As a charter member of the Graduate Faculty, the Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer recognized the centrality of psychology to the new institution and quickly built a Psychology department with a worldwide reputation for excellence, focusing on empirical approaches to the study of psychology. The addition of a Clinical Psychology program in the 1970s has not altered the department’s strong commitment to treating psychology as the “science of mental life.” At present, every attempt is made to encourage an interdisciplinary approach to psychological issues and promote cross-fertilization between the Clinical and Cognitive, Social & Developmental Psychology programs. The resulting interaction prepares future clinicians with a strong training in therapeutic practice while also supplying them with sophisticated research skills. Spanning work in the areas of cognitive, social, and developmental psychology as well as in cognitive neuroscience, the general area includes a special focus on issues of context and culture and on questions of cultural diversity.

By promoting cross-fertilization between its Clinical and General Psychology programs, the Psychology department provides students with both breadth and depth of training. Some faculty members pursue experimental research; some maintain active clinical practices. The department continues the pioneering spirit of such distinguished former faculty as Leon Festinger, Jerome Bruner, Hans Wallach, Irving Rock, Kurt Goldstein, Serge Moscovici, and Solomon Asch.