Psychology Program

Prospectus

The Field

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. As a field, psychology aims to advance our
understanding of why and how people act and think the way they do. Psychologists are trained in three major
areas – 1) the understanding of theories that govern human phenomena; 2) the design, assessment, and
interpretation of scientific research, including quantitative and qualitative studies, and 3) the application of
psychological expertise on human behavior and thinking in clinical, educational, industrial, community, and other
professional settings.

Why UOG?
The Psychology Program at UOG provides students with the rigor and care necessary for understanding the complexities of human beings. Students are provided with strong training in the core areas of the field –
developmental, cognitive, social, personality, abnormal, and clinical psychology. At the same time, the
program enriches these theoretical foundations with opportunities for both scientific research and hands-on
practice. The diverse faculty and student body provides a scientific lens that is unique to Guam and the
Micronesian region, while also international in scope. This ensures that our graduates are competitive in local, regional, and international landscapes.

Career Possibilities

Psychology graduates pursue careers in mental health and social services, child and family services, substance abuse counseling, residential care, rehabilitation, case management, and more. Many psychology majors also continue on to graduate study.

Program Learning Outcomes

Each Program Learning Outcome is matched with Institutional Learning Outcomes it supports.

Upon completion of a major in psychology, students will demonstrate the ability to:

Develop a working knowledge of psychology's major subfields using key concepts, principles, and theories
in psychological science.
- Mastery of critical thinking and problem solving
- An appreciation of the arts and sciences
Design psychological research that incorporates sociocultural factors in scientific research practices.
- Mastery of critical thinking and problem solving
- Understanding and appreciation of culturally diverse people, ideas, and values in a democratic context
- An appreciation of the arts and sciences
- Mastery of quantitative analysis
Employ ethical standards in research and practice with interpersonal and intercultural responsiveness.
- Understanding and appreciation of culturally diverse people, ideas, and values in a democratic context
- Responsible use of knowledge, natural resources, and technology
- Effective oral and written communication
Demonstrate competence in communication, information, and technological literacy.
- Responsible use of knowledge, natural resources, and technology
- Mastery of quantitative analysis
- Effective oral and written communication
Exhibit effective personal and professional development skills.
- An appreciation of the arts and sciences
- An interest in personal development and lifelong learning

Student Advisement

Psychology Major Requirements (53-54 credit hours)

Students must receive a grade of “C” or better in any course to be credited toward completion of the Psychology major. This requirement applies only to the 42 credits counted specifically toward completion of Psychology major requirements. It does not apply to General Education courses or to generic electives.

AP Psychology Exam: A score of 3, 4, or 5 on the AP Psychology Exam will earn credit for PY-101 General Psychology (3 credits)

Required Courses (38-39 credit hours)

