Psychology: The science of behaviour
Psychology is the science that asks why people do the things they do. In our department we explore this question and offer some of the most popular and highly-rated undergraduate and postgraduate courses at Otago. We also have an international reputation for excellence in research.
Studying Psychology at Otago
Psychology is the science of behaviour.
You will:
- study the way humans (and other animals) interact with the world and each other.
- examine how our abilities change with age, and what might underlie abnormal behaviour.
- investigate how information is processed and stored using our senses and memory, and how experiences shape our behaviour.
Studying Psychology will give you the skills to think, be innovative, and design experiments. You will critique your own, and others work as well as conduct and report on experiments. These skills will make you appealing to employers in a variety of career choices.
Our research is first-rate
Our staff and students carry out a diverse and interesting range of research projects. In the latest Performance-Based Research Fund rating exercise, the Department of Psychology was rated the top department at the University of Otago. We were also rated the top academic unit nationally across all disciplines when data from other tertiary education organisations in New Zealand were compared side by side.
