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Psychology

Undergraduate Programs

• Major in psychology (Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science)
• Minor in psychology

The major in psychology is designed to contribute to students' general liberal arts education and to provide a foundation for postbaccalaureate training in psychology and closely related disciplines as well as areas such as business, medicine, law, and communication. Students who intend to enter the job market immediately after completing an undergraduate degree should complement their psychology major with substantial preparation in another program more closely tied to the world of work (e.g., education, social work, business, journalism, nursing). Almost all vocational opportunities in psychology require advanced degrees.

The psychology major for the Bachelor of Science is intended for students who plan to pursue advanced work in psychology or in a related discipline. It requires a specific grade-point average for admission and certain courses in statistics, experimental psychology, mathematics, and natural science. The psychology major for the Bachelor of Arts has fewer specific requirements and puts less emphasis on methodology. Both programs leave ample time for students to combine psychology with another discipline or program.

Students who change to a psychology major after two years of undergraduate work may find they do not have sufficient background for the B.S. program. They may wish to enrich the B.A. program with courses in experimental psychology and other advanced electives if they intend to pursue graduate work in psychology or a related field.

Students in either program begin with a general introductory course, followed by biological psychology, statistics, and methodology courses and introductory courses in several broad areas: developmental science, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, and social psychology. These courses are followed by upper-level psychology course work selected by the student.

The department maintains excellent facilities to support teaching and research on human and animal behavior. All faculty members are directly engaged in research, and they bring to their undergraduate teaching the excitement that such activity generates. Many opportunities exist for interested and capable students to participate in current research projects in the department.

The department has an active undergraduate organization, the Iowa Students Psychology Association, which is open to all interested students. The group sponsors speakers, films, career days, and student symposia.

Selective Admission

Admission to psychology major for the Bachelor of Arts is open; admission to the major for the Bachelor of Science is selective.

To be eligible for admission to the B.S. program, students must have completed 30 s.h. of college course work (excluding any credit by exam) and must have a cumulative g.p.a. of 2.67 or higher. There is no limit on the number of qualified students admitted to the B.S. program. Students who do not meet the minimum admission requirements may petition the department in writing, presenting additional evidence of their qualifications.

Any University student may enter the B.A. program. Entering first-year and transfer students with fewer than 30 s.h. of course work who are interested in the B.S. program are admitted to the B.A. program until they satisfy the admission requirements for the B.S. program. New transfer students who meet the admission requirements for the B.S. program may choose to enter the B.S. or the B.A. program. Any student in the B.A. program may switch to the B.S. program if he or she meets admission requirements at the time of the request. Students may switch from the B.S. to the B.A. program at any time.

Bachelor of Arts

The Bachelor of Arts with a major in psychology requires a minimum of 120 s.h., including 44-45 s.h. of work for the major, with a minimum of 29 s.h. in psychology courses. The B.A. program requires fewer psychology courses than the B.S. program and can be combined with a second major more easily.

The major for the B.A. is designed for students who wish to gain considerable knowledge in psychology but do not necessarily plan a professional career in the discipline. It is appropriate for students preparing for careers in law, business, counseling, social work, or secondary school teaching (contact the College of Education's Office of Education Services for information about social science teaching and licensure requirements).

The 44-45 s.h. required for the B.A. program includes a minimum of 29 s.h. in psychology courses, an approved statistics course (3 s.h., part of the psychology core), a cognate requirement (3-4 s.h.), and at least 9 s.h. of University of Iowa course work in a second concentration area (see "Second Concentration Area" below). Transfer students must complete at least 15 s.h. of the major at The University of Iowa. Students must complete the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences General Education Program and must satisfy all other requirements for graduation with a bachelor's degree.

Students interested in pursuing graduate study in psychology or other social sciences may wish to enrich their B.A. program by taking courses in mathematics, statistics, research methods, and the natural sciences.

The psychology major for the Bachelor of Arts requires the following courses or their equivalents.

PSYCHOLOGY CORE

Psychology—all of these: 

Statistics—one of these (3-4 s.h.): 

LOWER-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY ELECTIVES

Students take three of these (9 s.h.) after completing 031:001 Elementary Psychology. 

UPPER-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY ELECTIVES

Students take three upper-level psychology courses (total of 9 s.h.) after satisfactorily completing the psychology core courses and other specified prerequisites. Prerequisites are stated in course descriptions; see "Courses" later in this section.

Electives are chosen from 100-level psychology courses. However, the following courses may not be used to fulfill the electives requirement for the B.A. program.

For a list of approved upper-level courses and their prerequisites, see Undergraduate Psychology at Iowa, available from the department and on its web site. Check Iowa Student Information Services (ISIS) to learn which courses are offered in a particular semester.

COGNATE REQUIREMENT

Students complete an upper-level statistics course or a computer science course. Students who fulfill the statistics requirement (above) with 22S:101 Biostatistics or 22S:102 Introduction to Statistical Methods must use a different course to fulfill the cognate requirement.

Statistics 

Computer Science 

SECOND CONCENTRATION AREA

Students complete 9 s.h. of course work in a single department other than psychology. Courses used to fulfill this requirement must be taken at The University of Iowa and may not be used to fulfill General Education Program requirements. A second major or a minor in any discipline other than psychology can be used to fulfill the requirement.

Bachelor of Science

The Bachelor of Science with a major in psychology requires a minimum of 120 s.h., including 53-54 s.h. of work for the major, with a minimum of 36 s.h. in psychology courses. The B.S. program emphasizes research methodology, so it may be the degree of choice for students who plan to do graduate work in psychology and related research fields. However, a Bachelor of Science is not required for graduate study in psychology. Choice of a degree program should be dictated by the student's personal career goals.

The 53-54 s.h. required for the B.S. program includes a minimum of 36 s.h. in psychology courses, an approved statistics course (3 s.h., part of the psychology core), an approved pair of natural science courses, one semester of calculus, and an approved advanced course in mathematics, statistics, or computer science. Transfer students must complete at least 15 s.h. of the major at The University of Iowa. Students must complete the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences General Education Program and must satisfy all other requirements for graduation with a bachelor's degree.

The psychology major for the Bachelor of Science requires the following courses or their equivalents.

PSYCHOLOGY CORE

Psychology—all of these:

Statistics—one of these (3-4 s.h.): 

LOWER-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY ELECTIVES

Students take three of these (9 s.h.) after completing 031:001 Elementary Psychology. 

UPPER-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY ELECTIVES

Students take three upper-level psychology courses (total of 9 s.h.) after satisfactorily completing the psychology core courses and other specified prerequisites. Prerequisites are stated in course descriptions; see "Courses" later in this section of the Catalog.

Electives are chosen from 100-level psychology courses. However, the following courses may not be used to fulfill the electives requirement for the B.S. program.

For a list of approved upper-level courses and their prerequisites, see Undergraduate Psychology at Iowa, available from the department and on its web site. Check Iowa Student Information System (ISIS) to learn which courses are offered in a particular semester.

PSYCHOLOGY TOPICS COURSES

Students take both of these. 

NATURAL SCIENCE COURSES

Students in the B.S. program are required to complete one of the following pairs of specified natural science courses: one semester each of chemistry and biology; two semesters of chemistry; two semesters of physics; or one semester each of chemistry and physics. All of these combinations can be used to fulfill the General Education Program natural sciences requirement. Students should consult with their advisors concerning specific courses that satisfy these requirements.

CALCULUS

Students working toward a B.S. must complete at least one semester of calculus; in most cases, students also must have completed at least one precalculus mathematics course.

One of these:

ADDITIONAL MATHEMATICS COURSE

Students working toward a B.S. must complete at least one additional course in advanced mathematics, statistics, or computer science chosen from the following lists.

Mathematics 

Statistics

Computer Science 

Four-Year Graduation Plan

The following checkpoints list the minimum requirements students must complete by certain semesters in order to stay on the University's Four-Year Graduation Plan. (Courses in the major are those required to complete the major; they may be offered by departments other than the major department.)

Bachelor of Arts

In addition to courses in psychology, the B.A. requires three courses in a second concentration area.

Before the third semester begins: 031:001 Elementary Psychology and at least one-quarter of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the fifth semester begins: 031:002 Biological Psychology, statistics, one or more lower level electives, and at least one-half of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the seventh semester begins: four courses in the major (including 031:010 Research Methods in Psychology), one second-area course, and at least three-quarters of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the eighth semester begins: two additional courses in the major and an additional second-area course

During the eighth semester: enrollment in all remaining course work in the major, all remaining General Education courses, and a sufficient number of semester hours to graduate

Bachelor of Science

Note: The psychology major for the B.S. is open only to students who have earned 30 s.h. and have a g.p.a. of at least 2.67. Students must complete a natural science sequence, either as part of the General Education Program or in addition to it. Students also must complete a semester of calculus and an advanced math, statistics, or computer science course, which may require some preliminary work.

