Mar 28, 2024  
2014-2015 Graduate Catalog 
    
2014-2015 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Psychology (M.S.)


Graduate programs in Psychological Sciences  provide professional training leading to the master of science degree.

Master’s programs are offered in four broad areas:

(1)  animal learning/physiological psychology (with concentrations in animal learning/behavior or physiological psychology/behavioral neuroscience)

(2)  cognitive and human factors psychology (with concentrations in psycholinguistics, judgment and decision making,
       human factors/engineering psychology, or sensation and perception)

(3)  social-personality (with concentrations in social, personality, or developmental psychology)

(4)  industrial/ organizational (with concentrations in human-resources/personnel issues and procedures, organizational behavior and theory)

At the master’s level, students may specialize in any of the traditional areas. The first year of the Master’s program is spent primarily in basic courses. Graduate students will also complete a first-year research project (see below). During the second year, students begin to satisfy related requirements, complete work on their master’s thesis, and begin to develop a major area of professional interest.

Department Requirements


Statistics Courses


Students are required to take the following sequence of courses during their first three semesters.

Core Courses


All graduate students must take at least 4 of the following 7 courses depending on their area of concentration. In general, students should take as many of these core courses as possible in their first two years in the graduate program. Requests to deviate from these guidelines due to special circumstances should be approved by the student’s major advisor in consultation with the supervisory committee.

Seminar in Professional Problems


All graduate students must take the Seminar in Professional Problems:

First-Year Research Project


Graduate students will complete a first-year research project that is designed in consultation with their major adviser. This research endeavor is intended to reflect the importance of establishing a productive research component of an individual’s graduate program. Early in the second year, students will present their first year project in a format similar to a national meeting of a scientific society.

Master’s Thesis


Ideally, this should be completed by the end of the second year. Students who enter the program with a Master’s degree may be required to do a Master’s level project if, in the opinion of the supervising committee, the previous thesis was not of sufficient quality or not based on empirical research. 

Each of the specialization programs (Industrial-Organizational, Social-Personality, Behavioral Neuroscience/Animal Learning, and Cognitive/Human Factors) has particular course requirements. Students in these programs should consult with their advisors regularly to make sure of enrolling in the appropriate classes.
Students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours, including a minimum of 6 Master’s Thesis research credit hours (PSYCH 899), for their Master’s program of study.

Behavioral Neuroscience/Animal Learning Program


Our program is designed to train students broadly in experimental psychology in addition to their behavioral neuroscience specialization. While courses are an important part of training, students should expect to engage in laboratory research throughout their master’s and doctoral program. Successful degree candidates typically have broad training in the biological sciences as undergraduates.

Program Requirements


In addition to the department requirements, students in the behavioral neuroscience/animal learning program are required to complete the following core courses:

Program Electives


Graduate students are encouraged to take advantage of other elective courses within the department as part of their program of study. In addition, possibilities for courses outside of the department exist and a partial list of courses is listed below.

  • Organic Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry
  • Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates
  • Embryology
  • Physiological Adaptation of Animals
  • Human Physiology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Evolution
  • Endocrinology
  • Evolution of Animal Behavior
  • Measuring Behavior of Insects
  • Insect Physiology
  • Insect Behavior
  • Anatomy and Physiology
  • Veterinary Physiology I and II
  • Bioinstrumentation Laboratory
  • Neuroscience

Cognitive/Human Factors Program


The Cognitive/Human Factors Psychology Graduate Program at Kansas State University is designed to prepare students for careers as psychologists in industry, government, and academia. The program provides students with a broad background in the research methodology used in experimental as well as many other areas of psychology. The students are expected to acquire a general knowledge of the research problems and practices of current experimental psychologists in their chosen area. Current active research areas include aviation human factors, judgment and decision making, visual perception, and psycholinguistics. An internship in an applied setting is highly recommended for students interested in human factors.

Program Requirements


Students in the cognitive/human factors program are must complete the following courses as part of the departamental core course requirement:

Electives


  • Engineering Psychology (3)
  • Industrial/Organizational Psychology (3)
  • Judgmental Process (3)
  • Seminars in Human Factors (3)
  • Ergonomics (3)
  • Biomechanics (3)
  • Computer Science (3)

Industrial/Organizational Psychology Program


The Master of Science program in industrial/organizational psychology (MIOP) is a 38-hour sequence of on-campus and web-based courses. The program is directed at working human resource professionals and aims at teaching students to apply analytical behavioral science skill and course concepts to company related issues. The program spans 2 1/2 years and consists of eight courses in such areas as performance appraisal and compensation, training and program evaluation, job analysis and selection, organizational topics, ethical and legal issues, and applied research methods. The last semester of the program consists of students conducting a research practicum in their own organization under the supervision of faculty. Students attend campus once a year over the summer for two-week sessions. Four courses are taught as on-campus courses, and the remaining four courses and practicum are delivered via web-based instruction.

Follow this link for more information about our distance master’s program.

Social-Personality Program


The faculty members directly connected with the program are very diversified in their theoretical and research interests, but all are strongly committed to the training of scholar-researcher “generalists” rather than technical specialists. That is, our students are expected to acquire a broad, theoretically informed understanding of the Social-Personality field, and its articulation with other branches of psychology, as well as the various technical skills necessary for basic and applied research. As students progress through the program, their areas of particular expertise become defined by their research projects, thesis, and dissertation.

Program Requirements


Students in the social-personality program take the following courses as part of the departamental core course requirement: