Psychological Sciences

Psychology is the field of study that focuses on human behavior--everything people say, do, feel, or think. The latest research methodologies encourage students to develop objective and analytical approaches to the study of behavior.

Are you curious about why people behave as they do?  Do you wonder how people learn?  Would you like to know more about how the brain affects people's thinking and behavior?  Are you interested in why prejudice occurs?  Would you enjoy helping people solve problems such as anxiety and depression?

If your answer to any of these questions is Yes, you should consider psychology as a field of study in college. The reason is simple: psychology is a field that deals with everything that people think, feel, and do.

Curriculum
     Two programs are available at Purdue for students interested in psychology.  The Psychological Sciences Major provides a broad foundation in psychology, but also provides maximum flexibility in psychology course selection.  This program is often chosen by students interested in careers as therapists or in other human services areas, or by students who plan careers that require only a Bachelor’s degree (Psych Major Plan of Study). The Brain and Behavioral Sciences Major is especially appropriate for students interested in the more science-oriented areas of psychology, or for students who plan to go into careers that require graduate study and research activities. This program is also popular with students who want careers in medicine (BBS Major Plan of Study).  

Both programs consist of 120 total credit hours, including 14 psychology courses, courses that build skills in other important areas, and elective courses.  You will begin with a course in elementary psychology.  Later, you will take a course on the statistics needed to understand and interpret psychological research.  You will also take a course that explores the methods of psychological research.  These three courses, plus one foundation psychology course chosen from a list of 8, represent the Pre-Psychology stage that must be completed before official admission to the Psychological Sciences major or the Brain and Behavioral Science major.  Note:  students who were enrolled in the pre-HHS, or CLA curriculum, please click here for information.

Beyond these basic requirements, you can choose from a broad range of courses in the Department of Psychological Sciences.  Some courses focus on mental illness and behavioral problems, or clinical psychology; others on thinking and reasoning, or cognitive psychology; others on human growth and aging, or developmental psychology; others on how people work together, or industrial/organizational psychology; others on learning, memory, and motivation; others on the biological bases of behavior, or behavioral neuroscience; others on mathematical models of behavior and on statistics, or quantitative psychology; and others on people's thoughts and behavior in social situations.  Your selections from these courses will be based on your personal and career interests and the specific major you choose, guided by professional advisors who are trained in psychology and in helping students.

In addition to the regularly scheduled courses, you can take special courses that allow in-depth work in particular areas of psychology.  In all courses, you will learn about current theories and the latest research methods.  You will also be encouraged to develop an objective and analytical approach to the understanding of behavior.  As you advance through the program, you will have an opportunity to enroll in research seminars in which students and faculty work closely together.  For example, the Research-Focused Honors Program offers advanced research experience and culminates in a senior thesis. In the Internship in Psychology course students work with professionals in an applied setting.

Even if you do not major in psychology, you will probably take courses in the Department of Psychological Sciences.  Students interested in sociology, physical education, art, political science, management, audiology and speech sciences, engineering, education, law, and medicine take psychology courses to gain a broader perspective on their own fields.  In short, whether you are a psychology major or just take a few courses in the department, you will discover that an understanding of psychology will enrich your undergraduate program.

Career Opportunities
With a bachelor's degree in psychology, your career opportunities will be many and varied. After graduation from Purdue, you could obtain advanced training in psychology.  This advanced training could lead to a career as a clinical or counseling psychologist, as a psychology professor, as a researcher, or as a professional in any of several areas of applied psychology.  You may, instead, enter graduate study in such fields as law, medicine, or business.  Your knowledge of psychology will be invaluable if you join one of those professions.

An alternative career path would be to take a job immediately after graduation.  Like many psychology majors at Purdue, you might begin your career in one of the "helping professions."  For example, you might work in a hospital, group home, community social services organization, or delinquency prevention program.  You might instead have a job in a government agency, where your knowledge of human behavior would be both helpful and applicable.  Another path would be to begin a career in business and industry, applying your skills in areas such as personnel selection and training, advertising, consumer-product research, or public opinion polling.  Because you will learn about many aspects of psychology while at Purdue, you will be prepared for many career opportunities.

Learning Facilities
The Department of Psychological Sciences is located in two buildings near the center of the Purdue campus.  The basement of the Psychological Sciences Building has a laboratory complex especially equipped for psychobiology teaching and research.  One wing on the first floor of this building is a developmental psychology research center.  The other wing has laboratories and offices for clinical psychology training and research.  On the second floor are several seminar rooms and rooms for research on social and industrial-organizational psychology.  The third floor has an environmental chamber, a psychoacoustic laboratory, and other laboratories used to study cognitive processes.  A 50-seat classroom on this floor is adjacent to a lab complex so that undergraduates can move directly from the classroom to research facilities.  The fourth floor, limited to animal research personnel, houses several small-animal laboratories.

The Psychological Sciences Building is connected by an enclosed passageway to Peirce Hall.  On the second floor of Peirce Hall is a Quantitative Psychology Laboratory, which is equipped with computers and software used in several psychology courses, and the Bradley Laboratories for Psychological Research, a new facility for human research shared by the entire Department.  The main office of the Department of Psychological Sciences is on the third floor.

Other Programs and Activities
With other students new to the psychology department, you can take a brief course that acquaints you with departmental opportunities, requirements, facilities, faculty, and advising and placement services.  This course also helps you meet other new psychology students.  You can talk with professional academic advisors, currently located in Beering Hall of Liberal Arts & Education, Room 1114.  These three advisors work exclusively with psychology students, helping them to select classes, to explore career options, and to find experience-building activities.

Active student organizations promote social interaction (fun!) as well as educational experiences such as field trips to institutions, guest lecturers, and panel discussions.  The Psychology Club is open to all interested students.  The Purdue chapter of Psi Chi, the national honorary society in Psychology, is open by invitation only to students with records of superior academic achievement.

Faculty
Many professors in the Department of Psychological Sciences are nationally and internationally known scientists.  In the most recent ranking by the National Research Council, the department was placed among the top 25 percent of psychology departments in the nation's major colleges and universities.  First-rate teaching is also emphasized in the department.  Several professors in psychology have won departmental, college, and university-wide teaching awards.  The introductory courses in the department often have large enrollments, but courses beyond the introductory level are often small, with 20 to 50 students enrolled.

In summary, if you choose to study psychology at Purdue, you will have opportunities to learn from outstanding faculty both in and out of the classroom.  By the time you graduate, you will know more about why people behave as they do--and you will be prepared to use that knowledge in your career and in other arenas of your life.

Listed below are a few positions where graduates in Psychology are employed:

ATA Airlines (Quality Assurance Rep)
Behavioral Health Care (Mental Health Tech)
Camelot Care Centers (Case Manager)
Christian Haven Inc (Behavioral Health Tech)
FBI (Special Agent)
Hope Counseling (Addictions Counselor)

Web sites for more information:
www.psych.purdue.edu/
www.hhs.purdue.edu/undergraduatemajors/index.html