Before the third semester begins: 031:001 Elementary Psychology, 031:002 Biological Psychology, and at least one-quarter of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the fifth semester begins: calculus, statistics, three additional courses in the major (including 031:010 Research Methods in Psychology), and at least one-half of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the seventh semester begins: two more courses in the major, one course for the psychology natural science requirement, and at least three-quarters of the semester hours required for graduation

Before the eighth semester begins: the advanced math/statistics/computer course and two more courses in the major

During the eighth semester: enrollment in all remaining course work in the major, all remaining General Education courses, and a sufficient number of semester hours to graduate

Honors

In order to pursue honors studies in the Department of Psychology, a student must be a member of the University of Iowa Honors Program, which requires students to maintain a cumulative University of Iowa g.p.a. of at least 3.33 (contact the University of Iowa Honors Program for more information). The department has an active honors program that includes research seminars and individual research collaboration with faculty members. Interested majors should contact the department honors advisor.

Minor

The minor in psychology requires a minimum of 15 s.h., including 12 s.h. in psychology courses taken at The University of Iowa. Students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in the minor. Course work in the minor may not be taken pass/nonpass or satisfactory/fail. Before registering for a psychology course, students must satisfy the course's prerequisites.

A minor in psychology complements majors in a variety of disciplines. Department advisors can help students identify courses for the minor that are especially appropriate for their major.

National Honor Society

The department sponsors a chapter of Psi Chi, the national honor society in psychology and affiliate of the American Psychological Association. Students who have a g.p.a. of at least 3.00 overall and 3.10 in psychology course work and who have completed 9 s.h. of psychology may request a membership application form. Consult the department's academic coordinator for more information.

Graduate Programs

• Master of Arts in psychology (with or without thesis)
• Doctor of Philosophy in psychology

Graduate study in psychology is designed for students seeking the Ph.D.; students enrolled in the doctoral program may elect to receive a Master of Arts when they have completed the M.A. requirements.

Master of Arts

The Master of Arts program in psychology requires 30 s.h. of graduate credit with thesis, and 37 s.h. of graduate credit without thesis. The department ordinarily offers the M.A. only to students enrolled in the Ph.D. program.

Thesis students must earn 24 of the required 30 s.h. at The University of Iowa. Course work for the thesis program must include a statistics course, courses outside the primary specialization area, and at least an additional 8 s.h. earned in Department of Psychology courses and seminars. Thesis students also must complete an acceptable scholarly thesis and conduct a successful oral defense of the thesis.

Nonthesis students must earn 30 of the required 37 s.h. at The University of Iowa. Course work for the nonthesis program must include a statistics course, courses outside the primary specialization area, and at least an additional 15 s.h. earned in Department of Psychology courses and seminars. Nonthesis students also must perform successfully on an examination covering their area of specialization.

Doctor of Philosophy

The Doctor of Philosophy program in psychology requires a minimum of 72 s.h. of graduate credit. Students entering without previous graduate work usually require at least four years to complete the program; those entering with previous graduate training usually require three to five additional years in the department, depending on the nature of the earlier preparation.

The Ph.D. program places strong emphasis on preparation for research, teaching, and scholarly endeavor, whether in academic settings or in industrial, governmental, or medical institutions. The intent is to produce graduates who are deeply committed to the study of psychology, familiar with fundamental knowledge about psychological processes, well-trained in the methods and techniques for careful investigation of basic and applied problems, and determined to make contributions to the discipline of psychology and to society.

Graduate training is organized in six broad areas: behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, clinical psychology, cognition and perception, developmental science, health psychology, and social psychology (see "Graduate Training Areas" later in this section). Each entering student is expected to identify one of these as his or her primary area and to follow a program that develops thorough understanding of the substantive material and methods of investigation central to that subdiscipline. While pursuing specialty training, all students must meet course requirements in statistics and research methods and in content areas other than their primary one.

The training area programs are sufficiently flexible to permit students to develop substantial competence in a second training area. Individually tailored programs are possible.

Curriculum

The 72 s.h. required for the Ph.D. includes at least 33 s.h. in Department of Psychology courses. All students must satisfy, through one of several options, requirements in statistics and research methods. They also must take course work outside the primary training area to develop a background in the discipline of psychology as a whole.

During each of the first two semesters, graduate students ordinarily take three courses--for example, a statistics course, a course or two in the primary training area, and/or an outside area elective. Students also begin their research under the supervision of their advisor and with the guidance of their research advisory committee.

Near the end of the fall semester of the second year, students submit a report describing their research to date. At the beginning of the following semester, they present their research at the annual graduate research symposium.

During subsequent years, students continue selected course work in their training and interest areas and continue to develop their research programs. In addition, they develop a prospectus for the dissertation research and take the comprehensive examination, which covers material in the specialty area. The final year is devoted primarily to conducting the Ph.D. study and preparing the dissertation. In the Ph.D. final examination, students present an oral defense of their dissertation and are expected to relate the dissertation work to broader issues in the discipline of psychology.

Graduate Training Areas

Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience

The program in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience focuses on the analysis of attention, motivation, and learning, primarily in nonhuman subjects, through the application of behavioral and biological principles. Special faculty strengths are in classical and operant conditioning, motivation and emotion, developmental psychobiology, neurobiology of learning, comparative psychology, cognitive neuroscience, neuropharmacology, neuroendocrinology, and neuroanatomy. Students in this program have the opportunity to learn state-of-the-art techniques in computer-controlled experimentation and electronic instrumentation as well as advanced analytic and laboratory methods in neurosurgery, histology, and biochemical assay.

Faculty members in the behavioral and cognitive neuroscience area interact extensively with colleagues from a number of basic science and clinical departments in the Carver College of Medicine, including anatomy, anesthesiology, pharmacology, internal medicine, pediatrics, and neurology. These collaborative activities provide excellent research and training opportunities for students interested in emerging interdisciplinary fields such as behavioral medicine.

Clinical Psychology

The clinical training program strongly emphasizes a clinical science approach to the study of mental and physical health. It is designed for students who intend to pursue careers in clinical research and are interested primarily in developing scholarly understanding of clinical phenomena and acquiring research skills necessary to the systematic investigation of such phenomena. Students whose primary interest is clinical practice should apply to a program with a focus on practice.

Students in the clinical program may develop special competence in areas such as aggression, marital and family dysfunction, eating disorders, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, affective disorders, behavioral and cognitive therapies, child psychopathology, and clinical health psychology. Faculty members collaborate actively with colleagues from departments such as internal medicine, microbiology, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, otolaryngology--head and neck surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery, and from other units, such as the Center for Health Policy and Research and the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Students must become familiar with clinical material and competent in the application of clinical skills in order to pursue clinical research, so the department closely integrates practicum experience in the Seashore Clinic with course work and supervised research experience. Advanced students have opportunities to gain additional practicum experience through placement in clinical facilities maintained by local, state, federal, and University agencies. Students in the clinical program who wish to have the designation "clinical psychology" on their official transcript must satisfactorily complete a one-year internship at an approved agency before receiving a Ph.D. The internship ordinarily comes after completion of all course work and most, if not all, of the dissertation project.

The clinical training program is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association. To learn more, see Accreditation on the American Psychological Association web site.

Cognition and Perception

The cognition and perception training area is guided by the philosophy that understanding a specific cognitive process requires an understanding of how it interacts with other cognitive processes (e.g., interactions between attention and memory). The area pursues empirical rigor and theoretical development, so its research is theory driven and data tested.

Research programs of the area's laboratories overlap with each other, and most content areas are studied by multiple laboratories and with multiple methodologies. Areas of strength include categorization, computational modeling, judgment and decision making, language and language learning, learning and memory, visual cognition, attention, and working memory.

Students in perception and cognition take basic courses and seminars in specialty areas, but they devote most of their time to research activities. Students work closely with a faculty mentor at first and then become progressively independent as they gain knowledge and skills. The program encourages students to work with more than one faculty member, both in the program and across the department and the University. Students often combine basic work on cognition with work in areas such as neuroscience, psychiatry, marketing, law, social psychology, and human factors engineering.

Developmental Science

Students in the developmental program are taught a broad range of developmental theory, and they acquire expertise in multiple research paradigms used in developmental psychology, such as observational research, experimentation, and field methods. Students also have the opportunity to study and collaborate with faculty members who are not primarily developmental psychologists but whose work has implications for developmental theory. This opportunity provides a unique breadth of training.

Students take courses in many areas of developmental science as well as in other areas of psychology. Currently available to students are research opportunities in cognitive development in infancy and childhood, social and emotional development, and developmental psychobiology. The developmental research group, composed of faculty members and students interested in issues related to developmental research, meets regularly to discuss ongoing research. These meetings provide both students and faculty members the opportunity to present and discuss their own research as well as to gain exposure to other developmental work being conducted in the department.

