Psychology (PSYC)
PSYC 101 Introduction to Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Survey of the biopsychosocial continuum and the intrapsychic, interpersonal, and organizational factors affecting human behavior and mental processes. Emphasizes the scientific method as the foundation of psychological knowledge, including rationalist, empiricist, and experimental approaches. Topics include sensation, perception, learning, motivation, memory, personality, psychopathology, physiological psychology, and social processes. Focus on applying basic psychology principles to aviation, engineering, public policy, and other STEM disciplines.
PSYC 103 Professional Development in Psychology 1 Credit (1,0)
Overview of psychology discipline; program expectations; career, internship, and capstone options. Skill development for job readiness; APA style; library research; mandatory self-assessment using online portfolio platform.
PSYC 199 Special Topics in Psychology 1-6 Credit (1-6,0)
Individual, independent, or directed studies of selected topics in psychology.
PSYC 222 Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Survey of industrial-organizational psychology with emphasis on organizational and personnel psychology as applied to business, industry, and government.
PSYC 226 Statistical Analysis for the Social Sciences 3 Credits (3,0)
Introduction to data analysis and statistics. Focus on gathering, analyzing, and presenting data using statistical software tools. Covers parametric procedures including t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, descriptive statistics. Emphasizes appropriate technique selection and result interpretation.
PSYC 299 Special Topics in Psychology 1-6 Credit (1-6,0)
Individual, independent, or directed studies of selected topics in psychology.
PSYC 300 Marriage and Family 3 Credits (3,0)
Analysis of the American family, including childbearing, divorce, mate selection, marital interaction, and contemporary family issues.
PSYC 302 Victimology 3 Credits (3,0)
Characteristics, behavior, and circumstances of crime victims. Legal issues, public policy, psychological interventions, and societal attitudes. Focus on vulnerable populations, including individuals with mental illness, PTSD, or neurodevelopmental conditions.
PSYC 306 Psychology of Deception Detection 3 Credits (3,0)
Covers psychology of deception detection and strategic analysis. Topics include verbal and nonverbal indices, neurophysiological phenomena, challenges in detection, and analysis of commercial detection products.
PSYC 310 Sensation and Perception 3 Credits (3,0)
How organisms sense and perceive the environment. Covers sensory stimuli, sensory system anatomy, and perceptual theories. Laboratory includes investigations and demonstrations of sensory phenomena in vision, audition, taste, smell, skin senses, and balance.
PSYC 311 Sensation, Perception, and Cognition 3 Credits (3,0)
Study of how organisms sense, perceive, and think. Covers sensory system anatomy, perception theories, and human information processing. Topics include vision, audition, taste, smell, short- and long-term memory, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making.
PSYC 312 Research Analysis in Psychology 4 Credits (3,1)
Introduction to data analysis and statistics for the social sciences. Covers parametric procedures including t-tests, ANOVA, and correlation. Emphasis on selecting appropriate techniques, conducting statistical computations, and interpreting results using statistical software.
PSYC 312L Research Analysis in Psychology Laboratory 0 Credits (0,0)
Lab-based analysis of research data in psychology. Focus on practical application of statistical techniques and interpretation of results.
PSYC 313 Psychological Profiling: Theory and Critique 3 Credits (3,0)
Examination of psychological profiling through the lens of personality theory and behavioral science. Focus on the application and critique of profiling techniques in forensic contexts. Exploration of the limitations, ethical considerations, and lack of validity evidence in profiling practices. Emphasis on understanding the psychological mechanisms behind deviant behavior and the complexities of predicting criminal behavior through personality analysis.
PSYC 315 Cognitive Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Study of human information processing and memory, with emphasis on cognitive processes that influence decision making, problem solving, and innovative thinking. Topics include pattern recognition, attention, psycholinguistics, concept formation, and cognitive biases. Applications span professional settings such as human factors design, organizational decision-making, and systems optimization, exploring how cognitive principles can enhance performance and outcomes in real-world contexts.
PSYC 320 Aviation Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Examines psychological applications in aviation. Draws from physiology, learning theory, aviation safety, and pilot training. Explores aviator adaptation to the flight environment.
PSYC 321 Psychology of Gaming 3 Credits (3,0)
Application of psychology to gaming. Covers theories from cognitive, social, and motivational psychology. Focus on understanding human interaction with games and how gaming has evolved.
PSYC 323 Research Design 3 Credits (3,0)
Research design course with lab experience in data collection, analysis, and research findings description. Coverage of surveys, scaling techniques, field studies, case studies, and experimentation. Emphasis on designing experiments, controlling variables, eliminating confounds. Topics include sampling techniques, validity, reliability, error variance, sampling error, and ethical concerns. Culminates in design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of an experiment.
PSYC 323L Research Methods Laboratory 1 Credit (0,1)
Statistical analysis using SPSS software. Covers data cleaning, analysis techniques, interpretation of outcomes, and presenting results in APA format. Focus on answering research questions using real-world data sets.
PSYC 326 Group and Team Behavior 3 Credits (3,0)
Covers group and team behavior, communication skills, and group dynamics. Topics include participative management, decision making, groupthink, problem solving, and organizational change. Emphasis on applying systems theory to effective group functioning.
PSYC 330 Learning and Motivation 3 Credits (3,0)
Examines main theories of learning and motivation. Focus on how behaviors and patterns of thinking are acquired and why behaviors are initiated after learning.
PSYC 335 Physiological Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Neural and biochemical bases of behavior; sensory processing, motivation, emotion, learning, memory. Experimental analysis and clinical implications. Anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. Development, evolution, and function of behavior.
