Masters Degrees in Business Psychology, Netherlands

In our progam, you learn about economic and psychological reasoning and theories and how to apply them in order to understand decisions and motivation behind consumption and other economic behavior in daily life. You develop an understanding of the basic principles of the psychology of economic behavior and, as such, our graduates become experts on consumer behavior, financial behavior, negotiation and bargaining. The focus of the program is on basic theories of economic behavior, basic theories of consumer behavior, and more specific courses on marketing and money. Our core curriculum focuses on the integration of psychological and economic theories and practice, consisting of four unique courses is a minimum to ensure this and to prepare you for a career in which you will collaborate with economists, marketers and business researchers.

Economic Psychology

The track Economic Psychology is embedded in the Master's program Social Psychology. Economic Psychology studies the psychological mechanisms that underlie consumption and other economic behaviors. It is an area where psychology and economics intersect. It deals with economic preferences, choices, decisions, and factors influencing these, as well as the consequences of economic decisions.

Career Perspective Social Psychology

With an MSc in Social Psychology, you can work in positions at an academic level in research, communication, policy, consulting, human development and organization development in private, semi-private or governmental organizations. With this MSc, you are able to conduct theoretical and applied research to advance scientific knowledge in the areas of social, economic and work and organizational psychology. You are also able to contribute to many applied fields, because you will be able to develop tools and interventions to solve practical problems in the areas of social, economic and work and organizational psychology and to research the effectiveness thereof.

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Master's specialization in Behavioral Economics

'Behavioral Economics' is one of the specialized tracks of the Master's program in Economics.

Tilburg University is ranked #11 worldwide in Business and Economics (Times Higher Education, 2016).

Address economic questions around behavior and behavioral change

Many economic questions ultimately revolve around behavior and behavioral change.
•How to encourage households to waste less food?
•How to prevent fraud in organizations?
•How to stimulate employees to cooperate efficiently?
•How to foster trust in online markets?

The track ‘Behavioral Economics’ will provide you with the knowledge and skills to effectively address such questions.

Integrate insights from economics and psychology

The specialization track integrates insights from economics and psychology. It builds on the principle that policy advice should be evidence-based and cannot rely on theory alone. The starting point is that individuals are not rational self-interested maximizers but that human behavior is based on a bounded capacity to process information and on preferences that include a regard for such social norms as fairness and reciprocity.

Learn how to affect behavior by policies and strategies

In recent years it has become increasingly clear to firms, organizations, and governments that policies and strategies should take account of both the economics and the psychology of behavior. There is an urgent need for economists who have been trained to take a broader view, who have a profound knowledge of all relevant aspects of behavior and the ways it can be affected by policies and strategies.

Key courses:

•Seminar Economics and Psychology of Risk and Time
•Seminar Economics and Psychology of Social Norms and Strategic Behavior
•Methods course Experiments and Surveys

Career perspectives

This track is recommended to students who want to work in consultancy, policy advice and project management. The insights from behavioral economics are in high demand at financial institutions, insurance companies, multinational enterprises, as well as in regional and national government.

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Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology focuses on the behaviour, attitudes, cognitions and feelings of people in the organizational context.

The study of Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology includes topics that have clear relevance for the understanding of a variety of situations that occur in the organizational context and in which intra-individual, inter-individual, or intragroup processes play a central role. Examples include leadership and power, productivity, innovation, motivation, decision-making, skill acquisition and training.

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IMPROVING LEARNING, EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Better education and training for all are of the utmost importance when it comes to developing our society. In this Master’s programme, you will learn to develop, evaluate and improve learning processes and learning environments from a variety of theoretical perspectives. You will do so by means of state-of-the-art methods and approaches in several different contexts; from a classroom setting to the non-profit and commercial sectors, and with a focus on people in all phases of life. This means that the person doing the learning may be a pupil, student or employee, but also a lecturer, educator or trainer, depending on the context. During the study programme, you will learn to optimise learning environments so that they meet the needs of the learners themselves and of society as a whole.

During the programme you will master an academic educational scientific and systematic approach. You will acquire and further develop theoretical knowledge of:

• instruction design, including
• e-learning
• educational psychology
• assessment and evaluation
• change management in organisations
• professtional development and Human Resource Development (HRD)
• research methods and skills

What can you expect?

1. Focus on learning and learning environments
2. Training on how to conduct research
3. Strong link between theory and practice
4. Multidisciplinary, international orientation
5. Ties to social issues and involvement from professional practice
6. Specialisation through electives

Read more about these characteristics under ‘Why in Utrecht?’

Variants

This Master’s programme is offered in a full-time variant (average of 40 hours of study per week) or a part-time variant (average of 20 hours of study per week).

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