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Bachelor's Degree Requirements for Psychology Majors
A total of 124 hours are required to graduate.
Passing grades in all courses are required, as well as an overall GPA
of 2.0 (C average).
Please note that requirements may change from year
to year, and the student is responsible for following the requirements
listed in the undergraduate catalog. The catalog may be obtained in
Martindale Center.
The 124 required hours are made up of:
- Liberal Arts requirements
(listed below)
- Psychology requirements
(listed below)
- Requirements of your Minor (check with your Minor dep.)
- Elective courses
Forty-two of the 124 hours must be 300 level or
higher.
Link to detailed course descriptions
of Psy 405 and Psy 420.
Liberal Arts Requirements
- English (12 hours)
- 6 hours of Writing Composition. Writ 100 or 101
and Writ 102 or LIBA 102.
- 6 hours of English Literature. English 221,222,223,
224, 225, or 226
- History (6 hours)
- It is recommended that this requirement be filled
by either the 101 and 102 sequence (Western Civilization), or
the 105 and 106 sequence (US history). If you decide to take 300
level courses to fulfill the History requirement, you must wait
until your sophomore year (Freshmen are not permitted to enroll
in 300 level courses).
- Mathematics (3 hours)
- Mathematics 115 (Elementary Statistics), 121 (College
Algebra), 123 (Trigonometry), 125 (Basic Mathematics for science
and engineering), 261, 262 (Unified Calculus and Analytic Geometry
1 and 2), 267 (Calculus for business, economics and accountancy).
- Science (9-11 hours:3 lecture courses
and 2 laboratory courses)
- Courses offered by the departments of Physics and
Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, or Geology. Two courses
must be in same scientific discipline.
- Language (6-12 hours including 6 hours
at the 200 level or higher)
- If you choose Spanish, and have had 2 or more years
of high school language, take SPAN 121 as your introductory course.
You will then move into the 201 and 202 sequence.
- For all other languages, you may enter the four
semester sequence (101,102,201,202) according to you high school
experience.
- Another alternative is to take the 111-211 sequence
when offered. 111 and 211 are 6-hour courses which allow 12 hours
of language to be completed in one year. Please note that 111-211
is an intact sequence (111 is the prerequisite for 211; if you
begin with 111, you must move into 211).
- Social Science (6 hours)
- Your Psychology courses meet this requirement
- Humanities (3 hours)
- African-American studies; Classical Civilization;
Gender Studies 103, 201, 301, 333; Philosophy; Religion; Southern
Studies 101, 102; Environmental Studies (ENVS) 101.
- Fine or Performing Arts (3 hours)
- Art, Music, Theater arts. Recommended courses:
Art History 101, 102; Music, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105; Dance 200;
Theater 201. Studio and workshop courses do not apply.
Psychology Requirements
- 30 hours of Psychology are required with a minimum
Psychology GPA of 2.0.
