Major Requirements

Courses offered in the Department of Psychology represent a diversity of approaches to the scientific study of human behavior and experience. The major program is designed both for students planning to pursue graduate study or careers in psychology and for those interested in such related fields as counseling, social work, business and education administration, school guidance, personnel management and law. 

The major program provides students with the requisite “core” knowledge of the principal theoretical models, content areas, and statistical/research methods in psychology. To ensure a thorough grounding in the scientific approach emphasized by the department, two semesters of laboratory work are required, as well as cognate work in biology. In laboratory reports, papers and other written work, clear, concise expression consistent with the standards of the American Psychological Association is emphasized.

Psychology elective courses permit majors to pursue their own special interests. Psychology majors complete their program in their senior year by writing a major paper in one of three contexts: a one-semester, Seminar focused on a specific topic in psychology; a year-long Field Experience, in which they work with either adult or youth populations in an institutional or a community setting under faculty supervision; or a year-long Senior Thesis option, in which they work individually with a faculty member in the department on an independent research project. Students who wish to choose the Senior Thesis option must do so in consultation with a faculty member during their junior year. Normally such students will have taken Directed Study (PSY 4800) or Directed Research (PSY 4810) with that faculty member prior to undertaking a thesis. The department also sponsors a chapter of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology.

The major in psychology may be combined successfully with other programs in the liberal arts, in science and engineering, or in business administration. Most psychology courses can be taken to fulfill the social science distribution requirement.

Major Requirements

Beginning with Fall 2008, students who wish to major in psychology are required to take one cognate course in biology and a minimum of eleven courses in psychology:

Cognate Requirements in Biology
HSC 1106  Human Biology

Foundational Courses
PSY 1000 Introduction to Psychology
PSY 1100 Psychological Inquiry and Methodology
PSY 2110 Statistical Methods in Psychology

At Least Two Courses Selected from the Following Laboratory Courses in Basic Processes
PSY 3110  Sensation and Perception
PSY 3120 Cognitive Psychology
PSY 3150 Behavioral Neuroscience

At Least One Course Related to Psychological Individuation
PSY 2300 Developmental Psychology (counts only once toward requirements)
PSY 2400 Personality
PSY 3410 Adult Psychopathology

At Least One Course Related to Social Relations
PSY 2200 Social Psychology
PSY 2300 Developmental Psychology (counts only once toward requirements)

One of the Following Senior Capstone Sequences
PSY 4900 Psychology Seminar
PSY 4910 Senior Thesis Research I & II
PSY 4960/65 Field Experience I & II

Further Explorations in Psychology
Students will choose three additional psychology courses.  These may include upper level psychology electives, additional core courses, and/or the second semester of a 2-semester Senior Capstone Sequence.