Psychology: Economic and Consumer Psychology

Master

Description

We are constantly making choices and decisions. We choose a master’s specialisation, select a health care insurance, and decide to skip dessert for a healthier lifestyle. Some of our choices require intentional decisions, whether to buy or rent a house, to save or spend our money after a day’s work, who to date (and who not to date). Other choices and decisions may be more habitual, such as switching on the news at eight or accessing Google to look up some information. Our days are filled with countless decisions and the consequences of these decisions, from having tea or coffee in the morning to choosing a movie to watch in the evening. And if this is not already hard enough by itself, companies and organisations try to influence our choices and decisions, through marketing and advertising. These persuasion attempts range from how to tempt us to buy their (new and improved) product to how to make us save energy or donate money to charity. But how do we decide? How rational are our choices? Are our emotions useful in making decisions or not? How do we sell our own products and ideas to others? As economic behaviours overlap to a large extent with social behaviours, the master’s specialisation in Economic and Consumer Psychology has a lot to offer in answering these questions.

Objectives

In the master’s specialisation in Economic and Consumer Psychology, students will study the psychological mechanisms that underlie many of our choices and decisions concerning consumption and other economic behaviours. It aims at providing students with high-level training (i.e., comprehensive knowledge and excellent skills) in economic and consumer psychology, which will enable them to work independently at a professional level in a relevant field. Economic and Consumer Psychology has a core curriculum with a focus on the integration of psychological and economic theories and practice. Visit our Masters In Leiden page for more information about Economic and Consumer Psychology.

Curriculum

The curriculum of 60 EC offers a variety of courses and a supervised master thesis. The specialisation consists of:

4 mandatory courses (20 EC)
thesis (20 EC)
internship (10 EC)
2 elective course (10 EC)

Master's Kick Off

At this day (beginning of September for students starting in September / late January for students starting in February) your attendance is strongly advised.

During the Master's Kick Off you will be handed important information on how to organise your studies at Leiden University. A representative of your specialisation will be present. You do not want to miss this!

Once the event page of the Master's Kick Off is available, you can find it on the right-hand side of this page.

First year

Course	EC	Semester 1	Semester 2
Compulsory coursework
Emotions and (Ir)rationality in Economic Behaviour	5
The Psychology of Media and Communication	5
The Psychology of Selling and Advertising	5
Applied Data Analysis	5
Master Thesis in MSc. Psychology	20
Choose one of the following options as internship
Internal Practical Internship (IPI)	10
Internship Psychology	10
Recommended electives Add two electives. See overview of all electives
Motivation, Power and Leadership	5
Trainers Course Communication Skills	10
Environmental Psychology	5
The Psychology of Economic Behaviour	5
Decision Making: Theory and Practice	5

More info

Additional information

Contact

General coordinator and internship coordinator

Elise Seip
To be contacted via seo.unit@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Thesis coordinator

Welmer Molenmaker
To be contacted via seo.unit@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Mentor

Thesis supervisor

Student representative

Find your student representative in the overview of programme committee members: Student representative

Career Perspective

A master's degree in Psychology at Leiden University combines theoretical knowledge with academic and professional skills, making you an attractive candidate for many employers.

After completing the master's specialisation Economic and Consumer Psychology, you will: •be able to carry out academic research in the field of Economic and Consumer Psychology. •have thorough knowledge of the subjects that might be of use for theories on Economic and Consumer Psychology. •have specific knowledge of measurement tools in Economic and Consumer Psychology, as used for instance in social dilemma’s, social influence, persuasion, decision making, and behavioural change. •have specialised knowledge with respect to methods in Economic and Consumer Psychology, for instance in social dilemma’s, social influence, persuasion, decision making, and behavioural change. •be able to reflect critically on the ethical aspects of professional conduct.

See our website for possible career positions.