The Oxbridge Psychology Reading List

When asked why they love Psychology, many aspiring Psychology students will cite its breadth. Psychology is a vast discipline, made up of many different areas. From Social Psychology to Biopsychology, pretty much any aspect of the human experience falls under its remit.

While there are many reading lists out there, some fail to appreciate all areas of Psychology, often focusing on Clinical Psychology, or featuring the same books time and time again (I think we all know Sacks’ ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat' by now). As part of the undergraduate study of Psychology, you need to cover 7 main areas. While those interested in Psychology may be familiar with Cognitive and Developmental Psychology, for example, they may feel that Biopsychology and Conceptual Issues in Psychology are unchartered territory.

Reading about these topics is helpful as it will introduce you to areas that you study in your Psychology degree that you may not learn about at A-Level, and can help you feel more confident when your studies begin. Not only that, but these topics are fascinating, and often underappreciated!

Here are 21 books, 3 for each of the 7 topics that you’ll study in a Psychology degree. And a little description as to why you should read them. Some of these books are challenging, and some slightly controversial - the key to doing “wider reading” well is to think critically about what you’re reading, and whether you agree with any of it.

If you’d like more information and guidance on studying Psychology at University, check out Avalon Education’s services. Tutors at Avalon Education have helped many budding Psychology students build their critical thinking skills and love for the subject. Book a consultation today if you would like some support beyond this reading list. 

Research Methods in Psychology

Although widely feared by Psychology students around the world, understanding research methods is essential for understanding Psychology as a whole. These books will help you understand how to evaluate the studies you’ll read about in the books in this list.

Bad Science - Ben Goldacre (2008)

• If you consider yourself somewhat critical of “Big Pharma”, and err on the skeptical side when it comes to new, groundbreaking research, this may be the book for you. In this book, Goldacre not only calls out poor research practice of the past, but also gives you the tools to identify “Bad Science” for yourselves. 

Investigating Pop Psychology - Stephen Hupp and Richard Wiseman (2023)

• If you’re like me, you’ll have been inundated with social media posts claiming that “Psychology states" certain things, without any evidence provided. Being able to tell science from pseudoscience is an important skill for the study of Psychology, and Hupp and Wiseman encourage critical thinking in this book through a series of case studies. 

The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson (2011):

• Some say that Psychiatrists are madder than their patients. In this book, Ronson, a journalist, speaks with psychopaths, Psychologists and Psychiatrists to better understand the nature of psychopathy. Ronson explores criticisms of ways of Hare’s Psychopathy checklist, and explores the risks of oversimplifying mental illness diagnoses. 

Social Psychology

Typically the first topic you’ll study at A-Level and University, Social Psychology is an accessible gateway into the field. But this doesn’t mean that it’s boring or predictable - Social Psychology has been home to some wildly unethical and methodologically questionable research practices. 

Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America - Kevin Cook (2014)

• The shocking murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964 took both New York and the field of Psychology by storm, lending itself to a narrative that city dwellers don’t care about their neighbours, and to important research on the Bystander Effect. However, 50 years on, Cook details what exactly reporters and researchers got wrong, and explores the 38 ignored witness reports, Genovese’s lesbian identity, and the reality of living in New York City in the 1960s.  

Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences - Cordelia Fine (2005)

• Ever heard of Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus? Proposed differences between sexes have long been weaponised and used to oppress people, particularly women. In this book, Fine debunks claims of hard-wired differences between genders, and instead reveals the influence of culture on identity, and how our brains may be more malleable than we think.

Blind Trust: Large Groups and Their Leaders in Times of Crisis and Terror - Vamik Volkan (2004) 

• In this book, Volkan uses a series of historical case studies to understand what factors lead to public support for worldwide violence in society. Breaking these processes down into a series of steps, Volkan explores how leaders can weaponise group identity against their subjects. 

Cognitive Psychology

If you’ve ever wondered why humans are so stupid sometimes, or whether two people perceive colour in the same way, Cognitive Psychology - the study of how we think - may be an area that appeals to you. These books explore how what we see may not be exactly what we get, describing how and why our experience of the world may not accurately reflect reality. 

A Trick of the Mind: How the Brain Invents Your Reality - David Yon (2025)

• Published just last year, David Yon, Director of the Uncertainty Lab at Birkbeck, University of London, explores how our mind constructs reality. Yon describes how reality isn’t just based on what’s right in front of us, but shaped by our own experiences. This book is extremely accessible and engaging, and discusses the implications of the reconstructive nature of cognition on mental health. 

The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language - Steven Pinker (1994)

• In this controversial book, Pinker argues that humans are born with an innate capacity for language. Pinker draws upon evidence to demonstrate that all cultures have language, such as research from groups of deaf children and children from mixed-culture populations, to suggest that language is an innate human ability that no other animal possesses.

The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us - Christopher Chabris & 

Daniel Simons (2010)

• In The Invisible Gorilla, Chabris and Simons, who created the famous “Invisible Gorilla” experiment, explore the fallibility of our cognition. Drawing upon a wide range of examples, such as in business and in medicine, Chabris and Simons describe the errors humans often fall into, and the sometimes devastating consequences that they can cause. 

