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The Social Personality Psychology Department at the Graduate Center of CUNY
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The program is committed to developing teachers, researchers, and scholars broadly prepared to conduct both basic and applied research. Students therefore have numerous opportunities to conduct research and to develop skills in various methodologies. The program trains and encourages students to address issues of contemporary urban life in their research, with particular emphasis on the study of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, social injustice, personal and social identity, stress and coping,mental and physical health, human motivation, and programs designed to promote individual and social change. The research interests of Social-Personality faculty span numerous theoretical problems and applied issues. They range from studies of attitudes, dishonesty, social identity, and stress, to studies of coping with illness, computer-assisted learning, medical decision-making, and school drop-outs. Doctoral students become involved in all phases of faculty research and are encouraged to develop their own research foci. Given the program's focus on both basic and applied research, students are encouraged to work with several faculty members to obtain multiple research experiences.
Doctoral students are offered an integrated program of studies in both social psychology and personality. First-year doctoral training in the program involves an integrated course in social and personality psychology along with statistics and research methods courses. Coursework beyond the first year is designed to encourage and supplement student research interests and to offer training in multiple research methodologies. Program requirements include examinations in methodology, the breadth of social and personality psychology, and an elective area of speciality within the discipline. Students also complete a second-year research project and a comprehensive literature review prior to their work on the dissertation thesis.
Our philosophy is that broad preparation in psychology and social science methodology is essential to Ph.D. training, because the problems that social and personality psychologists will study in the coming decades will differ from those currently researched. Toward this end, students have the opportunity to take courses in the nine other Ph.D. areas of psychology and to concentrate in areas of application such as health psychology. Students may also supplement their training through courses offered by other doctoral programs at the Graduate Center. We believe this exposure to diverse approaches enhances students' ability to become scholarly leaders.
The program has expanded substantially in the last three years through the addition of new faculty members and a growing student body. Our current faculty and students are a compelling mix, diverse in geography, racial and ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, and research interests. The Ph.D. Program in Social-Personality Psychology prepares students to become influential scholars who will work as university faculty and researchers, and whose contributions will be relevant to policy makers.
