Concentration(s)
Note: An online (or hybrid) program is available for this major, and follows the same requirements.
The Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology prepares students for work that requires liberal arts training as well as psychological knowledge and skills. The major provides students with a detailed awareness of the field of psychology, including its historical background, paradigms, methods, research findings, and applications. The major addresses the general areas of developmental, personality, social, cognitive, and abnormal psychology. It fosters the development of verbal, quantitative, analytical, and technological skills that are useful for work in psychology and related fields.
The major requires thirteen psychology courses (39 semester hours) and five elective psychology courses (15 semester hours total of psychology electives). A total of 120 credits are required for graduation.
Psychology minor
Students wishing to obtain a minor in Psychology must take PSYC 103 Introduction to Psychology plus five additional psychology courses of their choosing (18 semester hours total).
Double-major with Human Services
If a student chooses to double major in Psychology and Human Services, they can do so with a small reduction in the number of required credits for the Human Services portion of the degree. Students who complete the singular Human Services major must take: HUSV 201, HUSV 203, HUSV 333, HUSV 350 and six credits of HUSV 312 (internship). In contrast, students who double major can choose either HUSV 201 for 203, either HUSV 333 or 350, are only required to complete three credits of HUSV 312, and are no longer required to take ENGL 120 (all other HUSV requirements remain in place as with the stand-alone HUSV degree.
Learning outcomes
By completing the B.S. in Psychology program, students will:
1. Articulate the prehistory and the history of Psychology including the evolution of its main issues, topic areas, methods, and applications.
2. Compare and contrast the major perspectives in Psychology including perspectives such as: Clinical, Cognitive, Developmental, Biological, Socio-Cultural, and other applied discipline areas.
3. Apply the lifespan approach to human biological, cognitive and psychosocial development.
4. Analyze the major forms of psychological research including methodologies such as naturalistic observation, surveys, case studies and best practices in experimentation and study design.
5. Develop basic data organization, presentation and analysis including both inferential and descriptive statistics.
6. Compare and contrast characteristics of psychological research including the limitations of correlation research, experimental biases, placebo effects and ethical issues regarding human subjects.
7. Evaluate the psychological research presented in the popular media.
8. Apply key psychological concepts and theories in clinical, healthcare and other applied settings.
9. Relate Psychology to other disciplines such as Philosophy, Biology, Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Human Services.
