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Department
of Psychology
Departmental Honors Program
Students
eligible for Psychology Departmental Honors must have a minimum
overall GPA of 3.0 and a minimum GPA of 3.5 in all Psychology
courses taken. Students must have completed PSYCH 248 (Statistics)
and PSYCH 249/250 (Experimental Psychology). The Honors thesis
is usually completed during the student’s final 2 semesters
at Hunter College, and, thus, may be started during either the
fall or the spring semester.
Doing
Honors in Psychology involves the completion of a Psychology Department
Thesis project. This project involves working with a faculty mentor
to develop and conduct a psychology-oriented research project
addressing an area of interest to the student. Students often
work with a faculty member they have already taken a course from,
who mentioned an area of psychology that they wanted to explore
further. Students may also review the list of faculty research
interests, available on the Psychology department’s web site,
or available from the undergraduate Psychology advisor in Room
611HN, to identify faculty who conduct research in an area relevant
to the student’s interests. Examples of current and past
projects conducted by Departmental Honors students include: Intentional
vs. incidental learning, The influence of the news media on adolescents,
Studying the symptoms of schizophrenia, The acquisition of temporal
ordering skills in children of teenage mothers, The effect of
emotion on perceptions of safer-sex advertisements, and The influence
of oxy-toxin on the aggressive behaviors of rats.
Students
who participate in the Psychology Departmental Honors program
must register for PSYCH 396 (3 cr.) during their first semester
of research and PSYCH 398 (3 cr.) during the second semester of
research. In rare circumstances, students may be able to complete
the Honors thesis in one semester, but this is worked out between
them and their research mentor. PSYCH 396/398 requires that students
attend a weekly seminar, during which tips for research and career
matters are discussed, and brief student research presentations
are made. If a student has a scheduling conflict that prevents
him/her from attending the seminar, however, alternative arrangements
can be made.
Students
who complete the Psychology Departmental Honors Project will receive
special mention in the Commencement Program when they graduate,
as well as receiving an indication of "Graduated with Departmental
Honors" on their permanent record and transcript. In addition,
many employers and graduate programs look very favorably on students
who have completed independent research projects, as this indicates
a high degree of motivation, interest, and responsibility on the
part of the student (i.e., it may help give them an edge when
applying to graduate school).
Contact:
Jason Young
(212) 772-5566 | jason.young@hunter.cuny.edu
Website:
http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/psych/index.html
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