Psychology Program Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Psychology curriculum, undergraduate students are expected to be able to: 

1. Describe overarching key concepts, principles, and themes in psychology, with an emphasis on a bio-psycho-social-cultural model of behavior 

2. Demonstrate a working knowledge of psychology’s content domains and methods 

3. Interpret, design, and conduct basic psychological research 

4. Demonstrate psychology information literacy by integrating data from a variety of sources 

5. Demonstrate clear and effective writing and presentation skills 

6. Apply ethical standards to evaluate psychological science and practices 

7. Utilize psychological principles and scientific inquiry to understand historical and contemporary social problems and social justice issues.

Major Requirements

LMU students who wish to switch into the major (from undeclared status or other majors at LMU) must have completed PSYC 1000 General Psychology  (with a minimum grade of C) and must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0. Students are strongly encouraged to declare a psychology major by the end of the first semester of sophomore year. Declaring a major after this time may delay the completion of their degree requirements beyond the typical four-year period.

External transfer students to LMU who have not received transfer credit approval for PSYC 2001 Statistical Methods for Psychology  or PSYC 2002 Research Methods  may be delayed in the completion of their degree requirements beyond the typical two-year period.

A minimum grade of C (2.0) is required in all courses for the major. Students must repeat any course in which a grade below C (2.0) is earned.

Students may not register for any Psychology course for a third time without the written permission of the Department Chairperson and the Dean of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts.

Psychology Model Four-Year Plan

The normal course load is 16 semester hours (typically 4 classes). By following a model similar to the one below, a student will complete all lower division core requirements by the end of the sophomore year as well as lower division major requirements/prerequisites. Note that core areas are suggested to provide a distribution of various disciplines every semester. Please be flexible implementing these suggestions, given your own interests and course availability. While there are many paths to completion in four years, this sample model is one approach. This plan meets all common graduation requirements.

Honors in Psychology

Psychology majors who 1) meet a minimum Psychology and University GPA and 2) who have the consent of a Department faculty member who will oversee their Honors project may apply to do Honors in the last two semesters at LMU. Applications are due in the semester before Honors work will begin (generally, the Spring semester of Junior year). To receive Honors, accepted students must, over the course of at least two semesters: 1) complete a significant research project; 2) complete an APA-style manuscript detailing the project; and 3) complete a conference presentation detailing the project prior to graduation (e.g., by participating in LMU’s Undergraduate Research Symposium). Accepted students should enroll in PSYC 4196  for 0 semester hours in the Fall of their Senior year and 4 semester hours in the Spring of their Senior year. The 4 semester hours from PSYC 4196  count toward the 24 semester hours of upper division course work required of majors, but do not fulfill the capstone course requirement.