Applied Cognitive Psychology (MSc)
In the specialisation Applied Cognitive Psychology, part of the Master in Psychology, you develop all the practical and academic skills necessary to apply psychological knowledge to real-life problems in working environments and organisations.
Part of
Maurits van Heusden
Former Applied Cognitive Psychology student
This specialisation is very practical by nature. It features consultancy-like team assignments, a visit to a professional to assess their cognitive load at work and a school trip to an IT consulting firm. If you like, you can even do your internship abroad. Fun and useful stuff!
Lars
Student Applied Cognitive Psychology
'The Applied Cognitive Psychology program is really special to Leiden, and is not offered in the same way anywhere else. It is a really cool specialisation because you get to apply psychological knowledge to systems, products and real life problems!'
What does this master's programme entail?
Are you interested in addressing and remedying important practical problems in society? Do you want to help raise people’s performance levels? You can use the knowledge you acquire in this programme in the following areas:
Cognitive Enhancement
- Optimising the cognitive capabilities of people of all ages
- Advice on the optimal circumstances for performance and learning
- Studying the effects of drugs on human performance
Cognitive Ergonomics
- Developing accident-prevention programmes, e.g. safety research in industry and traffic
- Developing user-friendly tools and interfaces
- Improving decision-making processes: psychology and law, including the topics of eyewitness memory, false confessions and jury decision-making
The main emphasis is on translating theory into practice. The aim of this master’s specialisation is to provide you with a maximum amount of hands-on experience starting on the very first day.
Applied Cognitive Psychology: the right programme for you?
Due to the selected cookie settings, we cannot show this video here.
Watch the video on the original website orReasons to choose Applied Cognitive Psychology at Leiden University
- Leiden University is the first institution in the Netherlands to offer this master specialisation in English and has years of experience establishing an intensive high-quality master programme.
- The special part about this master specialisation is the focus on cognitive enhancements. Because the brain is plastic, you learn how to enhance your own and others' performance. How do athletes, employees or elderly maximise their potential? You will acquire that knowledge!
- With this master specialisation, you have good opportunities in the job market. You can find a job in the commercial sector, or a job at companies dealing with traffic or ICT. You will be challenged during your study in several ways: fieldwork, divergent possibilities for an internship and you will develop a business plan.
The master’s specialisation Applied Cognitive Psychology in Leiden focuses on both cognitive enhancement and cognitive ergonomics. Besides the mandatory courses students can choose an internship position, a thesis subject and several electives of their own interest within various disciplines in psychology. In this way students are able to choose specific topics depending on their own interest and ambitions. The integrative approach and the combination of theory with analysis of realistic case studies make the master’s specialisation in Applied Cognitive Psychology at Leiden University unique and useful for a wide range of careers.