Psychological Sciences (MS)
The Department of Psychological Sciences offers two pathways to a Master of Science (M.S.) in Psychological Sciences: an accelerated M.S. available to UConn undergraduates with research experience (e.g., PSYC 3889, PSYC 3899), and an M.S. available to students enrolled in the Psychological Sciences Ph.D.
The following concentrations are available via both pathways:
- Developmental Psychology
- Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- Language and Cognition
- Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
The following concentrations are only available to students in the accelerated M.S. program:
- Ecological Psychology
- Integrated Psychology
The Department also offers a concentration in Clinical Psychology, which is open only to M.S. students enrolled in the Psychological Sciences Ph.D. For information about the Clinical Psychology concentration, including program requirements, please refer to the Psychological Sciences Ph.D. page of the catalog.
See the "Related Programs" section for more information about the accelerated M.S. program.
Location
- Storrs Campus
Modality
- In Person
Requirements
Ph.D. and M.S. students are expected to complete a Plan A (Thesis). M.S. Students who are not continuing with the Ph.D. program or completing an accelerated M.S. may complete a Plan B (Non-Thesis).
Credits used for an M.S. in any concentration cannot be used to meet the program requirements for a Ph.D. Plan of Study.
M.S. Quantitative Methods Requirements
M.S. students are required to take three credits of quantitative methods and earn a grade of "B-" to meet the departmental quantitative methods requirement. Typically M.S. students fulfill this requirement by taking PSYC 5104 Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences I which is offered each fall semester.
M.S. students may take an alternative quantitative or computational course with explicit approval of their major advisor, the Director of the Quantitative Research Methods (QRM) Certificate Program and the Associate Head for Graduate Studies.
M.S. students may also take PSYC 5105 Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences II (3 credits) to fulfill the six credit quantitative methods requirement for a Ph.D. in Psychological Sciences. PSYC 5105 Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences II may be taken during either the M.S. or Ph.D. portion of the program.
Research and Final Exam Requirements
Plan A (Thesis)
This plan emphasizes research activities and requires a minimum of 30 course credits that must include nine credits GRAD 5950 Master's Thesis Research or GRAD 5960 Full-Time Master's Research and a minimum of 21 content credits.
Students must complete a research-based thesis, following the rules specified by the Graduate School. Students are required to pass a final oral examination based on the candidate’s thesis (M.S. defense) not more than one year after completion of any M.S. coursework.
Plan B (Non-Thesis)
This plan emphasizes a comprehensive understanding of a more general character than the Plan A (thesis) and requires a minimum of 30 content credits including at least three credits of PSYC 5800.
Students are required to pass a final examination to test the adequacy of the student's mastery of content within an area of concentration not more than one year after the completion of any M.S. coursework.
Concentration Requirements
In addition to the departmental requirements, each concentration has its own course requirements as detailed below.
Developmental Psychology Concentration
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| PSYC 5104 | Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences I (or approved alternate) | 3 |
| PSYC 5170 | Current Topics in Psychology (First-Year Seminar (2 semesters)) | 2 |
| PSYC 5400 | Research Seminar in Developmental Psychology (2 semesters) | 2 |
| PSYC 5499 | Research Team in Developmental Psychology (2 semesters) | 2 |
| Additional Content Courses | ||
| Students must complete four courses from the following list: 1 | 12 | |
| Cognitive Development | ||
| Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience | ||
| Development of Language and Related Processes | ||
| Infancy and the Effects of Early Experience | ||
| Social and Personality Development | ||
| Current Topics in Developmental Psychology | ||
| Total Credits | 21 | |
- 1
Any 5000- or 6000-level graduate course approved by the Developmental Program Head may also be used toward the Additional Content requirement.
