Psychology students develop systematic, rigorous ways of thinking about people that draw upon real life experiences and careful thinking. Such skills help psychology students to help others, to work effectively in business settings, to attend graduate school, and to function in any of the wide variety of careers in psychology. Students learn about research in every course in the curriculum, either by reading about research or by conducting it themselves. Gaining knowledge through the variety of research methods in psychology and learning how to conduct such research is central to the education of the psychology major. Developing these systematic, rigorous ways of thinking about people that draw upon real life experiences and careful thinking helps students who study psychology to help others, to work effectively in business settings, to attend graduate school, and to function in any of the wide variety of careers in psychology.
Many students also pursue research interests through individual or small group research experiences.
A particular strength of thedepartment is the faculty, whose members are not only excellent teachers, but also productive researchers. Students earn course credit by working with faculty as research assistants and in some cases, collaborators. Students often co-author papers with faculty that are presented at national and regional conferences, and many Muhlenberg psychology students give presentations of their own research at the annual Undergraduate Psychology Conference of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges. Students can sign up for Independent Research projects and Independent Study and conduct research as part of Muhlenberg's Dana Associates Program or the Psychology Honors Program. Recent faculty-student collaborations include research on mental health values, a study of the ideal college learning environment, research on the effect of negative contrast on motivation, and work on mood and job satisfaction.