwork, and help you express complex ideas with clarity and confidence.

Module 1: Cognitive Psychology
Examine how the human mind processes information, focusing on perception, memory, and decision-making. Through experiments and case studies, you’ll investigate how these cognitive processes influence learning, attention, and problem-solving, gaining insight into the mechanisms behind everyday thinking.

Module 2: Developmental Psychology
Explore how individuals grow and change throughout life, from early childhood to adulthood. You’ll study major theories of psychological development, consider the impact of biological and environmental factors, and analyse examples of how behaviour evolves across different life stages.

Module 3: Social Psychology
Discover how social environments shape behaviour, thought, and identity. This module covers key topics such as conformity, social influence, and group dynamics. Through interactive tasks and applied research, you’ll learn to interpret social interactions and understand what drives human connection and behaviour.