The BA – Psychology provides students with useful and marketable skills which go beyond basic knowledge of the content of psychological facts and theories. Successful majors develop good research and technical writing skills, develop high-level skills for analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information, and become good problem solvers with well-developed people skills. A BA - Psychology is an appropriate broad liberal arts major for many students who will directly enter the workforce. A list of fields which frequently hire psychology students is available in the department. The psychology degree is also suitable pre-professional preparation for such careers as business, law, medicine and theology, as well as the graduate training necessary for careers in psychology.
Graduate study in Psychology is also extremely popular. The Psychology Department offers programs for those seeking terminal master’s degrees in clinical psychology as well as industrial/organizational psychology. These MS degrees are called terminal master’s degrees because they provide training for employment rather than for moving on to the next level of graduate training. The department also offers an MA degree designed to prepare students with the background in experimental psychology that will be required for additional advanced training leading to a doctoral degree in psychology or related fields, as well as for employment in human factors or other research settings. The MS and MA degrees fulfill the degree requirement for teaching psychology at the community college level.
The undergraduate and graduate students in psychology are a diverse group that mirrors the diversity in the SJSU student population, with a somewhat higher proportion of women. They are well represented on the list of Dean's and President's Scholars. Psi Chi, the psychology honors association, is very active in departmental activities, such as the Psychology Convocation at the end of the Spring semester, and in organizing speakers who present information of general psychological interest and relevance to students' professional lives including preparation or graduate school applications. They also organize the Spartan Psychological Association Research Colloquia (SPARC) meeting each spring. This meeting provides an opportunity for students to present their research findings in a local meeting before venturing to regional or national professional meetings.
Psychology faculty offer students a variety of expertise and experience. Some focus on basic research in areas such as cognition, social psychology, developmental psychology and psychobiology, while others focus on more applied areas such as clinical practice, industrial and organizational psychology and aerospace human factors. Faculty in the department receive several million dollars per year in grant support (90% of the external grant funding received by the college of social science, and 34% of the external grant funding received by the university). Some of these funds support projects that either hire students as research assistants or permit course credit in return for student involvement. Additionally, faculty run a variety of community-oriented and service learning programs such as the hooked-on-books reading program which promotes literacy, and domestic violence prevention programs run in conjunction with a number of community organizations. Our faculty are frequently recognized for their award winning scholarship and teaching. Each year many students are co-authors of papers presented at professional meetings or published in professional journals.
Separate advising arrangements are provided for the undergraduate and graduate programs. You should begin by visiting the Department Website or visiting the Department office to pick up advising materials. Many students also find that outside of the formal advising process, other psychology faculty whose area of expertise matches their own interests are useful sources of information and provide important mentoring and informal career guidance. The department's Web site, www.psych.sjsu.edu is also a valuable source of information but is not a substitute for face-to-face meeting with a department advisor.
At the undergraduate level, you are advised to declare yourself as a psychology major early in your academic career and meet with a departmental advisor frequently.
At the graduate level, each graduate program has one faculty member designated as the program coordinator who is also the official program advisor. Graduate students who are writing a thesis also choose a thesis advisor from among the faculty.
The Psychology Department welcomes transfers and seeks to facilitate the transition to SJSU. We work with community college advisors so they can provide useful information about our major. Community college courses evaluated as equivalent to SJSU courses in the lower division are automatically transferable. The psychology major is designed so as many as 9 lower division units in psychology can be transferred plus the required 3 units in biology and 3 units of statistics. Lower and upper division courses from other four-year institutions that have not been evaluated may also be transferable. We will ask you to provide a complete description of the course (the syllabus usually provides the most complete information) so that a psychology advisor can evaluate comparability. If you have a substantial amount of coursework taken elsewhere, see a Psychology Advisor.
The department maintains a variety of facilities and support staff to enhance instruction and research. For biological and cognitive research and instruction, the department has a number of laboratories and specialized laboratory equipment on campus, and a lab technician is available to construct additional equipment. In addition, the department has an agreement with NASA-Ames Research Center in Mountain View under which selected students interested in experimentation and human factors serve as interns. Students interested in human factors or industrial-organizational psychology also have access to local businesses and corporations through the department, and externally-funded research assistantships in a variety of areas are available on campus.
For graduate work in clinical psychology, the department has a psychology clinic consisting of therapy rooms and adjoining observation rooms equipped with audio and video equipment. These rooms are also available to individuals working on research in other areas, such as developmental, personality and social psychology. In addition, undergraduate students interested in counseling-related activities have access to a number of off-campus organizations, and graduate student interns help staff many local mental health and related organizations.
Three computer laboratories are available for use by students. These labs have extensive software for statistical analyses, word processing and other computer-related tasks. Statistical consultants are available to help with the design and interpretation of statistical analyses, and for help understanding computer exercises.
The department maintains an excellent Web site where detailed information and answers to frequently asked questions may be found. Students should consult this Web site frequently. The URL is www.psych.sjsu.edu.
Students requesting departmental honors in psychology will be selected on the basis of the following criteria: (1) a minimum GPA of 3.5 in all psychology coursework; (2) completion of PSYC 117, PSYC 120, PSYC 121(A, B, or C), STAT 95, and STAT 115 with a GPA of at least 3.5; and (3) evidence of distinguished scholarly work, as indicated by the completion of a BA thesis (PSYC 199), the honors seminar (PSYC 195), or work leading to a published paper or presentation at a professional meeting. Contact the department office for details.
The Behavioral Science Program is designed for students who wish to develop an interdisciplinary perspective on human behavior. The program is offered cooperatively by the Departments of Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology, although all academic advising is performed by the Department of Anthropology. Students majoring in behavioral science may also fulfill the requirements of the behavioral science/psychology double major in Psychology and Behavioral Science. The requirements for the BA - Behavioral Science are located under the Behavioral Science Program listing in this catalog. The requirements for the behavioral science/psychology double major are listed in the Behavioral Science section. Students interested in further information about the double major should contact the Department of Anthropology, 408-924-5710.
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