Ecological Psychology Concentration
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| PSYC 5104 | Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences I (or approved alternate) | 3 |
| PSYC 5170 | Current Topics in Psychology (First-Year Seminar (2 semesters)) | 2 |
| Additional Content Courses | ||
| Students must complete five of the following courses: 1 | 15 | |
| Introduction to Nonlinear Dynamics | ||
| Advanced Nonlinear Dynamics for the Behavioral Sciences | ||
| Sensation and Perception I | ||
| Control and Coordination of Action | ||
| Applied Multivariate Analysis | ||
| Applied Time Series | ||
| Total Credits | 20 | |
- 1
Any 5000- or 6000-level graduate course approved by the Ecological Program Faculty may also be used toward the Additional Content requirement.
Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology Concentration
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| PSYC 5104 | Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences I (or approved alternate) | 3 |
| PSYC 5170 | Current Topics in Psychology (First-Year Seminar (2 semesters)) | 2 |
| PSYC 5600 | Research and Practice of Industrial/Organizational Psychology (2 semesters) | 2 |
| PSYC 5699 | Research Team in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (2 semesters) | 2 |
| PSYC 5123 | Occupational Health Psychology | 3 |
| PSYC 5613 | Organizational Psychology | 3 |
| PSYC 5614 | Personnel Psychology | 3 |
| PSYC 5615 | Human Factors | 3 |
| Additional Content Courses | ||
| Students must complete at least one of the following courses 1 | 3 | |
| Work Motivation | ||
| Occupational Health and Safety | ||
| Current Topics in Industrial/Organizational Psychology | ||
| Experimental Social Psychology | ||
| Total Credits | 24 | |
- 1
Any 5000- or 6000-level graduate course approved by the Industrial/Organizational Program Head may also be used toward the Additional Content requirement.
Integrated Psychology Concentration
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| PSYC 5104 | Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences I (or approved alternate) | 3 |
| PSYC 5110 | First Year Proseminar (2 semesters) | 2 |
| Additional Content Courses | ||
| Students must complete at least four 5000- or 6000-level graduate courses approved by the major advisor and advisory committee that includes at least two different graduate program offerings in either Neuroscience, Clinical, Developmental, Ecological, Industrial/Organizational, Language and Cognition or Social, including but not limited to the following list: | 12 | |
| Statistical Analysis of Neural Data | ||
| Health Psychology | ||
| Meta Analysis: Theory and Practice | ||
| Neurodevelopment and Plasticity | ||
| Current Topics in Psychology | ||
| Neuropsychopharmacology | ||
| Neural Foundations of Learning and Memory | ||
| Current Topics in Behavioral Neuroscience | ||
| Neurobiology of Aging: Changes in Cognitive Processes | ||
| Research Design and Test Construction | ||
| Cognitive Development | ||
| Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Across the Lifespan | ||
| Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience | ||
| Development of Language and Related Processes | ||
| Language Modality, Neural Plasticity, and Development | ||
| Neurobiology of Language: Typical and Atypical Cognition and Language Development | ||
| Infancy and the Effects of Early Experience | ||
| Current Topics in Developmental Psychology | ||
| Memory | ||
| Event Cognition | ||
| Human Neuroimaging | ||
| Introduction to Programming Complex Systems | ||
| Introduction to Nonlinear Dynamics | ||
| Advanced Nonlinear Dynamics for the Behavioral Sciences | ||
| Dynamics of Language and Cognition | ||
| Computational Approaches to Language and Mind | ||
| Cognition | ||
| Psychology of Language | ||
| Current Topics in Cognitive Science | ||
| Sensation and Perception I | ||
| Control and Coordination of Action | ||
| Sentence and Discourse Processing | ||
| Work Motivation | ||
| Organizational Psychology | ||
| Personnel Psychology | ||
| Human Factors | ||
| Current Topics in Industrial/Organizational Psychology | ||
| Experimental Social Psychology | ||
| Advanced Social Psychology | ||
| Current Topics in Social Psychology | ||
| Attitude Organization and Change | ||
| Social Cognition | ||
| The Social Psychology of Stigma | ||
| Tools to Analyze Language | ||
| Total Credits | 17 | |
Language and Cognition Concentration
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| PSYC 5104 | Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences I (or approved alternate) | 3 |
| PSYC 5170 | Current Topics in Psychology (First-Year Seminar (2 semesters)) | 2 |
| Additional Content Courses | ||
| Students must complete four of the following courses: 1 | 12-13 | |
| Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Across the Lifespan | ||
| Neurobiology of Language: Typical and Atypical Cognition and Language Development | ||
| Memory | ||
| Event Cognition | ||
| Human Neuroimaging | ||
| Introduction to Programming Complex Systems | ||
| Dynamics of Language and Cognition | ||
| Cognition | ||
| Psychology of Language | ||
| Current Topics in Cognitive Science (may be repeated with a change in topic) | ||
| Sentence and Discourse Processing | ||
| Total Credits | 17-18 | |
- 1
Any 5000- or 6000-level graduate course approved by the Language and Cognition Program Faculty may also be used toward the Additional Content requirement.
