Geography and Psychology

Geography and psychology is an intellectually rich pairing that connects the study of space, place, and environment with the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. Human geography asks how people experience and shape the places they inhabit, how spatial inequalities arise and are reproduced, and how communities, economies, and environments interact over time. Physical geography engages with natural systems, landscape formation, and environmental change.

Psychology investigates how individuals perceive, think, feel, and behave, and how social environments shape psychological outcomes. Together, the two disciplines open up important questions about the relationship between where people live and how they think, feel, and act, which are increasingly relevant to fields such as urban planning, public health, environmental psychology, and social policy.

At the University of Dundee, this four-year programme includes a year abroad and offers flexibility to specialise in human geography, physical geography, or a combination of both, alongside your psychology studies. You will develop both quantitative and qualitative research skills, learning to work with spatial data, environmental measurements, psychological surveys, and experimental methods. The year abroad gives you the opportunity to study in another country, deepening your comparative understanding of how geography and psychology intersect in different social and environmental contexts.

A typical entry tariff of 184 points reflects the academic demands of the combined programme at a well-regarded Scottish university. Graduates of geography and psychology programmes work in environmental consultancy, urban planning, public health, social research, mental health services, education, community development, and the civil service. The combination of spatial and psychological thinking is particularly valuable in roles concerned with how designed environments affect wellbeing, how communities respond to environmental change, and how spatial inequalities shape health and behaviour.

Postgraduate study in either discipline, or in environmental psychology, public health, or human geography, is a natural next step.