Academic Offerings

The psychology curriculum emphasizes:

• Communication
• Information literacy
• Statistics
• Critical thinking and analysis
• Contemporary psychological knowledge and its application
• Research design through an experiential-based curriculum including laboratory courses and a Senior Capstone Experience

A required core of courses introduces majors to the field. This core includes required methodology courses in psychological research design, analysis, and writing. Additionally, a core of lower-division breadth courses provides majors with exposure to the key sub-disciplines of psychology.

Majors choose two from a set of seven upper-division laboratory courses that represent psychology’s close alliance with both social science and natural science approaches to the study of behavior.

Upon graduation, a psychology major should be able to:

• Understand and apply the scientific method, theories, perspectives on human thought, emotion, and behavior
• Formulate and evaluate testable research designs and hypotheses
• Generalize research conclusions and interpret statistical output appropriately
• Use theoretical perspectives to explain and describe behavior and mental processes in psychological terms
• Clearly articulate concepts and theories in psychology both in written and oral form to the standard of professional publications and presentations in psychology