Program Requirements

All students take seven required core courses:

PSCI P201	Research Methods in Psychology
SOCECOL 264A	Data Analysis
SOCECOL 264B	Data Analysis
SOCECOL 200	Seminar in Social Ecology
An additional research methods/data analysis course from an approved list
PSCI P209A	Applied Psychological Research
PSCI P294A- P294B- P294C	Research Directions in Psychological Science I and Research Directions in Psychological Science II and Research Directions in Psychological Science III

The course on Applied Research PSCI P209A introduces students to the scientific, professional, and ethical issues involved in conducting and translating psychological research in a variety of applied settings. The three-quarter course Research Directions in Psychological Science (PSCI P294A-PSCI P294B-PSCI P294C) allows students to increase their breadth of knowledge regarding contemporary issues and controversies in psychology by participating in the Department’s weekly colloquium series and interacting with visiting scholars and other speakers.

Students must select one of four core specialization areas in which to further focus their graduate training. Additional course requirements vary across each specialization.

Health Psychology Specialization

PSCI P258	Health Psychology
and three additional courses from approved health electives

Social and Personality Specialization

PSCI P214	Seminar in Social Psychology
and three additional courses from an approved list

Affective Science Specialization

PSCI P226	Emotion in Psychology
or PSCI P250	Emotion, Reasoning, and Memory
and three additional courses from an approved list of Affective Science electives

Developmental Psychology Specialization

PSCI P220	Developmental Psychology: Theories and History
and three additional courses from approved developmental electives

In addition to selecting a core specialization area, students are also required to select a minor specialization and complete one required specialization course and one elective course in this area. The minor specialization and elective courses should be chosen according to the plan that best meets the needs of the individual student, as determined in consultation with the student’s faculty advisor and the departmental graduate advisor. In addition to courses offered by the Department of Psychological Science and the School of Social Ecology, students may take courses offered by other departments in other schools such as the Departments of Cognitive Science, Anthropology, and Sociology in the School of Social Sciences and the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior in the School of Biological Sciences. Approval from instructors is required to enroll in these courses.

Students who are interested can pursue an optional training track in psychology and law. This track is supplemental to the requirements associated with the required specializations and supplemental to the required minor. That is, all students must complete the above-listed requirements for their specialization and minor. Then, if the student decides to complete the training track in psychology and law, this training is in addition to the requirements listed above. For the training track, a total of four courses must be taken, one required (PSCI P266) and three electives. The electives must be approved by the student’s faculty mentor and departmental advisor and can be a course in PS, or in the School of Social Ecology or School of Law, with instructor and school approval.

Advancement to Candidacy and Dissertation

Normative time to advancement for doctoral students in the School of Social Ecology is three to four years. In no case will students be allowed to advance to candidacy after the end of the fifth year of study (adjusted for any approved Leaves of Absence the student may have taken). Psychological Science Ph.D. students are required to advance by the end of their fourth year to remain in good standing with the department.  

A student may formally advance to candidacy for the Ph.D. when all requirements except the dissertation have been completed, and when their Candidacy Committee has approved the student’s dissertation plans. The Candidacy Committee must be approved by the department Chair and the Associate Dean of the School of Social Ecology, acting on behalf of the Dean. The committee must consist of a minimum of five members, majority of whom must hold affiliations with a student’s home department. Additionally, at least one committee member, but not more than two, shall be faculty members from academic units outside of the student’s department.  

Emeritus Professors may serve on students' Candidacy Committees as long as they are current members of the Faculty Senate. The Dean of Graduate Division must approve any exceptions to membership for either the advancement to candidacy or doctoral dissertation committees.

The Doctoral Committee (also referred to informally as the “Dissertation Committee” or the “Thesis Committee”) will supervise following advancement to candidacy, the preparation and completion of the doctoral dissertation. The Doctoral Committee ordinarily consists of three members from the Candidacy Committee, a majority of whom hold affiliations with a student’s home department although more than three of the original members may be retained if the student and their Candidacy Committee Chair consider this desirable and feasible. The exact membership of the Doctoral Committee should be determined in consultation with the Chair of the Candidacy Committee. 

Students complete a supervised research project during their second year culminating in a paper that may form the basis for a publication. They take a written comprehensive examination during their third year, which requires them to demonstrate mastery of the principles of social ecology and of major theoretical, substantive, and methodological issues in the study of their major and minor specializations and in the psychology of human behavior. The normative time for advancement to candidacy is four years. The fourth year is devoted to developing and defending a dissertation proposal, and the fifth year is spent completing the dissertation research. The normative time for completion of the Ph.D. is six years, but we encourage students to complete within five years as the university can only provide five years of funding to students. Students must complete all requirements for the Ph.D. in Psychological Science no later than their seventh year of study, adjusted for any approved leaves of absence that may have been taken. It is expected that most students will complete the degree requirements well in advance of this deadline. All Ph.D. students in the Psychological Science program are required to pass a final oral defense of the dissertation.

Potential employment sites for graduates of the program include academic institutions, research organizations, government policy institutes, health care and human services settings (e.g., hospitals, schools, community agencies), and a variety of private sector employers. The Ph.D. Program in Psychological Science specializes in the training of researchers, not in the training of clinical practitioners.