About the Program
Students in the B.A. degree program receive a broad and comprehensive background in the science of psychology, which will qualify them to seek entry to graduate or professional schools, or to apply for jobs that require a liberal arts training. The department’s approach is both theoretical and empirical at all levels. The broad content areas represented include learning, perception, lifespan development and aging, animal behavior, industrial/organizational psychology, social processes, and normal and abnormal behavior.
B.A. Honors in Psychology
Departmental honors are for students who are performing exceptionally well in their courses. The honors designation is an adjunct to the B.A. degree with an added emphasis on independent work, and requires that students conduct a comprehensive original research project under the supervision of a faculty mentor. To be considered, students must have at least 24 credit hours in psychology from Buffalo State with a minimum GPA of 3.5, and a minimum GPA of 3.25 in all courses taken at Buffalo State. In addition to the required courses in the B.A. degree program, honors students must take PSY 496 and PSY 498. A 39-credit-hour sequence of psychology courses is required for a B.A. honors degree. This requirement is identical to that of the B.A. degree except that PSY 496 is used as a psychology elective and PSY 498 is an additional required course. Students should see their adviser no later than the junior year for more information about the honors option.
It is strongly recommended that all Psychology majors take BIO 101 Human Biology as part of their Intellectual Foundations coursework.
Career Information
Students will:
1. demonstrate an understanding of the major historical schools of thought and approaches in psychology.
2. demonstrate mastery of APA technical report writing.
3. be prepared for careers related to psychology or graduate studies.
4. be able to select and critically evaluate existing literature in a given topic area of psychology.
5. demonstrate the ability to generate a scientific hypothesis in a given area of psychology.
6. demonstrate the rudimentary skills to design and implement research to test scientific hypotheses.
7. be able to apply appropriate statistical techniques for a given research design.
8. demonstrate the ability to apply valid conclusions based on topic area, hypothesis, review of literature, and study outcomes.
Program Requirements
General Education 23 Requirements
33 credit hours 33
Psychology Major Requirements (39 credit hours)
Required Courses (15 credit hours)
PSY 101 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY 3
PSY 350 STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH * 3
PSY 450 RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY I: INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS 3
PSY 471 HISTORY AND SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY 3
PSY 472 SEMINAR ON PSYCHOLOGY 3
Note: PSY 350, PSY 450, and PSY 472 must be taken in sequence.
Content Courses (15 credit hours)
Students must select one course from each of the following groups. The prerequisite for all 300-level courses is PSY 101 with a grade of C or better, unless otherwise noted. 15
Biological and Cognitive Psychology
PSY 304 LEARNING: THEORY AND RESEARCH
PSY 308 SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
PSY 321 COMPARATIVE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
PSY 330 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL POWER OF LANGUAGE
PSY 333 BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
PSY 340 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Social/Personality Psychology
PSY 311 PERSONALITY: THEORY AND RESEARCH
PSY 325 SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Developmental Psychology
PSY 301 PERSPECTIVES ON CHILD ABUSE AND ADVOCACY
PSY 327 ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGING I
PSY 355 LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
PSY 356 CHILD DEVELOPMENT
PSY 357 ADOLESCENT AND YOUNG ADULT DEVELOPMENT
Clinical Psychology
PSY 392 ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY **
PSY 393 ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY **
Applied Psychology and Diversity
PSY 365 PSYCHOLOGY IN THE WORKPLACE
PSY 367 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
PSY 370 ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY I
PSY 375 FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
PSY 376 HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
PSY 381 PSYCHOLOGY OF CULTURE
PSY 382 PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CONSUMER
PSY 383 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HUMAN SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
PSY 387 PSYCHOLOGY OF GENDER
PSY 388 PSYCHOLOGY OF DEATH AND DYING
Advanced and Electives Selected by Advisement (9 credit hours)
Three additional courses (9 credit hours) required. At least two courses must be at the 400-level. 9
One course from the following may count toward the major:
PSY 488 INTERNSHIP (3-15)
PSY 495 SPECIAL PROJECT (1-3)
PSY 496 HONORS THESIS I
PSY 498 HONORS THESIS II
PSY 499 INDEPENDENT STUDY (3-12)
All College Electives
48 credit hours 48
Total Credit Hours 120
* Prerequisite: At least sophomore status; Completion of the Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning General Education requirement – only a MAT course at MAT 114 or higher.
** Prerequisite: PSY 101 with a Grade of C or higher and 3 additional hours of psychology.