Psychological Science Major

J. Skorinko: Program Director

A. Rodriguez: Assistant Program Director

Psychology is the study of the entire range of human experience, thought, and behavior, from infancy until death, from the most abnormal behavior to the most mundane, from the behavior of neurons to the actions of societies and nations. Psychologists employ a wide variety of methods to understand behavior and to discover how best to improve performance, including controlled experiments on human subjects. WPI’s major in psychological science emphasizes empirical research in the areas of social and cognitive psychology as well as practical applications to the classroom, the courtroom, and other settings.

PROGRAM OUTCOMES

In addition to fulfilling WPI’s university-wide undergraduate learning outcomes, psychological science majors will demonstrate:

1. Familiarity with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and trends in psychology.
2. Understanding of and ability to apply basic research methods in psychology, including experimental design, data analysis, and interpretation.    
3. Ability to apply psychological principles to personal, social, organizational, and societal issues, including developing insight into their own and others’ behavioral and mental processes.
4. Understanding of the relationship and interactions between psychology and other social science domains.
5. Ability to understand the role of and apply knowledge of psychological phenomena in other domains, such as business, computer science, or biology.
6. Ability to recognize, understand, and respect the complexity of sociocultural and international diversity.
7. Understanding of the ethics of human subjects research and the ability to apply that understanding in designing research or practices that do not violate ethical guidelines.
8. Knowledge of basic science and how it contributes to understanding human behavior.

[Adapted from the American Psychological Association Report on Undergraduate Psychology Learning Goals and Outcomes.]

Program Distribution Requirements for the Psychological Science Major

The normal period of residency at WPI is 16 terms. In addition to the WPI requirements applicable to all students, completion of a minimum of 10 units of study is required in psychological science, social science, basic science, and mathematics as follows.