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Research and Degree Requirements

Designed to provide a broad base in psychology, the program also offers an opportunity for intensive research. In addition to a graduate proseminar series, advanced seminars are offered each year within three broad areas: perception and cognition (4200-level courses), psychobiology and neuroscience (4400-level courses), and personality and social psychology (4600-level courses).

Research is continuous during all five years of the Ph.D. program. During the first semester, research for the M.A. essay is begun; it is completed three semesters later. After the essay is written, each student gives an oral presentation, based on the essay and its research, to faculty and graduate students. This is the final requirement for the M.A. degree (which is not a terminal degree). Toward the end of the third year, the comprehensive requirement (in the form of an exam, a series of papers, and/or a grant proposal) should be completed. Upon successfully passing the comprehensive requirement, the degree of M.Phil. (which is not a terminal degree) is awarded. The final requirement for the Ph.D. degree is the completion of the dissertation, its oral defense, and deposit. Although there are few formal requirements after the first four semesters, most students continue to participate in a variety of seminars and courses offered within and without the department. The department’s biweekly colloquium series and informal lunchtime seminars are an integral part of the graduate program.

Course work: Students must enroll in the Graduate Proseminars G6001, G6002, and G6003; G6001-G6002 and G6003 are offered in alternate years. These must be taken during the first two years. In addition, students must take two graded advanced seminars, to be chosen in consultation with their research adviser, and are strongly encouraged to take two one-semester courses in statistics or quantitative methods.

Teaching: Supervised teaching is integral to the graduate career and is a requirement for the M.Phil. Each academic year, students are required to assist a member of the faculty for one semester in teaching a large undergraduate course. Students are encouraged to take the Practicum in the Teaching of Psychology, G6200, which guides teaching fellows through teaching techniques and helps to prepare them for academic careers.

Free-Standing M.A. in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences

See under Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences below.

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