Psychology with Sports Psychology with Placement Year

Combine your curiosity about the mind with your passion for sport. On this BPS-accredited degree, you’ll explore how psychology helps athletes perform at their best - and how the same principles apply to everyday life.

You’ll study all the core areas of psychology, like cognition, development, neuroscience, and social behaviour - giving you a solid grounding in how people think, feel, and act. Alongside that, you’ll take dedicated sport psychology modules each year, where you’ll apply this knowledge to real sporting environments.

You’ll look at what drives motivation, how athletes handle pressure, how teams build cohesion, and how psychology can help overcome injury, burnout and performance anxiety. Topics range from memory and mental health to child development, personality, and how the brain changes as we age.

From your first year, you’ll also gain practical skills in psychological research: designing experiments, analysing data, and developing your critical thinking. As you progress, you’ll work more independently, including a final-year research project in an area you’re passionate about.

You’ll learn from expert psychologists, including those who work with elite athletes, and benefit from our links with local professional clubs like Hull FC, Hull KR and Hull City. Whether you're into coaching, sport science, or psychology more broadly, you’ll graduate with the skills and knowledge to make a real difference in high-performance settings and beyond.

Core modules include:

Research Skills
Brain and Behaviour
The Developing Child
Developmental Psychology
Psychology in Society
Applied Cognitive Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Personality and Intelligence in Focus
Research Project

Optional modules include:

Neuropsychology
Psychology in Education
The Social Brain and Autism
Clinical and Therapeutic Issues in Clinical Psychology
Criminal Psychology

You'll be assessed through a combination of written, practical and coursework assessments throughout your degree.

Written assessment typically includes exams and multiple choice tests.

Practical is an assessment of your skills and competencies. This could include presentations, school experience, work experience or laboratory work.

Coursework typically includes essays, written assignments, dissertations, research projects or producing a portfolio of your work.

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• British Psychological Society