Psychology: Social and Organisational Psychology

That was something I really appreciated, and it also broadened my social network.

The most positive aspect of this master's for me was the freedom of choice and the possibility of combining different subjects within the programme. You have a lot of room for individual choice alongside the general courses that are the same for students of all the different tracks. I wanted to look more closely at both social and economic psychology as well as neuroscientific research techniques such as fMRI, and I was able to put together my own master's programme, combining all the areas I was interested in. In the second year I did a research internship at the Donders Institute in Nijmegen, where I was involved in an fMRI study of how the hormone oxytocin influences economic decisions in a social context.

The internship fired my enthusiasm for further research and I am now studying for a PhD in Marketing at the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University), in partnership with the Donders Institute. My research focuses on consumer choice behaviour and how these choices can be influenced by unconscious processes in the brain. It's an interesting subject because such knowledge can help motivate consumers, for instance in making healthier or better choices.

I would definitely recommend this research master's if you're interested in doing psychological research. It's the kind of research that can be applied to many different fields, so you don't need to narrow your focus down to one particular academic career. Some of my fellow students are now working in the business sector or in government and semi-government organisations.”