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Undergraduate Program
The psychology major offers excellent training in how to understand human behavior using scientifically rigorous methods. A judicious selection of psychology courses can provide an excellent background for those of you planning careers in Business, Education, Law, Medicine, and Social work as well as Psychology. The Faculty Advisors and the Student Services Office can help you select courses that will provide a strong foundation for your career goals. In the following pages, we illustrate a variety of ways in which the psychology major may be tailored to fit different interests and career goals.
The psychology major is also one that offers students a variety of opportunities for active involvement. For those of you who choose psychology as a major, we hope you will take advantage of the many opportunities it provides for direct involvement in ongoing research, for participating in our active undergraduate psychology association (SUPA), and for designing and conducting your own studies through our Senior Honors Program.
We hope that this brochure will stimulate your curiosity, answer many of your initial questions, and better prepare you to consider and explore the rich possibilities that a psychology major may offer you.
Ellen M. Markman
Professor
Majoring in psychology is not for everyone. It does not appeal to those who seek quick and simple answers to complex problems, nor to those who want the "approved solution" to the questions of why humans act, think and feel as they do. But if you are someone who enjoys mysteries, gets excited by challenging puzzles, is curious about human nature, intrigued by observing animal behavior, thinks about the HOW and WHY of YOU, then you'll find psychology a rewarding and even empowering major.
There is no field of knowledge with such an enormous breadth of interest as can be found in psychology - from the micro analysis of the functioning of single nerve cells to the macro functioning of urban communities, from invertebrate reflex behavior, to the perception of a newborn child, to the prejudice of a group, to the decision-making process of national governments. We have it all. While many psychologists study fundamental processes of human development, brain functioning, learning, motivation, emotion, memory, judgment, language, personality, mental disorders, and social interactions - for the sheer joy of understanding them better - others seek to apply psychological knowledge to improve the quality of our lives.
The Stanford Psychology Department has been the top-ranked department in the country for nearly two decades.
That reputation is earned by the creative and prolific contributions to basic knowledge in psychology that our faculty has generated through its pioneering research and original theories. In addition, our graduate students continue this tradition by going on to productive careers at other universities and major research centers. Although we all work very hard at our trade, we also take pride in our commitment to teaching excellence, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. There are few other comparable psychology departments where so many senior professors teach undergraduates the introductory level courses in a variety of areas. In addition, we all work with undergraduate research assistants in our laboratories, typically in research teams led by one of our graduate research assistants.
The faculty and graduate students are a resource for you to exploit wisely and well while you are majoring in psychology with us. The staff in the main office and throughout Jordan Hall enjoy their contacts with students - feel free to ask them for advice and direction. We also have the Stanford Undergraduate Psychology Association (SUPA), which you are invited to join as soon as you declare your major. It is my pleasant task to help coordinate activities that enhance undergraduate psychology education at Stanford - let me know if I'm missing something that needs attending to, or if there is some thing we have not thought of yet that will help you to get the best possible liberal arts education during your time at Stanford.
Philip G. Zimbardo
Professor
At Stanford I discovered that doing research in psychology really fascinates me. I worked on some interesting and important projects with faculty whom I soon realized were in the forefront of many areas of psychology. In my senior year I developed my own project and found faculty generous with their advice, guidance, and resources. I was able to continue research on my own after graduation. As I look back I realize that the strength and relative small size of the department provided me with a unique opportunity for both intellectual stimulation and personal contact.
One of the most appealing aspects about majoring in psychology is that it is an excellent preparation for many fields of study, e.g., medicine, law, education, business. Some professors in the department work in more than one discipline. If students are interested in a professional school they may want to find these professors and offer their time to assist them in research or discuss future plans. The range of applications of a psychology major are limitless. Research and paraprofessional experience are just two examples of the numerous opportunities provided by the Psychology Department, of ways students can discover what really interests them.
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Introduction