“Focusing on cognition and development while equipping students with broad range of specialized skills in psychology and cultivating people who can make a difference in our society”
In this program, instructors teach as a group so that students can learn about a wide variety of topics in psychology without closing their minds to any particular path or interest. There is lively interaction between graduate students and instructors, thereby giving students opportunities to learn about psychology from a variety of perspectives. The curriculum ensures that students gain the basic knowledge they need, as well as the ability to apply the various skills and methods involved in conducting psychological research, such as experimentation, testing, interviews, surveys, and statistics.
During the 2011 academic year, the program introduced a system for admitting working adults to its daytime course programming in both the fall and spring. By learning with others who are addressing various psychological challenges in real life, students are better able to develop the practical skills that will be most useful to them in their lives beyond the university. We are developing evidence-based research practices by working in conjunction with the Life Skill Education Institute.
Distinctive Features
This program offers a group-teaching structure that utilizes experts in such fields as perception, sleep, development, clinical developmental psychology, language, education, behavior analysis, crime, society, memory, learning, and phonetics. By studying the research methods used in psychology, students are able to develop advanced computer literacy, writing skills, presentation skills, and communication skills.
Goals
Students will gain specialized knowledge in various fields of psychology as well as the skills needed to put that knowledge to practical use. This program focuses on seminar-style classes in addition to lectures, helping students take a project approach to learning and develop skills that will enable them to appropriately communicate information regarding their own research findings. Students learn to scrutinize information through discussions with other graduate students and instructors, and develop the ability to think theoretically about issues. In this way, the program strives to cultivate not only individuals who want to become professional researchers, but also individuals who are able to address the various psychological challenges being faced in homes, schools, and society at large.