Introduction
The Department of Psychology, founded in 1966, is concerned with the psychological foundations of human behavior. The undergraduate program, with an emphasis on basic course training in psychology, such as Experimental Psychology and Statistics, is intended for students who wish to pursue advanced study in psychology or in related disciplines. The graduate program, which currently offers only the MS degree, is mainly designed for both academic and applied objectives. Our program provides well-organized core courses for students who will continue by seeking a Ph.D. degree in psychology elsewhere. In the meantime, we also offer courses training and preparing students for community, industrial, and clinical services.
Our graduate core courses are basically organized into several areas in psychology, including Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, Comparative Psychology, Psychometrics, Counseling Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology , and Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Each student is expected to select one of these areas as his or her major. Then the student will follow a training program to develop a thorough understanding of the theory, development, methodology, and the application of this particular sub-discipline as an independent researcher.
Highlights of our teaching and research programs
In terms of curriculum design, the department focuses on six areas of studies, namely psychometrics, experimental and cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social/personality psychology, clinical psychology and counseling, industrial and organizational psychology. An earlier introduction of these concentrations helps students to choose their career paths at the early stage of their study. Our research programs aim at achieving the balance between applied research and clinical studies. In terms of theoretical and applied research, our focus is on judgment & decision making, computerized aptitude testing, social recognition, attitudes & values, Mandarin character recognition, industrial organization and child development. In clinical studies, we emphasize diagnosis of psychological disorders and treatment. In our curriculum, a special emphasis is also placed on guidance & counseling. On one hand, our teaching aims to enhance students` ability to use their professional knowledge in analytical tasks and streamline different skills into practice. On the other hand, we embed local experiences into our teaching to ensure students` learning is connected to the needs and pulses of the world here and now.