Psychology
More Than Just the Scientific Study of Behavior, Psychology is an Intriguing & Potentially Lucrative Profession
Psychologists study how a person's ways of doing things – their cognitive, emotional, and social processes – affect and are affected by their environment and other people. As a Psychology major, you’ll balance the scientific aspects of psychology with the application of that science to issues affecting all of us.
Catawba College offers two distinct degree programs in Psychology in order to meet the needs of undergraduate students who desire various career paths and educational opportunities after earning their undergraduate degree. The Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology prepares students for graduate work and the work world, and is a great choice for students interested in a broader education in psychology, who are pursuing a dual degree in other areas, or who are interested in pairing their major with a counseling minor. The Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology emphasizes either the various aspects of biology, chemistry, and other natural sciences pertaining to the human body and brain (biological sciences concentration) or the interrelations among health, biology, and human behavior (human health concentration).
At Catawba, you develop and refine skills and behaviors needed for today's jobs in and related to psychology, and even for jobs that don't yet exist. While thinking critically about ethical issues and debates as well as working collaboratively on research tasks are vitally important to a successful Psychology major, so are:
- Developing hands-on methods of communicating scientific information
- Writing clearly and concisely on technical and complex topics
- Accurately collecting data and making evidence-based analysis of those data
- Drawing useful and accurate conclusions
Our goal is to help you acquire the generalized skills, traits, and qualitative knowledge you’ll need to be competitive in the workforce.
Program Highlights
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Research
As a culminating experience, conduct psychology research, travel, and present it at regional conferences as a part of several classes you will take as a Psychology major.
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Integrative Experience
All Psychology students must complete an integrative experience to graduate. You can complete research you present at a conference, an internship, or both.
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The Psychology Degree Program
Thanks to the flexibility built into the BA in Psychology degree program at Catawba College, students learn the multiple facets of Psychology while in the midst of a strong liberal arts curriculum.
Camantha-Rea Lyerly '22 Psychology MajorI transferred to Catawba in the middle of my freshman year because I heard the Psychology department was amazing! I chose Psychology as my major because knowing why people are the way they are intrigues me. I am planning on pursuing a career in speech pathology, which was inspired by my nephew who has autism.
Program Details
Study Abroad Experiences in Psychology
Study Abroad Experiences in Psychology
The Catawba College Cross-Cultural Psychology course recently took students to Puerto Rico to see how the lingering recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria are still affecting this U.S. territory and its residents.
Other multidisciplinary courses offered recently that paired Psychology faculty with their peers in another academic program include Neurodiversity, team-taught by Psychology and Theatre Arts, and Death and Dying, team-taught by Psychology and English.
Research Experiences in Psychology
There is no college that provides research opportunities to its students as Catawba College does, especially in the Psychology Department. All Psychology degree seekers at Catawba have completed at least one research project and more than three-quarters of them have presented their research at a convention.
Catawba College Psychology majors have won conference travel grants and financial awards for their projects and their papers presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and Southeastern Psychological Association annual conferences. These Catawba students have also published research in peer-review journals, including “Social Behavior and Research” and “Journal of Cognitive Behavior.”
Research topics explored by students pursuing a B.A. in Psychology at Catawba include:
- “Do Job Types of Job Behaviors Prime Self- and Other Perceptions?”
- “How Social Status Influences Use of ‘Affect Language’ on Instagram”
- “Negative Emotion and Bias as a Function of Small Spaces”
- “Can Space Constraints Influence Implicit Egotism Through Name-Letter Matching?”
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Net Price Calculator
Estimate your share of college costs and how much financial aid you may be eligible to receive
Our calculator is designed to give you an early indication of what type of financial aid you may qualify for if you were attending Catawba College as a first-year, transfer, online, or graduate student.
Outcomes
Outcomes
Jobs - Recent entry-level positions include:
- Director, Shepherd's Clinic
- Assertive Treatment Counselor, Carolina Outreach
- Child Life Specialist program director
- Employee Assistance Re-Entry Coord., Food Lion
- Victim's Witness Advocate
- Clinical Research Coordinator, Accellecare
- Grant Writer, AppSped
- Case Counselor, Earn-to-Learn
- Play Therapist, Partners in Learning
- Lab Manager - NC State University Psychology Lab
- Teacher - Rowan Public Schools
- Human Resources - Park Bee International
- Outreach Specialist - Foster Children Program, Philadelphia PA
Graduate Schools - Our Psychology alumni have been accepted into the following grad schools:
- Catawba College Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- Citadel – M.A. Counseling
- Alto University, Sweden
- University of Maastricht
- North Carolina State University ESL MA
- Nova Southeastern PsyD Program
- UNC-Chapel Hill
- Duke University Divinity School
- UNC-Charlotte PhD Program in Clinical Health Psychology
- LaSalle University PsyD Program
- Campbell University
- UNC - Greensboro Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- Winston-Salem State Mental Health Administration
- Bournemouth University MS Health Psychology
Catawba College Psychology Professor Dr. Diana K. Riser is the lead author on the publication of Lifespan Development, a comprehensive, peer-reviewed open-education resource (OER) textbook that provides an in-depth exploration of human development across all stages of life. Riser’s decade-long experience in teaching human development played a pivotal role in shaping the resource, which will be freely accessible to students and educators globally.
Catawba College is proud to announce the establishment of the Lynn Jones ’74 and Jim Moore ’74 Endowed Scholarship Fund. This generous endowment, initiated by Jim Moore with an inaugural gift, commemorates the couple’s 50th college reunion and honors the memory of Lynn Jones Moore, a beloved member of the class of 1974.
Dr. Sheila Brownlow, professor of Psychology at Catawba College, was selected to receive the Southeastern Psychological Association's 2024 Mentor Award.
