Faculty
Jennifer Ablow, associate professor (developmental psychopathology, attachment, interpersonal emotional arousal and regulation). BA, 1988, Colorado, Boulder; PhD, 1997, California, Berkeley. (1999)
Nicholas Allen, Ann Swindells Professor of Clinical Psychology (adolescent development and mental health, mood disorders, developmental social and affective neuroscience). BS 1985, MS, 1988, PhD, 1993, Melbourne. (2013)
Holly Arrow, professor (group dynamics, psychology of war). BA, 1977, Elmira; MFA, 1982, Colorado; MA, 1995, PhD, 1996, Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. (1996)
Edward Awh, professor (working memory, selective attention, functional neuroimaging). BA, 1989, Northwestern; PhD, 1996, Michigan. (1998)
Dare A. Baldwin, professor (language acquisition, semantic development, cognitive development). BA, 1982, California, Berkeley; MSc, 1984, California, Santa Cruz; PhD, 1989, Stanford. (1993)
Elliot Berkman, assistant professor (affective neuroscience, self-regulation, quantitative methods for neuroimaging). BA, 2002, Stanford; PhD, 2009, California, Los Angeles. (2010)
Paul Dassonville, associate professor (cognitive neuroscience, perception, sensorimotor integration). BS, 1986, Texas A & M; PhD, 1992, California, Los Angeles. (1999)
Kimberly Andrews Espy, professor (developmental cognitive neuroscience); vice president for research and innovation; dean, Graduate School. BA, 1985, Rice; MA, 1988, PhD, 1994, Houston. (2011)
Philip A. Fisher, professor (prevention research, stress neurobiology, foster care). BA, 1986, Bowdoin College; MS, 1990, PhD, 1993, Oregon. (2008)
Jennifer J. Freyd, professor (trauma psychology). BA, 1979, Pennsylvania; PhD, 1983, Stanford. (1987)
Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, professor (sociocultural context of psychopathology, sexual aggression). BS, 1977, Washington (Seattle); PhD, 1982, Fuller Theological Seminary. (2001)
Sara D. Hodges, professor (social cognition, construction of social judgments). BA, 1989, Rhodes; MA, 1992, PhD, 1995, Virginia. (1995)
Clifford Kentros, associate professor (systems neuroscience, spatial memory, genetics). BA, 1988, South Florida; PhD, 1996, New York University. (2003)
Heidemarie K. Laurent, courtesy research associate (biology of stress regulation, interpersonal relationships, mindfulness). BA, 2001, Scripps College; PhD, 2008, Massachusetts, Amherst. (2013)
Robert Mauro, associate professor (social, emotions, psychology and law). AB, 1979, Stanford; MS, 1981, Yale; PhD, 1984, Stanford. (1984)
Ulrich Mayr, Robert and Beverly Lewis Professor in Neuroscience (cognitive, cognitive aging, neurocognitive analysis). BA, 1988, PhD, 1992, Berlin. (2000)
Jeffrey Measelle, associate professor (developmental psychology, emotional development, family). BA, 1985 Brown; PhD, 1997, California, Berkeley. (1999)
Pranjal Mehta, assistant professor (social neuroscience, status hierarchies, social decision-making). BA, 1999, Williams College; PhD, 2007, Texas, Austin. (2011)
Louis J. Moses, professor (social and cognitive development). BA, 1983, Western Australia; PhD, 1991, Stanford. (1993)
Helen Neville, Robert and Beverly Lewis Endowed Chair in Neuroscience; professor (cognitive neuroscience). BA, 1968, British Columbia; MA, 1970, Simon Fraser; PhD, 1975, Cornell. (1995)
Jennifer Pfeifer, associate professor (developmental and social cognitive neuroscience, adolescent self-perception and emotion processing). BA, 2000, Stanford; MA, 2003, PhD, 2007, California, Los Angeles. (2008)
Gerard Saucier, professor (personality beliefs and values, psychometrics). BA, 1978, North Carolina, Chapel Hill; MA, 1984, PhD, 1991, Oregon. (1997)
Margaret E. Sereno, associate professor (visual cognition, neural network modeling, brain imaging). BA, 1983, Northern Illinois; PhD, 1989, Brown. (1991)
Azim Shariff, assistant professor (religion, morality, cultural and evolutionary psychology). BSc, 2004, Toronto; MA, 2006, PhD, 2010, British Columbia. (2010)
Paul Slovic, professor (judgment, decision-making, risk assessment). BA, 1959, Stanford; MA, 1962, PhD, 1964, Michigan. (1986)
Sanjay Srivastava, associate professor (interpersonal perception and self-perception, social functions of emotions, personality dynamics and development). BA, 1995, Northwestern; PhD, 2002, California, Berkeley. (2004)
Marjorie Taylor, professor (development of imagination and creativity). BS, 1979, MS, 1981, Acadia; PhD, 1985, Stanford. (1985)
Don M. Tucker, professor (emotion, cognition, neuropsychology). BA, 1969, Colorado; MS, 1972, PhD, 1974, Pennsylvania State. (1984)
Nash Unsworth, associate professor (working memory, memory and attention differences, memory search and retrieval). BS, 2001, Idaho State; PhD, 2006, Georgia Institute of Technology. (2010)
Edward Vogel, professor (visual memory, event-related potentials, fMRI). BA, 1994, Puget Sound; PhD, 2000, Iowa. (2001)
Michael Wehr, associate professor (systems neuroscience, auditory neurophysiology, cortical circuits). ScB, 1991, Brown; PhD, 1999, California Institute of Technology. (2005)
Emeriti
Lewis R. Goldberg, professor emeritus. AB, 1953, Harvard; MA, 1954, PhD, 1958, Michigan. (1960)
Barbara Gordon-Lickey, professor emerita. AB, 1963, Radcliffe; PhD, 1966, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (1969)
Marvin Gordon-Lickey, professor emeritus. AB, 1959, Oberlin; MA, 1962, PhD, 1965, Michigan. (1967)
Douglas L. Hintzman, professor emeritus. BA, 1963, Northwestern; PhD, 1967, Stanford. (1969)
Ray Hyman, professor emeritus. AB, 1950, Boston University; MA, 1952, PhD, 1953, Johns Hopkins. (1961)
Carolin Keutzer, associate professor emerita. BA, 1960, MA, 1963, PhD, 1967, Oregon. (1967)
Daniel P. Kimble, professor emeritus. BA, 1956, Knox; PhD, 1961, Michigan. (1963)
Peter M. Lewinsohn, professor emeritus. BS, 1951, Allegheny; MA, 1953, PhD, 1955, Johns Hopkins. (1965)
Edward Lichtenstein, professor emeritus. BA, 1956, Duke; MA, 1957, PhD, 1961, Michigan. (1966)
Richard A. Littman, professor emeritus. AB, 1943, George Washington; PhD, 1948, Ohio State. (1948)
Richard Marrocco, professor emeritus. BA, 1965, California, Los Angeles; PhD, 1972, Indiana. (1973)
Michael I. Posner, professor emeritus. BS, 1957, MS, 1959, Washington (Seattle); PhD, 1962, Michigan. (1965)
Mary K. Rothbart, professor emerita. BA, 1962, Reed; PhD, 1967, Stanford. (1969)
Myron Rothbart, professor emeritus. BA, 1962, Reed; PhD, 1966, Stanford. (1969)
Norman D. Sundberg, professor emeritus. BA, 1947, Nebraska; MA, 1949, PhD, 1952, Minnesota. (1952)
Robert L. Weiss, professor emeritus. BA, 1952, PhD, 1958, State University of New York, Buffalo. (1966)
The date in parentheses at the end of each entry is the first year on the University of Oregon faculty.
Undergraduate Studies
All students participate in and collaborate on research as part of the academic course sequence. Students are encouraged to gain additional research experience through research assistant positions in faculty labs and the undergraduate honors thesis program. The psychology major affords students great flexibility in selecting upper-division courses to fit individual goals and interests. Classroom and internship opportunities are enriched by numerous faculty research programs that range in levels of analysis and intellectual focus. An undergraduate degree in psychology provides the background for a broad range of careers, including social services, education, law, or graduate programs in psychology.
Preparation
High school preparation should include courses in social sciences as well as the natural sciences (physics, biology, chemistry). Language and mathematical skills are also highly desirable. In general, the broad liberal-arts training that prepares students for college studies is appropriate for majoring in psychology at the university.
Careers
Some students major in psychology to prepare for graduate training and careers in related fields such as personnel relations, vocational and personal counseling, medicine and dentistry, social and case work, marketing, administration, the legal profession, or counseling in the public schools. Others prepare for careers as academic psychologists (teaching and research), clinical psychologists (mental health centers, institutions, and private practice), industrial and organizational psychologists, and government psychologists (testing, research, and administration).
Career information is also available on the American Psychological Association website.
Review of Courses
Lower-Division Courses
Among lower-division courses, psychology is introduced as a social science by the following courses:
Transfer students should plan to take no more than two lower-division courses before starting upper-division work. The introductory courses should be chosen with an eye toward prerequisites for upper-division courses and toward providing a broad background in the field. Transfer equivalents for lower-division courses are evaluated case by case. Check with the department’s head advisor to determine equivalency of completed introductory work.
Upper-Division Courses
Upper-division courses fall into three categories:
- Courses that teach research skills and methodologies (Statistical Methods in Psychology (PSY 302) and Research Methods in Psychology (PSY 303)).
- Other 300-level courses are of broad interest to many different majors throughout the university as well as to psychology majors
- Area courses, numbered 410 to 480, designed for psychology majors, may be open to other students who fulfill the prerequisites by obtaining instructor approval
Group Requirements
For psychology courses approved to fulfill social science or science group requirements, see the current course list on the registrar’s website, registrar.uoregon.edu/common/group_courses.php
.
Major Requirements
Required courses must be taken for letter grades and passed with C– or better. Elective psychology courses may be taken pass/no pass. Students must take 12 elective credits, 8 of which must be actual content courses.
Bachelor of Arts Degree Requirements
| MATH 111 | College Algebra (or equivalent) 1 | 4 |
| or MATH 243 | Introduction to Methods of Probability and Statistics |
| PSY 201 | Mind and Brain | 4 |
| PSY 202 | Mind and Society | 4 |
| 8 |
| College Composition I
and College Composition II | |
| College Composition I
and College Composition III | |
| PSY 302 | Statistical Methods in Psychology | 4 |
| PSY 303 | Research Methods in Psychology | 4 |
| 8 |
| Motor Control | |
| Language and Cognition | |
| Psycholinguistics |
| Experimental Course: [Topic] (Evolutionary Psychology) | |
| Learning and Memory | |
| Cognition | |
| Human Performance | |
| Perception | |
| Brain Mechanisms of Behavior | |
| Human Neuropsychology | |
| Hormones and Behavior | |
| Cognitive Development | |
| Language Acquisition | |
| 8 |
| Psychology and Law | |
| Social Psychology | |
| Group Dynamics | |
| Decision-Making | |
| Cultural Psychology | |
| Imagination | |
| Motivation and Emotion | |
| Psychopathology | |
| Personality | |
| Psychology of Trauma | |
| Marital and Family Therapies | |
| Social Development | |
| Development and Psychopathology | |
| |
| Total Credits | 56 |
Bachelor of Science Degree Requirements
| MATH 111 | College Algebra (or equivalent) 1 | 4 |
| or MATH 243 | Introduction to Methods of Probability and Statistics |
| PSY 201 | Mind and Brain | 4 |
| PSY 202 | Mind and Society | 4 |
| 8 |
| College Composition I
and College Composition II | |
| College Composition I
and College Composition III | |
| PSY 302 | Statistical Methods in Psychology | 4 |
| PSY 303 | Research Methods in Psychology | 4 |
| 8 |
| Motor Control | |
| Language and Cognition | |
| Psycholinguistics |
| Experimental Course: [Topic] (Evolutionary Psychology) | |
| Learning and Memory | |
| Cognition | |
| Human Performance | |
| Perception | |
| Brain Mechanisms of Behavior | |
| Human Neuropsychology | |
| Hormones and Behavior | |
| Cognitive Development | |
| Language Acquisition | |
| 8 |
| Psychology and Law | |
| Social Psychology | |
| Group Dynamics | |
| Decision-Making | |
| Cultural Psychology | |
| Imagination | |
| Motivation and Emotion | |
| Psychopathology | |
| Personality | |
| Psychology of Trauma | |
| Marital and Family Therapies | |
| Social Development | |
| Development and Psychopathology | |
| |
| Total Credits | 56 |
Planning a Program
Besides attending lecture courses, students may participate in seminars, reading and conference courses, laboratory work, and other means of gaining experience.
Sample Program
The sample program shown provides an idea of a typical course load during the freshman year for a student working on a bachelor's of science.
| First Year |
|---|
| Fall | Credits |
|---|
| Art and Letters elective | | 4 |
| WR 121 | College Composition I | 4 |
| Mathematics | | 4 |
| Science elective | | 4 |
| Winter |
|---|
| Arts and letters elective | | 4 |
| WR 122 or 123 | College Composition II | 4 |
| Mathematics | | 4 |
| Social science elective | | 4 |
| Spring |
|---|
| Arts and letters elective | | 4 |
| PSY 201 or 202 | Mind and Brain | 4 |
| Mathematics | | 4 |
| Science elective | | 4 |
| | Total Credits: | 48 |
Departmental requirements for a psychology major are designed to maximize individual curriculum planning. This should be done in close and frequent consultation with the advisor.
Peer Advising
The psychology department’s peer advisors attempt to make academic advising more effective, welcoming, and efficient.
Questions about the university system (e.g., how to read the schedule of classes, grading procedures, where to seek financial assistance, how to plan a course schedule) and specific inquiries about the department’s norms, opportunities, facilities, and faculty members are welcome.
During the school year, the peer advising office in Straub Hall has regularly scheduled hours. Psychology students are invited to use the facilities (a small library, journals, and graduate school brochures) and to talk informally with a friendly peer advisor.
Preparation for Graduate Study
A bachelor’s degree is seldom sufficient qualification for professional work in psychology; at least a master’s degree is required for most positions. Students should not undertake graduate work unless their grades in undergraduate psychology and related courses have averaged mid-B (3.00) or better.
Prospective graduate students in psychology are advised to take courses in related fields such as anthropology, biology, computer science, chemistry, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, and sociology. Strong preparation in quantitative methods is advisable. Reading knowledge of at least one second language appropriate to psychology also may be useful.
Honors Curriculum
Students with excellent records who plan to pursue a career in psychology may consider applying to the departmental honors program upon completion of PSY 303. The honors program centers on an independent research project, which the student develops and carries out under the supervision of a departmental committee. Information about admission criteria and how to apply is available online, psychology.uoregon.edu/undergraduate/academics/honors-program
.
Minor Requirements
Special Studies: [Topic] (PSY 199) does not count toward the minor.
PSY 201
& PSY 202 | Mind and Brain
and Mind and Society | 8 |
PSY 302
& PSY 303 | Statistical Methods in Psychology
and Research Methods in Psychology | 8 |
| 12 |
| Motor Control | |
| Experimental Course: [Topic] (Evolutionary Psychology) | |
| Psychology and Law | |
| Learning and Memory | |
| Cognition | |
| Human Performance | |
| Perception | |
| Psycholinguistics | |
| Language and Cognition |
| Brain Mechanisms of Behavior | |
| Hormones and Behavior | |
| Social Psychology | |
| Group Dynamics | |
| Decision-Making | |
| Cultural Psychology | |
| Imagination | |
| Motivation and Emotion | |
| Psychopathology | |
| Personality | |
| Psychology of Trauma | |
| Marital and Family Therapies | |
| Language Acquisition | |
| Social Development | |
| Development and Psychopathology | |
| Total Credits | 28 |
All 28 credits must be taken for letter grades and passed with a C– or better. At least 16 credits must be upper division.
Middle and Secondary School Teaching Careers
The College of Education offers a fifth-year program for middle-secondary teaching in social studies. This program is described in the College of Education
section of this catalog.
The department emphasizes graduate work at the doctoral level, but an individualized master’s degree program is available to a limited number of students.
Master’s
Degree Program
The individualized master’s degree program does not lead to a PhD. The degree—either a master of arts (MA) or a master of science (MS)—requires 45 credits of course work. Application materials and information may be obtained from the department website. Clinical training is not available in the master’s program.
Doctoral Degree Programs
The five chief PhD program options are clinical, cognitive-neuroscience, systems neuroscience, developmental, and social-personality.
The department maintains a psychology clinic; specialized facilities for child and social research; experimental laboratories for human research, and well-equipped animal laboratories.
Applicants to the PhD program in psychology must take the aptitude test and submit the score from the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) and provide three letters of recommendation on special forms provided by the department. Detailed information about admission, including application forms and information about awards and graduate teaching fellowships (GTFs), may be obtained from the department website.
During the first year of graduate work, students acquire a broad background in psychology and are introduced to research. Each student’s program is planned in relation to background, current interests, and future goals. Research experience and a dissertation are required of PhD candidates; teaching experience is recommended, and opportunities to teach are available.
Requirements for Doctoral Students
| PSY 611–613 | Data Analysis I-III | 12 |
| |
| PSY 607 | Seminar: [Topic] (three terms: Research, Ethics, Research) | 1-5 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
More detailed information regarding the department's graduate programs and application procedures may be obtained from the department website.
For general regulations governing graduate work at the university, see the Graduate School
section of this catalog.
Clinical Psychology
The clinical psychology program at the University of Oregon has a strong tradition of clinical research training on topics of relevance to both the theory and practice of psychology. Accredited by the American Psychological Association (750 First Street NE, Washington DC 20002-4242, 202-336-5979), the program has been a member of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science and is also accredited by the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System. The research strengths of the present clinical faculty comprise child and adult psychopathology, sociocultural context of psychopathology, adult depression, infant mental health, child and family assessment, sexual aggression, treatment and prevention of child-adolescent problem behavior, and treatment of depression. Other nonclinical faculty members in the Department of Psychology also present a range of scholarly activities that may be of interest to clinical students.
The objective of the program is to educate and train clinical psychologists to expand the scientific understanding of psychological problems and their treatment. It is based on the clinical scientist model, the conviction that theory, research, and clinical training provide information essential for posing research questions designed to develop a better understanding of human behavior. The program's emphasis is research on the causes, correlates, and consequences of psychopathology and human distress, and the use of such knowledge to develop informed and effective interventions. While experiences in interventions and prevention constitute an important element of the training mission, these experiences serve primarily to inform the student’s understanding of basic psychological problems. Individuals with career goals in clinical service are not likely to find the program to be satisfying in terms of the philosophy embraced or the breadth of clinical training offered.
The program is designed to be relatively flexible to permit study tailored to the individual’s interests. The training has three stages. The first is accomplished in the first two years of the necessary foundation for a career as a clinical scientist. In the second stage, the student progresses to establish an area of expertise, culminating in a major preliminary examination, a supporting area requirement, and ultimately the doctoral dissertation. This involves roughly the second and third years of the program. The last stage is the student’s selection of an clinical internship approved by the American Psychological Association. Doctoral students are actively engaged in research, most typically in association with members of the psychology faculty. The formal requirements are minimized to maximize time for developing a close working relationship with faculty members, and for establishing the student’s own scholarly specialty and research program. The program of training is designed to facilitate (1) the acquisition of comprehensive knowledge about psychology as a science; (2) the integration of issues and matters of specific relevance to clinical psychology; and (3) the pursuit of research questions within the student’s designated area of expertise from a broad perspective informed by theory, empirical research, and clinical involvement.
Course requirements for clinical students cover topics in clinical ethics and methods, intervention science, child and adult psychopathology, clinical psychobiology, assessment, cultural diversity, history, and systems, and two years of intervention practicums. Additional information is provided in the Guide to the Clinical Program and the Doctoral Student Handbook located on the department website.
Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
The University of Oregon has a strong program for training students in cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and systems neuroscience. While students work closely with faculty members in research, the student’s development of an independent research direction is encouraged. Research areas include the following:
- cognitive and neural basis of perception
- cortical sensory information processing
- the molecular and cellular basis of memory
- visual cognition
- selective attention
- working memory
- long-term memory
- executive control
- action
- language processing
- brain plasticity
- information processing and trauma
Training is closely geared to students’ backgrounds and goals. An informal weekly seminar allows graduate students and faculty members to present their research. Many instructors and students interested in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience attend these seminars, which are particularly useful in acquainting first-year students with their professors. In addition, there are opportunities to participate in formal seminars and in a variety of other research groups. Research facilities are ample and easily accessible; students are able to conduct research on almost any topic in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
The Department of Psychology is affiliated with the Robert and Beverly Lewis Center for Neuroimaging, which is also home for the department's cognitive neuroscience and social psychology faculty. Students and faculty members of the Department of Psychology are among the main users of the imaging center. Many students receive training in the skills necessary for carrying out functional imaging research. Faculty members and students also make use of the on-campus Transgenic Mouse Facility to apply new molecular and genetic tools in systems neuroscience research.
The cognitive psychology faculty are also members of the Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences
and the Institute of Neuroscience,
which have established a record of facilitating interdisciplinary research in systems neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, cognition and instruction, and social cognition and decision-making. Opportunities for training in the many disciplines related to cognition and cognitive neuroscience are provided through close links to these centers.
Developmental Psychology
The Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon has recently expanded the scope of its developmental program with the addition of new faculty members and new emphases in the graduate curriculum. Our current program offers extensive coverage of development during infancy, childhood, and early adolescence. Several areas of research are strongly represented including cognitive development, social-emotional development, developmental psychopathology, and developmental social neuroscience. Particular areas of expertise within these broad areas include imagination, theory of mind, executive functioning, self-concept, infant processing of action, and the relation between early social understanding and language learning. Collaborations among developmental, cognitive, clinical, and social faculty members and students are common. The developmental group also has strong links to the Oregon Social Learning Center, Child and Family Center, Oregon Research Institute, and the interdisciplinary Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences. A developmental emphasis in the clinical program offers clinical students an opportunity for extensive involvement in developmental research through the development and psychopathology training program. In addition, clinical students may gain experience with children through child-focused practicums in the Psychology Clinic.
Social and Personality Psychology
The Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon offers graduate training in both basic and applied domains of social and personality psychology. Research interests of the faculty include the following:
- structure, development, and change dynamics of personality attributes and belief systems
- attitudes, values, and moral sentiments
- self and identity processes
- interpersonal perception
- social interaction, relationships, and group dynamics
- attribution, perspective taking, and related social cognitive processes
- decision making, emotion, and risk perception
- emotion regulation
- psychology and the law
Systems Neuroscience
The University of Oregon offers graduate and postdoctoral study in the neurosciences through the Institute of Neuroscience with faculty members from the Departments of Biology, Human Physiology, and Psychology. The program is focused on laboratory-based neuroscience directed toward understanding relationships between nervous systems and behavior. Students take courses in psychology and neuroscience during the first two years in the program. The required core neuroscience curriculum includes courses in cellular neuroscience, systems neuroscience, and cognitive neuroscience. Other formal and informal courses provide instruction in electrophysiology, neuroanatomy, neuroethology, and biochemistry. The program is designed to train students to become independent research scientists in neuroscience.
Our current faculty represents approaches to the study of the brain at many levels, ranging from behavioral to molecular. Each faculty member maintains an active research program, and graduate students may gain laboratory and research experience working in these programs. Students have an opportunity to learn modern techniques in electrophysiology, neuroanatomy, molecular neuroscience, and behavior. Research programs of the psychology faculty include the genetic and neural bases of learning and memory, sensory information processing in cortical circuits, environmental influences on the development of the nervous system, and the neurobiology of visual attention. Neuroscience research programs of the biology faculty include brain mechanisms of sound localization, the electrophysiology and anatomy of hair cells, and the control of chemotaxis in Caenorhabditis elegans.
For more information on the Institute of Neuroscience’s interdisciplinary program, see the Neuroscience
section of this catalog.