Psychology Honors

Psychology Undergraduate Advising

Ideal Conditions Outside Area Requirements

Ideal Conditions 101 Intro To Psychology 202 Biopsychology 209 Fundamental of Psych Research

Ideal Conditions 300 Animal Behavior 303 Personality 305 Abnormal Psych 306 Developmental Psych 333 Sensory and Perceptual Processes 345 Social Psych 355 Cognitive Psychology

Ideal Conditions 315 Understanding Stats in Psych 317 & 318: Intro to Probability & Statistics in Psychological Research

Ideal Conditions Undergraduate Teaching Experience 496 Fieldwork/Internships 497 Undergradute Research 499

Ideal Conditions 322 Introduction to Drugs and Behavior 335 Human Factors Psychology 357 Psychobiology of Women

Ideal Conditions 330 Lab in Animal Behavior 331 Lab in Human Performance 332 Lab in Animal Learning

Learning Goals for Psychology Majors

Minors

International Programs

Ideal Conditions 410 Child and Adolescent Behavior Disorders 414 Cognitive Development 415 Personality and Social Development 419 Behavioral Studies of Zoo Animals 420 Drugs and Behavior 421 Neural Basis of Behavior 428 Human Motor Control and Learning 430 Development of Brain Connections 436 Developmet Aspects of Sports Competition 437 Motor Development 451 Health Psychology 452 Self Concept 456 Social and Moral Development 461 Asian American Psychology 462 Human Memory 466 Judgement and Decision Making 469 Psychology of Reasoning 470 Psychology of Music 471 Applied Issues in Cognition 481 Advanced Quantitative Methods 482 Advanced Research Methods for Behavioral Psychology 488 Stress and Coping 489 Clinical Psychology

What Will You Do? Graduate School Career Planning

Psychology Major Key

Like a hiker...

Getting ready to climb Mt. Rainier, you will need to outline a plan and equip yourself with knowledge about the terrain and ideal climbing conditions in order to make the most of your academic career. Move your mouse to begin exploring some of the information you need to get started. Please visit the psychology academic advisors for more assistance along your journey.

General Education Requirements

Ideal conditions: Students should fulfill these requirements early in their academic careers so that they can focus on specializing within different sub-fields of psychology and exploring career development opportunities in their junior and senior years. See the UW Undergraduate Advising Page for more information

Admission to the Major

Admission courses are required before students apply to be a psychology major because they provide foundational knowledge about the study of psychology that students will need in all psychology courses. Instructors of core courses for majors and 300 and 400 level courses assume that students bring the knowledge from these courses to their individual classes.

Ideal conditions: Ideally students would take these courses (101, 202, 209) during their freshman or sophmore years before taking other courses psychology courses that are geared for students admitted to the major.

Outside Area Requirements

These requirements are designed to expand students’ knowledge beyond the field of psychology as well as to provide reference points with which students can compare what they learn in psychology and to broaden students’ perspectives by exposing them to classes in different but related academic disciplines.

Ideal conditions: Ideally students would begin integrating these classes into their curriculum even before they are accepted into the major (e.g., the math requirement is needed for admission to the major). Transfer students are encouraged to complete these courses before they transfer to the University of Washington. Transfer students must take at least 15 graded credits at the 300 and 400 level in psychology at the University of Washington.

Statistics

Statistics courses are designed to teach students the fundamental statistical methods used in bahavioral research, the rationales behind the statistical methods seleted, the meaning of the statistical results, and the connection between the results and the research claims being made. B.A. students are required to take 315 while B.S. students are required to take 317and 318.

Ideal conditions: Ideally students would enroll in these classes soon after completing 209 and being accepted to the major, because these classes build on the basic principles of statistics taught in 209. It is also ideal if students take these classes before taking labs, because the labs give students the opportunity to apply the knowledge learned in statistics and this will help them to consolidate their knowledge.

300 Level Core Courses

These courses are called core courses because they present students with the foundational knowledge needed in order to have a well-rounded background in psychology as well as to begin to specialize in the different sub-fields of psychology.

Ideal conditions: Ideally students would use these courses to figure out which sub-fields of psychology they are interested in and to build the knowledge and skills needed to excel in 300 and 400 level psychology courses. We encourage students to take these courses after they are admitted to the major and in their sophomore and junior year.

Specialized Experiences

These courses offer students the opportunity to apply their skills and gain specialized experience in research, field work, or teaching at the undergraduate level.

Ideal conditions: Students may enroll in some of these courses (e.g., 499 Research) early in their careers in order to gain a better understanding of what they want to focus on in psychology. Alternately, students may enroll in these courses later in their academic careers in preparation for their next step (e.g., graduate school).

Labs

These courses provide students with the opportunity to conduct research projects, within the different sub-fields covered by each course, under the guidance of their particular instructors, and with support from a group of peers working on the same or similar projects.

Ideal conditions: Students are required to have completed a statistics course (Psych 315 or 317) before enrolling in the lab. Ideally students would have also completed the core courses relevant to the topic areas covered in labs.

300 Level Elective Courses

300 level courses give students the opportunity to learn about different fields of specialization within psychology from the experts at the forefront of research in these areas. These courses are usually offered at least once every two years.

Ideal conditions: BA and BS students can use 300 level electives as one of their upper division classes.

400 Level Elective Courses

400 level courses give students the opportunity to learn about different fields of specialization within psychology from the experts at the forefront of research in these areas. These courses are usually smaller and offered less often than other psychology courses and provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate what they’ve previously learned in other psychology courses and to begin developing expertise in specific areas. These courses are usually offered at least once every two years.

Ideal conditions: Ideally students would have completed the core courses pertinent to the topic area covered in each course the before enrolling in these classes. Students may also have taken foundational courses in other departments (although this is primarily the case for non-majors).