Undergraduate education in psychology: United States

Abstract

Until the last quarter of the 19th century, many colleges and universities in the USA did not have separate departments of psychology. Now, psychology undergraduate degrees are among the most popular and frequently awarded in US higher education. Undergraduate psychology programs appeal to students for many reasons, including self‐understanding as well as their relatedness to other career paths of interest. Unlike undergraduate programs in most of the world, which are 5 years in length and designed to prepare professional psychologists, programs in the US are 4 years in length and do not prepare professional psychologists. Licensed psychologists in the US are generally required to hold doctoral degrees. Graduate programs to prepare psychologists are accredited by the American Psychological Association, but undergraduate programs vary widely and are evaluated by state and regional accrediting entities. Teaching methods, materials, and forms of student assessment also differ widely. Providing specific information about program and course requirements, because of this variation, is impossible. The majority of programs include a combination of general studies and psychology courses. Required psychology courses include general, developmental, social, history, learning, experimental, research, and statistics courses as well as seminars on other topics and require approximately 130 credit hours of total coursework. Lecture, discussion, peer‐tutoring, reading, written reports, and exams are common teaching methods. Most instructors require textbooks and supplemental readings as well. Since 1950, numerous groups have studied the undergraduate psychology curriculum. Recent efforts to clarify learning goals and outcomes for high school psychology courses and courses taught within the undergraduate psychology major have focused on establishing objectives, competencies, and content guidelines. Important work on assessing academic outcomes is ongoing, as are activities designed to internationalize the curriculum. Considering the dramatic achievements of the past decade, the future appears bright for the teaching of undergraduate psychology within US universities.

The State of Multiculturalism and Diversity in Undergraduate Psychology Training

“…Beginning in 1979, specific diversity-related criteria were included as a required component of accreditation at the graduate level (Altmaier, 2003) and continues to be a current requirement for program accreditation at the doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral levels to promote quality and consistency in training standards in professional psychology (APA, 2013a). Conversely, guidelines or recommendations continue to be used to inform curricular decisions at the undergraduate level and it wasn't until The St. Mary's Conference, held in 1991, that ''attention to human diversity'' was recommended among six curricular goals for undergraduate psychology (Brewer, 2006). Perhaps as a result of this difference, greater emphasis has been placed on the importance of multicultural education at the graduate level than within the psychology major at the undergraduate level.…”

“…Efforts to outline and assess the features of high-quality undergraduate psychology programs are ongoing (Brewer, 2006) and reflect the recommendations of key scholars, national conferences, and resulting guidelines. For example, in 2007, a series of performance benchmarks were proposed as a rubric to assist with program review in undergraduate psychology programs (Dunn, McCarthy, Baker, Halonen, & Hill, 2007).…”

Considerations for an Integrated Undergraduate Comparative and Clinical Psychology Course

“…Undergraduate psychology programs outside of the United States are even more specific in this emphasis. They are typically five years in length and designed to prepare professional psychologists (Brewer, 2006).…”

Rocky Relations: Epistemological History and Psychology Teaching and Education Studies in Argentina

“…La formación académica y el entrenamiento profesional universitarios en psicología constituyen campos de investigación delimitados, estructurados y prolíficos. Los problemas que suelen delimitar dichos campos son variados, e incluyen entre otros, el análisis de la estructura y pormenorización de los currículos (Barboza-Palomino, 2016;Bazar, 2015;Brewer, 2006;Di Doménico, 1996;Norcross et al, 2016;Puente, Matthews y Brewer, 1992;Vilanova, 1995); el relevamiento, análisis y crítica de los cursos, materiales y contenidos impartidos en carreras y currículos de psicología (Benito y Elmasian, 2010;Di Doménico y Vilanova, 2000;Laurito y Benatuil, 2017; Lisboa y Gonçalves Barbosa, 2009); la caracterización de los conocimientos, habilidades y destrezas facilitados por los planes de estudio (Benito, 2009;Kaslow et al, 2004;Manzo, 2010;Moraes Cruz y Schultz, 2009;Roe, 2003); la descripción y evaluación de los perfiles de graduado de dichos planes (AUAPsi, 1998;de Souza Bernardes, 2012; Morales Benites y Zapata Ponce, 2009); la identificación y mejoramiento de los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje que a nivel áulico son la realización definitiva de los objetivos curriculares, la inserción socio-profesional de los graduados (Bittencourt Bastos y Cunha Gomide, 1989; 1 Este artículo corresponde a la primera parte de una versión preliminar de un trabajo presentado por invitación en el taller de historia de la psicología y el psicoanálisis "La psicología y el psicoanálisis en los cruces interdisciplinarios y profesionales" organizado por la Sociedad Interamericana de Psicología y el Centro de Estudios Históricos del Psicoanálisis en Argentina, realizado en el IRICE (Rosario -CONICET) el día 13 de Junio de 2016 en Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, en el contexto del VI Congreso Regional de la Sociedad Interamericana de Psicología, y como marco de formulación del plan de trabajo doctoral "Formación de grado en Psicología en Argentina 2009-2015" para optar al título de Doctor en Psicología, acreditado en la Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Los autores desean agradecer a la Dra.…”