The applicant is expected to have an undergraduate major in psychology at an accredited institution. Such a major includes courses in experimental psychology, statistics, and history and systems of psychology, with a well-rounded selection of other psychology courses. Students who are judged to be deficient in these aspects are required to remedy such deficiencies after entering the Graduate School. The department has unusually good facilities and library materials for research. The areas in which research is currently being conducted include learning, motivation, perception, emotion, cognitive processes, neuropsychology, clinical counseling, child development, aging, personality, social, psychological testing, cross-cultural, and primate behavior.
Most students take two academic years to complete the program.
Students who hold assistantships are required to spend two years in residence. In addition to satisfying the University requirements for the degree, all graduate students must write a major research paper and pass a departmental qualifying examination. The MA degree has been offered since 1964. History and Systems of Psychology. The development of psychological thought and research from ancient Greece to present trends, with emphasis on intensive examination of original sources.