Psychology

The bachelor's degree in psychology forms the first part of psychological training at the University of Würzburg. The academic degree of a "Bachelor of Science" ("B.Sc."), which represents a first professional qualification, is awarded on the basis of the passed Bachelor examination. With the bachelor's degree, you have the basic qualification for activities in professional institutions and in the private sector, for example in the areas of health, education, work and culture. In particular, the bachelor's program lays the foundations for the master's program, which then qualifies for academic work and further training as a psychological psychotherapist.

Psychology as an empirical science is primarily concerned with the study of human thinking, feeling and behavior.

This includes research into basic psychological functions such as perception, learning, memory, language, emotions and the control of behavior. In addition, psychology is concerned with the study of social factors influencing human behavior and the study of the intellectual, social and emotional development of people over the lifespan. She also deals with the research of personality traits and inter-individual differences in experience and behavior up to the research of mental disorders as well as their diagnosis and therapy.

Due to the natural scientific understanding of psychology, the foundations of scientific work, such as the experimental testing of hypotheses, knowledge from scientific theory and statistics also play an important role.

A variety of different methods are used in psychological research. Subjective data are obtained through mostly standardized self or external surveys, for example through questionnaires or interviews. Behavioral observation and measurement, such as reaction times or latencies, are also used. Physiological variables such as skin conductivity or EEG are also recorded. Imaging techniques have become increasingly important in recent years.

The Institute of Psychology at the University of Würzburg was founded in 1896 by Oswald Külpe. The Würzburg Institute is one of the oldest psychological institutes. Oswald Külpe and his team succeeded in establishing a research direction that became world-famous as the "Würzburg School of Psychology of Thought" and which had a major influence on the development of psychology as a modern science. Today, the Psychological Institute of the University of Würzburg is regularly distinguished by top positions in numerous university rankings.

A natural list of the sub-areas of psychology, as taught at the University of Würzburg, is of course general psychology, biopsychology, differential and personality psychology, developmental psychology, the history of psychology, social psychology, diagnostics, test theory and test development, clinical psychology, interventional psychology, neuropsychology, educational psychology, business psychology, ergonomics and traffic psychology.