Offered at both the Queens and Staten
Island Campuses
Anthony Catalano,
Ph.D.
Coordinator of Undergraduate Programs
The undergraduate program provides students with a firm
grounding in psychology through required courses in introductory
psychology, statistics, research methods, physiological psychology,
the history of psychology, and psychological measurement. Students
are required to take one course in experimental psychology either
learning, sensation & perception, or cognitive psychology.
Students are encouraged to take all of the courses in the order in
which they are listed below.
Students also complete elective courses in such areas as child
psychology, adolescent psychology, educational psychology, theories
of personality, clinical psychology, abnormal psychology, cognitive
psychology, child psychopathology, and social psychology, learning,
sensation & perception.
Students have opportunities to become involved in fieldwork
placements in the community either through a Fieldwork in
Psychology course (PSY 4903) or via a service-learning component in
some sections of Abnormal Psychology (PSY 2200) or Child
Psychopathology (PSY 2220).
Students planning to go to graduate school should plan to take
Experimental Psychology Laboratory (PSY 3040). This course
has prerequisites of PSY 2040. Students have the opportunity to
become involved in student-led experimentation and supervised
research; group projects involving original research; and
participation in ongoing research projects.
Students can also receive course credit for completing an
independent study with a faculty member (PSY 4953). A seminar
(PSY 4990) is required as a capstone course.
Students graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from
St. John's University are well prepared to pursue advanced training
in psychology or fields such as law, social work, or
business. The undergraduate psychology major is also useful
for graduates seeking entry-level employment in occupations for
which psychological knowledge is a job requirement or
advantage.
Major Sequence
38 Semester Hours
- PSY 1020, 2030L, 2040P, 2150, 3260, 3800, 4990 and one course
from each of the groupings below:
- Group 1: PSY 2200, 2210, 2220, 3320
- Group 2: PSY 2070, 2080, 2090
- Group 3: PSY 3270, 3280, 3290
Students must choose two elective courses from the remainder of
the department's course offerings. Students can also choose
from courses not selected from the three-course groupings listed
above. Psychology majors are required to take PSY 1020 and
2030 as their first two courses.
All Psychology majors are urged to take BIO 1050 and 1060.
Psychology majors are also encouraged to take PHI 3800 (Philosophy
of Science) and elective credits in the related social sciences,
for example, ANT 1010 and SOC 1010.
It is strongly recommended that students wishing to pursue
graduate study in Psychology should select as major elective
courses PSY 2070, 2210, 3040, 3270 or 3290 (whichever one was not
used to satisfy the major requirement), 3320 and 3040.
It is advantageous for the student wishing to pursue graduate
work in psychology to have taken or be in the process of completing
all the required courses and the recommended electives by the end
of the fall semester of the senior year when the Graduate Record
Examination is usually taken. PSY 3040 and 4990 need not be taken
before the Graduate Record Examination.
It might be advisable for those wishing to pursue graduate study
in psychology to accelerate the major sequence and to elect more
than the minimum number of credits in the major, but not to exceed
12 credits above the minimum credits required.