PSYCHOLOGY

Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Psychology is to offer the highest quality academic experiences at the undergraduate and graduate levels through excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service to the professional and local communities. A major goal of the Department is to work toward equipping students with the critical skills and knowledge necessary for continued occupational, educational, and personal advancement in Psychology and related disciplines. In addition the Department strives to foster an environment in which students are encouraged to assess their values and apply their knowledge to their increasingly complex world and thus promote the recognition of the importance of their roles in society as members of a vital citizenry.

Student Learning Outcomes

UNF Psychology graduates will be able to:

Content/Disciplinary Knowledge & Skills

• Describe major theories, contributions, methodological approaches, and scientific foundations of the following core areas of Psychology: Cognitive/Learning, Biological, Developmental, Personality/Individual differences, and Social.
  
  
• Demonstrate knowledge of APA guidelines in collecting data with human and nonhuman subjects, analysis,
  interpretation and reporting of research findings.
  
  
• Demonstrate awareness of how cultural perspective influence beliefs, values and behavior.

Critical Thinking Skills

• Provide appropriate theoretical rationale based on existing literature for development of research questions and testable research hypotheses.
  
  
• Design basic studies to address psychological questions using different research methodologies and applying APA guidelines.
     
• Demonstrate competence in appropriate use of technology in searching for and retrieving relevant literature using digital databases and in conducting statistical analyses and presenting results using contemporary computer applications.
  
  
• Demonstrate ability to collect data and to analyze data using basic descriptive and inferential statistics Locate, identify, and critically evaluate relevant research and methodological practices necessary to conduct and interpret results of research studies Evaluate the merit of different arguments and recognize biases and fallacies.
  
  
• Describe how psychological theories, principles, and findings relate to everyday life and analyze alternative
  solutions to problems or issues encountered in real-world settings Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their own classroom, laboratory and field experiences and describe how these experiences can apply to career choices.

Communication Skills

• Demonstrate the ability to communicate verbally in academic settings how Psychology, as a discipline, contributes to the understanding of complex biopsychosocial and cultural processes.
  
  
• Articulate Psychological concepts clearly and concisely by presenting ideas in written formats that apply APA style.
  
  
• Articulate Psychological concepts clearly and concisely by presenting ideas professionally in oral-presentation formats .





Curriculum Map

Click on the image below to see in which Psychology courses these Student Learning Outcomes are addressed:

Psychology BA	Psychology BS



Assessment Approaches

 

Numerous direct and indirect measures of student learning will be employed to assess mastery of the expected student learning outcomes. Course embedded assessments using a defined scoring rubric (criterion-based rating scale) will be one of the principle assessment approaches. Other direct program learning measures may include capstone projects, pass rates on subject area tests, student publications/ conference presentations, and/or intern supervisor ratings of students' performance. Indirect measures may include employer or alumni surveys, student perception surveys, and graduate school placement rates.

 

Career Opportunities

 

For information on the many career opportunities available to Psychology majors, go to What Can You Do with a Psychology Major at http://www.unf.edu/dept/cdc/majors/psychology.html

 

For More Information

 

To learn more about the UNF Psychology Department and majoring in Psychology, go to http://www.unf.edu/coas/psychology/

 

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