Biological Psychology

As with Research Methods, Biopsychology is an area often feared by Psychology students who want to keep natural sciences at an arm’s length. Often, what makes Biopsychology feel so unapproachable is how disconnected it feels from our own experiences. Good Biopsychology books integrate the inner workings of the brain with their impact on our experiences, as is demonstrated in this literature. 

Behave - Robert Sapolsky (2017)

• Behave is widely regarded as one of the best books exploring Biology and behaviour, and for good reason. In this ambitious book, Sapolsky describes how the body’s hormones and neurotransmitters affect human behaviour. However, Sapolsky goes well beyond our biology, exploring the implications of the biological and genetic bases of human behaviour for free will and our legal systems. 

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science - Norman Doidge (2008)

• Learning about Biopsychology can sometimes be tedious, and can sometimes be depressing, as you learn the details of life-ruining brain injuries and diseases. However, in this book, Doidge explores the plasticity of the human brain through a series of case studies, such as stroke victims regaining the ability to speak, and blind patients regaining their eyesight, and the scientists who made this possible. Hopefully you come away from this book feeling a little more optimistic!

Color in Nature - Justin Marshall et al. (2024)

• The way humans and other animals perceive colour is a fascinating topic within Psychology that is often not touched upon at A-Level. In Colour in Nature, Marshall explains the workings of colour perception, and how it operates in different animals. Marshall also goes beyond just how colour perception works, but also explores how it influences animal behaviour and why the perception of colour is so important. 

Developmental Psychology

Those interested in how humans grow and change throughout their lives may often be bombarded with parenting books when searching for something interesting to read. Fortunately, there are many great books which explore Developmental Psychology, and consider the development of humans across the lifespan, not just in childhood. 

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature - Steven Pinker (2002)

• Steven Pinker is back on this list with another highly controversial take on the topic of Developmental Psychology. Pinker vehemently argues against the idea that all humans are born blank slates, and instead describes how humans have innate traits. Arguing otherwise, as Pinker states, does more harm than good. 

What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing - Oprah Winfrey & Bruce Perry (2021)

• Co-written by Oprah Winfrey, this book explores how trauma affects your thoughts and actions, even decades later. Winfrey explores the trauma and adversity she has faced, and the impact this has had on her. This book aims to emphasise that a person’s behaviours can only be understood through the lens of their live experiences. 

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness - Jonathan Haidt (2024)

• This title may seem like it’s adding fuel to the “generation wars” fire, or that it will just be the words “phone bad” written over and over again. However, in this book, Haidt explores how increasing smartphone use has affected our ability to engage with ourselves and with others, in a productive way that does not place blame on an entire generation. 

Conceptual / Historical issues

It’s no secret that many studies in Psychology have exhibited poor ethics and poor methodology, and you may be familiar with the lack of cultural validity in psychological research. These books explore social issues within Psychology more deeply, going beyond the well known individualist/collectivist divide often discussed at A-Level. 

Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche - Ethan Watters (2011)

• American exports are unavoidable - you can’t escape American TV, music and food chains. However, one troubling export relates to mental illness: how it presents in people and how it’s treated. In this book, Watters, an acclaimed journalist, travels around the world to explore how American culture has homogenised our understanding of mental illness.

Depression: Integrating Science, Culture, and Humanities - Bradley Lewis (2011)

• Have you ever heard someone describe depression as a “chemical imbalance in the brain” to try and legitimise it? In this book, Lewis describes the different models with which depression is understood across history and cultures, exploring but also going beyond the biomedical perspective and its implications for patient care. 

Psychoanalysis and Feminism - Juliet Mitchell (1974)

• All budding Psychologists are made clear about one thing: Freud was an idiot, and a sexist idiot at that. However, Mitchell challenges this perspective, rejecting the idea that Freud was the enemy. She argued that, however it may have been used, psychoanalysis is not a recommendation for a patriarchal society, but rather an analysis of one. 

Individual Differences

So many people are interested in mental health in Psychology, and there are so many books on the topic - perhaps this abundance makes it difficult to know where to start. These books focus on the lived experiences of individuals experiencing mental health difficulties, in their own words. Additionally, I have included two books which explore issues within this field, such as whether mental illness is being overdiagnosed, and the ethics of shock therapies. 

Saving Normal: An Insiders Revolt Against Out-of-control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life - Frances Allen (2013)

• It is a fairly commonly held belief that mental illness is being overdiagnosed in modern society. Whether you agree with this statement or not, Allen’s book on the topic is definitely worth a read. Allen cautions against pathologising normal human emotions, such as stress and sadness, what may be driving overdiagnosis, and the harm that this can cause.

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness - Kay Redfield Jamison (1995)

• Books about mental illnesses can sometimes seem disconnected from the realities and lived experiences of those experiencing them. In this memoir, Clinical Psychologist and researcher Kay Redfield Jamison details her experience with bipolar disorder and how it has affected her across her life, in both destructive and occasionally positive ways. 

Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy - Kitty Dukakis & Larry Tye (2007)

• Shock therapies are widely disparaged, and have certainly caused harm to many people across history. So you may be surprised to read Dukakis’ account of how electroconvulsive therapy helped keep her depression at bay. In the second half of this book, Tye, a medical reporter, describes the recent increase in popularity of ECT, evaluating its risks and benefits.

So, hopefully this list has given you a good starting point for some wider reading. If you want to know more about studying Psychology at University, or would like some guidance in your application journey, Avalon Education has plenty of resources available to help.