This course provides an understanding of how the human emotional, cognitive and neural systems have evolved to sustain social co-ordination and adaptation to the environment. Key topics include: social perception, motivation, attitudes, embodiment, emotion, social judgement and decision-making, and social neuroscience.
You will study at one of the world’s best universities UCL is ranked joint #8 in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2027 and our research is pioneering. UCL is ranked #1 for research power in Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience by the UK’s most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), with more than two thirds of our research in these areas rated as world-leading (4*).
Social cognition is a rapidly developing domain with implications for many areas of psychology – clinical, cross-cultural, health, consumer, educational, organisational, and political – and the course will appeal to students with a background in these areas and an interest in social judgement and behaviour.
On completion of this course, students will have acquired an understanding of the processes involved in the construction of the social reality, in particular how cognitive and affective processes guide social judgement and behaviour, and how these processes are implemented in the brain. Students will have also acquired methodological skills to design and carry out socio-cognitive research which will enable them to address real-world social problems and/or pursue an academic career. In addition, they will have acquired knowledge related to theoretical and philosophical issues underlying psychological research.
Due to the transferable skills obtained throughout the course, we anticipate graduates to go into varied positions across research, marketing, teaching, academia, and management consultancy. Ninety-four per cent of our graduates have either gone into full-time work or further study within 15 months of completing the course (HESA Graduate Outcomes survey 2018—2024).
The Division of Psychology and Language Sciences undertakes world-leading research and teaching in mind, behaviour, and language.
Our work attracts staff and students from around the world. Together they create an outstanding and vibrant environment, taking advantage of cutting-edge resources such as a behavioural neuroscience laboratory, a centre for brain imaging, and extensive laboratories for research in speech and language, perception, and cognition.