Psychology

Major and Minor

Understanding the principles of the mind, the brain and behavior: these are the fascinating processes you'll immerse yourself in as a psychology student at Knox.

With leadership from faculty who are scholars in their fields, access to top-notch facilities for conducting research, and opportunities to conduct internships locally or internationally, you'll gain an understanding of psychology with a breadth and depth that will prepare you readily for graduate study and careers in psychiatry, counseling, business, education and many other fields.

From your earliest courses through your senior year, you'll have hands-on opportunities to apply the ideas and theories you're learning about in class, and you'll develop skills for conducting sophisticated research and for helping others.

The Psychology Program
You'll begin with an introductory course that covers the breadth of the field. In later courses, you'll explore more deeply the various topics psychologists study, such as human memory, psychopharmacology, personality, counseling, industrial/organizational psychology, dreaming, child development, human sexuality, social psychology, and many others.

All psychology students also take a two-term sequence on research methodology and statistics, which will help you learn the means of research before conducting your own senior project or Honors project.

Throughout the curriculum, you'll have frequent opportunities to work as a research assistant on professors' projects, to pursue applied interests through internships, to develop skills in our unique Clinical Term program, or to conduct your own studies on topics of interest.

Psychology Resources
As a psychology student at Knox, you'll have access to a number of physical resources, such as the new lab space that allows for sophisticated research on biofeedback and for the measurement of brain activity and of physiological and sexual arousal. You'll have access to laboratories devoted to research with rats, as well as a variety of learning paradigms such as mazes and Skinner boxes. You'll also be able to use neuroscience research equipment, such as stereotaxic devices and an HPLC for analyzing the chemical content of the brain or blood. Several labs provide special mirrors for one-way observation. Computer facilities for the study of human cognitive processes are also plentiful.

At right, a student monitors EEG and other physiological functions in a psychology lab equipped with BIOPAC data acquisition equipment provided by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Minor in Psychology
The minor in psychology is a great option for students who want to take the theories and methodologies of psychology and integrate them with other fields. A psychological perspective can be very useful for students pursuing law, medicine, business, or a variety of other professions. Understanding the mind and behavior and the principles of sound scientific research are assets to many different vocations and avocations.