The psychology program at UC Davis is broad and includes students and faculty with a variety of interests. Students who plan to do graduate work in any area of psychology are strongly encouraged to gain experience through research and internship activities. The department has developed around five major areas of emphasis:

1. Perception, cognition, and cognitive neuroscience (PCCN) involves the study of awareness and thought, and includes such topics as perception, learning, memory, language and cognition.
2. Biological psychology covers a broad spectrum of topics including evolutionary, neurobiological, and molecular mechanisms of behavior.
3. Social-personality psychology involves the study of the individual in his or her social environment and includes such topics as personality and individual differences, emotions, stereotyping and prejudice, intergroup relations, the psychology of religion and psychological health and dysfunction.
4. Developmental psychology involves the study of changes in behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social abilities that occur throughout the lifespan. Typical and atypical development is examined using a variety of methods including behavioral, neuroimaging, and physiological assessments.
5. Quantitative psychology involves the study of linear and nonlinear models, psychometrics, mixed-effects models, and dynamic models, including experimental design, analysis of variance, regression, multivariate analysis, latent growth models, time series models, and factor analytic models.

Minor Requirements