Although the question of why people do the things they do is an age-old question, the scientific study of this question, which constitutes the field of psychology, is only about 125 years old. As the field of psychology has developed during the last century, large strides have been made in acquiring new knowledge and in effectively applying the knowledge that has been acquired. The Psychology Department at San José State University offers degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level that explore the research techniques psychologists use to acquire knowledge, current state of theories and scientific findings and application of this scientific knowledge in fields such as clinical, industrial and organizational psychology and human factors.
In the United States psychology is the second most popular major with about 65,000 bachelor degrees granted in 1996. Although about ten percent of these graduates went on to graduate work in psychology, most undergraduate students stop with a bachelor degree. Consistent with this pattern, psychology is one of the most popular majors at SJSU, but a somewhat higher percentage of our undergraduates continues on to graduate programs.
However, the undergraduate degree in 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 degree in psychology is an appropriate broad liberal arts major for many students who will directly enter the workforce. 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.
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