The Psychology Major Curriculum

  • Courses at Marquette University are numbered: courses numbered 1000-2999 are “lower division,” whereas courses 3000 and above are “upper division.”
  • Some of these credits might be earned through AP courses in high school or through transfers from another college or university (these credits are granted by the university, not by the department).

The Psychology Major

The major in psychology consists of a total of 38 credit hours taken within the Department of Psychology (unless given permission otherwise) and 15 credits of additional cognate courses.

Students who maintain a high GPA in psychology and who are interested in research are encouraged to consider applying for the Honors in Psychology program.


Psychology Courses

Psychology courses include: three required courses taken by all majors (11 credit hours); six course from the five psychology content areas (18 credit hours) and three elective psychology courses of which at least two must be upper-division (9 credit hours).


Courses Taken by All Majors (11 credits)

All students who major in psychology take the same three courses.

    • PSYC 1001. General Psychology (or AP equivalent) (3 credits)
    • MATH 1700 Modern Elementary Statistics (3 credits) AND PSYC 1700 Psychology Introductory Statistics Lab (1 credit), taken concurrently.
      • (or PSYC 2001. Psychological Measurements and Statistics, 4 credits)
      • (or PSYC 2001H. Honors Psychological Measurements and Statistics, 4 credits)
    • PSYC 2050. Research Methods and Designs in Psychology (4 credits)
      • (or PSYC 2050H. Honors Research Methods and Designs in Psychology, 4 credits)

Majors are encouraged to consider taking the honors versions of the courses in statistics (MATH 1700H and PSYC 1700H) and research methods (PSYC 2050H). Note that PSYC 2050H is required to graduate with honors in psychology.


Required Content Areas Courses (18 credits)

Majors must take at least one upper division course from each of the following content areas:  Developmental, Personal Processes, Social Processes, and Diversity and Inclusion (12 hours minimum), and majors must take at least two courses from the Neurocognitive Foundations content area (6 hours minimum).

Courses that meet criteria for these content areas are shown:

Development (at least one course)

  • PSYC 3101. Developmental Psychology: Conception Through Adolescence (3 credits)
  • PSYC 3120. Developmental Psychology: Adulthood and Aging (3 credits)

Social Processes (at least one course)

  • PSYC 3201. Introductory Social Psychology (3 credits)
  • PSYC 3230. Business and Organizational Psychology (3 credits)

Personal Processes (at least one course)

  • PSYC 3401. Abnormal Psychology (3 credits)
  • PSYC 3501. Theories of Personality (3 credits)

Diversity and Inclusion (at least one course)

  • PSYC 3210. Psychology of Prejudice
  • PSYC 3220. Human Sexuality
  • PSYC 3240. Psychology of Racism
  • PSYC 3430. Psychology of Gender and Health
  • PSYC 3440. Health Disparities: A Biopsychological Perspective
  • PSYC 3550. Psychology of Gender Roles

Neurocognitive Foundations (at least two courses)

  • PSYC 3320. Cognition (3 credits)
  • PSYC 3601. Biopsychology (3 credits)
  • PSYC 4330. Human Factors Engineering (3 credits)


Psychology Electives (9 credits)

Majors must also take at least 3 “elective” courses – two of which must be upper-division. These courses can be within the content areas (see previous section), or they can be other courses not included in the content areas.

On the other hand, there are many “elective” courses that are very popular but that do not fit in any particular content area, including the following:

Psychology Electives

  • PSYC 3410. Childhood Psychopathology (3 credits)
  • PSYC 3420. Health Psychology (3 credits)
  • PSYC 3560. Psychology of Religion (3 credits)
  • PSYC 3701. Principles of Psychological Testing (3 credits)
  • PSYC 3840. Psychology of Happiness (3 credits)
  • PSYC 4701. Introduction to Clinical Psychology (3 credits)
  • PSYC 4720. Psychology of Marriage and Family (3 credits)
  • PSYC 4931. Topics in Psychology (3 credits) (this course varies from topic to topic)


Other Psychology Courses in Research, as Peer Tutors, and in Field Experience

Credits toward the major can also be earned through research experience, through internship, and/or through being a peer tutor. See other attachment for a more thorough description of these opportunities.


Cognate Course Requirements

The psychology major also requires 5 other courses (15 credits) taken from other departments.

Social Science Requirement (6 credits)

Psychology majors must take two courses from one or more of the following programs: ANTH, CRLS, ECON, POSC, SOCI, SOWJ. Courses in ANTH cannot be chosen from ANTH 1201 or ANTH 2201 (which can be taken to meet different cognate requirements—see below). 

Mathematics Requirement (3 or more credits)

In addition to Psychological Statistics (PSYC 2001), psychology majors must take and at least one of the following courses:

  • MATH 1300 (The Nature of Mathematics)

  • MATH 1390 (Finite Mathematics)

  • MATH 1400 (Elements of Calculus)

  • MATH 1410 (Calculus for the Biological Sciences)

  • MATH 1450 (Calculus 1)

  • MATH 1451 (Calculus 2)

Physical Science Requirement (6 credits)

Psychology majors must take two courses from one or more of the following departments: ANTH 1201 or ANTH 2201 (but not both), BIOL, CHEM, PHYS


Additional Information