Experimental Psychology, PhD

Cognition, Brain, & Behavior

Contact:

Amy Criss, Ph.D.
477 Huntington Hall
acriss@syr.edu
(315)443-3667

The overall aim of this program is to prepare students for careers in research and teaching. Students gain knowledge and research skills in the fields of experimental psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive science, and cognitive neuroscience. Areas of research specialization and training include learning and memory, judgment and decision making, knowledge development, categorization, cognitive control, and developmental biopsychology. A distinctive feature of the program is the emphasis on training computational skills, state-of-the-art research methods, and rigorous analytic techniques. Students graduate from the Cognition, Brain, and Behavior program with a degree in Experimental Psychology.

Program Requirements

The curriculum is designed to provide students with the essential coursework and laboratory research experience necessary for an academic or research career. Coursework is offered in three areas: (1) research methods and statistics; (2) cognitive and neural bases of behavior (3) applications of research principles. The program of study for the Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology requires a minimum of 90 graduate credit hours, distributed as follows:

Electives (9 credits):

Three elective courses are required outside of the Cognition, Brain, & Behavior program. You are encouraged to select elective course offerings that broaden your knowledge or ones that deepen or strengthen your methodological and statistical skills.

Independent research, other courses (27 credits):

Students are encouraged to work closely with one or more faculty members in a research program, and to develop a program of research.

Master’s Thesis (6 credits)

Dissertation (18 credits)

Satisfactory progress in the program

In addition to the coursework listed above, students are required to complete the following research requirements. Students are required to complete a first year project, propose and defend their Master’s during the second year, pass a qualifying exam during the 3rd year, and propose their doctoral dissertation in the 4th year. Students are expected to defend the dissertation by the end of their 5th year.

Thesis and dissertation research is supervised by a committee consisting of three faculty members.

Admissions and Financial Support

Admission is competitive and depends on the quality of the applicant’s record and match with available faculty advisors. Financial support is available, usually in the form of teaching assistantships, to well-qualified candidates who remaining in good standing in the program.

Experimental Psychology, PhD

Contact:

Program Requirements

Methods Core (15 Credits):

Statistics Core (6 credits):