- The following courses are required:
- Psy 201. General Psychology (3)
- Psy 202. Elementary Statistics (3)
- Three of the following courses:
- Psy 309 Learning (3) (Psy 201 is prerequisite)
- Psy 319 Brain Science & Behavior (3) (Psy 201,
or BISC 102 or BISC 160 are prerequisites)
- Psy 320 Cognitive Psy (3) (Psy 201 is prerequisite)
- Psy 321 Social Psy (3) (Psy 201 is prerequisite)
- One of the following Laboratory in Psychology courses
(Psy 201 and 202 are prerequisites):
- Psy 390 Behavioral Neuroscience (Additional
prerequisite: Psy319 or 322)
- Psy 392 Experimental Social Psychology (Additional
prerequisite: Psy315, 321, 324, or 340)
- Psy 394 Cognition and Perception (Additional
prerequisite: Psy320 or 326)
- Psy 396 Laboratory in Psychology (Additional
prerequisite: Psy309)
- Additional Psychology courses:
- Courses that have Psy 201 as a prerequisite:
- 301 Developmental Psychology (3)
- 311 Abnormal Psychology (3)
- 313 Experimental Analysis of Behavior (3)
- 315 Personality (3)
- 323 Applied Behavior Analysis (3)
- 327 Psychology and Law (3)
- 419 Psychology of Parenting (3)
- Courses that have Psy 201 and Psy 202 as prerequisites:
- 303 Intermediate Statistical Methods (3)
- 308 Industrial Psychology (3)
- 317 Tests and Measures (3)
- Courses that have Psy 201, Psy 202 and a laboratory
(Psy 390, 392, 394, 396) as prerequisites:
- 460 Psychology of Human Sexuality (3)
- Courses that have special prerequisites:
- 100 Orientation to the major (1) (No prerequisites)
Recommended for Fr./Soph. Psy majors
- 203 Self management for your personal life
(1) (No prerequisites)
- 215 Psychology of Instructional Technology
(3)*
- 322 Drugs and Behavior (3) (9 hours of Psy
or consent of Instructor)
- 324 Science of Emotion (3) (9 hours of Psy
or consent of Instructor)
- 326 Sensation and Perception (3) (9 hours of
Psy or consent of Instructor)
- 340 Multicultural Psychology (3) (Psy 201 or
consent of Instructor)
- 401 Undergraduate Internship (1-3)*
- 405 Minor Research Problems (3)*
- 410 Health Psychology (3) (9 hours of Psy or
consent of Instructor)
- 415 Introduction to Clinical Psy (3) (9 hours
of Psy or consent of Instructor)
- 420 Special Topics (3)*
- 451 History and Systems (3) (12 hours of Psychology)
- *Permission of Instructor also required
- Juniors and Seniors may take 500 level courses
for undergraduate credit
Psy 405 (Minor Research
Problems) and Psy 420 (Special Topics)
Students interested in gaining research experience
beyond their laboratory class can register for Psy 405 or Psy 420. These
courses are not listed in the class schedule each semester. Psy 405
is taken for a Z grade, and Psy 420 is taken for a letter grade. Scheduling
of your time for these courses is on an individual basis; it depends
on the faculty members' research schedules (see below) and the nature
of the project.
Prerequisites for 405: permission of instructor.
Prerequisites for 420: permission of instructor.
Steps taken to enroll in Psy 405 or Psy 420.
- Identify a research area or faculty member you would
like to work with (see descriptions below).
- Determine whether you have met the prerequisites (see
above, and individual faculty descriptions below).
- Contact the specific faculty member to learn more about
the research experience, and obtain permission to register. If you
don't know their office hours, inquire in room 207.
- Go to the Psychology Undergraduate office (Room 207)
and obtain a form for the faculty member to sign.
- Return the signed form to the Undergraduate Office.
- You are now ready to register.
Course and research descriptions for individual
faculty members who supervise students in Psy 405 and Psy 420:
Dr. Michael Allen, Psychophysiology.
Dr. Allen's areas of research are cardiovascular psychophysiology
and cardiovascular behavioral medicine. He is currently working on a
project that is examining the relationships of behavioral characteristics
such as impulsivity and anxiety with measures of autonomic nervous system
activity such as heart rate variability. Work in his lab would entail
attending laboratory meetings, learning how to use psychophysiological
equipment, and assisting in running studies. It is preferable that the
student have completed PSY 202 and one of the laboratory classes in
psychology.
Dr. Beth Boerger, Developmental Psychology, boerger@olemiss.edu
Room 310 C Peabody.
Research Areas: How development in children's understanding of others'
thoughts and emotions affects their social behavior. Students will be
trained to administer several standardized interviews with 8 - 13 year
olds and will conduct interviews in schools and after school programs.
