Which Courses Are Most Frequently Listed by Psychology Departments?

Abstract

Does a five-fold increase i n catalog listings in 28 years equal double-digit psychology course title inflation?Psychology departments engaged in curriculum planning, revision, or retrenchment often seek information about course offerings in comparable institutions. Sanford and Fleishman (1950) presented useful data from college catalogs of 1947-48 and Daniel, Dunham and Morris (1965) published comparable information for the 1961-62 year, Kulik (1973) gives updated percentages for 1969 for the same courses identified in the Daniel et al. study, but his analysis does not reveal replacements of titles among the most frequent offerings.We have continued the series of surveys by tabulating titles of courses listed by psychology departments in recent catalogs. Because institutions of higher education have undergone great changes in the span of 28 years since the Sanford and Fleishman study, we were unable to replicate previous reports precisely. The first study included eight types of institutions (

Vocational Preparation within a Liberal Arts Framework: Suggested Directions for Undergraduate Psychology Programs

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Teaching Psychology in the Information Age

“…Although programs listed under several of these titles might be quite similar, the sheer number of additional variations is evidence of the increasing specialization in graduate study. At the level of undergraduate study, the increased specialization is reflected in the number of psychology courses offered, and that number has ballooned: From 1947-75, the number of different courses listed in college catalogues increased 19% per year (Lux & Daniel, 1978). After combining titles that appeared to mean the same, these authors reported that there were still 1,356 different course titles offered in 1975.…”

Designing and Managing an Undergraduate Practicum Course in Psychology

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“…The faculty-supervised, off-campus learning experience, known by a variety oi names including internship, clinical, and practicum, is not a new teaching methodology It has been afamrliar part of Bachelor's level programs in education, engineering, and nursing for decades It is also a wellestablished component of graduate-level psychology programs But the rnclusron of practrcum as part of undergraduate coursework In psychology IS relatively recent In most institutions For example, In 1969 undergraduate practlcum was one of the least frequently offered psychology courses, but by 1975, forty-flve percent of four year colleges taught undergraduate practicum (Lux & Daniel, 1978) A more recent report (Mlnk, 1979) indicated over 70% of colleges and unrversrties surveyed provided undergraduate internshrps in psychology Tradit~onally, most undergraduate coursework has been theory-oriented rather than skrll-oriented, and has been a preparation for graduate tra~nrng or part of a general lrberal arts curriculum lather than a preparation for a post-BA job In psychology. With the increase In the use of para-professronals In agencies such as commun~ty mental health centers, there are new opportunities for the BA psychology graduate A survey of F'ryrear (1 979) of sunbelt clties showed that 38% of communrty soclal agencres employed people wlth BA degrees hhost of these agencies required experience prior to entry into the job.…”