Best Universities offering Graduate Programs in Psychology - Updated 2020

Graduate work within the Department of Psychology emphasizes preparation for research and teaching in psychology, with specialization in the following broad areas: cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, language, learning and memory, perception and cognition, the psychology of inequality, social neuroscience, social psychology, and systems neuroscience. The program is designed to prepare students for attaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) and a career of productive scholarship in psychology.

A multidisciplinary study of the fundamentals of human-machine interactions from both the human psychology philosophy side and the machine engineering and design side. An examination of the relationship between important topics in abnormal psychology and laboratory research conducted in other areas of psychology. Topics will include the ties between laboratory-learned helplessness and mood disorders, human memory research and dissociative disorders, and coping strategies and anxiety disorders.

The Department of Psychology offers a rich and dynamic environment for those interested in postdoctoral research. Several Postdoctoral Fellows come to Harvard with their own fellowship awards. These Fellows are usually divided into two groups. One group has fellowships that are administered through Harvard (e.g., NRSA awards and other U.S. Federal awards) with one of the Harvard faculty members acting as the Principal Investigator. The other group has fellowships (usually through foreign institutions) that are paid directly to the Postdoctoral Fellow and are not administered through Harvard.

The Psychology Doctoral Program has two tracks: Clinical Psychology and the Common Curriculum. Departmental Requirements for the PhD in Psychology Section I. Requirements for Non-Clinical Students The non-clinical PhD program in Psychology can and should be completed in five years. Students who require time must petition the CHD (Committee on Higher Degrees) and receive written approval of their request.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, the brain, and human behavior. The Psychology department offers course work and research opportunities in the fields of clinical, cognitive, developmental, neuroscientific, and social psychology. By studying psychology, students better understand human behavior, including who we are, how we do the things we do, and how we enhance Yale University lives and society. The Psychology major provides a foundation for careers in education and research law medicine and public health politics and public policy and in business fields such as marketing, finance, and management.

Yale University’s Department of Psychology offers five Master of Science (MS) programs. Their programs include Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Neuroscience, and Social/Personality Psychology. Each of these programs have courses that leads the next generation of psychologists to become leaders in the academic and research fields in their respective specializations. Furthermore, Yale’s programs are fully accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Psychology is the study of the mental states and processes that give rise to behavior. It seeks to understand the basic mechanisms and functions of perception, cognition, emotion, and attitudes in guiding behavior. Although it focuses on the level of the individual, individual behavior depends on the social relationships and structures in which people are embedded and the biological systems of which we are comprised. Thus, psychological study encompasses a broad set of topics that overlap with a number of disciplines across the social and biological sciences.

The University of Chicago does not offer a terminal master’s degree program in their Department of Psychology. However, they do offer an Master of Arts Program in Social Sciences (MAPSS) and Master of Arts (MA) in Computational Social Science. Their MAPSS program can be completed within one year, and the curriculum is focused on providing students with research knowledge on anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology and sociology. On the other hand, the MA in Computational Social Science program can be completed within two years. The program focuses on using technologies and statistical techniques that are constantly used by social science investigators.

The Department of Psychology offers students a comprehensive curriculum in psychological science, including research methods, cognition, neuroscience, developmental, social, and clinical areas. The curriculum prepares majors for graduate education in these fields and also provides a relevant background for social work, education, medicine, law, and business. Psychology course offerings are designed to meet the varying needs and interests of students, from those wishing to explore a few topics in psychology or to fulfill the science requirement, to those interested in majoring in Psychology or in Neuroscience and Behavior.

The Department of Psychology offers courses in the science of psychology, experimental psychology, the brain and behavior, cognition, decision making, drugs and behavior, personality development, social cognition, evolution and behavior, psychopathology, consciousness, cognitive neuroscience, relationships, statistics for behavioral scientists, perception, animal behavior, abnormal behavior, child development. The department also offers seminars and individualized research.

The purpose of the master's program is to further develop knowledge and skills in Psychology and to prepare students for a professional career or doctoral studies. This is achieved through completion of courses, in the primary field as well as related areas, and experience with independent work and specialization. The master's program is available only to Ph.D. students in Psychology and, under special circumstances, students enrolled in other graduate programs offered through the University.

An introduction to the science of how people think, feel, and behave. We will explore such topics as intelligence, perception, memory, happiness, personality, culture, social influence, development, emotion, and mental illness. Students will learn classic and cutting edge research, a range of methods, and discover how psychology informs Stanford University understanding of what it means to be human, addresses other fields, and offers solutions to important social problems.

The Moral Psychology course is an examination of philosophical theories of action and motivation in the light of empirical findings from social psychology, sociology, and neuroscience. Topics include belief, desire, and moral motivation; sympathy and empathy; intentions and other committing states; strength of will and weakness of will; free will; addiction and compulsion; guilt, shame and regret; evil; self-knowledge and self-deception; and, virtues and character traits.

Duke University offers a PhD degree in Psychology and Neuroscience. Only applicants with a psychology undergraduate major will be taken into consideration during the application process. However, prospective students can also opt to take a GRE subject test to enter the field of study.

Many important questions are complex, requiring input from different disciplines and different levels of analysis. Duke's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience embraces this approach, using a broad range of methods and interacting with researchers in many different fields. Depending on one's field, training may include neuroimaging, optigenetics, laboratory experiments, clinical approaches, and/or field interviews. Duke University students interact with faculty and students in Neurobiology, Psychiatry, Economics, Statistics, Philosophy, and the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, and have the opportunity to take courses in other departments as well as at UNC Chapel Hill.

At the University of Pennsylvania, although the Graduate Group does not have a Master's program in Psychology, a student who has successfully completed the first year program, and 8 c.u.'s, may apply for an M.A. Degree. The paper associated with a 699 is viewed by the Graduate Group as being similar to a Master’s Thesis. Students taking the 698 (Rotation) would be expected to write a research paper based on one of the rotation projects to be considered for a M.A.

The Psychology Graduate Group offers a full-time Ph.D. program with curricular and research opportunities in a broad range of areas, including: sensation and perception, cognition, language, learning, motivation, motor control, psychopathology, judgments and decisions, and social processes. Biological, cultural, developmental, experimental, mathematical, and neuroscience approaches to these areas are used in teaching and research.

The Psychology of Learning and Motivation course will serve as an introduction to basic concepts, findings, and theory from the field of behavioral psychology, covering areas such as principles of classical conditioning, blocking and conditioned inhibition, models of classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, reinforcement schedules, punishment and avoidance learning.