The Graduate Program in Social-Personality Psychology is one of four sub-areas of the Psychology Department. The Social-Personality Psychology Program typically provides Ph.D. training for approximately 12 graduate students at a time.

Faculty members represent a wide range of interests in social-personality psychology, making the program at SUNY-Buffalo a particularly rich and diverse intellectual environment. Affiliated faculty add to this intellectual breadth by participating in some Program activities and serving on student committees.

All students enrolled in the Ph.D. program are expected to master social psychological theory and research methodology and to become skilled in the development and dissemination of research. Students tailor their education to fit their own interests and professional goals through the selection of research projects and elective courses.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

As a student progresses through the Program, a number of goals will be achieved. Ours is first and foremost a training program designed to help students become professional psychologists. The substantive core of the program is theory and research. Students are expected to achieve a basic grounding in this field and to develop an ability to think critically about the body of knowledge in their specialty. With this as groundwork, students learn to reason theoretically and develop research projects that help them understand social phenomena in the everyday world. Students get regular feedback about how well they are doing through biannual faculty evaluation meetings which review the progress of each student in the program.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH FACULTY MEMBERS

Students are expected to be engaged in collaborative research with one or more faculty members throughout their graduate career. Each student has a major adviser who they meet with regularly to discuss progress and educational plans. This major adviser will provide regular feedback about the student's progress and may also encourage this student to collaborate with other faculty members to broaden their perspective and training. Students are expected and encouraged to take progressively greater responsibility for developing their own independent research programs. Advisery relationships are set up by mutual consent, in the sense that both the student and the faculty member must agree that the relationship will be productive.

OTHER PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

The faculty and students of the Program meet weekly for a Brown Bag Luncheon. The brownbag is primarily a forum for students, faculty, and outside speakers to discuss ongoing research and/or professional development. The brownbag provides a collegial context for stimulating thinking, widening intellectual exchange, developing presentation skills, and exploring the relevance of social psychology to the problems of our society.

Students and faculty also meet less formally each semester for "Social-Socials" -- potluck get-together at a faculty member's house. Senior students advise more junior students informally through a peer mentoring program.

PROGRESS THROUGH THE PROGRAM

It is possible to finish the Program in four years, although many students stay for five in order to take full advantage of the available opportunities. A four-year program would look more or less as follows.

The First Year

Students select an adviser very early on in the first semester. The Area Chair acts as an intermediary between students and faculty during this selection process. The adviser is the supervisor of the student's first-year research apprenticeship and also advises the student on course requirements, course planning, etc. This is a very important relationship because research is the central focus of the Program, and students are expected to acquire knowledge of relevant literatures and develop laboratory and data analytic skills as early as possible. (A new adviser may be chosen in subsequent years.)

Students also begin taking the courses required for the Ph.D. Advanced Social Psychology (680) is a one semester seminar that reviews in depth the major theories and bodies of knowledge in social psychology. It is coordinated by two faculty members, but other members of the program may guest lecture in their areas of expertise. Other required courses in the first year are Advanced Statistics (607, and part of 608) and Research Methods in Social Psychology (704). Students take one additional course, usually a Psychology Department distribution course or a Program elective. All students are also required to attend the Social Psychology weekly Brown Bag Luncheon series.

The Second Year

The major activity in the second year, in addition to taking courses and the Brown Bag series, is the Second Year Research Project (equivalent of a Master's Thesis), which is a study done in collaboration with the adviser. Most students develop the design for this project toward the end of their first year. They then have it ready to run by early the next fall. The data can be analyzed in the winter and written up in the spring, so the project is completed by the end of the second year. The major responsibility for this project is with the student. Besides working on the second year project, students often link up with other faculty and get engaged in additional research projects. Students also are required to take Psychology 609 (Multivariate Statistics) and may take additional methodology or statistics courses from other departments, such as a data analysis or survey methods course. Second-year students also take more of the Psychology Department distribution courses and Program electives, and begin work on a minor if they so choose.

The Third Year

Over the summer before the third year, it is common for students to do a great deal of reading in order to develop a proposal for their preliminary examination paper, or "prelim." The prelim is a substantive paper which often provides background for choosing a dissertation topic. Coursework is typically completed in the first three years.

The Fourth Year

The fourth year is mainly devoted to the dissertation, but collaborative research continues. Many students teach undergraduate courses in the fourth year. Students should be "junior professionals" at this point, capable of sustaining their own theoretical and research activities and eager to contribute articles and book chapters to the professional literature.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE Ph.D. DEGREE

Residency

The minimum residence requirement for the Ph.D. degree is two years (36 semester credit hours). This should include two semesters of continuous full-time residence taken under the auspices of this institution and not already applied to the residence requirement for the Masters degree. A student who believes he or she can complete the substantive degree requirements in less than the recommended time may petition for relief.

Course Requirements

The following are the minimal course requirements for the Ph.D. in our Program.

1. Required Courses

All students are required to take 607, 608, and 609 (all advanced statistics courses). Students must pass these courses with a grade of B- or better.

All students are also required to take 680 (Advanced Social Psychology I). Students must pass this course with a grade of B or better. Advanced Social Psychology I provides an overview of the field of social psychology.

Students are also required to take Psychology 704 (Research Methods), which covers philosophy of science, experimental and survey methods, and practice in reviewing journal articles. Students must pass this course with a grade of B or better.

2. Program Electives

Beyond required courses, students must take at least five elective courses from those offered by the Program. Because these courses are intended to provide substantive content, practicum or methodology courses cannot be used to fulfill program elective requirements. Some of the courses taught in recent years include courses on personality, emotion, marital relations, self & social cognition in film, group processes, etc.

3. Departmental Distribution Courses

All Ph.D. students in the Psychology Department must take 3 courses from areas other than their major concentration, meaning three courses from three of the following areas: Clinical, Cognitive, and Behavioral Neuroscience.

Feel free to contact us with further questions or for a copy of the official Program Guide which details program, departmental, research and teaching assistantship responsibilities.