The Curriculum
Typically students will complete the 36-credit MA program in two-years of full-time study, although other schedules can be arranged. Each year all matriculated students take a two-semester course sequence. The first semester focuses on understanding the research literature and the second semester on learning how to do research in that area. One year the topic is cognitive psychology and the next it is personality and psychopathology. First year students also take a two-semester sequence in statistics and research design. Second year students enroll in thesis credits both semesters. Students are also required to take physiological and psychopharmacology or developmental psychology. Students round out their curriculum with elective courses and independent study.
Required Courses
Psy 505 three credits
Research Methods and Design
Prerequisites: a statistics course
Integrates research design, data analysis, data interpretation, and APA format report writing across the two dominant paradigms in contemporary psychology. The course includes the use of the SPSS statistical software for univariate parametric and some nonparametric models. The course contains a strong experiential component to prepare students for thesis writing.
Psy 506 three credits
Advanced Research Design
Prerequisite: Psy 505
In-depth study of statistics in psychological research. Major topics include regression and structural equation models.
Psy 513 three credits
Seminar: Topics
Pre- or Co-requisite: Psy 506
In depth seminar on selected topics in a field of psychology. few specific topics will be examined in depth--the historical roots, theories, and current research approaches. Seminars typically focus on one research skill objective—either the critical analysis of research papers or writing literature reviews. Students are required to take three Seminars--Cognition, Memory, and Cognitive Neuroscience-- for a total of nine credits.
Psy 517 three credits
Psychology of Close Relationships
Prerequisites: PSY 506
Seminar in the study of close relationships, particularly romantic ones. Students will study existing research, learn to think critically about the underlying theory and research. The skill objective for this course is generation of research proposals.
Psy 596 six credits
GraduateThesis
Prerequisite: Departmental Permission
Student develops and executes and independent research thesis under the supervision of a graduate advisor. Graded A-F.
Elective Courses
Students selects the rest of their courses from available electives, including Psy 595 Independent Studies. They may take up to 6-credits among 400-level courses.
Facilities
The Psychology Department maintains laboratory facilities devoted to research in such areas as behavioral medicine, cognitive psychophysiology, cognitive science, information-processing, and psychopathology. In addition, students will have access to a Cognitive Science Laboratory jointly maintained by the Computer Science and Psychology Departments for research purposes. There are also both IBM- and Macintosh-based computer clusters for word processing and statistical analyses.
Last Updated On: 11/16/05
