Undergraduate Program: Major & Minor Requirements
Please read the Psychology Department Undergraduate Handbook for complete information about the major. Below is a brief overview of the major and minor requirememts.
Major Requirements
After taking Psychology 001, majors are required to distribute their 5 core courses in a 2:2:1 pattern across three broad content areas: the neural basis of behavior; the cognitive basis of behavior; and the social/clinical aspects of behavior. The 100 and 400 level lecture courses are divided into these three areas and are listed below. Psychology majors are required to take at least 5 courses from these three lists, distributed according to a 2, 2, 1 pattern. Students decide from which of the three lists they take only one course. The lists will change from time to time as new courses are added and others deleted, but the current lists are:
| Neural Basis of Behavior | Social/Clinical Basis of Behavior |
109 - Intro to Brain and Behavior
|
160 - Personality |
| Cognitive Basis of Behavior |
107 - Intro to Cognitive Science 111 - Perception 165- Behavioral Economics and Psychology |
Majors are also required to take:
a statistics course,
a research experience course,
4 additional psychology courses,
and either one more additional psychology course or a non-psychology course (from the Living World, the Physical World, or Formal Reasoning and Analysis) for a total of 13 credits in the major.
Please note: Five (5) of the credits towards the Psychology major must be Penn classes taken in the Penn Psychology Dept. In addition, Psychology majors must have a minimum of 5 Psychology Department courses that they count only towards the psychology major and not also towards another major. Those 5 courses may not include statistics or the one non-psychology course they count towards the major. Psychology majors must maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or better in the major.
Additional courses that count toward the Psych major and minor:
ANTH 104: Sex and Human Nature
BIBB 370: Human Chronobiology and Sleep
MKTG 211: Consumer Behavior
OPIM 290: Decision Processes
Minor Requirements
The Minor in Psychology consists of six courses. It is intended to give the student a broad base in Psychology without the commitment to the full course load of the major. The requirements are therefore comparable to those of the major in type but reduced in number. At least three of the six required course units must be taken at Penn. In addition, students minoring in psychology must have a minimum of 3 courses that they count towards the minor and not towards any other major or minor.
Each Minor in Psychology must complete the following:
1. Psychology 001
2. One course from the list of Neural Basis of Behavior courses
3. One course from the list of Cognitive Basis of Behavior courses
4. One course from the list of Social/Clinical Basis of Behavior courses
5. One Psychology Department course, 100 level or above.
6. One term of Statistics, e.g.: BIOL 446,
PSYC 020, STAT 111, SOC 120, ANTH 454, ECON 103 (formerly ECON 005), NURS 230, STAT 101.
AP Credit. Students who have taken the Psychology AP test and received a grade of 5 can receive a waiver for Psyc 001 (they will not receive credit for Psyc 001) and are allowed to enroll directly into any 100-level lecture course without taking Psyc 001. The AP waiver does not count toward the 6 courses required for the Psyc minor. Students who use the AP waiver must therefore take one additional Psychology Department course. This policy applies to all undergraduate students.
Students interested in pursuing a minor in psychology should go to Room B24 of the Solomon Lab Building, 3720 Walnut St. and meet with Ms. Claire Ingulli, the Undergraduate Coordinator, who will officially declare the minor in the Student Records System.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY MINOR
To fulfill the Minor in Consumer Psychology, students must complete four courses from the Psychology Department in the College and four courses from the Marketing Department in Wharton, in addition to the stats requirement. Both College and Wharton requirements will consist of core courses along with a set of elective courses. The Psychology Dept. contact is Claire Ingulli (ingulli@psych.upenn.edu). When emailing to inquire about the Minor, please indicate your Major in your email. Click below for "Frequently Asked Questions" for the Consumer Psychology Minor:
http://www.psych.upenn.edu/PLEEP/cpfaq
AP Credit. Students who have taken the Psychology AP test and received a grade of 5 can receive a waiver for Psyc 001 (they will not receive credit for Psyc 001) and are allowed to enroll directly into any 100-level lecture course without taking Psyc 001. The AP waiver does not count toward the courses required for the Consumer Psych minor. Students who use the AP waiver must therefore take one additional Psychology Department course. This policy applies to all undergraduate students.
Statistics Requirement The student must have completed one of the following statistics courses:
STAT 101 - Intro. to Business Stat
STAT 111 - Intro. Stat
STAT 430 - Probability
Any statistics course that satisfies the statistics requirement for Psychology majors
Note: If (and only if) you are enrolled in the Minor in Consumer Psychology, then any of the Statistics courses that satisfies the Statistics Requirement for the Minor can be used to satisfy the statistics prerequisite for MKTG 212.
The statistics requirement may be fulfilled by a different course with written permission of the Minor in Consumer Psychology Wharton Chair.
College - Required
PSYC 001 Intro. to Experimental Psych and PSYC 170 Social Psychology
One of the following classes:
PSYC153:Judgments and Decisions or PSYC 151:Cognitive Psychology or PSYC 165:Behavioral Economics and Psychology
College - Elective
One course at the 200 level (seminar) or 300 level (research experience course). The seminars in Social Psychology or Decision Making are small, intensive reading and discussion courses focused on a particular topic. The research courses (the 300 level courses) are intended to provide first-hand research experience in psychology and require a substantial amount of work outside of class gathering data, etc. Please note: The research experience courses are intended mainly for psychology majors.
PSYC 253 Seminar in Decision Making
PSYC 270 Seminar in Social Psychology
PSYC 353 Research Experience in Decision Making
PSYC 370 Research Expereince in Social Psychology
-or-
PSYC 475 Fairness and Altruism (an advance seminar)
Wharton - Required
MKTG 101 - Introduction to Marketing
MKT G 211 - Consumer Behavior
MKTG 212 - Marketing Research
Electives (total of one c.u.)
MKTG 221 New Product Management 1/2 CU
MKTG 222 Pricing Policy 1/2 CU
MKTG 223 Channel Management 1/2 CU
MKTG 224 Advertising Management 1/2 CU
MKTG 225 Principles of Retailing 1/2 CU
MKTG 226 Sales Force Management 1/2 CU
MKTG 227 Marketing and Electronic Commerce 1/2 CU
MKTG 235 Principles of Advertising 1CU
MKTG 281 Entrepreneurial Marketing 1/2 CU
MKTG 282 Multinational Marketing 1/2 CU
MKTG 394: Special Topic: (requires approval) - 1 CU
Admission to the Minor - Students must apply for the minor through their respective schools, either Wharton or the College (for the College, please contact Ms. Claire Ingulli in the Psychology Department). Applicants must have completed or be in the process of completing the statistics requirement. The respective Chair of the Minor will review and approve these applications. The Minor is not intended for Marketing Majors at Wharton or Psychology Majors in SAS. Students in these majors who wish to add the Minor may petition the Departmental Undergraduate Chair for SAS students, or Marketing Department Business Manager for Wharton students.
Governance - The minor will be administered by the Chairs of the Interschool Minor in Consumer Psychology in SAS and Wharton. They will be responsible for all decisions associated with the Minor.
Admission to Classes Outside a Student's Home School - In the rare case in which a student has a problem getting into a section of a Wharton class, Wharton will give priority to students in this Minor. In particular, seniors in the Minor will be manually issued a permit to let them into the class. The Marketing Department Business Manager will be responsible for interacting with student concerns and providing them with a manual override permission to take the class.