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GRADUATE PROGRAM
Areas of Study
The department offers graduate training leading to the PhD
degree in psychology. Students can major in one of five divisions: Behavioral
Neuroscience, Clinical, Cognitive, Community and Prevention Research, and Social-Personality.
Every student must satisfy the requirements of a major division and a minor.
Within that framework, students in consultation with their advisers construct
programs individually tailored to their research interests and career goals.
The department's goal is to produce scholars and researchers who will contribute
to the growth of psychological knowledge whether they work in academic, clinical,
or community settings. In addition to divisional requirements all graduate students
in the department complete a first-year research apprenticeship and one year
of coursework in statistics. Qualifying examinations for formal admission to
PhD candidacy follow successful completion of the MA thesis and are administered
by the student's major division. Pleas see individual Division web pages for
more infromation.
The PhD program is designed so that it can be completed in
four years of study, although students typically complete degree requirements
in five or six years. Students' programs vary depending upon their combination
of interests. The department does not accept students for study leading to the
master's degree alone. Students who do not enter the program with a master's
degree in psychology or a closely related area earn the MA as a part of their
PhD program. The MA is awarded after completion of 32 semester hours of coursework
and research and successful defense of the MA thesis.
Minors
In addition to departmental and major
divisional requirements, all doctoral students complete a minor. The purpose
of requiring a minor is to assure that students are broadly exposed to bodies
of knowledge and skills outside their major area that may help to improve the
quality of their scholarship and research. Although this exposure is not as
extensive as the training a student receives in a major division, the minor
educates a student about the core literatures, theories, and research methods
of that area. There are three types of minors that students have the option
of completing. First, Divisional Minors are offered by each of the Department's
five divisions: behavioral neuroscience, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology,
community and prevention research, or social psychology. Second, Student Designed
Curriculum Minors are proposed by individual students and approved by the student's
advisor, division chair, and the Director of Graduate Studies. Students typically
justify selection of this minor through a formal proposal to their advisor and
division that indicates how a particular sequence of courses will broaden their
scholarly approach to psychology as well as their approach to research. Third,
Special Topics Minors are proposed by groups of faculty and approved by the
faculty and the Executive Committee. Special Topics Minors typically represent
important sub-areas of psychology and related fields around which faculty from
various divisions or disciplines have expertise. Currently, the department has
two approved Special Topics Minors: psychology and law; and statistics, methods,
and measurement.
Statistics, Methods and Measurement
The department offers a variety of courses and seminars
in statistics, research methods, and topics in quantitative psychology.
All students are required to complete one year of coursework in statistics,
and some divisions require additional courses. The department provides
excellent training in statistics, methods, and measurement and has developed
a structured minor in this area.
The goal of the statistics, methods, and measurement
minor is to provide students with an extensive tool kit of design and
analysis skills. This minor is expected to have several benefits for the
students who elect to enroll in it: (1) The most obvious advantage is
that students who elect this minor will have an expanded set of skills
to apply to their own research; (2) The minor will provide a sufficiently
complete background in statistics and methods for minors to add these
topics as teaching sub-specialties to their academic vitae, which could
enhance marketability for teaching positions, and (3) Many graduate students
who do not go on to academic positions rely on their research experience
to get jobs in the private sector. This minor prepares students for any
variety of research or data analyst positions.
Minor requirements are fulfilled upon the completion
of four advanced courses in methods, measurement, or statistics, above
and beyond the two courses currently required of all graduate students.
Some divisions require specific methods courses (e.g., social and community
and prevention research;). To the extent that a course is a division requirement
for a particular student, it cannot be used to fulfill minor requirements.
However taking a methods course in a different division can be applied
towards the minor.
For more information, please visit the Statistics,
Methods and Measurement minor web page.
Psychology and Law
The department offers graduate students an opportunity
to develop an expertise in psychology and law through research and coursework.
Students interested in law and psychology can obtain a PhD in social,
clinical, cognitive, biopsychology, or community and prevention research
with a special topics minor in psychology and law. The program provides
students with theoretical and methodological training in psychology, an
ability to apply psychological research to legal issues, and an appreciation
of the special attributes of legal settings. Training is designed to prepare
students for research positions in academic and non-academic settings.
Faculty and graduate students in this area are currently
involved in research on child abuse and children's testimony, jury and
judicial decision making, the use of scientific evidence in the courts,
deceptive advertising, procedural and distributive justice, sexual harassment
and gender discrimination, victimization, aggression, and violence against
women. Recent settings for this research include the American Bar Foundation,
the Institute for Juvenile Research, the Cook County courts, and the Children's
Advocacy Center. Students take courses and conduct research with faculty
in the Department of Psychology (Bette Bottoms, Stephanie Riger, Linda
Skitka) and can also draw on affiliated faculty resources in related departments
(e.g., Criminal Justice, Political Science). Graduate students and faculty
participate in a weekly psychology and law brown bag seminar that provides
a regular informal forum for the exchange of research ideas. For more
information, please visit the Psychology and Law
web page or contact Dr. Bette Bottoms.
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