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A single copy of the survey report is available at no cost from:

The Educational Directorate
Attention: Peter Petrossian
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
202 336 5970
202 336 5962 (Fax)
Education@apa.org

Inquiries about the survey should be addressed to Baron Perlman or Lee McCann at:

Department of Psychology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, WI 54901
920 424 2300
FAX 920 424 1204
Perlman@uwosh.edu McCann@uwosh.edu

In October, 1996, Jill N. Reich, Executive Director of the Education Directorate, American Psychological Association provided a grant to support the authors with research focusing on an investigative study of the undergraduate curriculum in psychology. The APA sponsored 1991 St. Mary National Conference on Enhancing the Quality of Undergraduate Education in Psychology had recommended current curricular data. The events of the previous decade and a half since the 1985 APA Scheirer and Rogers study had changed higher education and no one had studied the most frequently listed courses in the curriculum since 1975.

The authors were and are interested in the undergraduate curriculum in psychology. One goal was to provide the next link in a study of the most frequently offered courses; the research goes back to 1938. We also wanted to learn what courses made up the required core for undergraduate majors, whether St. Mary's Conference recommendations on the core were being implemented in undergraduate programs, and were extremely interested in the place of laboratory work for the major. Further, we were unable to find data on prerequisites within the psychology major, that is, does the major build in a coherent fashion. While many curricular models had been proposed current data was lacking on which were most popular.

This report has two primary sections. The first section contains a manuscript published in the journal, Teaching of Psychology titled The Most Frequently Listed Courses in the Undergraduate Psychology Curriculum (1999, 26, 177-182). In addition, detailed tables not found in the manuscript are provided. Section 2 contains a manuscript accepted for publication in the journal, Teaching of Psychology titled The Structure of the Psychology Undergraduate Curriculum (1999, 26, 171-176), as well as detailed tables not in the manuscript. Both parts of the research were presented at the 1998 meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco.

Many individuals contributed to the success of this research. Jill Reich provided grant support and was most supportive of our work. We also thank the Faculty Development Board at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh for its support. Charles Brewer, Jim Korn, and Thomas McGovern provided ideas on all phases of the study. Marcy Lemieux, Robert Koumal, and Nathaniel Perlman helped with data collection, coding, and analysis.

Baron Perlman and Lee I. McCann

Section One: The Most Frequently Listed Courses in the Undergraduate Psychology Curriculum. Abstract

Section Two: The Structure of the Psychology Undergraduate Curriculum. Abstract

Section One Abstract

Continuing research with a 60-year history, we read 400 college catalogs and identified the most frequently listed undergraduate psychology courses for 4 institutional types. Results suggest ongoing segmentation in the research methodology and developmental areas, with an increasing number of courses listed in each. Experimental content courses (e.g., Experimental, Biological), Clinical (e.g., Abnormal, Personality), and Social/Developmental courses are listed with about equal frequencies, and no movement toward additional vocational content is evident. We note emerging subdisciplinary areas and courses.

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Section Two Abstract

A review of 500 college catalogs for 4 institutional types found the modal undergraduate psychology program follows the traditional model. It is taught in the liberal arts tradition as recommended by the St. Mary's Conference, balancing natural and social science content. The major typically requires 34 credits including introductory, statistics, and a capstone course (either a senior seminar/colloquium or history); at least one content course; and limited laboratory experience. It does not necessarily require the "integrative" capstone course nor psychometric methods courses recommended by the St. Mary's Conference. Prerequisites for methodology and capstone courses are limited.

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