Degree: Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Major: Psychology

Program Overview

An undergraduate major in psychology provides preparation for graduate training in psychology, medicine, social work, allied health professions, education, business, computer science, or law. The undergraduate degree directly prepares students for careers that require knowledge and understanding of behavior, research design, and the ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data.

Declaring a Psychology Major

Students who wish to major in psychology must complete a Major Declaration Form, and then meet with Dr. Jennifer Butler, who will assign them an advisor and review the degree requirements with them. 

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to demonstrate familiarity with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in psychology.
• Students will be able to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of both general laws of psychology and individual differences in psychology traditions in psychology.
• Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the values that are critical to psychology as a discipline.
• Students will be able to understand and apply basic research methods in psychology, including research design, data analysis, and interpretation.
• Students will be able to communicate psychologically-relevant material effectively in a variety of formats.

Undergraduate Policies

For undergraduate policies and procedures, please review the Undergraduate Academics section of the General Bulletin.

Accelerated Master's Programs

Undergraduate students may participate in accelerated programs toward graduate or professional degrees. For more information and details of the policies and procedures related to accelerated studies, please visit the Undergraduate Academics section of the General Bulletin.

Program Requirements

Students seeking to complete this major and degree program must meet the general requirements for bachelor's degrees and the Unified General Education Requirements. Students completing this program as a secondary major while completing another undergraduate degree program do not need to satisfy the school-specific requirements associated with this major.

Beginning with Allport (1937), scientific psychology has historically relied on two broad complementary traditions in the study of human behavior. The nomothetic or experimental approach focuses on identifying general laws about human behavior. The idiographic approach is concerned with the uniqueness of people and focuses on differences among individuals. Although all psychology courses apply both perspectives to specific topics in psychology, subsets of psychology courses rely more heavily on one or the other; therefore, the major requirements below ensure training that reflects a balance of nomothetic and idiographic approaches.

Psychology majors must complete 30 credit hours of coursework in the department.

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Although not required for the Psychology Major, PSCL 375 is a prerequisite for most of the senior capstone courses in psychology.

Psychology majors should work closely with their major advisors to customize the selection of required and elective courses to provide them with courses suited to their own individual career goals.

Departmental Honors

Qualified psychology majors are encouraged to consider the department's honors program, which leads to a BA with honors in psychology. The program's purpose is to provide intensive, supervised research experience.

The program consists of PSCL 375, which students take in their junior year, and PSCL 395, which they take as seniors. By the end of the senior year, students design and execute a research project, write it up in scholarly form, and present it in a public setting. Psychology majors who successfully complete PSCL 395, and who attain at least a 3.25 GPA in psychology course work and an overall GPA of at least 3.0, will graduate with honors in psychology.

The selection of a faculty advisor is an important part of the honors program. The first step is to identify a faculty member whose interests are as close as possible to the research area the student wishes to pursue. Students should contact a potential advisor as early as possible (junior year is recommended) and ask about the possibility of registering for PSCL 395. Each section of PSCL 395 is assigned to a specific faculty member, and registration is by permit only.

Because the honors program requires significant time and commitment, only psychology majors with a serious interest in the behavioral sciences should consider completing it.