Program overview
Basic psychology is the "foundation" of psychology. It studies the basic mechanisms of human mental activities, such as perception, memory, thinking, emotion, motivation, and personality. Simply put, it seeks to understand "why people think and act the way they do." Core courses include Cognitive Psychology, Experimental Psychology, Psychological Statistics and Measurement, Physiological Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Social Psychology. If you love asking "why," are curious about human and animal behavior, and excel in logical analysis and experimental design, this major is a great fit. Chinese universities have unique strengths in basic psychology. For instance, Peking University, Beijing Normal University, and East China Normal University all have strong cognitive neuroscience programs, using EEG, eye-tracking, fMRI, and other technologies to study the neural basis of psychology. Additionally, China offers unique research resources in cross-cultural psychology (e.g., differences in Eastern and Western thinking).