For more detailed information about program requirements and expectations, visit the program handbook.
Overview
Students in the Decision Psychology graduate program study the psychological underpinnings of judgments and decisions that people make. They receive broad exposure to the theories and methods of decision making and acquire expertise in one or more specialty areas.
The graduate program focuses in particular on the basic cognitive, affective, and social processes involved in forming judgments and making decisions. Its strengths include behavioral decision research, attitudes, experimental economics, neuroeconomics, quantitative modeling approaches, and the application of theory to health and environmental concerns. Faculty emphasize empirical testing of theory, as well as the development of theories of evaluation and behavior that bridge multiple disciplines.
Decision psychology has important implications in a variety of fields, including health and finances, business (e.g., consumer choice), and public policy. Students who graduate from the Decision Psychology program are well-poised to...
Qualifications
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Program of study
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The Decision Psychology graduate program involves a cross-disciplinary menu of courses and research methodologies, which provide both the breadth and depth of training necessary to produce exciting new research on decision making. The program is designed to be completed in five to six years.
The first two years of the program are focused on core coursework. By the end of their third year, students are also expected to complete coursework in a minor area, such as other areas of psychology (e.g., social, cognitive, quantitative), or subjects in other university departments (e.g., economics, marketing, or public health).
After successfully completing the candidacy examination in the third or fourth year, students are admitted to PhD candidacy and are expected to spend an additional one to two years completing their dissertation. They spend the remainder of their graduate program engaged in activities that relate to their individual career objectives.
Coursework
Decision psychology graduate student develop their program of study in consultation with their advisor. Each semester of their first two years, they typically enroll in three lecture or seminar courses and a course on current research in decision psychology. Course requirements include:
- Psych 7708: Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making
- One social psychology course (Psych 6870: Basic Principles of Social Psychology, Psych 7871: Social Motivation, Psych 7872: Social Cognition or Psychology 7873: Attitudes and Persuasion)
- One cognitive psychology course (Psych 5608: Introduction to Mathematical Psychology, Psych 5870: Neuroeconomics and Decision Neuroscience, or Psych 6609: Introduction to Mathematical Modeling)
- Psych 6810 and Psych 6811: Statistical Methods in Psychology I and II
- Psych 8880: Current Research in Decision Psychology
- Other electives within or outside of the department, including those focused on judgment and decision making, social psychology, cognitive psychology, quantitative psychology, economics, marketing, public health, and environment and natural resources.
Additionally, students must fulfill the course requirements for a formal concentration or minor program outside of decision psychology.
Research
Decision Psychology graduate students become involved in faculty research the moment they begin the graduate program. As they develop competence and experience, students assume larger roles in concept development and project implementation. Eventually, they become full collaborators. Advanced students are encouraged to conduct research that includes multiple faculty members. Collaborative research like this usually leads to co-authored articles in books and journals and presentations at professional meetings.
Facilities
The laboratories in the Decision Psychology program have computational resources and systems to conduct behavioral experiments and computational modeling. Spaces include cubicles for data collection from individual subjects, larger rooms for data collection from groups, eye-movement equipment, and an assortment of state-of-the-art computer and audio/video equipment for data collection and stimulus presentation. Graduate students receive offices near laboratories and faculty offices, and have access to computers for data analysis and word processing. They also have access to department-affiliated centers for functional magnetic resonance brain imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG).
Faculty