Health Psychology

The health psychology program is concerned with application of psychological theory, methods, and treatment to understanding and promotion of physical health and illness. The program's perspective is based on the biopsychosocial model, which posits that biological, psychological, and social processes are integrally and interactively involved in physical health and illness.

Graduate training in health psychology emphasizes the integration of knowledge about biological, psychological, and social factors. Students are involved in research whose content and methods reflect the biopsychosocial perspective. Training in health psychology is facilitated by the faculty's longstanding collaborations with medical practitioners and researchers at the University's Carver College of Medicine and University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Availability of medical populations and state-of-the-art medical technologies afford a unique opportunity for doctoral students in health psychology.

Research areas of the health psychology program include stress and illness, psychoneuroimmunology, patient adherence, animal models of hypertension and heart failure, postpartum depression, women's health issues, and psycho-oncology.

Social Psychology

The social psychology program offers a variety of perspectives on interpersonal and intrapersonal processes. Examples of research foci of faculty and students are social cognition, social comparison, close relationships, social and emotional development, attitudes and persuasion, decision making, health psychology, and individual differences.

Graduate training in the social psychology program is designed primarily to prepare students for careers in psychology research and teaching. In addition to their experiences and course work in the program and in the Department of Psychology, students can benefit from opportunities in related academic units at the University, such as the Departments of Sociology, Communication Studies, and Statistics and Actuarial Sciences and the Tippie College of Business. Such experience can broaden a student's training, research opportunities, and employment prospects.

Admission

Since the graduate program in psychology is designed primarily for students seeking the Ph.D., all applicants are considered on that basis. Occasionally, a qualified applicant who is in good standing in another UI graduate program and is interested in advanced work in psychology only through the M.A. level may be admitted to pursue a joint graduate program. Students interested in such a program should contact the department chair before filing an application.

The application deadline is December 15. For all materials to be on file by that date, applicants should take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test in October, and no later than December. The subject test in psychology is not required. Applications may be submitted any time but are considered only once each year--between December 15 and February 1--for admission the following fall. Admission decisions are based on a composite consideration of prior academic and research performance; letters of reference; scores on the verbal, quantitative, and analytic writing sections of the GRE General Test; and the applicant's statement about background and purpose. Admission materials are reviewed initially by faculty members in the applicant's primary training area.

An undergraduate major in psychology--including a laboratory course in experimental psychology, a course in statistics, and additional work in the natural sciences and in mathematics--is desirable but not required. Students who have not had such a background but are strongly qualified on other grounds may be admitted. They are expected to remedy deficiencies through special course work or independent study before embarking on the regular graduate program.

Applicants must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate College; see the Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Graduate College or the Graduate College section of the Catalog.

Financial Support

All students admitted to the Ph.D. program in psychology are guaranteed five years of financial support, as long as they make satisfactory progress and remain in good academic standing. Financial support is provided through fellowships, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and traineeships, depending on merit and availability. No separate application for financial aid is required.

Faculty

Faculty members of the Department of Psychology are nationally and internationally renowned leaders in a variety of subdisciplines. Their research is funded by numerous federal and private research grants, their findings are documented in many publications, and their accomplishments have won many awards.

Facilities

The department's facilities for graduate training and research are among the finest in the country. The Kenneth W. Spence Laboratories of Psychology, adjoining space in Seashore Hall, and the newly renovated Stuit Hall provide a variety of laboratories for human and animal studies. Facilities include animal housing areas; a histology laboratory; observation suites with remote audiovisual control and recording equipment; soundproof chambers; electrophysiological recording rooms; conditioning laboratories; the Seashore Clinic; and well-equipped electronic, mechanical, and woodworking shops. Computers are widely available. Office space for graduate students and faculty members is provided in Seashore Hall.

The research and teaching activities of the department benefit greatly from the facilities and staff of other University and local agencies, including University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the University Counseling Service, the Center for Disabilities and Development, the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Clinic, the Center for Health Policy and Research, and the School of Social Work.

Courses

Primarily for Undergraduates

Courses 031:002 Biological Psychology, 031:013 Introduction to Clinical Psychology, 031:014 Introduction to Developmental Science, 031:015 Introduction to Social Psychology, 031:016 Introduction to Cognitive Psychology, and 031:019 Industrial/Organizational Psychology are open to first-year students who have satisfactorily completed an introductory psychology course (031:001 Elementary Psychology or equivalent).

For Undergraduate and Graduate Students

Before enrolling in any upper-level undergraduate courses, students must complete all specified lower-level prerequisites or obtain consent of instructor.

Primarily for Graduate Students