About Psychology

Program Learning Outcomes

The psychology department curriculum is arranged to develop the following skills in each student by graduation. The courses are designed to enable each student to:

• Describe key concepts, principles and overarching themes in psychology and apply to relevant contexts (i.e. ethical, clinical, personal, career, scientific, sociocultural). 
• Interpret and design basic psychological research.
• Use scientific reasoning to interpret psychological phenomena.
• Demonstrate skills that promote behavioral change at the individual, organizational, and community levels.
• Identify the Big 8 diversity groups, and analyze their effects on interpersonal and intergroup dynamics. 
• Recognize and respond to instances of explicit and subtle bias and discrimination in personal and professional contexts.
• Demonstrate insight into inner experiences using psychological concepts and practices. 

Diversity

The department strongly recommends that students take courses in psychology and other disciplines to gain competence in diverse areas of culture, race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, and social class. Although all psychology faculty are committed to including diversity in their courses, specific courses focus on diversity issues and the development of students’ multicultural competence. These courses are identified in the course descriptions and the semester course schedule.