Goals and Learning Objectives
BA Program in Psychology
Goal 1: Base of Knowledge: Students will learn and retain a broad base of knowledge in the various domains of psychology to prepare for graduate schools in various disciplines of psychology or education and for a wide variety of postgraduate career opportunities, including but not limited to jobs in education, industry, human health services, and professional schools.
Objective 1a: Students will demonstrate through papers, reports, examinations, theses and other written means, systematic knowledge in foundational areas such as History of Psychology, Biological Bases of Behavior, Human Development, Social Psychology, Learning, and Cognitive Psychology.
Objective 1b: Students will demonstrate through papers, reports, examinations, theses and other written means, systematic knowledge in applied areas, such as Clinical Psychology, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and Psychology as it relates to legal settings.
Goal 2: Research Design and Statistics: Students will understand how research methods are used to test alternative explanations of human thought and behavior in a variety of problem domains, both basic (theoretical) and applied (practical).
Objective 2a: Students will demonstrate competence in designing basic experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational research designs; and will demonstrate an understanding of empirical research concepts such as experimental control of variables, confounds, reliability, and validity.
Objective 2b: Students will be able to identify basic descriptive statistics, such as assorted test of central tendency (e.g., mean, median, mode), variability (e.g., standard deviation, variance, range), and association (correlation); understand how they assess patterns in measurements and among variables; interpret these tests when encountered in the research literature; and in some instances calculate these tests from formulas or statistical software packages.
Objective 2c: Students will be able to identify basic inferential statistics, such as the t-test and the F-test, and understand how they assess reliability of results; interpret these tests when encountered in the research literature; and in some instances calculate these tests from formulas or statistical software packages.
Goal 3: Writing and Presentation Skills: Students will learn how to read, write, and speak about psychological theories, data, and practical applications.
Objective 3a: Students will learn how to read and write empirical research reports and literature reviews in APA (American Psychological Association) style.
Objective 3b: Students will gain competence in oral presentation of theories, research, and applications of psychology, using presentation software or visual (poster) formats where appropriate.
Goal 4: Computer Use: Students will gain experience and expertise with computer use as it pertains to psychology.
Objective 4a: Students will gain knowledge and skill in the use of information technology (e.g., research databases, search engines) for gathering background sources for classwork, literature review assignments, and the development of ideas for original empirical research projects.
Objective 4b: Students will gain competence in the use of software for writing reports, organizing and analyzing data, and for communicating ideas and data using presentation software or by preparing visual (poster) displays.