Department of Psychology

Information and Departmental Plan of Study

The Department of Psychology welcomes students interested in all aspects of life and society. A rigorous understanding of human behavior and mental processes can be useful for almost any vocation. Students with a psychology degree have successfully pursued careers in science, clinical psychology, computer technology, teaching, public policy, medicine, business, law, economics and sometimes even the performing arts. The psychology concentration, within the Division of Natural Sciences, provides foundational and advanced undergraduate courses on sensation, perception, movement, language, reasoning, decision making, social interaction, and computational models of the brain. Because psychological science involves working with large and complex datasets, students learn statistical methods. The psychology concentration also provides a grounding in neuroscience, since mental processes and behavior arise from the brain.

Psychology majors have an opportunity to be involved in cutting-edge research for their independent work. Our faculty members represent a diversity of research topics including the development of perception and language in infants and children, the use of neural measures for understanding memory and attention, the impact of implicit biases and stereotypes on social cognition, the neural basis of social communication, and many other topics. These research experiences, combined with the course offerings, prepare concentrators for a range of possible careers. Some students pursue graduate studies in psychological science, cognitive science, or neuroscience. Some pursue careers in data science, policymaking, or teaching. The psychology concentration is compatible with fulfilling requirements for medical school and law school.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites for entering the Department of Psychology are successful graded completion of PSY 251 (Quantitative Methods) or a pre-approved statistics course in another department (for example, ORF 245, ECO 202, WWS 200, SML 201, or POL 345), along with two other courses from the following list: PSY 101 (Introduction to Psychology), PSY 252 (Social Psychology), PSY 254 (Developmental Psychology), PSY 255 (Cognitive Psychology), or either PSY 258 (Fundamentals of Neuroscience) or NEU 200 (Functional Neuroanatomy). All requests for an alternative set of prerequisites must be approved by the director of undergraduate studies.

Early Concentration

Sophomores who have fulfilled the prerequisites may apply for early concentration. If accepted, they may engage in independent reading with a faculty adviser and submit a paper at the end of the spring semester. This preparation may qualify them for more advanced independent work in the junior year.

Program of Study

The psychology concentration requires successful graded completion of at least eight courses within the department in addition to the three prerequisite courses. If they were not already taken as prerequisites, PSY 252, PSY 255, and either PSY 258 or NEU 200 must be included in the eight courses. It is recommended that students finish these three courses by the end of junior year. One of the eight departmental courses must be PSY 300 (Research Methods in Psychology), which must be completed by the end of junior year. Of the remaining departmental courses, all must be 200-level or higher and at least four must be at the 300- or 400-level. Students can take up to two, pre-approved cognate courses from other departments, which count as departmental courses.

Independent Work

Junior Independent Work

To satisfy the junior independent work requirement, each student, in consultation with a faculty adviser, must write a fall semester report and a spring semester report. For each report, each student must also give a short oral presentation midway through the semester to show the student’s progress.  These two projects culminate in one, year-long Junior Independent Work grade that is reflected on the spring transcript.

1. Fall Semester Paper: With help from the department, and by talking to faculty and researching faculty web pages, students find an advisor from the Department of Psychology.  The primary purpose of the fall paper is for students to practice how to formulate a question and to query the literature. The format of the fall report is flexible and depends on discussion between student and advisor. In one common format, the student finds a topic of personal interest that overlaps the advisor’s expertise. The student then researches the topic, finds relevant scientific papers, and writes a review of those papers, including the student’s own critical analysis and interpretation. In another common format, the student joins a research group, working with the advisor and graduate students on experiments. In this case, the fall paper contains an introduction that reviews the literature, a methods section describing the experimental procedures, a results section describing any results obtained by the end of the semester, and a discussion describing possible outcomes and interpretations. The fall paper is typically 10 to 20 pages and is graded by the student’s advisor.
2. Spring Semester Paper: Students may remain with the same advisor from the fall semester, or find a different advisor whose interests overlap their own. The primary purpose of the spring paper is to prepare students for a thesis by having them formulate an original idea and embody it in a paper. The format is flexible and depends on discussions between student and advisor. In one common format, students write a theoretical piece that proposes a thesis idea and uses creative exploration of the literature to explore the idea. In another common format, students write a research proposal. The proposal can in some cases lay the groundwork for the senior thesis, but this is not required. The proposal typically includes a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, a statement of a specific scientific question, a description of the proposed methods, and a discussion of the possible outcomes and interpretations. In a third common format, students perform the proposed experiments and include data in the spring paper. The spring paper is typically 20 to 40 pages and is graded by the student’s advisor and by a second reader that is assigned from the department. The two grades are averaged.

Senior Independent Work 

Each concentrator must prepare a senior thesis, based either on an experimental investigation conducted by the student in a laboratory or field setting or on a theoretical inquiry or computational modeling endeavor. In close consultation with a faculty adviser, each student develops, carries out, and writes up his or her own research project. The resulting thesis serves as the basis for the first part of the senior comprehensive exam (see below). Length varies depending on type of thesis (experimental write-ups are often shorter) but is typically between 40 and 80 pages. Students are required to select a primary adviser from within the Department of Psychology. A second adviser, serving as a reader, will be assigned. An adviser from another department to oversee the student’s thesis work (for example if the student wishes to work in a lab from another department) will be considered only after the student has found a primary advisor within the psychology department and obtained permission from that primary adviser, the director of undergraduate studies in psychology, and the potential outside adviser. Then the student must submit written notification to the Undergraduate Administrator indicating the name and department of the outside adviser.

Senior Departmental Examination

The senior comprehensive exam is a 60-minute oral examination conducted by two members of the faculty, typically the student’s advisor and second reader. The exam is a defense of the senior thesis and a discussion of its implications.

Study Abroad

The department allows psychology concentrators to study abroad for one semester or a full year. Concentrators may receive credit for up to two courses per semester spent studying abroad, to count toward their departmental course requirements. Courses taken while studying abroad require the prior approval of the director of undergraduate studies. To secure approval, students must document the work load and material covered by proposed courses.

Additional Information

Program in Neuroscience

The department offers the opportunity for concentrators to earn a certificate through the Program in Neuroscience. Interested students should discuss the program with the certificate directors and the director of undergraduate studies. Certain advanced courses taken in the program can count as cognates in the Department of Psychology.

Facilities

The laboratories of individual faculty members are open to undergraduates for their independent work. Information about the Department of Psychology can be found online, including a current description of the research being conducted in the laboratories. Broader resources available include: the Lewis Library's collection of psychology books and journals, computer labs and high-performance computing clusters, Princeton Neuroscience Institute shared equipment such as fMRI, EEG, TMS, eye-trackers, and microscopes, and the Princeton Survey Research Center.