Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

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About

The Bachelor of Arts program is patterned after the recommendations of the American Psychological Association for undergraduate majors in psychology. It offers a solid background in research methods and statistics, a central set of core theory courses and opportunities for focused, hands-on experiences in research and in the field. You can shape the program to meet your unique interests through our broad set of courses and electives.

Cheney Campus

For additional information, please call the department at 509.359.6227 or email us at psychology@ewu.edu.

Bellevue Campus

The BA in Psychology is available through Eastern at Bellevue College. For more information, contact:

Kayleen Islam-Zwart
Program Director/Advisor
E: kislamzwart@ewu.edu

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Curriculum & Requirements

Psychology Major, Bachelor of Arts (BA)

General Admissions Information for Psychology

High school students should have at least one year of algebra. Social science courses, including psychology and natural science courses such as biology and chemistry are also encouraged. Transfer students may be given credit for appropriate transfer courses in the major and for electives. Transfer credits will be limited to 20 lower division courses and no more than 30 transfer credits total can be applied toward the degree.

General Degree Completion Requirements for Psychology

Students who major in psychology but who transfer some lower division psychology coursework from other colleges/universities must complete at least 50 hours of upper division credits in the 70 credit psychology major.

Note:

  • two years of a single high school foreign language or one year (3 quarters) of a single college-level foreign language is required;
  • if a student takes PSYC 201 or PSYC 305 or PSYC 306 for Cluster A, they cannot take PSYC 201 or  PSYC 305 or PSYC 306 as an elective;

Capstone Course: the university capstone requirement is met by the department capstone PSYC 490 and must attain a grade ≥C.

Required courses are designed to provide students with the foundations of the field. Through careful planning in the selection of cluster and elective courses, students may develop a program of study to prepare for application to graduate school programs or meet specific career goals in psychology-related business/human services occupations.

Major Requirements

  • To declare psychology as a major, students must have a minimum cumulative GPA ≥2.0 and completed PSYC 100 or its equivalent with a grade ≥C.
  • Transfer students may be given credit for appropriate transfer courses in the major and for electives. Transfer credits will be limited to 20 lower division credits and no more than 30 transfer credits total applied toward the major.
  • Students must attain a grade ≥C for each of the required courses:
  • There is no overall GPA requirement for this major.
Required Prerequisite Course
PSYC 100GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY5
Required Courses (taking PSYC 309 prior to PSYC 310 is highly recommended. Must receive a grade of C or higher in all required courses.)
PSYC 309SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY5
PSYC 310PSYCHOLOGICAL STATISTICS5
PSYC 413RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY5
Required Focus Experience Courses–students choose from any combination of the following3
SEMINAR IN PSYCHOLOGY
SEMINAR
DIRECTED STUDY (permission required)
DIRECTED STUDY
INTERNSHIP (permission required)
Required Cluster Credits–PSYC majors are required to take a specified number of courses from clusters A and B as follows
Cluster A Core Course Requirements–choose at least four of the following 18-20
THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
FOUNDATION OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT (only one developmental course will count towards the BA)
LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
ADULT DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN MEMORY AND COGNITION
CONDITIONING AND LEARNING
EMOTION AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF BEHAVIOR
Cluster B Applied/Lab and Speciality Course Requirements–choose at least three of the following10-15
COMPUTER STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS
HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
COMPUTERIZATION RESEARCH TECHNIQUES IN PSYCHOLOGY
BLACK PSYCHOLOGY
CARE AND CUSTODY OF FEMALE OFFENDERS
DRUGS AND BEHAVIOR
COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIOR CHANGE
PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN
HUMAN SEXUALITY
PSYCHOLOGY AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM
INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS
PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY
COMPASSION FOCUSED THERAPY
HAPPINESS AND POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
TRAUMA: THEORY, ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT
SOCIAL INFLUENCE
INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
CHILDHOOD PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND TREATMENT
PREJUDICE AND STEREOTYPING
EXPERIMENTAL COURSE
WORKSHOP, SHORT COURSE, CONFERENCE, SEMINAR (may be counted as a cluster course or elective as approved by the department chair)
Electives–courses used as electives in the major must come from cluster A or B or Focus Experience list above (those not used to meet the minimum cluster requirements).6-15
Required Senior Capstone
PSYC 490SENIOR CAPSTONE: THE TRADITION OF PSYCHOLOGY (a UGR–senior capstone)4-6
or PSYC 491 SENIOR THESIS
Total70

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Program Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully earn a BA in Psychology from EWU should be able to do the following:

  • evaluate empirical research in psychology;
  • explain how APA’s principles of ethics can be applied to a research study in psychology;
  • investigate a major theoretical perspective from psychology;
  • utilize APA (American Psychological Association) style requirements when writing.

Internships & Research

Internship Experiences
(PSYC 395/495)

Internships are one way you can satisfy the focus experience requirement to graduate with a major in Psychology. There are a wide variety of internships available in both the Cheney and Spokane area. For each credit, you are required to volunteer for 40 hours over the quarter. Typically, this is done by volunteering four hours per week for 10 weeks. You are responsible for the initial contact with the internship site. If you are interested in internships, contact Linda Kirsch MD at lkirsch02@ewu.edu or visit her office in 141B Martin Hall to plan and enroll in a psychology internship.

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Research Experiences
(PSYC 399/499)

Directed studies experiences are made available through individual faculty who run their own laboratory student groups. Students serve as research assistants to the faculty as they develop and conduct psychological research experiments and other scholarly research activities. Such opportunities provide students with chances to become co-presenters for research presentations done at conferences and co-authors for journal articles. Students may enroll in these “by permission only,” variable credit courses by contacting one of the faculty.

Research labs include:

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