Skip the navigation on this page

 

 

 

 

Social Program Graduate Program Requirements

A. Major requirement: 18 credits in the major area
Graduate students in Social Psychology are required to complete three core courses in order to assure a base and breadth of training. Students must also select three additional courses in Social Psychology; these should be chosen in consultation with a student's advisor and should reflect specialized interests and career plans. The courses are described in more detail below.

Core Courses
  • Introduction to Advanced Social Psychology (PSY 517)
  • Current Issues (currently listed as PSY 571)
  • Designing Research in Social Psychology (PSY 583)

The introductory course provides historical background and an overview of topics in social psychology at the graduate level. The course on current issues introduces students to important contemporary topics and controversies within social psychology. The methods course, in combination with the department requirement for statistics, provides students with an overview of methodologies and issues to consider in developing and conducting research, along with specific methodological skills.

Additional Courses

Students also need to develop a breadth of knowledge about several topic areas in social psychology. Students should take three additional advanced level courses in social psychology. The courses selected should reflect the special needs and interest of each graduate student. Reflection upon one's interest and consultation with one's advisor should guide you in your selection of these additional courses.

Any graduate (500 level) course taught by a social psychologist in our department can serve this requirement. Courses taught by social psychologists in other departments do not satisfy this requirement; such courses can be used for your breadth requirements. Independent study courses will not count toward the major requirement without special (written) permission from one's advisor.

Breadth requirement: 12 credits in areas outside the major area.

The goal of the breadth requirement is to supplement students' training in the social psychological area(s) of particular interest to them. These courses should be helpful and meaningful to your plan of study. In most cases, students should think of this course work as similar to forming a minor. Course work for the breadth requirement can come from a single other area of psychology (e.g. Industrial Organizational Psychology) or a single other department (e.g. Sociology), or it can involve courses with a topical focus that cuts across areas and departments (e.g. courses about emotion in Clinical Psychology, Psychophysiology, and Human Development and Family Studies). In contrast to this approach of having the breadth courses serve as a sort of minor, students can instead take a variety of courses across areas and departments if their training and career goals would best be served by this type of strategy (e.g. separate courses in Developmental, Clinical, and Cognitive Psychology). However, these courses should not be a haphazard selection of courses that, for instance, happen to be available during a particular semester, but instead should be selected in light of the student's interests.

In all cases, the student should develop a plan early in their graduate training (end of the first year) as to the type of courses they wish to take for the breadth requirement. The plan should note whether or not they are taking an approach akin to a minor. If the plan is to take the minor approach, the minor area should be specified. If the plan is to take a variety of courses, the plan needs to indicate the logic behind the variety of courses they are selecting. This planning should be done in consultation with one's advisor. The plan must be submitted in written form with the student's end-of-year report to the psychology advising office. The plan can be revised over the course of one's graduate training, but the justification for any changes should be made explicit.

Any 500 level course may count for this requirement. 400 level courses will only count with justification and special (written) permission by one's advisor. Up to 6 independent study credits may count toward this requirement. A brief written description of the nature of the independent study work must be provided to the student's advisor. When the independent study credits involve research projects, a final paper summarizing the research should be completed.

C. Statistics requirement: 6 credits within the first 2 years.

At a minimum, the statistic courses one selects should give students in depth knowledge about the analysis of variance and regression. However, we also recommend that students take additional courses on multivariate statistics. This includes courses on factor analyses, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical linear modeling. Specific course selection should be discussed with the student's advisor.

D. Prosem

Students are required to register for the social area prosem every semester. This seminar allows students to practice giving presentations on their own research, learn about other people's current research (both in the area and the department and from guest speakers), and to keep informed about current conceptual, methodological, and statistical issues of relevance to social psychologists.

E. Documentation

As noted above, at the end of each year students must submit a narrative statement of their accomplishments, goals, and plans for their graduate education in the immediate future. They will also need to complete a checklist indicating how they are achieving their goals through courses. The statement and the checklist must be signed by the student's advisor and submitted to the advising office. For any exceptions to any of the requirements noted above, written authorization should be provided to the advising office, as should written descriptions of independent study and research papers completed for research done under independent study credit hours for the breadth requirement.