Psychology


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Psychology

Overview

Psychology is the scientific study of the human condition. If the human brain is the most complex and fascinating organ on the planet, the human mind is even more remarkable. It makes us unique as a species, but it also links us to the animal world. It is capable of staggering creativity, yet it behaves in predictable ways. Students who pursue psychology at Hamilton College build a body of knowledge about the forces and influences great and small that shape mind, brain and behavior. In addition, through laboratory work and field studies they learn the scientific method, perhaps the most important means we have of acquiring knowledge. More ...

Academic Program

Research Opportunities

Research is a constant in the life of a psychology major, but it can come in many forms: regular coursework, independent study, the senior project, the Senior Fellowship Program or collaborative summer research with a faculty member. Students and faculty members often co-author papers that are presented at national conferences and published in leading scholarly journals. Such opportunities are available only to graduate students at many other colleges and universities.

Majors interested in applied psychology or the education of students with special needs can spend a semester at the Boston-area New England Center for Children. Here students have the opportunity to work with children with autism under expert supervision. The facility also offers courses in applied behavior analysis. Majors who primary interest is in clinical psychology can choose practical or field placements at local mental health facilities such as the Utica-Marcy Psychiatric Center.


The Senior Program

Each psychology major completes a research project that culminates in a written thesis and an oral presentation. Working closely with a faculty advisor, the student uses the senior project to synthesize and focus previous coursework. Each project is an original work of scholarship that provides an in-depth examination of a particular empirical or theoretical issue. More ...


Resources

The Department of Psychology provides a sophisticated array of equipment for teaching and research purposes. Facilities include computerized laboratories for cognitive psychology, statistical analysis and animal learning studies; a studio for videotaping small-group interactions; and lab apparatus for neuroanatomical research, intracellular and extracellular single-neuron recording, voltage and patch clamping, eye-movement tracking, evoked-potential recording and tactile psychophysics.