Psychology

Welcome to Psychology

Welcome to the Psychology Programs in the Department of Psychology & Philosophy at Sam Houston State University. The Psychology programs are diverse and include both undergraduate and graduate programs and a variety of specializations.

At the undergraduate level, we offer the Bachelor of Science degree. To ensure that you get the best possible and well-rounded exposure to our field, we require that you take particular courses that are essential to all areas of psychology. These are PSYC 1301 – Introduction to Psychology, PSYC 3332 – History of Psychology, PSYC 3401– Research Methods, and PSYC 3402 – Psychological Statistics. We also require each student to sample courses from various “blocks” within our curriculum, which include Personality-Social-Developmental block, Clinical-Adjustment-Applied block, and the Experimental Block. With this well-rounded foundation, students can then point their efforts toward specific areas of interest. To be even more progressive and accessible, the Department of Psychology and Philosophy has an online undergraduate degree: https://online.shsu.edu/degrees/undergraduate/psychology/

The department offers graduate programs in Clinical Psychology (MA), Experimental Psychology (MA), Specialist Degree in School Psychology (LSSP), and Clinical Psychology (PhD). Our Master of Arts programs focus on either producing scientist-practitioners prepared to perform assessment, diagnostics, and therapeutic skills on the MA level or researchers in academia with an interest in pursuing doctoral studies. The LSSP program is designed to produce practitioners with a special expertise in the delivery of services to school-age populations within a variety of educational settings. The doctoral program in Clinical Psychology is designed to produce scientist-practitioners who possess: (a) a rich body of knowledge in the field of general academic psychology; (b) the intellectual and methodological skills necessary for continuing the process of discovery and understanding of human behavior; and (c) the requisite assessment, diagnostic, intervention, and consultative skills for independent practice of clinical psychology.

Typically, in order to work in the field of psychology, a student would have to obtain an advanced degree, either at the master’s or at the doctoral level. However, students who have a bachelor’s degree in psychology are able to apply for a plethora of positions. Keep in mind that a degree in psychology is a liberal arts degree and that the successful student can do any job that anybody else can, but offers a more analytical perspective by majoring in psychology. The psychology degrees provides a good background in human behavior. Areas of employment for our students include, but not limited to Human Services, Program Development, Public Relations, Advertising, Retail Sales, Management, Law Enforcement, and Pharmaceutical Representatives.

We welcome you to the Department of Psychology and Philosophy and encourage you to do your very best. The department is committed to Cultivating your Future, through our Passion!