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The Psychology Minor
The psychology minor is designed to be an innovative interdisciplinary program
which will combine and integrate already required General Education and Breadth (GEB)
courses with a set of required and elective courses in psychology. In this way, you
will not be required to extend your matriculation at Cal Poly in order to complete
a psychology minor, while still acquiring specialized knowledge in psychology. The
minor requires 25 27 units, 10 of which fulfill GEB requirements. Courses in the
minor may not be counted toward the major, but may be used to satisfy support and
general education requirements.
The minor consists of a core of four courses which you are required to take. Then,
with the approval of a minor advisor, you select three other courses from a list
of upper division electives.
Purpose of the Psychology Minor
A psychology minor is intended to complement your major and your career goals.
There are few occupations in either human service or the application of specialized
knowledge that are not subject to the concepts, methods, and practices of contemporary
psychology. Thus, a psychology minor is a way to link your undergraduate education
to your future employment. In a society increasingly dependent upon specialized knowledge
in virtually every economic sector, there are innumerable roles for well-trained
persons with practical skills and an understanding of human behavior. To be sure,
competition in the job market is keen, with many applicants having a B.A. degree
in a particular field the same as yours. What may enhance your job prospects and
make you stand out from the others is the specialized knowledge you possess about
human behavior.
Two sweeping and widely recognized trends in Western society the growth of a service
economy and the increasing dependence on specialized knowledge have given psychology
the opportunity to be uniquely equipped to both shape and benefit from the social
developments represented in those trends. Psychology is unique among the social sciences
inasmuch as it embraces not only a clear scientific perspective (particularly useful
here at Cal Poly), but also a strong service emphasis. Thus, psychology is in a good
position to contribute to both fronts of the economic and intellectual advance. A
psychology minor will undoubtedly help enhance the prospect that you will be viewed
as one who can contribute to such economic, intellectual, and social advancement.
To strengthen the link between your undergraduate education and your career goals,
the psychology minor is designed to encourage you to "package" your studies
with some sort of career-related specialization in mind. By a thoughtful selection
of coursework, and in consultation with your minor advisor, you can prepare yourself
for several types of career options.
The minor is divided into two parts. The first part is a set of courses you are
required to take. The second part is a list of electives. The core of four courses
that you are required to take will expose you to a broad range of viewpoints and
issues and provide you with specialized knowledge of psychology. This set of core
courses will then operate as a vehicle within which the complexity of human behavior
can be channeled toward understanding a specific set of concerns. The list of electives
is provided to encourage you to pursue one of the special interest areas listed below
so as to maximize the role that the psychology minor can play in your choice of career.
Special Interest Areas
- Organizational: Application of psychological techniques to personnel administration,
management, and marketing problems. Involvement in policy planning, training and
development, organizational development and analysis.
- Health: Evaluation of emotional, cognitive, psychophysiologic, behavioral,
and environmental aspects of diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.
- Counseling/Guidance: Increased awareness of how psychological knowledge
can be applied toward treating personal, social, educational, or vocational problems
of individual, family, and group life.
- Social/Environmental: Examination of people's interaction with others
and with the social environment. Application of psychological knowledge toward group
behavior, leadership, attitudes, and interpersonal perception. Development and improvement
of human/machine systems and human/environment systems.
- Personal Development: Evaluation of the patterns and causes of behavioral
changes as men and women progress through life. Exploration of self in terms of attitudes,
effectiveness, and potential.
- General/Academic: Examination of additional theoretical perspectives within
psychology as well as a focus on self-development.
How to Apply
- Complete an application form and meet with a
Psychology Minor advisor. Below is a list of minor advisors, together with their
areas of interest.
- If your application is approved, you and your minor advisor will plan your courses
for the minor from the choices listed. If you have already taken some of these courses,
make sure the minor advisor records them.
- The minor advisor will send a copy of your approved form to the evaluations office
to notify the university you have been accepted into the minor.
- Make sure you maintain at least a "C" average in the courses you take
for the minor . At least two-thirds of them must be graded courses, and at least
one-half must be completed in residence.
- When you are within 3 quarters of graduation, meet with your advisor to reconcile
any changes and verify completion of the minor. The graduation technician must have
verification from the minor advisor that you have met the requirements of the minor.