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
PY101	GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course provides an introduction to the basic principles of psychology, to methods for research in psychology, and to key finding from its subfields. Topics include the biological bases of behavior sensation and perception, consciousness and altered states, learning, human memory, problem-solving, motivation and emotion, development across the life span, personality, stress and coping, psychological disorders, psychotherapy, and social behavior.	3 credit hours	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS
PY210	INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY + This is an introduction to experimental design, methods, and statistics used in psychological research. Prerequisite: PY101. Corequisite: PY210L.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY210L	INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY LABORATORY + This is the laboratory component of PY210. They MUST be taken concurrently. The lab meets for three hours each week. Students learn APA writing style, conduct experiments, analyze data, write reports, and present results. Prerequisite: PY101. Corequisite: PY210.	1 credit hour	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY370	INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course offers an examination of the methods and profession of clinical psychology, including history, theories, types of psychological problems, methods of assessment, forms of intervention, current development. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY413	RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES + This course is an in-depth study of the scientific research process, and an application of its principles and techniques to proposing, designing, conducting and analyzing original research. Students demonstrate mastery of APA style and deliver research results orally and in written format. Prerequisite: PY101, PY210, and MA385 or MA-387 MA-387L. Corequisite: PY413L.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY413L	RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES LAB + This course is the laboratory component of PY413. This lab must be taken concurrently. Students are expected to complete a list of project-specific reading, design an independent study, participate in data collection, analyze the data, and report the results in writing and orally. Prerequisite: PY-101, PY-210,MA-385 or MA-387 MA-387L. Co-requisite: PY413/G.	1 credit hour	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY404	COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY + This course offers an examination of the major capacities and functions involved in human learning. Major topics discussed include historical background, verbal learning, language and thought, serial position learning, concept formation and forgetting. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/EVEN YEARS
PY420	ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course covers the study of historical changes in theories and methods of treatment; theory of personality development; dynamics of adjustment; the symptoms, dynamics, therapy, and prognosis of various abnormal reaction patterns, both functional and organic; and modern theories and methods of diagnosis, therapy, and prevention. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS
PY426	PERSONALITY THEORY + This course provides an intensive and comparative overview of the theories of personality from Freudian, Neo-Freudian, Trait, Cognitive, Socio-behavioral, Existential and Humanistic perspectives. Major theorists' concepts and principles, assessment and techniques are examined within a cross cultural and ethnically diverse context. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY440	SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course applies the scientific method to analysis of the behavior of individual people in social situations. Topics include aggression, attitude formation and persuasion, conflict resolution, conformity, gender roles, group decision making, interpersonal attraction, positive social behaviors, prejudice, social factors in the self-concept, social information processing, and applications of social psychology to social problems. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY492A	PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICUM + This practicum course in clinical psychology places students in a mental health or social service facility under the supervision of an approved practicum supervisor. Students are required to attend a weekly seminar on professional issues and ethics and minimally spend one day a week in a placement setting. This course is restricted to psychology majors. PY492a and/or PY492b may be repeated for elective credit. Prerequisites: PY101, PY370, PY420 or consent of instructor.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY492B	PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICUM + This practicum course in clinical psychology places students in a mental health or social service facility under the supervision of an approved practicum supervisor. Students are required to attend a weekly seminar on professional issues and ethics and minimally spend one day a week in a placement setting. This course is restricted to psychology majors. PY492a and/or PY492b may be repeated for elective credit. Prerequisites: PY101, PY370, PY420 or consent of instructor.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS

Choice of:

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
PY201	CHILD DEVELOPMENT + This course provides a scientific and up-to-date picture of child development in physical, cognitive, emotional and social areas from the prenatal period up to adolescence. The course examines the way children actually live, the current social conditions that influence their lives, and the practical applications of child development research and its relevance to the lives of children and their families in the Western Pacific region. Course material enables students to appreciate the developmental capabilities and needs of children at different ages and the role of culture in early child development. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY202	ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY + This course offers an overview of physical, cognitive, social and emotional development during adolescence. It introduces theory and research on contemporary social problems affecting adolescents and engages students in active research to explore these issues locally, regionally and nationally. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS

Choice of:

