University of Washington Learning Goals for Psychology Majors

On October 10, 2006 the Psychology Department passed a series of learning goals for psychology majors at the University of Washington.

Content: Students will demonstrate familiarity with major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in psychology. They will be able to:

• Characterize the scientific and applied nature of psychology
• Explain several major historical perspectives of psychology (e.g., from among behavioral, biological, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, and sociocultural)
• Explain how psychologists study behavior at several levels of analysis (e.g., biological, intrapersonal, environmental)
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding representing appropriate breadth and depth in at least two selected domains of psychology (e.g., animal behavior, abnormal psychology, behavioral neuroscience, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, perception, personality, social/cultural psychology)

Methods: Students will understand and use scientific research methods. They will be able to:

• Understand the role of hypothesis testing in theory building and testing and the role of statistical methods in psychological research
• Design and conduct studies, including question generation, selection of an appropriate research design, appropriate operationalization of variables, data collection, data analysis, graphical display of data and results, and interpretation of statistical results
• Draw on and evaluate research evidence, including evaluating quantitative and graphical evidence to assess the strength of statistical support for scientific claims
• Use appropriate technology (such as MS Excel, SPSS, and Photoshop) for data collection, management, analysis, summary, and presentation
• Understand and comply with ethical guidelines in the process of carrying out and reporting the results of psychological research

Critical Thinking: Students will think about and view behavior through a psychological lens, i.e., using empirical information to understand the causes, correlates, logic, and consequences of behavior. They will be able to:

• Demonstrate scientific fluency by gathering information from scientific and/or popular sources, evaluating it (the validity, authoritativeness, relevance and usefulness of sources), synthesizing it, and using it
• Use data to predict something about behavior: infer and extrapolate
• Understand the tentative nature of knowledge; tolerate ambiguity and use skeptical inquiry
• Be epistemologically aware—understand how psychologists come to know things
• Reflect on information from the discipline and apply it to their lives

Diversity and Multicultural Awareness: Students will recognize, understand and appreciate the ways diversity, perspective, culture, and family affect individual behaviors. They will be able to:

• Understand the ways culture and experience affect how knowledge is constructed
• Demonstrate tolerance of multiple individual perspectives
• Understand how privilege, power, and oppression may affect prejudice, discrimination, and inequity
• Understand aspects of human behavior that are shared across or may differ according to cultural, ethnic, gender, geographic, or other boundaries

Communication: Students will be able to communicate effectively in a variety of formats. They will be able to:

• Use scientific writing to represent the scientific method
• Formulate a written argument that is logical and coherent, that relies on scientific evidence, and that draws appropriate conclusions from that evidence
• Demonstrate writing skills in various formats, using professional writing conventions (e.g. grammar, audience awareness, and style) appropriate to the purpose and context
• Locate, select, read, and evaluate relevant sources. Summarize and synthesize resources effectively
• Communicate findings from complex sets of data in writing. Provide clear and appropriate rationale for the information conveyed in charts, tables, and figures
• Participate in discussions and give formal and informal presentations (using appropriate technology, such as PowerPoint) on topics in the field

| Home | About Us | Undergraduate Programs | Graduate Programs |
| Department Resources | Intranet | Support UW Psychology | People Directory |