Psychology Minor Advisors
- Margaret Berrio: Development in infancy, early
and middle childhood, especially social cognition; early childhood curriculum, especially
music; psychology of women, especially Hispanic women.
- Shawn Burn: Application of social psychological
concepts to social problems, including environmental problems, sexism, and racism.
- Laura King: Child and spouse abuse, the development
of empathy and prosocial behavior, the psychology of women, alcohol and other drug
abuse, prevention of mental health problems, and other issues in personality and
social development.
- Gary Laver: Memory and cognition, research methodology,
and quantitative analysis of data including computer applications; basic research
on semantic memory and its changes over the course of adult aging.
- Dan Levi: Environmental, organizational and social
psychology. The psychological and organizational impact of technological change,
and the psychological aspects of energy and environmental issues.
- Kelly Moreno: Counseling psychology, eating
disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, group therapy, psychodynamic theory and practice.
- Linden Nelson: Personality and social development,
emotion, cooperation and competition, aggression, psychology of conflict and peace,
political psychology, and social psychology.
- Kathy Ryan: Experimental analysis of eating disorders;
experimental psychology; statistics; learning and memory; physiological psychology.
- Don Ryujin: Prejudice as it relates to sex
and race, achievement/intrinsic motivation, and attitude change.
- Ned Schultz: Lifespan developmental psychology;
self and social development; psychology and the health professions; death and grief;
creativity.
- Mike Selby: Clinical Psychology, neuropsychology,
forensic psychology, personality assessment and theory, prediction of violence and
aggression.
- Chuck Slem: Clinical psychology, the psychological
impact of technological change, psychological aspects of stress, health psychology,
psychological aspects of disasters and disaster preparedness, and organizational
psychology.
Psychology Minor Competencies
When you complete the minor, you will acquire some of the following skills which
are addressed in the listed courses.
- The ability to identify biological, cognitive, personality, social, organizational,
and environmental variables that influence human behavior. [PSY 201/202, PSY 254,
PSY 301, PSY 302, PSY 304, PSY 305, PSY 311, PSY 351, PSY 450, PSY 458, PSY 465]
- The ability to analyze human behavior at a variety of levels, including individual,
interpersonal, organizational and cultural. [PSY 201/202, PSY 254, PSY 302, PSY 304,
PSY 305, PSY 311, PSY 317, PSY 351, PSY 450, PSY 465]
- The ability to apply various approaches (physiological, psychodynamic, developmental,
functional analysis, etc.) for analyzing the cause of behavior. [PSY 254, PSY 304,
PSY 305, PSY 307, PSY 405, PSY 450]
- The ability to identify appropriate methods for the modification of one's behavior
and the behavior of others. [PSY 201/202, PSY 301, PSY 305, PSY 311, PSY 351, PSY
405, PSY 413, PSY 450, PSY 456]
- The ability to appreciate individual and cultural differences and to utilize
this awareness to facilitate personal, social, and organizational functioning. [PSY
254, PSY 458, PSY 465]
- The ability to differentiate psychopathology from normal variations in human
behavior and to understand the treatments available. [PSY 254, PSY 304, PSY 305,
PSY 330, PSY 405, PSY 450, PSY 456, PSY 458]
- The ability to apply psychological knowledge about leadership, decision making,
motivation, and communication so as to facilitate conflict resolution and optimal
performance. [PSY 201/202, PSY 254, PSY 301, PSY 302, PSY 351, PSY 450]
- The ability to understand and critically evaluate psychological literature and
research. [PSY 201/202, PSY 304, PSY 305, PSY 309, PSY 329, PSY 333, PSY 359, PSY
405, PSY 421, PSY 458, PSY 465, STAT 211/217/251/321]
- The ability to recognize uses and abuses of psychological tests and other forms
of behavioral assessment. [PSY 201/202, PSY 405, PSY 465, STAT 211/217/251/321]
- The ability to understand various conceptions of psychological health and human
potential and to apply these theories in assessing and promoting the personal development
of self and others. [PSY 254, PSY 301, PSY 305, PSY 309, PSY 314, PSY 315, PSY 317,
PSY 351, PSY 405, PSY 413, PSY 450, PSY 459]
- The knowledge and ability to recognize and alleviate common sources of stress.
[PSY 301, PSY 309, PSY 310, PSY 314, PSY 315, PSY 317]
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