Psych Schedule | Psychhandbook

Developmental Psychology

Counseling and Clinical Applications

Our Psychology program takes you on a journey of scientific inquiry into the fascinating realm of the human mind, human behavior and its correlates. A psychology degree will prepare you for graduate studies in psychology or related professions, or a career in social service, business, research, or many other related fields.

Our faculty represents a unique combination of life experience, active research, academic achievement, and professional accomplishments with specialization in several complementary branches of Psychology, including Social, Cognitive, Biological, Clinical, Developmental, and Experimental. Special topics courses taught by working professionals strengthen our connection with the community. Also, a number of our faculty are leaders and innovators in diverse pedagogies including service learning. We are eager to help students find internship or community placement (as part of the Senior Project) opportunities within the following areas: treatment centers, schools, The Children’s Center, grief centers, hospitals, prisons or juvenile detention centers, foster care, social service agencies, refugee relocation programs, community/volunteer organizations, and faculty research projects.

Students must maintain at least a cumulative 2.5 GPA in courses required for the psychology major and minor. To fulfill the requirements for a major in psychology, students must complete a minimum of 51 credit hours of coursework in psychology.

In addition, each student must select an area of concentrated study from among the following: clinical counseling applications of psychology, developmental, social, or brain and behavior.

Students choosing a double major or minor within the Social Science Program may not apply electives to more than one major or minor. Only classes listed as “required classes” for both majors/minors may be applied to both.

The study of how people change across multiple psychological domains from infancy through the lifespan. Developmental psychologists are involved in aspects of human functioning found in all other topic areas of psychology. Human development is studied from social, cognitive, clinical/counseling, community, and neuroscientific perspectives. Psychologists with a developmental focus are concerned with both basic research, that which examines fundamental questions to add to our body of scientific knowledge, and applied research, which includes studies that focus directly on solving problems or affecting specific outcomes.

This area of study seeks to explore the role of biological processes in behavior. Neuroscience lies at the intersection of biology and psychology and utilizes the tools and knowledge of the biological sciences to better understand the complexity of animal and human minds. As such, courses emphasize basic processes (e.g., neuronal communication, neuroanatomy, sensation and perception) as well as more complex processes (e.g., learning, memory, language, emotion, addiction).

The area is driven by rapidly evolving techniques and research contributions from a variety of fields spanning the biological and psychological sciences. The emphasis provides an important and necessary overview of the neurosciences to students interested in pursuing careers in biologically based areas of psychology, while individual classes provide complementary information for students pursuing other emphases. Students with a primary interest in molecular processes of neuroscience should discuss with an advisor the differences between the Psychology Brain and Behavior emphasis and the Neuroscience degree.

Brain and Behavior

Social Psychology

Studying Psychology at Westminster

Program Requirements

Areas of Concentration

This concentration aims to explore the differences between normal and abnormal behavior. As such, it is devoted to the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of individuals with difficulties in cognition, emotion, and behavior. Courses in this area (e.g. Abnormal Psychology, Childhood Psychopathology, Methods of Counseling, Exploring Addictions) will help students understand the complex nature of psychopathology. These courses will also provide a sound theoretical, practical, and research base for those continuing on for an advanced degree in clinical or counseling psychology, social work, or marriage and family therapy. Courses taught in this area will encourage thoughtful self-reflection, consideration of diverse cultural contexts, and increased awareness of internal and external factors that impact mental health services and delivery systems.

Social Psychology explores how individuals perceive, influence, and relate to others, recognizing that individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others (Allport, 1985). Social Psychologists focus on the ways that people are affected by, and in turn affect, their social environments. In other words, social psychology is interested in the person within their social context. While individual personal characteristics are important, our social circumstances often influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviors more than we know. The field relies on scientific research to generate theories of social behavior. Social psychology has applications into all of the areas of social activity, for example, education, business, government, health and welfare, sports, politics, jurisprudence, and community development. Social psychology has contributed greatly to our understanding of prejudice, and thus, at Westminster, many of the classes in the Social area have a diversity focus.

Academic Major Requirements

Liberal Education Courses
The following courses are required for the Psychology major AND fulfill LE requirements PSYC 105 Introduction to Psychology, LE MATH 150 Elementary Statistics, LE

Requirement Description		Credit Hours
I.	Foreign Language Requirement	8
	Psychology majors must complete eight credit hours in a single foreign language
II.	Lower Division Psychology Course	15-16
	PSYC 105 Introduction to Psychology, LE (4) Select a Course from Three of the Four Areas of Selected Study: (11-12) PSYC 203 Lifespan Development (3) PSYC 205 Brain and Behavior, (4) or PSYC 209 Cognitive Psychology (4) PSYC 216 Social Psychology (4) PSYC 252 Personality Theories (4)
III.	Upper Division Psychology Courses	8
	PSYC 390 Research Methods (4) PSYC 470 Senior Project I, II (2-2)
IV.	Area of Selected Study
	Students complete eight hours in a selected area of study (or concentration) after having completed the requisite 200 level course. See below for listings	8
V.	Electives in Psychology	8
	Four credit hour course from an area other than the area of selected study Four credit hour course from a second area other than selected study
VI.	Required Courses from Other Programs	4
	MATH 150 Elementary Statistics, LE
Total Hours for the Academic Major		51-52

Curriculum

PSYC Student Handbook

Information and Resources for Westminster PSYC Students