Our program is designed to train students for research on the cutting edge of the fields of social and personality psychology. The curriculum consists of a series of courses and seminars designed to provide students with a thorough introduction to the fields of social and personality psychology. This coursework is complemented by courses that provide the methodological and statistical skills necessary for several kinds of research. Our primary emphasis is on experimental laboratory research, but we also provide training in field research, longitudinal studies, observational methods, and archival research. There are also opportunities to pursue theoretical issues in various applied areas (e.g., Education, health psychology). Our goal is to train students for productive academic careers in university settings. Students are provided with the opportunity to work collaboratively with one or more faculty members on a variety of research topics including: acculturation, achievement behavior, attitudes, competition, culture and cognition, emotion, goals and self-regulation, interest and intrinsic motivation, social cognition, social perception, social neuroscience, and stereotypes, prejudice and intergroup relations.  Students are also encouraged to develop their own independent lines of research.

Additional resources are available to students from outside the Psychology Department. The social psychology program in the Sociology Department shares faculty members and courses with the program in Psychology and offers seminars that supplement those taught in Psychology. In addition, resources are provided by the Mass Communications Research Center, the Institute for Research on Poverty, and the Survey Research Laboratory.

Psychology Faculty: Professors Devine, Harackiewicz, Miyamoto, Hyde, Ryff
Affiliated Faculty: