The Discipline of Psychology

Psychology is the study of behavior and its relationship to brain systems.  Because both behavior and the brain are complex, psychology has many subdivisions and areas of specialization. For example, behavioral neuroscientists study the brain mechanisms of learning, memory, emotion, drug action, and biological disease states such as Alzheimer’s Disease, anxiety disorder and schizophrenia.  Cognitive psychologists study cognitive models of the mind, language, memory, and basic sensory processes.  Clinical psychologists study a variety of behavioral disorders including those involved in fear, eating disorders, and substance abuse.  Social psychologists examine behavior in social contexts as well as the development of a self-concept.  Developmental psychologists are broadly interested in all of these topics, with a focus on how maturity and experience influence changes in these processes.

The Rutgers Program

With over 40 full-time faculty members, the Department of Psychology is able to offer students a broad selection of courses and opportunities for research, independent study, internships, and fieldwork. The research active faculty, who publish in all areas of psychology including applied and basic research, is nationally recognized: support for research comes from the National Institutes of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, and other public and private foundations.  Our offices and laboratories are located in Tillett Hall (Livingston campus) and the Psychology Building (Busch campus).

The Major in Psychology

The major in Psychology requires General Psychology, Quantitative Methods, 6 of the 7 core courses (Sensation & Perception, Cognition, Conditioning & Learning, Physiological, Social, Infant & Child and Abnormal Psychology), a laboratory course, and additional psychology courses to complete a total of 38 credits.

We offer more than 30 advanced elective courses, including specialty seminars, covering virtually every area of psychology.

 

Special Opportunities

Students with excellent academic records may plan and conduct their own research project with a faculty member as part of the Honors Major in Psychology.  This track requires 45 credits of work in psychology and culminates in a year-long research project that is presented at a spring Honors Poster Session to which parents and the academic community are invited.  Students receive awards for the best research proposals and projects as well as earn the BA with Honors in Psychology on their transcripts. Additionally, students often have the opportunity to present this work at national meetings and to publish their work in leading professional journals. These opportunities are excellent credentials for acceptance into graduate school for psychology and related sciences or for other fields such as law, business, medicine and social work.

Psychology majors with high grade-point averages may be elected to Psi Chi, a national honor society in psychology, and may be eligible for special research programs, awards, and graduation honors. 

Students may choose independent study, in the form of a laboratory apprenticeship or a reading course, in which a student and faculty member agree on the method and material for an in-depth study of specialized topics. These opportunities help students clarify career interests and future goals.  Many of our majors go on to earn Ph.D. degrees in psychology.

We also offer an Honors major and a minor in Psychology.

We invite you to spend some time navigating through our web site to learn more about us.