Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
MAJOR AND MINOR DESCRIPTIONS BY DEPARTMENT
PSYCHOLOGY
The psychology major is part of the liberal arts program in the Dietrich School. 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.
Foundation courses
- 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: choose five of the following courses
- PSY 0105 Introduction to Social Psychology
- PSY 0160 Psychology of Personality
- PSY 0310 Developmental Psycholoogy
- PSY 0422 Cognitive Psychology
- PSY 0505 Introduction to Biopsychology or NROSCI 1000 Introduction to Neuroscience
- PSY 1205 Abnormal Psychology
Upper-level courses; choose two 1000-level courses, not to include any of the following courses.
- PSY 1205 Abnormal Psychology
- PSY 1900 Supervised Field Placement
- PSY 1902 Directed Reading
- PSY 1903 Directed Research
- PSY 1950 Psychology Senior Seminar
- PSY 1970 Undergraduate Teaching Experience
- PSY 1973 Honors Directed Research
- PSY 1975 Honors Thesis
Elective course; choose a course from any of the following levels.
- PSY 0100-level
- PSY 0300-level
- PSY 0400-level
- PSY 0500-level
- PSY 1000-level
The elective course cannot include any course used to fulfill a core requirement, any 1000-level requirement, or lab methods requirement. Experiential learning courses – PSY 1900, PSY 1902, and PSY 1903, may be used to fulfill this requirement. PSY 1950, PSY 1970, PSY 1973, and PSY 1975 may not be used to fulfill this requirement.
Laboratory methods course; choose one of the following courses.
- PSY 0405 Learning and Motivation
- PSY 0423 Cognitive Psychology Lab
- PSY 1025 Tests and Measurements
- PSY 1059 Topics in Advanced Research Methods**
- PSY 1112 Psychological Aspects of Human Sexuality: Research Writing Practicum*
- PSY 1305 Experimental Child Psychology*
- PSY 1471 Mapping Brain Connectivity
- PSY 1975 Honors Thesis
*Offered infrequently
**Topics vary
Corequirements (at least three courses)
The Department of Psychology 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 Dietrich School General Education Rdequirements, where appropriate, or can be taken as separate courses.
Psychology majors must also follow these rules and requirements:
- Students who wish to declare a major in psychology must first complete PSY 0010 Introduction to Psychology and one of the foundation statistics courses with a letter grade of C or better and must be enrolled in PSY 0035 Research Methods.
- New majors must complete an online orientation prior to scheduling an appointment with their assigned psychology advisors. Students can access the online orientation on the department’s Web site: www.psychology.pitt.edu/undergraduate.
- Students who plan to major in psychology and have received transfer credit from another college or university for PSY 0035 Research Methods or PSY 0405 Learning and Motivation should meet with a psychology advisor shortly after their enrollment at the University of Pittsburgh. These courses may not fulfill the department’s major requirements if said courses did not include the requisite writing and laboratory components.
- Psychology majors must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA average in their departmental courses.
- All psychology and statistics courses used to fulfill requirements for the major must be taken for a letter grade.
- 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 Dietrich School 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.