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Professors: Catherine T. Best, Nathan Brody, Jill G. Morawski, Karl E. Scheibe, John G. Seamon, Harry M. Sinnamon, Robert S. Steele, Ruth H. Striegel-Moore (Chair)

Adjunct Professors: Stephen P. Bank, Philippa Coughlan (Director, Student Mental Health)

Associate Professor: Scott Plous

Assistant Professors: Lisa Dierker, Chun Luo, Stephen A. Petrill

Adjunct Lecturer: William H. Weitzer (Associate Provost and Registrar)

The Psychology Department offers introductory courses to get a general overview of the entire field. Other courses, which represent different areas in psychology, offer more detailed surveys of specific study areas. Courses are divided into six study areas: cognitive, developmental, neuroscience and comparative, personality and psychopathology, social, and womenÃs studies. To provide a range of knowledge in the study areas, various course levels can be combined in a variety of ways to create, tailor, and specialize the major to a studentÃs interests. Within the study areas, courses are divided into five levels: core, research methods, electives, specialized, and practicum.

Admission: Admission to the major has two requirements: 1) Completed in this department prior to declaring the major, two courses with a grade of B or better; 2) By completion of the sophomore year, two courses in each of the three General Education Expectation areas with a grade of B minus or better. A specific listing of courses acceptable toward this requirement is avilable in the psychology office. Courses toward this requirement have been selected to ensure an adequate foundation of knowledge relevant for the study of psychology.

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.

Core level: The core-level requirement aims to ensure that students have acquired a broad range of knowledge in psychology. Using the six study areas (PSYC 220-270), there are two options from which to select to fulfill the core-level requirement:

1) A student may choose to take one introductory course (PSYC 101, Psychological Science, or PSYC 105, Foundations of Contemporary Psychology), plus one core course each in three of the six study areas; or,

2) A student may choose to take one core course each in five of the six study areas.

Typically, all core courses are open to first-year students.

STUDY AREAS CORE-LEVEL COURSES

Cognitive Cognition PSYC 220

Psychology Human Memory PSYC 221

Sensation and
Perception PSYC 222

Developmental Developmental PSYC 230

Psychology Psychology

Infancy PSYC 231

Neuroscience Left Brain/Right Brain PSYC 246

and Comparative Neural Mechanisms of

Movement PSYC 255

Personality and Personality PSYC 250

Psychopathology Psychopathology PSYC 251

Social Social Psychology PSYC 260

Psychology Cultural Psychology PSYC 261

WomenÃs Psychology of Gender PSYC 225

Studies The Psychology of
Women PSYC 270

Research methods level: The research methods requirement aims to ensure that students have learned methodological skills. A student must take two research methods courses. One course must be either Qualitative Methods (PSYC 200), or Psychological Statistics and Statistics Computer Lab (PSYC 201 and PSYC 214). The second course must be chosen from any of the research methods courses (PSYC 202“219). NOTE: A prerequisite of PSYC 200 or PSYC 201/214 is required in some of the second research methods courses.

Specialized level: The specialized-level requirement aims to ensure that students study at least one study area of psychology in considerable depth. A student must take one specialized course (PSYC 300“380). This course must be selected from one of the six chosen study areas in which the student has completed the core-level requirement. This allows a student to pursue a topic of study further .

Electives and practicum levels: In addition to the core, research methods, and specialized-level requirements, a student may take any additional courses or tutorials offered by the department to complete the required total of ten courses in psychology.

Senior honors thesis program: To qualify for honors, a student must:

1) 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 departmentby October 1 of the senior year. This statement should include the studentÃs name, name of the tutor, and the topic of the honors project.

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

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Advanced Placement credit: Students who receive a score of five or four and complete a full-credit core-level psychology course may receive 1.00 credit. AP credits may not be counted toward admission to the major.

Transfer credits: Only three transfer credits from another department or institution can be applied to fulfill requirements for the major only if approved by the department chair. Even though a transfer credit may be been approved towards University credits, it must also be specifically approved towards the psychology major.

Grading: All psychology courses must be graded A“F, not pass/fail.

Provisional status: Admission to the major (for any reason), must receive a B or better in the next one or two courses taken in this department starting in the second semester of the sophomore year.

Reviewing majors: Students with provisional status will be reviewed at the end of each semester until requirements have been satisfield.

TA credits: No more than two TA credits can be counted toward the major.

Tutorial credits: No more than four tutorial credits can be counted toward the major.