About the Department

The University of Washington Department of Psychology is a broad-based, full-spectrum department with top-ranked programs of study in both basic and applied fields. Our fundamental goals are to offer good general education courses that introduce majors and non-majors to ideas in psychology, to teach them to think critically and creatively about psychological issues, to offer a rigorous academic program for undergraduate majors, to provide students with a rich variety of research and internship opportunities, to maintain world class graduate programs across a broad range of areas, and to support research programs that make critical contributions to our understanding of the biological, social, cognitive, and cultural underpinnings of behavior. We also strive to provide service to our communities through the application of innovative research to local and global problems related to education, health, and mental health.

As members of a diverse, dynamic, and integrative field, our faculty members tackle a daunting array of both basic and applied problems. Interests are varied, and include understanding why people have different personalities, how we remember, why we see colors, how infants and children learn, why some people discriminate against others, why birds sing and, how this behavior is regulated. Faculty members study the origins of physiological bases of hyperactivity, the genetic underpinnings of autism, and what we can do to maximize human learning and development through the lifespan.

Research

Researchers in UW Psychology have made fundamental discoveries in the science of behavior, including ways of examining adult memory, measuring children's learning, uncovering unconscious prejudice, and assessing group decision-making. Additionally, they are developing innovative treatment programs for mental health problems, including depression, alcohol and drug abuse, traumatic stress syndromes, adult personality disorders, children's behavioral problems, and autism.

Education

The UW Psychology program for undergraduate majors stresses scientific and statistical reasoning skills that help students evaluate data, claims, and theories in both the academic and popular literatures. We provide undergraduates research participation, applied fieldwork and supervised teaching opportunities. Students make use of what they learn in various career paths including areas such as counseling, education, and basic research. We also provide opportunities for a wide range of UW majors to include psychology as part of their general education.

For graduate students, UW Psychology provides training in many areas of psychology ranging from Experimental to Clinical, with a predominant focus on strong training in research. Students go on to careers in academia, private industry, and clinical practice. We are consistently among the top psychology departments in the nation for graduate training based on annual rankings by U.S. News and World Reports.

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