Work in this lab requires weekly attendance at a 1 hour lab meeting,
plus 6-8 hours of work on research activities, including (among other
things) training/practice of interviews, conducting interviews, and
travel to and from interviews. We will be conducting interviews in Oxford,
Batesville and Water Valley. Therefore, students must be able to devote
at least 2 3-hour blocks of time or 3 2-hour blocks of time each week
(Mon. - Fri.). Dr. Boerger will be accepting 15 - 20 students for Spring,
2012. Pre-requisites include Psy 301 with a grade of B or better.
Dr. Karen Christoff, Clinical Psychology.
Dr. Christoff's areas of interest are in children's social skills and
friendships, and the factors that influence these. Projects of the last
several years include an investigation of what influences, and what
is related to, fifth-grade children's assessment of the smartness of
their peers; assessment of the relationship of loneliness and other
social factors to whether or not Freshman college students return to
campus for their sophomore year; an investigation of the relationship
of preschool children's activity levels and food choices to their parents'
activity levels and knowledge about nutrition.
Dr. Alan M. Gross.
Students interested in working on ongoing research projects may inquire
about the availability of opportunities to work with Dr. Gross, or a
graduate student who is conducting research. Current projects involve:
1. Alcohol expectancies and sexual coercion
2. Emotional regulation and aggressive behavior in children
3. Contextual variables in Date rape
Dr. Marilyn Mendolia, Social Psychology.
Dr. Mendolia (Office-Peabody 302 A) accepts from 3 to 5 students each
Fall and Spring Semester to work on special research projects. Each
student works for approximately 10 hours per week in the laboratory.
Dr. Mendolia's research is in the area of emotion. Students attend weekly
laboratory meetings and contribute to a specific research project.Other
laboratory responsibilities may include data entry (e.g., coding and
entering data using a computer), minor statistical analyses, and discussion
of various research articles.
Dr. Nick Prins, Cognitive Psychology.
Dr. Prins studies visual perception. Most of your time in PSY 405 will
be spent acting as a participant in research on low-level visual processes.
Testing is self-paced and typically not very demanding. Scheduling of
hours (about 4 hrs/week) is very flexible as you will learn how to get
the experiment up and running yourself after which you can test without
supervision. During meetings the background, purpose and results of
the research will be discussed. Requirements are that you are reliable
(i.e., show up for the times that you have signed up for) and take the
testing seriously.
Dr. Matt Reysen, Cognitive Psychology.
Students interested in working on research projects involving: False
memory, social influences on memory performance, and other basic memory
phenomena, are invited to inquire about the availability of opportunities
to work on these and other related projects.
Dr. Karen Sabol, Behavioral Neuroscience.
Student participation in Psy 405 and Psy 420 involves coming to the
laboratory 6-8 hours/week to test rats in one of the ongoing experiments.
Scheduling each semester depends on the needs of the experiment, and
students' individual schedules. Students learn how to handle rats, conduct
the experimental procedure, read scientific articles relevant to the
experiment, analyze and interpret data. Students are asked to attend
weekly lab meetings at which the status of different research projects
is discussed; students are asked to present a scientific article to
the research group at one of the lab meetings. A term paper is required
for Psy 420.
Research in Dr. Sabol's laboratory focuses on the effects
of the abused drug, methamphetamine in the rat. She is interested in
knowing whether rats treated with methamphetamine as young adults will
have difficulty with attention, learning, and memory when they reach
middle or old age. A second area of focus is the development of tolerance
to methamphetamine's effects on learned tasks (reaction time) and body
temperature.
Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor; an A or B in
322 (Drugs and Behavior), or 390 (Behavioral Neuroscience Lab), or Psy
319 (Brain and Behavior).
Dr. Stefan E. Schulenberg, Clinical Training Program.
Research Program
Dr. Schulenberg's research interests include meaning/purpose in life,
positive psychology, clinical/disaster psychology, psychological assessment,
serious mental illness, and adolescent psychopathology in the legal
context. He was a mental health consultant on a National Science Foundation
research grant issued in response to Hurricane Katrina, and currently
conducts evaluation research funded by the Mississippi Department of
Mental Health relating to the effects of the Gulf Oil Spill.
