Psychology, Bachelor of Arts

Requirements

Total Course Requirements for the Bachelor's Degree

See the "Requirements for the Bachelor's Degree" in the University Catalog for complete details on general degree requirements. A minimum of 40 units, including those required for the major, must be upper division.

Elective Requirements

Completion of elective courses (beyond the requirements listed below) to reach a total of a minimum of 120 units.

General Education Requirements (49 units)

See the "General Education" requirements in the University Catalog or the Class Schedule for the most current information on General Education requirements and course offerings.

Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement

See the "Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement" in the University Catalog.

Minor Requirements

No minor required. Students completing this major do not need to complete a minor in another field. However, Psychology majors are encouraged to use their general elective courses to take advantage of the Skill-Building Elective Clusters described above. This will further enhance their psychology-related skills.

Major Requirements (42 units)

The following courses, or their approved transfer equivalents, are required of all candidates for this degree.

¹

Should be taken in the order listed prior to taking other courses in the major.

²

Both courses listed in the Quantitative Methods section are recommended for students planning to pursue graduate Studies. PSY 230 Elementary Statistical Analysis in Psychology or MAT 131 Elementary Statistics and Probability is a prerequisite for both courses.

Program Learning Outcomes

Critical Understanding of Psychology

• The objective of Learning Outcome #1 is that psychology professors provide clear, up-to-date information and appropriate learning contexts so that psychology majors can describe, explain and apply knowledge in the following domains:
  • 1.1 Historical events of importance in psychology
  • 1.2 The major theories and schools of psychological thought
  • 1.3 Models of the person
  • 1.4 Basic descriptive and inferential statistics, written and oral skills, quantitative analysis, professional behavior
• The objective of Learning Outcome #2 is that psychology professors will provide opportunities to learn, and psychology majors will exhibit progress in attaining an understanding of and demonstrating the ability to do the following:
  • 2.1 Explain behavior using different psychological theories or models
  • 2.2 Use the basic terminology of the discipline
  • 2.3 Understand the general underlying logic of conducting research and have a beginning applied knowledge of how to do it. Scientific method, personal and professional ethics and values
• The objective of Learning Outcome #3 is that psychology professors will model, and thus psychology majors will (a) be exposed to the value and worth of, and (b) describe and apply the following:
  • 3.1 Scientific methods and reasoning
  • 3.2 Knowledge of individual differences and diversity, including but not limited to
    • 3.2a self and others as people with a set of skills
    • 3.2b the perspectives of others
    • 3.2c studying the causes and effects of racism, sexism and other “isms”
  • 3.3 Personal and professional ethics, including academic integrity and professional codes of behavior
  • 3.4 Consideration of education and life itself to be a process of lifelong learning
  • 3.5 Some of the skills of taking multiple perspectives and relativistic thinking, scientific method, personal and professional ethics and values

4- Year Roadmap

2-Year Roadmap (transfer students)