Curriculum

• Requirements
• Sample Program
• Course Descriptions
• Current Class Schedule
• Writing Across the Curriculum
• Senior Comprehensive Exam
• Transfer Students
• Information Technology

Overview

The three-part structure of the psychology curriculum includes a required set of core courses, a distribution requirement, and a senior capstone ("integrator") course. The required core courses introduce students to the essentials of psychology.

Psychology majors must take both PSY 101 and PSY 102. PSY 101 introduces students to Psychology from the perspective of the natural sciences. The focus of this course is on basic psychological process such as sensation and perception, biological and behavior, and cognition. PSY 102 examines psychology from the perspective of the social sciences. The course emphasizes human interaction and covers areas such as social psychology, personality, human development, and abnormality. PSY 201 (Statistics and Research Methods I) and PSY 202 (Statistics and Research Methods II) introduce students to the methodological core of psychology. PSY 201 covers descriptive statistics and methods while PSY 202 covers inferential statistics and experimental methods.

In the distribution requirement students choose four courses that reflect the major “sub-disciplines” of psychology. Among the courses in these areas are several that satisfy the College Core's Perspectives II requirement (for students who are not majoring in Psychology). Several upper-level courses have optional accompanying laboratory sections that provide opportunities for research on issues related to course materials.

Traditional course work can be complemented by credit-bearing internships and independent study. The senior capstone courses serve to integrate students' study of psychology and to further their appreciation of the role of psychology within the broader context of the liberal arts.