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
MA385	APPLIED STATISTICS + This course covers: statistical inference, sampling theory, hypothesis testing, correlation, and non-parametric statistics as applied to the social, life and physical sciences and to business. Prerequisite: Grade of C or better in MA151 or equivalent course.	3 credit hours	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS
MA387	STATISTICS FOR SCIENCES + The topics include exploring data in graphs and in numerical values, introducing basic probability theory for statistics, sampling distributions, estimation theory, testing hypothesis, correlation, linear regression, variance analysis, and non-parametric statistics. The course consists of three hours of lecture weekly. The lab, MA387L must be taken concurrently. Prerequisite: Grade C or better in MA161A or higher. Students enrolled in MA387 Statistics for Sciences for credit may not also earn credit for MA385 Applied Statistics.	3 credit hours	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS
MA387L	STATISTICS FOR SCIENCE LABORATORY + MA387L is the laboratory part of MA387and MUST be taken concurrently. The purpose of lab is to reinforce concepts learned in lecture, with an emphasis on translating familiar statistical problems into SPSS tasks. It emphasizes the principles and criteria for selecting the appropriate statistical techniques as well as making proper conclusions. Students will get hands-on experience applying the topics covered to real datasets. Corequisite: Must take MA387 concurrently.	1 credit hour	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS
PY310	STATISTICS FOR THE SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES + This course aims to provide students with the statistical skills necessary to analyze and interpret datasets in the social and behavioral sciences. The students learn the conceptual underpinnings of different statistical techniques typically used in social and behavioral research. They are also given the space to develop practical skills in using statistical software and apply their understanding in navigating datasets from real life social and behavioral studies. The course emphasizes the use of statistics in the decision-making process involved in the application of statistical tools, including clear grasp of assumptions, picking the proper technique given the nature of the dataset, interpretation of results, and scientific formulation of conclusions. Co-requisite: PY-310L Prerequisites: MA-151.	3 credit hours	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS
PY310L	STATISTICS FOR THE SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES LABORATORY + This course aims to provide students with the skills necessary to apply statistical knowledge to real-world social and behavioral research scenarios. The students learn the basic principles involved in conceptualizing and executing quantitative designs used in social and behavioral research - particularly survey construction, psychometrics, and other variable-based models. The course also gives students the necessary skills to better navigate the research process by giving them space to conduct their own data gathering. Lastly, the course lets the students employ the statistical tools they learned in analyzing their own datasets. Co-requisite: PY-310 Prerequisites: MA-151	1 credit hour	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS

Elective Courses (15 credit hours)

At least 15 hours of any Psychology course. Six hours of these must be 400-level Psychology (PY) courses.

General Education (Recommended Courses)

See the Student Advisement Sheet of General Education Requirements and include under:

Tier II: Direction Building (7 credit hours)

1) CF, DF, or UU as a prerequisite (can be within a declared major):

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
PY210	INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY + This is an introduction to experimental design, methods, and statistics used in psychological research. Prerequisite: PY101. Corequisite: PY210L.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY210L	INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY LABORATORY + This is the laboratory component of PY210. They MUST be taken concurrently. The lab meets for three hours each week. Students learn APA writing style, conduct experiments, analyze data, write reports, and present results. Prerequisite: PY101. Corequisite: PY210.	1 credit hour	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS

2) DF or major exploration

Any DF course in Biology (BI), Philosophy (PI), Sociology (SO), or Social Work (SW) or any of the following courses:

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
PY201	CHILD DEVELOPMENT + This course provides a scientific and up-to-date picture of child development in physical, cognitive, emotional and social areas from the prenatal period up to adolescence. The course examines the way children actually live, the current social conditions that influence their lives, and the practical applications of child development research and its relevance to the lives of children and their families in the Western Pacific region. Course material enables students to appreciate the developmental capabilities and needs of children at different ages and the role of culture in early child development. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY202	ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY + This course offers an overview of physical, cognitive, social and emotional development during adolescence. It introduces theory and research on contemporary social problems affecting adolescents and engages students in active research to explore these issues locally, regionally and nationally. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY426	PERSONALITY THEORY + This course provides an intensive and comparative overview of the theories of personality from Freudian, Neo-Freudian, Trait, Cognitive, Socio-behavioral, Existential and Humanistic perspectives. Major theorists' concepts and principles, assessment and techniques are examined within a cross cultural and ethnically diverse context. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY440	SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course applies the scientific method to analysis of the behavior of individual people in social situations. Topics include aggression, attitude formation and persuasion, conflict resolution, conformity, gender roles, group decision making, interpersonal attraction, positive social behaviors, prejudice, social factors in the self-concept, social information processing, and applications of social psychology to social problems. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS

Tier III – Capstone Experience

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
PY413	RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES + This course is an in-depth study of the scientific research process, and an application of its principles and techniques to proposing, designing, conducting and analyzing original research. Students demonstrate mastery of APA style and deliver research results orally and in written format. Prerequisite: PY101, PY210, and MA385 or MA-387 MA-387L. Corequisite: PY413L.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS

Psychology Minor Requirements (22 credit hours)

Required Courses (16 credit hours)

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
PY101	GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course provides an introduction to the basic principles of psychology, to methods for research in psychology, and to key finding from its subfields. Topics include the biological bases of behavior sensation and perception, consciousness and altered states, learning, human memory, problem-solving, motivation and emotion, development across the life span, personality, stress and coping, psychological disorders, psychotherapy, and social behavior.	3 credit hours	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS
PY210	INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY + This is an introduction to experimental design, methods, and statistics used in psychological research. Prerequisite: PY101. Corequisite: PY210L.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY210L	INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY LABORATORY + This is the laboratory component of PY210. They MUST be taken concurrently. The lab meets for three hours each week. Students learn APA writing style, conduct experiments, analyze data, write reports, and present results. Prerequisite: PY101. Corequisite: PY210.	1 credit hour	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS

Choose 2 of the following:

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
PY201	CHILD DEVELOPMENT + This course provides a scientific and up-to-date picture of child development in physical, cognitive, emotional and social areas from the prenatal period up to adolescence. The course examines the way children actually live, the current social conditions that influence their lives, and the practical applications of child development research and its relevance to the lives of children and their families in the Western Pacific region. Course material enables students to appreciate the developmental capabilities and needs of children at different ages and the role of culture in early child development. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY370	INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course offers an examination of the methods and profession of clinical psychology, including history, theories, types of psychological problems, methods of assessment, forms of intervention, current development. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY404	COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY + This course offers an examination of the major capacities and functions involved in human learning. Major topics discussed include historical background, verbal learning, language and thought, serial position learning, concept formation and forgetting. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/EVEN YEARS
PY420	ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course covers the study of historical changes in theories and methods of treatment; theory of personality development; dynamics of adjustment; the symptoms, dynamics, therapy, and prognosis of various abnormal reaction patterns, both functional and organic; and modern theories and methods of diagnosis, therapy, and prevention. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL/SPRING/ALL YEARS
PY426	PERSONALITY THEORY + This course provides an intensive and comparative overview of the theories of personality from Freudian, Neo-Freudian, Trait, Cognitive, Socio-behavioral, Existential and Humanistic perspectives. Major theorists' concepts and principles, assessment and techniques are examined within a cross cultural and ethnically diverse context. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY440	SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY + This course applies the scientific method to analysis of the behavior of individual people in social situations. Topics include aggression, attitude formation and persuasion, conflict resolution, conformity, gender roles, group decision making, interpersonal attraction, positive social behaviors, prejudice, social factors in the self-concept, social information processing, and applications of social psychology to social problems. Prerequisite: PY101.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS

Choice of:

Course	Course Title	Credits	Term Offered
PY492A	PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICUM + This practicum course in clinical psychology places students in a mental health or social service facility under the supervision of an approved practicum supervisor. Students are required to attend a weekly seminar on professional issues and ethics and minimally spend one day a week in a placement setting. This course is restricted to psychology majors. PY492a and/or PY492b may be repeated for elective credit. Prerequisites: PY101, PY370, PY420 or consent of instructor.	3 credit hours	FALL ONLY/ALL YEARS
PY492B	PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICUM + This practicum course in clinical psychology places students in a mental health or social service facility under the supervision of an approved practicum supervisor. Students are required to attend a weekly seminar on professional issues and ethics and minimally spend one day a week in a placement setting. This course is restricted to psychology majors. PY492a and/or PY492b may be repeated for elective credit. Prerequisites: PY101, PY370, PY420 or consent of instructor.	3 credit hours	SPRING ONLY/ALL YEARS