Learning Goals for the B.A. and B.S. in Psychological Science
Goal 1: Students should understand core concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in most of the subdisciplines of psychology (social, developmental, clinical, biobehavioral, learning and memory, and history of psychology).
- Students should be able to identify the key theories, research findings, and sociocultural contexts that have shaped the subdisciplines over time.
- Students should be able to identify what makes each subdiscipline of psychology unique, and be able to generalize/transfer psychological knowledge across the core areas.
- Students should understand the reciprocal relationship between theory and hypotheses on the one hand and research methods, results, and the interpretation of the results on the other.
Goal 2: Students should be able to understand and evaluate critically the primary and secondary literature in the science of psychology.
- Students should be able to articulate and distinguish between distinct theses and arguments in the scientific literature.
- Students should be able to identify strengths and weaknesses of methodological design as described in the literature, as well as recognize when conclusions are appropriate to the data presented.
- Students should be able to identify the broader implications of research findings based on their critical evaluation of the scientific literature.
Goal 3: Students should be able to understand, synthesize, and communicate psychological material both orally and in writing.
- Students should effectively distinguish between evidence and opinion.
- Students should be able to summarize, synthesize, and interpret main ideas.
- Students should be able to develop a clear thesis, justify its importance, and support it with evidence.
- Students should effectively present quantitative information.