Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
MAJOR AND MINOR DESCRIPTIONS BY DEPARTMENT
PSYCHOLOGY
The psychology major is part of the liberal arts program of A&S. As such, it provides students with the skills needed to succeed in a job and in graduate school, to think critically and communicate effectively about human behavior and related topics. The Department of Psychology also functions from the perspective that psychology is a natural science. The emphasis it places on research is evident in the foundation courses required to declare the psychology major (e.g., statistics, research methods), as well as in the focus on the scientific methods throughout the content of all other psychology courses. To complement their arts and sciences training, the department also encourages students to participate in directed research and/or supervised field placement opportunities. For more information on the psychology department and its programs, please visit www.psychology.pitt.edu
Psychology majors can participate in one of two major options:
General Major in Psychology
All psychology majors are automatically enrolled in the general major track. This track provides students with a broad background in psychology and a firm understanding of the scientific method. The majority of students select this option.
Honors in Psychology
The honors major offers students a challenging and unique opportunity: to conduct their own independent research study under the guidance of a faculty member; additional course and GPA requirements apply. Students interested in pursuing honors in psychology should contact an advisor in the psychology advising office.
General Major Requirements
In addition to the A&S basic skills and general education requirements, psychology majors must complete 29 credits in psychology, four credits in statistics, and 9 to 10 credits of corequirements. The distribution of the major requirements is as follows:
Foundation Courses
Three courses that are required to declare the major; students must earn a C or better in all three foundation courses if they wish to graduate with a psychology major.
- PSY 0010 Introduction to Psychology
- STAT 0200 Basic Applied Statistics or STAT 1000 Applied Statistical Methods or STAT 1100 Statistics and Probability for Business Management
- PSY 0035 Research Methods
Core Courses
Four courses: Developmental Psychology plus one course from each of the three pairs of courses:
- PSY 0310 Developmental Psychology
- PSY 0105 Introduction to Social Psychology or PSY 0160 Psychology of Personality
- PSY 0405 Learning and Motivation or 0420 Cognitive Psychology for Majors.
- PSY 0505 Introduction to Biopsychology or 0510 Sensation and Perception
NOTE: The 400-level courses have required laboratory components.
1000-level courses (three courses)
Students must take three 1000-level courses, one of which may be PSY 1900 Supervised Field Placement, PSY 1902 Directed Individual Reading, or PSY 1903 Directed Individual Research. For students participating in the honors major, PSY 1973 Honors Directed Research or PSY 1975 Honors Thesis/Majors may be used to fulfill one of the 1000-level course requirements.
Corequirements (four courses)
The psychology department requires that students further develop their scientific skills through certain approved courses in math, biological sciences, and social sciences. A list of these approved courses is available in the psychology advising office. The corequirements may be used to fulfill A&S general education requirements, where appropriate, or can be taken as separate courses.
Psychology majors must also follow these rules and requirements:
- Psychology majors must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA average in their departmental courses.
- Although the psychology department permits its majors to elect the S/NC grading option (formerly the S/N option) for any psychology course, students are reminded that most graduate and professional schools, and many employers, prefer to see standard grades on the transcript.
- Majors must take one of the W courses offered within the department. PSY 0035 Research Methods is offered every term and is a W course. Other W courses offered in the department are PSY 0420 Cognitive Psychology for Majors, PSY 1112 Human Sexuality, and PSY 1305 Experimental Child Psychology.
- In addition to their major requirements, all A&S students are required to complete a related area, minor, or certificate. Students should consult a psychology advisor when deciding which courses they would like to pursue to fulfill this requirement.