Psychology Pathway
Undergraduate Major in Psychology
All students must fulfill the General Education requirements, which are detailed in the Psychological Sciences Advising Packet. Thereafter, the student will begin to more rigorously pursue the major requirements for Psychology.
The undergraduate program in Psychology is made up of a structured curriculum where students develop a thorough understanding of concepts and principles that attempt to explain human behavior and mental processes. This program leads to a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree, which prepares students to (1) obtain entrance into graduate programs in any field of Psychology and/or (2) begin work as a non-professional in a variety of settings where a liberal arts background plus interpersonal skills are needed.
The Psychology major paradigm and course descriptions are available in the current WSSU Undergraduate Catalog.
Planned Program of Study for Majors
The planned core program of study for Psychology majors includes taking two General Education courses in Psychology (PSY 2301 and PSY 2326) which are required for all majors; taking Writing for the Psychological Sciences in order to learn APA style for writing papers and research projects (PSY 2330); taking Research Methods in Psychology to provide a basis for understanding how to propose and conduct research (PSY 3317); and taking Experimental Psychology (PSY 4453) to learn to conduct experiments and to use statistics to analyze and understand data which are collected. Other courses in the psychology major which are considered ‘core’ psychology courses are History and Systems in Psychology (PSY 4336) and Senior Seminar in Psychology (PSY 4339), and those two courses are usually taken in a student’s senior year of study.
Students must also take two courses from each of our Foundations areas of study (Biological and Cognitive Foundations, Clinical and Counseling Foundations, and Social and Developmental Foundations), and two additional elective courses in Psychology.
A student may round out their undergraduate experience by taking additional General Education courses or by taking additional Psychology electives to achieve 120 hours for the B.A. degree in Psychology. We recommend (but do not require) that students who plan to apply to graduate school in Psychology take additional science and mathematics courses, Introduction to Philosophy, and perhaps two semesters of a foreign language if they need to fill credits to reach the 120 total hours of study, because those courses strengthen the student’s breadth of knowledge. Those students who intend to apply to graduate programs should also seek summer research opportunities and work with faculty members on independent research studies (if interested in traditional scientific psychology graduate programs), or seek field work and co-op opportunities (if interested in human services or counseling graduate programs). It is highly important that students who intend to apply to graduate school work toward obtaining and maintaining the highest GPA possible.
General Psychology Requirements and SONA Website
All General Psychology (PSY 2301) students must participate in research or complete alternative assignments in order to satisfy course requirements. Links to documents describing our research experience requirements are provided below this paragraph, and that information provides more specific information about this requirement. After having read these documents, and when a student is ready to register as a study participant, the student will need to visit the SONA website, which is an online research management system.
Research Experience Documents:
Research Experience Guidelines
Minor in Psychology
Psychology majors are not required to have a minor in another discipline. If you are a student whose major is not Psychology and you wish to minor in Psychology, we have provided a list of possible courses that can be taken to satisfy the 18 hour minor requirement in Psychology below.
| *PSY 2301 General Psychology |
PSY 2308 Psychology of Adjustment |
PSY 2310 Psychology of the Atypical Child |
| PSY 3301 Biological Psychology |
PSY 3302 Psychology of Adolescence |
PSY 3303 Psychology of Aging |
| PSY 3305 Motivation and Emotion |
PSY 3306 Abnormal Behavior |
PSY 3307 Social Psychology |
| PSY 3308 Psychology of Cognition |
PSY 3309 Cross-Cultural Psychology |
PSY 3310 Drugs, Addiction/Behavior |
| PSY 3312 Introduction to Black Psychology |
PSY 3316 Principles of Psychological Testing |
PSY 3329 Psychology of Personality |
| PSY 3336 Developmental Psychology |
PSY 3346 Theories of Learning and Memory |
PSY 3348 Sensation and Perception |
| PSY 3350 Human Sexuality | PSY 4301 Industrial Psychology |
PSY 4310 Health Psychology |
| PSY 4321 Group Dynamics |
PSY 4331 Counseling Psychology |
PSY 4337 Special Topics in Psychology |
| PSY 4338 Psychological Foundations/Education |
* required prerequisite for any course below