Expectations
Students are expected to attend weekly lab meetings (1 to 2 hours per
week) and to put in an additional 6 hours in the laboratory (e.g., collecting
data, entering/double-checking data, pulling articles, conducting literature
searches, reading/discussing articles).
Dr. Schulenberg's research team co-organizes Out of the
Darkness walks with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention,
which presents opportunities for student participation in the community.
Prerequisites
An overall GPA of 3.25 or higher.
Consent of instructor.
PSY 317 (Tests and Measurements) is recommended.
Dr. Carrie Smith, Social Psychology
Dr. Smith is interested in studying how people's conceptualizations
of themselves and their motivations affect their interpersonal experiences
(e.g., satisfaction, behaviors). For example, do people who have more
interpersonal reasons for having sex have interactions that are more
satisfying than people who have more self-focused motivations. She is
also interested in examining people's perceptions of their daily social
experiences. More specifically, she focuses primarily on how various
situational factors and individual differences affect the way people
navigate their daily social lives - who are we friends with? What are
social interactions like?
Working in Dr. Smith's lab involves meeting approximately twice a week
and being available to run studies (including evenings and weekends).
Students will be exposed to all aspects of the research process, from
idea generation to measure selection, data collection to data analysis.
Dr. Smith has approximately 3-5 students in her lab each semester. Summer
positions are also available.
Students interested in working with Dr. Smith must have taken both Psy
201 and 202, earning a B in each course. In addition, students must
have taken or currently be enrolled in Psy 392 or 394. Students must
have permission from Dr. Smith before enrolling in either 405 or 420.
Dr. Todd A. Smitherman, Clinical Psychology
Dr. Smitherman's research focuses on clinical health psychology. In
particular, he is interested in the psychological factors that affect
migraine headaches and other pain conditions. His research focuses on
the roles of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and substance use
in migraine pain and disability. He is also interested in identifying
optimal strategies for treating headache patients who also have psychiatric
disorders, as well as in behavioral approaches for managing migraine.
As such, his interests lie in traditional clinical psychology as well
as health psychology. Work in his lab would entail attending laboratory
meetings, learning how to administepsychological interviews and surveys,
data entry, and assisting irunning studies. There are opportunities
to be a co-author oconference presentations and/or journal publications.
It is preferabl (but not required) that the student has completed PSY
202 and maintains an A or B average in psychology courses.
.
Dr. Tracie Stewart, Social Psychology
Undergraduate and graduate students in Dr. Stewart's lab work together
to study the social psychology of intergroup relations. Specific current
research topics include developing and assessing strategies to reduce
automatic racial and gender stereotyping; furthering understanding of
how stereotypes are perpetuated; and examining individual differences
in bias processes.
Undergraduate students in Dr. Stewart's lab will be expected
to contribute 9 hours per week in the lab (e.g., conducting experimental
sessions, developing experimental materials, conducting literature searches,
reading research articles relevant to research projects in the lab)
and, in addition, to attend monthly one-hour lab meetings.
Prerequisites for participation in the lab include completion
of Psy 201 and Psy 321 with a grade of B or higher
Dr. Ken Sufka, Behavioral Neuroscience.
Dr. Sufka's research is in the development, validation and utilization
of animal simulations of clinical syndromes focusing mainly on stress,
anxiety and depression models and chronic pain and analgesia models.
The commitment is approximately 6-9 hours per week including weekends.
Students acquire knowledge and skills in animal care, handling and testing,
drug preparation and injections, brain extractions and dissections,
experimental design, statistical analyses, data presentation, etc. Prerequisites
include outstanding grades in Brain and Behavior or Drugs and Behavior.
Students must also meet compliance with University and Federal requirements
for working with research animals
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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
- If you would like to download information about Psychology
courses from the Undergraduate Catalog select the link below.
- You will need a reader such as Adobe Acrobat installed
on you computer.
- If you would like more information than is listed in
the undergraduate catalog, contact the faculty member teaching the
course.
- The
UM undergraduate catalog link.
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