Psychology (PSYC)

Graduate Studies

570-577-1200
www.bucknell.edu/Psychology

Professors: Chris J. Boyatzis, Ph.D. Brandeis, David W. Evans, Ph.D. Boston University, Owen R. Floody, Ph.D. Rockefeller. Eugenia P. Gerdes, Ph.D. Duke. Andrea R. Halpern, Ph.D. Stanford. J. T. Ptacek, Ph.D. Washington, Michael A. Smyer, Ph.D.,T. Joel Wade (chair), Ph.D. University of North Carolina.

Associate Professors: Kimberly A. Daubman, Ph.D. Maryland. William F. Flack, Ph.D. Clark. Peter Judge, Ph.D. Georgia. Kevin Myers, Ph.D. Duke. Arthur G. Shapiro, Ph.D. Columbia.

Programs and Degrees

The department offers programs leading to the M.S. degree in general experimental psychology. All programs culminate in a thesis and require two full academic years, including one or two summers. Students take eight courses for the degree, one of which is a thesis credit.

The general experimental program is intended primarily for students planning to enter a Ph.D. program and pursue a career in research or teaching. The program involves both research and course work but is unusual in the extent to which it provides students with extensive research experience and skills under the close supervision of faculty members. The graduate student-to-faculty ratio is excellent.

Faculty

The faculty is highly research-oriented, with special interests in the behavior and social cognition of nonhuman primates (Judge), the neural and neurochemical control of reproductive behavior (Floody), social psychology and the psychology of women (Daubman, Gerdes) and evolutionary theory and beauty (Wade), stress, coping, and health (Ptacek), children’s religious/spiritual, social and cognitive development (Boyatzis), cognitive processes, including those used in the perception and production of music (Halpern), emotion, trauma, and social conflict (Flack), developmental psychopathology (Evans), learning and motivation (Myers), and visual perception (Shapiro).

Facilities and Resources

The department has research laboratories in perception, animal behavior, physiological psychology, cognitive psychology, social psychology, personality psychology, developmental psychology, and human and animal conditioning. The animal laboratories are exceptionally broad and include four species of semi-naturally housed Old and New World primates as well as hamsters and rats. Faculty and students conduct observational research at a local child-care center. There are excellent computer facilities.

Admission Requirements

  • An undergraduate psychology major is not essential; however, it is critical that candidates have adequate training in experimental psychology and statistics.
  • Verbal, quantitative, written and subject psychology GRE scores are required.
  • Important admissions criteria include previous research experience and letters of recommendation. In addition, the department’s emphasis on individualized instruction requires indication of research experience and interests in each candidate’s statement.
  • Personal admission statements should mention one or two potential mentors from among the faculty.

Courses Offered

601. History of Psychology (I or II; 3, 0)
A history of scholarly ideas about thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

604. Advanced Developmental Psychology (I or II; 3, 0)
Analysis of selected topics in development, including cognitive, social, and religious/spiritual development.

605. Developmental Psychopathology (I or II; 3, 0)
Discusses the origin, nature, and processes underlying atypical development and psychological disorders from a developmental perspective. Emphasis is placed on the interplay between normative and pathological development.

606. Advanced Abnormal Psychology (I or II; 3, 0)
Analysis of specific topics in the fields of psychopathology and/or clinical psychology. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

607. Culture and Child Development (I or II; 3, 0)
Study of culture-specific and universal processes of child development in societies all over the world. Cultural issues in family, education, government, religion, labor, war, and hunger.

609. Appetite and Eating Behavior (I or II; 3, 0)
Advanced seminar considering psychological factors involved in appetite, food preferences, and food intake.

616. Advanced Social Psychology (AI or II; 3, 2)
Consideration of experimental and theoretical issues in social psychology.

617. Learning and Adaptive Behavior (I or II; 3, 0)
Advanced seminar in issues of nature/nurture, learning, development, and adaptation, in behaviors such as foraging, mating, and communication in several species.

618. Cognitive Aging (I or II; 3, 0)
Seminar discussing the development and changes in cognition in senior citizens. Topics include memory, language, attention, and decision making.

619. Topics in Psychology (I and II; R; 0, 3)
Occasional seminars on selected topics of current interest in psychology. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

624. Analysis of Psychological Data (I or II; 3, 0)
A survey of advanced statistical techniques with emphasis on analysis and interpretation of experimental and correlational data.

625. Advanced Personality Theory (II; 3, 0)
Consideration of current issues in personality psychology. Possible topics include: persons and situations, personality and health, and personality and relationships.

639. Psychology of Music (I or II; 3, 0)
Seminar examining how musicians and non-musicians comprehend, remember, perform, and respond to music, including developmental aspects. Some background in music is required.

643. Neural Plasticity (I or II; 3)
Brain structure and function, emphasizing cellular and molecular approaches to neural development, plasticity, and degeneration.

649. Human Neuropsychology (I or II; 3, 0)
Brain mechanisms of language, memory, and other processes as revealed by studies of human brain activity or pathology.

652. Advanced Perception (I or II; 3, 0)
Theories of and research on sensory and perceptual processes.

669. Psychology of Beauty and Attraction (I or II; 3, 0)
Examination of research on beauty and attraction from an evolutionary perspective.

670. Primate Behavior and Ecology (I; 3, 3*)
Introduction to research on prosimians, monkeys and apes with emphasis on the evoluntionary origin of diversity, habitat use, social structure, social behavior, and cognitive abilities.

673. Psychology of Race and Gender (II; 3, 0)
Critical analysis of major theories. Emphasis on experimental research findings in the areas of racism, discrimination, gender difference, sexual violence, etc.