Experimental Psychology Ph.D.

Applying to Psychology Graduate Program

Doctoral study is possible in a range of subject matter areas which currently include:

Behavior Analysis
behavioral neuroscience,
conditioning and learning,
social psychology,
cognition and perception, and
developmental psychology.

In addition to specialties in these areas, the department offers three areas of concentration:

Behavior Analysis
Health Psychology
Neuroscience

The program follows an apprenticeship model in which the student is exposed to individualized research experiences within the laboratories of one or more faculty members. This research training is accompanied by a integrated concentration of courses and seminars that support development of an area of specialty. Specific patterns of study vary, depending on student's particular interests as well as those of his or her major professor. However, regardless of specialty the goal is to give the student a firm grounding in the philosophical, historical, and scholarly foundations of scientific psychology. Throughout, major emphasis is placed on the role of the psychologist as a scholar - a person who can advance the science of psychology through original research.

Although the program emphasizes scholarship, it also gives the student opportunities to gain competence in applied areas. Appropriate courses and seminars are offered within the department. In addition, the student can develop an extra-departmental minor within a department that specializes in applied applied work, such as exceptional education, educational psychology, urban affairs, applied mathematics, and speech pathology. Also, study in medically-related areas can be pursued through cooperative programs with the Medical College of Wisconsin (located in Milwaukee).

Specific requirements for the doctorate in experimental psychology are described in detail in the Graduate Bulletin. They are summarized below:

Satisfactory completion of the masters degree including a thesis based on empirical research.
One major area and two minor areas of study within the department.
Courses that meet a "breadth" requirement consisting of five courses drawn from eight areas of the doctoral curriculum (these can include courses in the major and minor areas).
Demonstration of competence in either a foreign language or a research skill (such as facility with computers).
Supporting study of 8-12 graduate credits in a different department (such as Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Philosophy, etc.).

Satisfactory completion of the doctoral preliminary examination (required for admission to candidacy for the degree). Completion of a doctoral dissertation on a topic approved by the student's dissertation committee. As noted above, a masters thesis is a necessary prerequisite to the doctorate. However, students may be admitted into the doctoral program directly upon completion of undergraduate study subject to satisfactory completion of the master's thesis. Students also are admitted with masters degrees from other universities that do not require a thesis, in which case a masters thesis within the department is required for the doctorate.