Psychology

Program Code: SAC.PSYC.AAT

Program Control Number: 30670

The Associate in Arts in Psychology for Transfer (AA-T) prepares students to move into a curriculum at a four-year institution leading to a baccalaureate degree in psychology. Please consult a counselor regarding specific course requirements for your transfer institution. Completion of the AA-T degree also provides guaranteed admission to the CSU system, although does not guarantee admission to a specific campus or major. Upon completion of the AA-T in Psychology, students will have a general understanding of main psychological theories as they pertain to development, personality, psychological disorders, learning, memory, and social dynamics as well as an understanding of the physiological basis of human behavior. This knowledge base will be grounded in the understanding of basic research methodology. Additionally, students will have the capacity to write and think in a critically analytical way about issues pertaining to human behavior and mental processes.

Completion of the AA-T is appropriate for students whose career plans include helping people, i.e., teaching, social welfare, probation, criminology, nursing, law, or personnel work.

Requirements for all Associate Degrees for Transfer:

1. Completion of 60 semester CSU transferable units.
2. Completion of the California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC). The CSU-GE (California State University General Education Breadth) or IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) pattern may be used in some cases; please see a counselor for details.
3. Obtainment of a minimum grade point average of at least a 2.0 in all CSU transferable coursework.
4. Minimum grade of "C" (or "P") for each course in the major. If the course was taken on a Pass/No Pass basis the "P" must be equal to a "C" or better.
5. Completion of a minimum of 18 semester units in the major or area of emphasis.

Learning Outcome(s):

1. Demonstrate familiarity with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, research methods, core empirical findings, career pathways, and historic trends in psychology.
2. Understand the impact of diversity on psychological research, theory and application, including (but not limited to): age, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, socio-economic status, disability, and sexual orientation.
3. Have an understanding of the relationship between biology and psychological processes as it relates to typical, atypical, and psychopathological behavior and mental processes.
4. Be able to think critically and objectively, problem-solve, and employ the scientific method of inquiry to address psychological questions.
5. Be able to conduct academic research, understand the logic of statistical methods, and determine the validity and relevance of the research literature.
6. Be able to conduct descriptive and inferential statistics on data sets, understand the logic of hypothesis testing and apply this logic to the evaluation and interpretation of research data and findings.
7. Have an understanding of the logic of hypothesis testing and apply this logic to the evaluation and interpretation of research data and findings
8. Be able adequately distinguishing between primary and secondary sources and communicate in writing using the standards and conventions of the American Psychological Association.