PSYC 336 Forensic Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Examines the intersection of psychology and the legal systems; key concepts in forensic psychology; theories of criminal behavior; psychological assessment in forensic contexts; reliability of psychological evidence; ethical challenges in forensic practice; application of psychological principles to real-world scenarios; implications for justice and rehabilitation.
PSYC 337 Criminality 3 Credits (3,0)
Examines theoretical frameworks for evaluating criminal and civil transgressions; predicting norm-violating behaviors; proposing solutions to criminal and civil issues; biopsychosocial factors in behavior measurement; criminological research strategies; socio-economic and cultural influences on crime; assessing criminal justice policies; qualitative and quantitative research skills; ethical considerations, racial profiling, systemic bias; contemporary issues like cybercrime, drug policy, juvenile delinquency.
PSYC 340 Industrial-Organizational Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Survey of organizational and personnel psychology applied to business, industry, and government. Focus on motivation, job stress, and job satisfaction.
PSYC 345 Training and Development 3 Credits (3,0)
Covers principles and techniques of training development. Focus on group dynamics, cohesion, power, conflict, leadership, and performance in small group tasks.
PSYC 350 Social Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Introduces interactional forces between groups and the individual in society, group influence, the self in a social world, prejudice-disliking others, social beliefs and judgments, attraction and intimacy, genes, culture and gender, altruism-helping others, conformity, and persuasion.
PSYC 352 Personality: A Systems Approach 3 Credits (3,0)
Examines personality from a systems perspective, focusing on how personality systems are organized and develop. Emphasis on application to human performance in social and workplace contexts.
PSYC 354 Developmental Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Covers human development across the lifespan, from prenatal to old age. Emphasizes life challenges at each developmental stage and how they influence behavior and worldviews.
PSYC 355 The Psychology of Creativity and Innovation 3 Credits (3,0)
Examines creative processes in arts and sciences. Focus on how psychologists define and measure creativity, problem-solving processes, and how the social environment influences creative personality development.
PSYC 356 Sport Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Survey of theories in sport psychology. Covers personality, performance, motivation, stress, coping, aggression, leadership, and team performance. Emphasis on applying psychology principles to sport settings.
PSYC 358 Positive Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
The scientific study of characteristics that allow human beings to flourish. An empirical approach to processes that enhance well-being. Selected topics may include mindfulness, gratitude, happiness, flow, resilience, optimism, and positive development.
PSYC 360 Cultural Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Examines cultural influences on behavior and identity formation. Topics include stereotyping, prejudice, stigma, intergroup contact, and multiculturalism. Focus on applying cultural psychology principles to everyday life and human interaction.
PSYC 365 Abnormal Psychology 3 Credits (3,0)
Survey of biological, cognitive-behavioral, and social-family perspectives on psychological disorders. Emphasizes the research process and family issues. Focus on understanding normal and abnormal behavior.
PSYC 370 Occupational Health and Performance 3 Credits (3,0)
Covers theories of job performance, workplace stress, and effective interventions. Focus on factors influencing job performance and strategies to reduce stress and improve workplace outcomes.
PSYC 399 Special Topics in Psychology 1-6 Credit (1-6,0)
Individual, independent, or directed studies of selected topics in psychology.
PSYC 400 Introduction to Cognitive Science 3 Credits (3,0)
Interdisciplinary study of cognitive science, covering linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and artificial intelligence. Focus on similarities and differences in cognitive mechanisms across disciplines. Topics include computational architectures, the mind-brain relationship, and AI potential.
PSYC 401 Psychology of Leadership 3 Credits (3,0)
Study of leadership in organizational contexts. Focus on the interaction between leaders, followers, and situational factors. Emphasizes application of leadership theories to influence motivation, group processes, and organizational systems.
PSYC 410 Personnel Selection and Assessment 3 Credits (3,0)
Introduction to concepts and principles of personnel psychology. Focus on theory, research, and practice of selection and assessment procedures. Emphasizes critical evaluation of selection techniques.
PSYC 411 Multivariate Data Analysis 3 Credits (3,0)
Applied course in multivariate statistics, focusing on leveraging existing databases to analyze various forms of data, such as organizational or crime data. Covers qualitative and quantitative research designs, temporal and spatial analysis, data visualization for expert and non-expert audiences, crime mapping, multiple regression, factor analysis, MANOVA, discriminant analysis, content analysis, and narrative analysis.
PSYC 412 Drugs, Society, and Crime 3 Credits (3,0)
Examines physiological mechanisms of therapeutic and illicit drugs. Covers principles of psychopharmacology, major neurotransmitter systems, drug-related crime, and societal implications of drug use. Focus on legal and policy issues related to drugs.
PSYC 440 The Psychology of Resilience 3 Credits (3,0)
Explores resilience through psychological theories and practical applications. Covers historical, neurobiological, and social-environmental factors, as well as individual processes and organizational strategies. Focus on Cognitive Behavioral Theory, Positive Psychology, and Ecological Systems Theory.
PSYC 445 Tests and Measurements Theory 3 Credits (3,0)
Covers psychometric principles such as validity, reliability, test construction, and item analysis. Focus on test selection strategies and evaluation of intelligence, personality, mental health, aptitude, achievement, and performance tests.
PSYC 490 Psychology Capstone 3 Credits (3,0)
Supervised practicum experience via internships, co-ops, or research projects.
PSYC 491 Cold Case Capstone 4 Credits (4,0)
Application of discipline-specific knowledge to unresolved criminal cases; review of physical and digital evidence; analysis using forensic, legal, and investigative techniques; collaboration with law enforcement; development of written and oral reports for case presentations; emphasis on confidentiality and chain of custody protocols.
PSYC 499 Special Topics in Psychology 1-6 Credit (1-6,0)
Individual, independent, or directed studies of selected topics in psychology.