New Undergraduate Major Curriculum – effective Fall 2022

*See Appendix A for Major Checklist Sheet

Declaring the major

Students may declare the major at any time after taking 202: Introduction to Psychology or equivalent (201, 281), with a grade of no less than a C. Students with AP credit for Psychology need an AP score of 4 or 5 in order to declare.

Major Requirements

I. Foundation courses

The foundation courses provide grounding in basic psychological facts and an understanding of the methodologies used to produce those facts.

As foundational courses, all majors must take the following and earn grades of C or better:

• An introductory course in Psychology (202 or AP credit)
• Basic Statistics for Psychology (210 or equivalent) (Possible substitutions include: Statistics 324 or 371)
• Research Methods (225)

II. Biology

• Biology: Zoology 101 OR Zoology 151 OR Biocore 381-384 OR AP Biology (score of 4 or better)

III. Breadth courses

Breadth courses familiarize students with the breadth of psychology. All students must take 3 different breadth courses @ 3 credits each.

Students must take one breadth course from THREE of the following five groups:

• BIOLOGICAL: 449-Animal Behavior, 450-Primates & Us, 454-Behavioral Neuroscience, 523-Neurobiology
• COGNITIVE & PERCEPTUAL: 406-Psychology of Perception, 413-Language-Mind-Brain, 414-Cognitive Psychology
• SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY: 403-Psychology of Personality, 428-Introduction to Cultural Psychology, 456-Introductory Social Psychology, 522-Psychology of Women
• DEVELOPMENTAL: 460-Child, 462-Adolescent Development, 464-Adult Development & Aging, 453-Human Sexuality
• CLINICAL: 401-Psych of Law and Social Policies, 405-Abnormal Psychology

Course structure for breadth courses

Breadth courses are generally large, lecture-format courses that enroll ~100 – 400 students (454 is an exception). Most currently have one 25% TA or 50% TA, depending on enrollment.

Breadth courses are open to non-majors.

 Honors course structure for breadth courses

Many breadth courses have an additional Honors section. Honors students attend the same lecture and meet for a separate seminar with the course professor. They earn 4 credits for the course.

IV. Depth courses

Depth courses allow students to engage in depth with specific content areas in psychology. All students must take 2 depth courses @ 4 credits each.

Course structure for depth courses

Depth courses will typically be held for 2 75-min lectures + 1 discussion/lab section, or 3 50-minute lectures and 1 discussion/lab section per week.

For each depth course, there will be one or two 50% TAs, depending on enrollment. Each TA will be expected to attend lectures (and possibly give one or more lectures), develop activities for discussion/lab sections, lead 3 discussion/lab sections each week, and grade writing/lab assignments.

Each depth course will be open to at least 72 students (4 sections @ 18 students each)

Each depth course will have as prerequisite one relevant breadth course (from a fairly broad set of possible breadth prerequisites). For example, for a depth course in Cognitive Development, any one of following prerequisites would be acceptable: 414-Cognitive, 406-Perception, OR 460-Child.

Depth courses will give registration priority to Psychology majors.

Honors course structure for depth courses

Honors depth courses will have a separate honors discussion section (e.g., 503, Section 307 for honors). The lecture portions of the regular and honors courses will meet together. The honors course will have a separate discussion section taught by the faculty instructor, with up to 18 students.

NOTE: For a complete list of course titles and numbers for the new curriculum, see the Psychology Major Checklist (Appendix A).

V. Capstone Courses

These courses help students to develop a deeper understanding of particular areas of psychology in a seminar format. ONE course is required. Capstone courses require senior standing and completion of Psychology 225; other pre-requisites vary depending on topic.  Capstone courses are small (25 – student limit), include discussion, papers, and readings from original sources. Some capstone courses may be offered periodically.

VI. Electives

In addition to completion of the courses required above, students must complete at least 3 additional credits in PSYCH in courses numbered 300 and above. Students may complete any additional PSYCH course(s), including courses from: the Breadth, Depth, or Capstone areas, or directed/independent study and mentored research.