About the Program

The undergraduate program in psychology is designed to prepare students for either employment in settings requiring behavioral principles or admission to graduate study. It is also a liberal studies major. Advising can help undergraduates tailor their courses of study to their particular interests. Graduate programs prepare students for specific professional positions in teaching, research and clinical practice.

The department occupies all three floors of Kent Hall and the Kent Hall addition, which contain classrooms, seminar rooms, faculty offices, research space, a computer lab and federally approved facilities for research with small animals, as well as the Psychological Clinic and the Applied Psychology Center.

Program Requirements

All students pursuing bachelor’s degrees at Kent State complete a series of liberal education requirements. Psychology majors take courses in the areas of English composition, mathematics or logic, foreign language, humanities, fine arts, social sciences and basic sciences.
The following are the core psychology major courses:

· General Psychology
· Quantitative Methods in Psychology
· Research Methods in Psychology
· Writing in Psychology
· Child Psychology OR
Psychology of Adjustment
· Experimental Psychology: Perception OR
Cognitive Psychology
· Experimental Psychology: Basic Learning
Processes OR Biopsychology
· Social Psychology OR Personality

PLUS 8 credit hours of upper-division psychology electives.

Psychology majors will complement these requirements with a variety of other offerings from the department or other academic fields. Students must complete a minimum of 121 semester hours to earn the Bachelor of Arts degree.

 

Special Departmental Programs

Undergraduate Research

The Individual Investigation and Undergraduate Research courses provide students with the opportunity to pursue their own interests and learn how psychologists work in research settings.

Students have received credit for assisting faculty members with ongoing research, conducting their own research projects under faculty supervision and doing library research projects.

Graduate Training

For students who wish to continue their education, ­graduate studies are available in many areas within ­psychology (e.g., clinical, cognitive, social, biopsychology, industrial/organizational, health psychology or school ­psychology). Those who attain doctoral degrees are usually at an advantage over master’s degree holders, particularly for research careers or careers as university professors. In ­addition, psychology provides an excellent undergraduate background for such fields as law, medicine, the ministry, social work, sociology, counseling, recreation, gerontology and ­several other disciplines.