About Program
The curriculum in the psychology undergraduate program is intended to bring the students in analytical thinking skills and to provide them with a strong base of core topics, methods, approaches, and practices of psychology science. Besides the basic courses on the main subfields of psychology, such as social, developmental, experimental, and clinical psychology, the program includes courses on research knowledge and skills (Research Methods, Psychometrics, Statistics, and Applications of Software Package for Statistical Analyses), and the ability to work in the field (Applied and Professional Areas in Psychology, Special Education, Psychological Testing, Crisis Intervention Techniques). There are also various elective courses like Trauma Psychology, Family Therapy Approaches, Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination, and Information Processing, so that the students can make their choices in accordance with their interests in the field. Through the four-year undergraduate study period, the students do their internships in different applied fields of psychology (clinical, forensic, industrial and organizational psychology).
The variety of departments contained in Faculty of Letters is another advantage for the students, in terms of non-departmental elective courses. The students take electives mainly from Sociology and Philosophy, and also Anthropology, History, and Linguistics, and attain an opportunity to conduct interdisciplinary studies. In addition, the dissertation conducted by each student under the supervision of the professors of the department functions as a preparatory study for the graduate programs in terms of determining the orientation and interests of the students.
Goals
The basic mission of the department of Psychology is to train qualified psychologists who are able to utilize the knowledge of contemporary psychology for the benefit of society and humanity as well as who are self-confident, creative, sensitive to the social issues, and aware of his / her abilities and limitations. Based on this mission, we aim to provide our students with scientific thinking, efficient expression of knowledge of psychology, basic level of knowledge in significant concepts, theories, approaches, practices, and ethical principles in psychology; basic skills and experiences in research design, data collection, interpretation, and reporting, at the graduation level, through departmental and non-departmental courses and faculty-student interactions. Furthermore, training qualified scholars who can take on significant roles in the development of psychology as a science both in our country and worldwide is another mission. These young scholars are supported by the professors of our department to take part in the academic community as competent and independent scientists capable of developing scientific thought forms, making distinguishing observations congruent with their specialization, designing sophisticated research, evaluating the findings based on the related theories, and developing innovative projects. Through the courses in our undergraduate curriculum, it is aimed at giving an education including the necessary details in accordance with the basic concepts and methods of contemporary psychology; encouraging our students’ interests and curiosity about human behaviour, mind, and experiences; developing critical thinking and reasoning skills. Through this education, our students are trained as individuals who are capable of designing research, collecting data, interpreting and reporting the findings of the psychology studies; formulating research questions and hypotheses; defining the concepts operationally; producing research questions in the scope of subfields of psychology; acting within the ethical constraints at the undergraduate level.
Summary of Program Outcomes
It is aimed at bringing the students in basic knowledge about psychological concepts, theories, approaches, and applications in different fields of psychology; knowledge and skills in research methods and statistics; basic skills in having a scientific viewpoint; and knowledge, skills, and competence in ethical principles and values. In summary, in accordance with the above mentioned acquisitions, the program intends to train the students to improve objective, unbiased, systematic thinking ability, and academic competency; gain sensitivity about social, individual, and developmental differences, and ethical issues; and become competent in psychological tests and applied fields.