Research and Experimental Psychology
Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics
A program that focuses on the scientific study of the mechanisms and processes of learning and thinking, and associated information encoding, decoding, processing and transmitting systems. Includes instruction in theories of cognition and intelligence; studies of cognitive processes such as memory, sensation, perception, pattern recognition, problem solving, and conceptual thinking; cybernetics; psycholinguistics; and the study of biological and social communications mechanisms and processes.
Comparative Psychology
A program that focuses on the behavior of members of particular species or groups and the relationship of the behaviors of the species or group to their evolutionary origins. Includes instruction in differential psychology, experimental and physiological psychology, psychopharmacology, psychology of individual differences, reinforcement theory, and neurophysiology.
Developmental and Child Psychology
A program that focuses on the scientific study of the psychological growth and development of individuals from infancy through adulthood. Includes instruction in cognitive and perceptual development, emotional development, personality development, the effects of biological maturation on behavior, theories of cognitive growth and related research methods, testing and assessment methods for different age levels, research on child and adolescent behavior therapy, and the psychology of aging.
Experimental Psychology
A program that focuses on the scientific study of behavior under experimental conditions and the analysis of controlled behavioral responses. Includes instruction in learning theory, research design and experimental methods, psychological measurement, statistical design and methods, analysis of cognitive and behavioral variables, and the conduct of specialized and large-scale studies.
Personality Psychology
A program that focuses on the unique organization of fairly permanent characteristics that set the individual apart from other individuals and, at the same time, determine how others respond to that individual. Includes instruction in Freudian, Skinnerian, Rogerian, and Ellisonian psychology; neo-Freudian psychology; psychological systems, neurophysiology, and psychopharmacology.
Physiological Psychology/Psychobiology
A program that focuses on the scientific course study of the biological bases of psychological functioning, and their application to experimental and therapeutic research problems. Includes instruction in functional neuroanatomy, neural system development, biochemical neural regulatory mechanisms, neurological biophysics, memory storage and retrieval, physiology of cognition and perception, physiological bases of psychopathology and behavioral disorders, psychopharmacology, comparative psychobiology, and specialized experimental design and research methods.
Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology
A program that focuses on the mathematical and statistical procedures used in psychological test construction and validation; the general problems of the measurement of behavior; and the application of quantitative methods to research design and other methodological topics.
Psychopharmacology
A program that focuses on the study of the behavioral effects of medications, drugs, nutrients, and chemicals (including natural and artificial toxins) in laboratory and clinical settings. Includes instruction in pharmacology, behavioral toxicology and pharmacology, neuroscience, physiology, clinical psychopharmacology, substance abuse treatments and antidotes, neurochemical mechanisms, epidemiology of chemicals and substances, biochemical interactions, and psychoactive drugs.
Social Psychology
A program that focuses on the scientific study of individual behavior in group contexts, group behavior, and associated phenomena. Includes instruction in social learning theory, group theory and dynamics, sex roles, social cognition and inference, attribution theory, attitude formation, criminal behavior and other social pathologies, altruistic behavior, social development, and social ecology.