MA General Psychology

A full account of degree requirements and procedures is contained in the Psychology student handbook.

To earn the MA in General Psychology, a student must complete a total of 30 credits with a minimum grade point average of 3.0.

A written master's thesis is not required, unless a student is applying to PhD studies in Psychology at NSSR. Students who intend to go on to a PhD program must demonstrate knowledge of elementary statistics, either by passing an exemption examination or by passing the basic statistics course.

A maximum of three graduate credits taken at another university may be granted toward the credit requirement for the master's degree. Twenty-seven credits must be completed at The New School for Social Research.

Research MA Track
This program gives students planning to apply for PhD studies an intensive research experience working one-on-one with a member of the faculty. A student can apply for the Research Track after finishing at least 18 credits but not more than 24 credits. Applicants must have at least a 3.7 GPA if applying to the PhD in Cognitive, Social, and Developmental Psychology and a 3.5 if applying to the PhD in Clinical Psychology. Prospective PhD students must maintain this average until completion of the MA. 

Each student works closely with an individual faculty member on an empirical research project, writes an MA thesis based on the project, and defends the thesis in an oral examination. Research track students are only exempt from the Research Methods course if they register for an Independent Study with their faculty advisor and the independent study is entered on the student's transcript as Research Methods. Students who take the Research Methods course learn from their peers and from their instructor about the range of research work being undertaken in the Psychology Department. 

For decades, psychologists have applied their research methods to solving big problems in design and creating more user-friendly objects, interfaces, and environments. In addition to advancing design and improving people’s daily experience, applied psychology research has led to new advances in understanding the basic nature of human cognition and behavior.

Now, as people become more deeply connected with technology—and as that technology itself becomes more complex—the need for psychologically informed design that is both culturally and contextually appropriate is becoming more urgent. How should findings about individual and cultural variation in cognition, emotion, or behavior shape design processes and outcomes? How could psychological evaluation techniques be used to improve the next generation of interfaces in a world of increasingly hybrid and remote interaction?

Psychology MA students have a unique opportunity to tailor their studies to connect with the growing field of user experience research and design by taking courses in the Applied Psychology and Design subject area. Students can select coursework that provides conceptual knowledge and training in research methods and statistical skills they can use to collaborate successfully with designers, data scientists, coders, and others. 

Coursework in Applied Psychology and Design provides students with opportunities for hands-on collaborative work with designers and designers in training at Parsons School of Design. Students will engage with critical questions about the ethical treatment of humans—both research participants in the design process and the eventual users of what is being designed—and about the broader social systems in which psychologically informed design is embedded.

Introduction to Applied Psychology and Design, offered each fall, provides a launchpad for additional work in this subject area. In this course, students learn how theories of human perception, cognition, and interaction have informed human factors and ergonomics and how attention to the psychology of individual capacities, along with environmental and social factors, can shape design. They also encounter widely used lab and field research methods, including task analysis, usability testing, experimental design, and observational and self-report measures of users’ experience, cognition, and affect.

A deeper connection with the theoretical and empirical foundations of human factors work is available through coursework in cognitive psychology, visual perception, psycholinguistics, and statistical methods and research design. Other courses can provide expertise in adjacent areas of psychology that can inform applied psychology and design, such as social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, psychopathology, global mental health, political psychology, and qualitative methods. And studio-based courses co-taught with Parsons School of Design, like Visualizing Uncertainty, can provide concrete experience in collaborative project-based design work that includes assessment of user experience.

The Applied Psychology and Design subject area is designed to fit into the standard two-year window of the MA in Psychology, although part-time options are available. The program is 30 credits, with seven required classes and options for three electives.

Available courses in the 2023–2024 academic year in both foundational and adjacent areas include:

Fall 2023

• Introduction to Applied Psychology and Design GPSY 5158*
• Introduction to Statistics and Research Design GPSY 6133*
• Visual Perception and Cognition GPSY 5102
• Cognitive Neuroscience GPSY 6101*
• Language and Thought GPSY 6107
• Developmental Psychology GPSY 6155*
• Adult Psychopathology GPSY 5155*
• Research Methods GPSY 6238
• Child and Adolescent Global Mental Health GPSY 6446*
• Game Design as Play Design PGTE 5500

Spring 2024

• ​I​​ntroduction to Cognitive Psychology GPSY 5110*
• ​Social Psychology GPSY 5120*
• Global Mental Health GPSY 6436
• ​Research Methods GPSY 6238
• A History of Interface PSAM 5703
• ​Development and Psychopathology GPSY 6281*
• ​Moral Psychology GPSY 6438
• Visualizing Uncertainty GPSY 6422 
• Visual Design Concepts PSAM 5856
  *Indicates a class that can be used to fulfill a core requirement. All others can fulfill elective requirements.
  
  Students interested in the Applied Psychology and Design subject area are advised to meet with psychology professor Michael Schober, with whom they can discuss how best to plan their MA experience in and beyond the classroom to fulfill their longer-term aspirations. Students are also encouraged to attend conferences and explore memberships in relevant associations such as the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society (HFES), Computer Human Interaction (CHI), IEEE, and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), as well as psychology societies such as APS, the Society for Applied Research on Memory and Cognition (SARMAC), and the Cognitive Science Society.

Although this subject area currently constitutes an informal path within the Psychology MA and does not appear on students' transcripts or diplomas, the faculty will work with students to help them connect what they learn with their professional goals.

Students who complete a master's degree in psychology at The New School are not automatically advanced into a PhD program. Acceptance to doctoral study requires separate application. Students matriculated in the MA program in the Department of Psychology may apply to continue study toward the PhD in Clinical Psychology or the PhD in Cognitive, Social, and Developmental Psychology as soon as they have registered for 30 credits. Learn more in the Psychology student handbook.

The sequential Bachelor's-Master's (BAMA) program allows qualified New School undergraduate students to complete two degrees in as little as five years while saving up to 75 percent on tuition costs. Through the program, students delve deep into subjects they care about, gain expertise early on in their education, and improve their job prospects with a graduate degree.

Every Master of Arts program at NSSR is paired with related New School bachelor’s programs, with established pathways and timelines for students to earn both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The following undergraduate programs are paired with the NSSR Psychology MA program:

• Liberal Arts (BA or BS) through Lang or BPATS
• Psychology (BA) through Lang or BPATS

To learn more, visit the Bachelor’s-Master’s program page. Interested undergraduates should talk with their undergraduate advisors about specific BAMA requirements for their programs and application information and deadlines.