PSYCHOLOGY

Professors: Catherine T. Best, Nathan Brody, Jill G. Morawski, Karl E. Scheibe, John G. Seamon, Harry M. Sinnamon, Robert S. Steele

Associate Professors: Scott Plous, Ruth Striegel-Moore (Chair)

Assistant Professor: Chun Luo

Visiting Associate Professor: Nihal deLanerolle

Visiting Assistant Professors: Anne Fowler, James Pier

Adjunct Professors: Stephen P. Bank, Philippa Coughlin (non-teaching)

Adjunct Visiting Lecturer: William H. Weitzer (non-teaching)

The Psychology Department offers five types of courses: General, Area, Research Methods, Specialized, and Practicum. These can be combined in a variety of ways to create a major that not only provides a broad overview of the field, but also allows for a detailed inquiry within an area of specialization and the tailoring of the major to a student's interests.

Admission to the major. To be admitted to the major a student must earn a B or better in each of two classes taken in the department prior to the second semester of her or his sophomore year when majors are declared.

Major requirements. A total of ten courses is required to complete the major. These courses should be selected in order to gain both breadth and depth of exposure to the field of psychology and its methods. All psychology courses must be graded A-F, not pass/fail. Only three psychology courses taken at other institutions can be applied to fulfill requirements for the major.

Breadth: There are two options from which to select:

1) A student may take a General course (PSYC 101, Psychological Science, or PSYC 105, Foundations of Contemporary Psychology) plus three Area courses, one course from each of three different areas in the department. (There are six areas from which to choose).

2) A student may choose to take five Area courses, one course from each of five different areas in the department. (There are six areas from which to choose.)

The Areas of study and the Area Courses that represent them are:

Cognitive
Cognition (PSYC 220)
Memory (PSYC 221)
Perception (PSYC 222)

Developmental
DevelopmentalPsychology (PSYC 230)
Infancy (PSYC 231)

Neuroscience & Clinical Neuropsychology
Comparative Psychology (PSYC 242)
Left Brain/Right Brain (PSYC 246)
Neural Mechanisms of Movement(PSYC 255)

Personality &Psychopathology
Personality   (PSYC 250)
Psychopathology   (PSYC 251)

Social Psychology
Social Psychology (PSYC 260)
Cultural Psychology (PSYC 261)

Women's Studies
Psycholology of Gender:Cultural and Historical Perspectives (PSYC 225)
The Psychology of Women (PSYC 270)

Research Methods: Every major must take two Methods courses, one of which must be either Qualitative Methods (PSYC 200) or Psychological Statistics (PSYC 201) and Statistics Computer Lab (PSYC 214). Psychological Statistics and Statistics Computer Lab are recommended for students planning to attend graduate school in psychology. The second course must be chosen from the Research Methods courses (PSYC 202-219) listed under each of the areas in the department. Some of these courses have prerequisites of which students should be aware when choosing either PSYC 200 or 201.

Depth: Of the ten courses required for the major, at least one must be a specialized course (PSYC 300-380) in which a student more deeply pursues a topic of study. This class should be selected from an area in which a student has taken an area course.

Electives: To fill out the required ten courses students may take any courses or tutorials offered by the department. Courses from other departments or institutions are accepted only if approved by the department.

Honors program: To qualify for honors, a student must:

l) have a B+ average in psychology courses taken prior to the senior year, and a three-year cumulative average of B for all courses;

2) file a statement of intention with the department by October 1 of the senior year. This statement should include the student's name, name of the tutor, and the topic of the honor's project.

Honors in psychology will be awarded on the basis of completed research presented in an honors thesis. Completed honors theses must be handed in by a date (in mid-April) specified by Honors College. Theses will be evaluated by a minimum of two readers, one of whom may be the tutor, jointly determined by the tutor and the student. Based on the evaluation of the readers, a candidate for honors may be awarded a pass, honors, or high honors.