Psychology Courses
PSY 1010 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY (3)
Introduction to the science of psychology. Substantive topics include the history of psychology, the biology of psychological processes, psychological development, perception, learning, memory, personality, and social psychology.
Prerequisite: none
Offered: fall and spring
PSY 2040 LIFE-SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (3)
The physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes that usually occur to a person from conception through old age. Theories of psychological development and development through adolescence are emphasized.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Offered: fall
PSY 2500 STATISTICS FOR PSYCHOLOGY (3)
Covers the role and conceptual basis of statistics in psychological research, descriptive statistics, basic principles of probability, sampling distributions, the logic of hypothesis testing, and parametric and nonparametric inferential statistics (e.g., confidence intervals, t-tests, analysis of variance, correlation/regression, and chi square).
Prerequisites: PSY 1010 or SOC 1510, and MAT 1050 or higher
Offered: spring and as needed in the fall
PSY 3010 INTRODUCTION TO GERONTOLOGY (3)
Aging, including historical perspectives; demographic trends; psychological and physiological processes of later life; and social role behavior in such areas as retirement, politics, religion, family life, housing, death, and dying.
Prerequisite: none
Cross-listed with SOC 3010
Offered: as needed
PSY 3100 INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY (3)
The application of psychology to improve the productivity and satisfaction of members of an organization. Topics include personnel selection, performance appraisal, job analysis, job training, work motivation, job satisfaction, group processes, leadership, and organizational theory and development.
Prerequisites: PSY 1010, and BUS 2160 or PSY 2500 or permission of instructor
Offered: every third or fourth semester
PSY 3200 HUMAN FACTORS (3)
The application of psychology to the design and evaluation of person-machine-environment systems. Topics include the human operator as a receiver, processor, and emitter of information; the effects of fatigue and environmental stress; and human factors in accident research.
Prerequisites: PSY 1010 and PSY 2500, or permission of instructor
Offered: every third or fourth semester
PSY 3300 PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING (3)
Development of basic skills used in all helping relationships and those used specifically in psychological counseling, an attainment of a general understanding of the major theoretical approaches to counseling and knowledge concerning the interventions associated with each of the major theoretical approaches.
Prerequisites: PSY 1010 and one of the following: PSY 3410 and PSY 4050, or permission of the instructor
Offered: spring
PSY 3360 HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY (3)
Study of the psychosocial factors promoting health-enhancing and health-destructive behaviors. The course will survey the field of health psychology, including the psychology-healthcare relationship; methods of investigation; personality, lifestyle, and/or affective/cognitive correlates of health status; the role of social support; and interventions to promote resilience and to improve wellness habits.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Offered: every third or fourth semester
PSY 3400 PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY (3)
Anatomy and physiology of the brain and nervous system and their impact on behavior. Topics include neural communication, psychopharmacology, research methods, movement, emotion and stress, sexual behavior, ingestive behavior, learning and memory, human communication, and neurological disorders.
Prerequisites: PSY 1010 and either SCI 1420 or BIO 1530, or permission of instructor
Offered: spring
PSY 3410 ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY (3)
Abnormal behavior and mental processes. Topics include the distinction between normality and abnormality, the classification and diagnosis of psychological disorders, the neurotic and psychotic disorders, and the major therapeutic approaches.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Offered: fall
PSY 3470 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS (3)
Theory of the measurement of behavior and mental processes, application of the theory, and tests of cognitive abilities, personality, and vocational interest. Special attention given to the use of psychological tests in psychological counseling.
Prerequisites: PSY 1010 and PSY 2500, or permission of instructor
Offered: spring
PSY 3550 EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (4)
Scientific research methods used in psychology with an emphasis on the experimental research method. Includes reviewing literature of a psychological research topic, designing and conducting an experiment, 208 and preparing a research report of the experiment using APA style. Designated writing-enrichment course for psychology majors.
Prerequisites: PSY 1010, PHI 2120 or 2130, and PSY 2500, all with a grade of C or better or permission of instructor.
Offered: fall
PSY 3610 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (3)
The influence others have on an individual’s mental processes and behavior. Topics include the social self, person perception, attitudes, interpersonal attraction, social influence, prosocial behavior, aggression, group dynamics, and applied social psychology.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Cross-listed with SOC 3610
Offered: every second or third semester
PSY 3700 PERCEPTION (3)
The sensory and cognitive processes utilized to construct a phenomenological reality, emphasizing brightness, color vision, length and form perception, depth perception, and theories developed to explain these phenomena.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Offered: every second or third semester
PSY 3820 COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY (3)
This course in cognitive neuroscience explores the neural basis of mental processes, including high-level vision, attention, memory, language, and action. Students will learn about various methodologies such as physiological recordings from neurons in animals, functional neuroimaging of normal subjects, and behavioral studies of patients with cognitive deficits. The course will cover topics such as hemispheric specialization, object recognition, attention and action, cognitive control, social cognition, and consciousness. Clinical neuropsychology case exemplars will also be discussed. By the end of the course, students will have a better understanding of the methods used to study cognitive processes in the brain and how they apply to clinical cases in neuropsychology.
Prerequisites: SCI 1420 or BIO 1530/1531 and PSY 1010
Offered: as needed
PSY 3850 SPECIAL TOPICS IN PSYCHOLOGY (3)
A topic in psychology not covered in depth in any of the other established courses in psychology.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Offered: as needed
PSY 3950 MEMORY AND COGNITION (3)
Theories and data pertaining to cognitive psychology. Attention, imagery, memory structure and organization, rehearsal strategies, concept formation, language, and problem-solving emphasized.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Offered: every third or fourth semester
PSY 4050 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY (3)
Theories of the behavior and mental processes that characterize an individual. Included are psychoanalytic, humanistic, existential, trait, and behavioral theories.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Offered: every year
PSY 4100 PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICUM (4)
Observation of and supervised experience of psychology-related activities in a clinical, other human service, or business setting. Requires the completion of 50 hours of psychology-related activities and 75 hours onsite. Prerequisites: Majoring in psychology and completing 79 credit hours toward the baccalaureate degree and 24 credit hours toward the major, including PSY 1010 and 2500, and achieving a GPA of 2.5 overall and in the major. Applications must be made to the division head by the week prior to preregistration the previous semester. Some practicums will be designated as “counseling/clinical” or “human performance.” In addition to the above requirements, students taking these practicums must have declared the relevant concentration and have a GPA of 2.7 overall and in the concentration. The counseling/ clinical practicum also requires completion of PSY 3300 and 3410; the human performance practicum also requires completion of PSY 3100, 3300, and 3470. For placements, the department faculty may require additional courses. The Psychology Department faculty must approve all practicums and any waivers of prerequisites.
PSY 4310 PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING (3)
Theories and supporting data related to animal and human conditioning. Habituation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement, generalization, and discrimination emphasized.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010
Offered: every third or fourth semester
PSY 4850 RESEARCH SEMINAR (3)
Each student selects a research problem in psychology, reviews the problem in the literature, forms a causal hypothesis, designs and conducts an experiment to test the hypothesis, analyzes and interprets the data, and reports the experiment in a manuscript prepared in APA style.
Prerequisites: PSY 1010, PHI 2120, PSY 2500, and 3550, or permission of instructor
Offered: spring
PSY 4990 INDEPENDENT STUDY IN PSYCHOLOGY (TBD)
An opportunity for a well-qualified, upper-division student to engage in special research in his/her major.
Prerequisite: PSY 1010 and approval by the faculty advisor, the supervising professor, the division head, and the college dean before approval by Provost. Credits to be determined.