Neuroscience Concentration
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| PSYC 5104 | Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences I (or approved alternate) | 3 |
| PSYC 5170 | Current Topics in Psychology (First-Year Seminar (2 semesters)) | 2 |
| PSYC 5200 | Behavioral Neuroscience Research Seminar (2 semesters) | 4 |
| Additional Content Courses | ||
| Students must complete at least three of the following courses: 1 | 9 | |
| Statistical Analysis of Neural Data | ||
| Foundations in Neuropsychology | ||
| Neurodevelopment and Plasticity | ||
| Neuropsychopharmacology | ||
| Current Topics in Behavioral Neuroscience (may be repeated with a change in topic) | ||
| Neurobiology of Aging: Changes in Cognitive Processes | ||
| Total Credits | 18 | |
- 1
Any 5000- or 6000-level graduate course approved by the Behavioral Neuroscience Program Head may also be used toward the Additional Content requirement.
Social Psychology Concentration
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| PSYC 5104 | Foundations of Research in the Psychological Sciences I (or approved alternate) | 3 |
| PSYC 5170 | Current Topics in Psychology (First-Year Seminar (2 semesters)) | 2 |
| PSYC 5701 | Experimental Social Psychology | 3 |
| PSYC 5703 | Advanced Social Psychology | 3 |
| Additional Content Courses | ||
| Students must complete at least two of the following courses: 1 | 6 | |
| Current Topics in Social Psychology (may be repeated with a change in topic) | ||
| Attitude Organization and Change | ||
| The Social Psychology of Stigma | ||
| Tools to Analyze Language | ||
| Total Credits | 17 | |
- 1
Any 5000- or 6000-level graduate course approved by the Social Psychology Program Head may also be used toward the Additional Content requirement.
Learning Objectives
- Knowledge: Demonstrate appropriate breadth and depth of disciplinary knowledge and comprehension of the major topics, theories, and issues of the discipline
- Research/Applied skills: Uses, disaggregates, reformulates and/or adapts principal ideas, techniques or methods of the field of study, as appropriate.
- Communication: Communicate proficiently and effectively to a specialist and non- specialist audience, verbally and in writing, a coherent argument or explanation summarizing aspects of the discipline
- Ethics/Professional behavior: Conduct themselves in accordance with the highest ethical and responsible standards, values, and, where these are defined, the best practices of the discipline
Accelerated Psychological Sciences MS
An accelerated M.S. is available to UConn undergraduates with research experience (e.g., PSYC 3889, PSYC 3899) with concentration in:
- Developmental Psychology
- Ecological Psychology
- Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- Integrated Psychology
- Language and Cognition
- Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
Interested applicants should discuss this program with faculty mentors prior to application.
Students in the accelerated M.S. program may use up to twelve credits of graduate level courses toward both the undergraduate and M.S. plans of study.
Students in the Accelerated M.S. program can choose to complete a Plan A (Thesis) Master’s or a Plan B Master’s. This decision is up to the discretion of the major advisor.