Department of Psychology

Faculty and Fields of Interest

Brian Ayotte health psychology, interpersonal relationships, cognition, and problem solving in older adults

R Thomas Boone nonverbal communication of emotion, developmental social processes, cooperative processes, communication of trustworthiness

John K. Conboy child and family psychotherapy, psychological assessment, ADHD, behavior therapy

Donald P. Corriveau clinical research, counseling, behavioral medicine

Paul A. Donnelly counseling psychology, treatment of adolescent and criminal offenders

Barry R. Haimson (Chairperson) event-related potential (ERP) measures of information processing and hemispheric differences, cognitive neuroscience, perception

Patrice Hartnett lifespan development (child and adolescent), comparative cognition

Mahzad Hojjat conflict, forgiveness, satisfaction in romantic relationships/friendships, inter-ethnic romantic relationships, positive psychology of love

Trina Kershaw Trina skill learning and transfer, problem solving, individual differences

Robin Locke developmental psychopathology, emotional development, biological psychology

Teal Pedlow health psychology, women’s health, HIV/AIDS, alcohol/substance abuse, clinical research

Theodore E. Powers clinical training, personality, motivation

Andrew J. Revell lifespan human development, neuropsychology of aging, health risk indicators, multivariate measurement, gerontology

Elizabeth F. Richardson health psychology, adolescent and young adult risk behaviors, clinical research

James B. Riley sports psychology, exercise psychology

Amy M. Shapiro human learning and memory, educational technology, memory errors

Judith E. Sims-Knight cognitive development, adult reasoning, human-computer interaction, instructional psychology.

Anja Soldan cognitive neuroscience of memory and visual perception, and cognitive aging.

The focus of psychology is the scientific study of behavior. Psychology is studied as a science with the implication that there is a commitment to rational thinking and empirical analysis of the problems encountered in describing and explaining human behavior.

An integrated 4-part curriculum provides students with a broad introduction to the field, emphasizing the understanding and design of research. Depth of study is offered in the junior and senior years. A wide range of subfields of psychology are offered from courses that emphasize our biological heritage (e.g., physiological psychology, perception) to those that examine basic human functioning (e.g., cognition, learning, personality, social) and those that have a distinct applied orientation (e.g., counseling, behavior modification, organizational and community psychology). There are also opportunities for students to engage in independent research and honors research projects and to participate in internships in various clinical settings. The curriculum can be structured to prepare students for graduate education or to include applied clinical coursework and experiences that would allow graduates to seek employment in a variety of human services agencies.

Students who major in psychology find primary employment opportunities in personnel management, elementary and secondary high school education, social work, software and other product development. Higher level psychological professions, such as counseling psychotherapy, university instruction, psychological research (in industry, universities, and research centers) and various administrative mental health positions generally require a master’s degree or preferably a doctorate in psychology. The department also offers a graduate program in psychology leading to a master of arts degree with distinct clinical and research options.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students should gain the ability to:

understand basic empirical research design and basic statistical analysis;
read, understand, and critically analyze empirical literature; and
apply psychological knowledge and skills in either the research or clinical domain appropriate to an undergraduate level.