This three year program is designed for students who are seeking to undertake a comprehensive program of study in psychology and related areas of learning. This can lead to further post graduate study and registration as a psychologist. On completion of the BPsychSc students are eligible to apply for Honours at The University of Adelaide as well as other universities around the country that offer Honours programs accredited by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC). It should be noted that in order to gain partial registration with the Australian Psychology Society ( APS), students must undertake the fourth year Honours program.

The first year seeks to provide an overview of psychology as a discipline and as a profession. The psychology courses undertaken in later years enable students to study the biological bases of behaviour; sensory perception; cognition and language; learning and memory; motivation and emotion; social psychology; developmental psychology; personality and individual differences; and psychology and mental health. Since psychology is an evidence-based discipline, students will also have an opportunity to find out about the range of methodologies employed to collect and analyse data relevant to these various topics. In addition to these courses in psychology, students will take elective courses in areas such as Humanities and Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Sciences, Economics, Commerce, and Mathematics and Computer Science. In the first year students undertake one psychology course and three Level I non psychology courses per semester. In second year students undertake two psychology courses and two Level II non psychology courses per semester. In third year students must undertake three psychology courses and one non psychology course per semester.

According to the Commonwealth Government Job Search Website employment growth for Psychologists to 2014-15 is expected to grow strongly. The range of jobs available to psychologists is also becoming increasingly varied. 

Graduates in this program can look in areas such as research assistants, recruitment agencies, government agencies such as Centerlink, marketing companies, human resources or any type of area that can utilise skills in data analysis, critical thinking, report writing, time management, communication and presentation..

The principal aim of this program is to provide graduates with a comprehensive tertiary-level education in Psychology and related areas of learning. The program is also designed to enable graduates to meet the prerequisites for progression to Honours and postgraduate levels of study in this discipline.

1. Knowledge

• All of the core topics specified by the Australian Psychological Society for an accredited major within this discipline, specifically: biological bases of behaviour; perception; cognition, information processing and language; learning; motivation and emotion; social psychology; lifespan developmental psychology; individual differences in capacity and behaviour, testing and assessment, personality; and abnormal psychology.
• The range of methodologies employed to collect and analyse data relevant to the above topics.
• The historical origins of ideas within this discipline.
• Some of the ways whereby contemporary psychology is being/could be applied to real-world problems and issues.

2. Intellectual and social capabilities

•  An ability to communicate with audiences with differing levels of knowledge about psychological topics.
• An ability to enter into rational debate on psychological topics.
• An ability to critically evaluate the validity of claims relevant to or derived from the discipline of psychology.
• An understanding of both qualitative and quantitative methods for the analysis of data collected for the purpose of testing the validity of psychological knowledge claims and answering specific research questions in psychology.
• An ability to produce written reports on psychological issues and questions.
• A basic understanding of how the knowledge and methods of contemporary psychology may be applied towards the management and/or solution of human problems.

3. Attitudes and values

•  A sensitivity to the cultural and ethical issues that may impact on the way that the knowledge acquired within psychology is interpreted and used.
• A respect for people and their fundamental human rights, regardless of age, gender, ability, ethnic or religious background.
• A respect for the scholarly heritage of psychology as an academic discipline and for the past, present and future contributions of psychology as a profession.

These programs have been accredited by APAC (Australian Psychology Accreditation Council).

Graduates who have completed this three-year undergraduate program will be eligible to apply for the Honours year followed by further two-year postgraduate qualification. This sequence of study will lead to professional registration as a psychologist.

• School of Psychology
• Australian Psychology Accreditation Council
• Australian Psychological Society
• Australian JobSearch