Bachelor's Psychology

Something extraordinary happens to children around the age of four or five. They suddenly realise that other people can think differently than they do. From then on, they start thinking about other people's thoughts. They become amateur psychologists. When you choose to become a psychologist, you take this one step further. You can start to apply scientific knowledge and methods to gain an understanding of what other people think, feel, desire and do.

What drives a person?

Human behaviour often appears to be predictable. But on closer inspection, it turns out to be less obvious than you think. Can behaviour ever be understood? And can it – where necessary – be influenced? These questions are explored in the Psychology Bachelor’s programme. This programme not only looks at the general characteristics of human behaviour, but focuses particularly on differences between behaviour. Questions that may be explored include:

  • How do people respond to stress?
  • Can mental training improve athletes' performance?
  • What exactly is being in love?
  • Why does one person perform better at school than another?
  • Why is one person friendly and relaxed while another may often seem tense and stressed?

One of the most important instruments available to the psychologist is research. By using scientific methods to do research, a psychologist can gain insight into human behaviours.

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Is Psychology for you?

If the bullet points below apply to you, then this programme could be a good fit:

  • You are fascinated by people and their behaviour.
  • You are interested in what drives people, in their skills, emotions, development and the way in which they interact.
  • You are able to work independently and enjoy reading and writing.
  • You show initiative and are inquisitive. In order to study behaviour, you will apply scientific methods to collect data about people.
  • You have a pre-university diploma equivalent to a Dutch VWO diploma.
  • You must have pre-university-level Mathematics because of the amount of research and statistics in the programme.
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Why study Psychology at the UvA?

  • Psychology at the UvA offers you a choice of many different Bachelor’s specialisations.
  • You will be taught by leading researchers, and our lab offers excellent facilities for research.
  • As well as large-scale lectures (in English), you will attend more intimate tutorials where you will explore issues in depth with your fellow students. These tutorials are offered in both English-language and Dutch-language versions.
  • The Roeterseiland campus is an open, city campus located in the vibrant heart of Amsterdam.
  • You can spend part of your study programme abroad. We have a wide network of contacts with universities across the world.

Perhaps you want even more? We offer a unique Honours programme and an extensive choice of minors.

Get an impression of our Bachelor's Day

Want to see the whole presentation? Let us know by emailing our communication office.

Selection Procedure

The Psychology programme will get a numerus fixus for 2018-2019. As with all numerus fixus programmes prospective students have to register through Studielink until 15 January 2018.

Degree programme
180 EC ECTS, 36 months
Language of instruction
Starts in
CROHO code

Published by  Psychologie