Course Requirements for S-I/O Doctoral Students
Several core Psychology courses are designated by the Department. All graduate students in the Department must complete three of them. See the Psychology Department Graduate Student Manual for a full listing of qualifying courses.
Students gain a basic understanding of Social and Industrial/Organizational Psychology as well as Quantitative Methods by completing a set of core courses that are common to all students in the area. These courses must be completed prior to completing the Ph.D.:
- PSYC 616 Organizational Psychology
- PSYC 620 Experimental Social Psychology
- PSYC 604 Analysis of Variance
- PSYC 605 Research Ethics and Professional Issues in Organizations
- PSYC 606 Regression
- PSYC 607 Psychometrics
Each student’s focus determines the remainder of their coursework. Students complete an additional three courses in their major area of emphasis, one in their minor area, and one in tools/quantitative methods. Here are examples of elective courses in each of the subfields:
Social Elective Courses
- PSYC 613 Evolutionary Psychology
- PSYC 621 Small Group Behavior
- PSYC 624 Attitude Change
- PSYC 625 Social Cognition
- PSYC 626 The Social Self
- PSYC 631 Motivation
- PSYC 670E Social Neuroscience
- PSYC 671J Seminar in Social Psychology
Industrial/Organizational Elective Courses
- PSYC 615 Personnel Psychology
- PSYC 617 Individual Assessment within Organizational Settings
- PSYC 619 Psychology of Organizational Development and Training
- PSYC 623 Occupational Health Psychology
- PSYC 652 Practicum in I/O Psychology
- PSYC 671J Performance Appraisals
Quantitative Methods and Tools Courses (or equivalents from other departments)
- PSYC 618 Evaluation Research (in preparation)
- PSYC 710 Multivariate Statistics
- PSYC 712 Structural Equation Modeling
- PSYC 714 Meta-Analysis
- PSYC 671J Multi-Level Modeling
Additional Ph.D. Requirements
Students are STRONGLY encouraged to go well beyond the minimums and take as much coursework as they can so that they become as knowledgeable as possible. This includes tools/quantitative methods courses.After completing the M.A., students must acquire Ph.D. candidacy to continue toward the Ph.D. degree. Successful candidacy requirements include:
- Completion of the M.A. degree
- Passing the candidacy exam (end of third year in program)
- Sustained research activities beyond the degree-bearing projects
- A positive vote by area faculty
Program Director
Lisa M. Finkelstein
815-753-0439
lisaf@niu.edu
Psychology/Computer Science Building 571