MA in General Psychology

Entering students work with an individual faculty advisor. This advisor, together with the departmental student advisor, introduces them to the curriculum as a whole and helps them to formulate the program that best suits their interests and needs. Students have access to a wide range of courses across The New School for Social Research to satisfy the elective requirements beyond the core required courses in general psychology.

Students in the MA program have the option to pursue a concentration in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling, which satisfies the academic requirements to later qualify as a licensed substance abuse counselor.

• Curriculum Details

  A full account of degree requirements and procedures is contained in the Psychology departmental handbook (PDF).

  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. 

• Subject Area: Applied Psychology and Design

  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.

  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 Applied Psychology and Design subject area. Students can select coursework that provides conceptual knowledge, research methods and statistical skills they can use to collaborate successfully with designers, data scientists, coders, and more. Coursework in Applied Psychology & Design provides students with access to 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 & Design, offered each fall, provides a launchpad for additional work in this subject area. In this course, students review 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 inform 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.

  Deeper connection with the theoretical and empirical foundations that have informed 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, for example in social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, psychopathology, global mental health, political psychology, or 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.

  Available courses in Fall 2020 in both foundational and adjacent areas include:

  • Introduction to Applied Psychology and Design
  • Visual Perception and Cognition
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Introduction to Statistics and Research Design
  • Research Methods
  • Qualitative Methods in Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Collective Memory
  • Adult Psychopathology
  • Race, Culture, Classification
  • Moral Psychology  
  • Advanced Political and Social Psychology
  • Child and Adolescent Global Mental Health

  Students interested in exploring courses in the Applied Psychology & Design subject area are advised to meet with professor of psychology Michael Schober, with whom they can discuss how best to plan their MA experience within and beyond the classroom to help meet their longer-term aspirations. 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.

• Subject Area: Global Mental Health

  Mental health issues are an urgent public health concern and the leading cause of disability worldwide. But major gaps persist in access to culturally relevant treatments, especially in low-resourced contexts. MA Psychology students can deepen their understanding of the innovations and challenges involved in working toward mental health equity by taking related courses, conducting research in the Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab, and pursuing field experiences.

  Specialized courses seek to provide students with a broad, interdisciplinary understanding of how mental health scholars and practitioners are developing and implementing treatments and prevention programs that can be delivered and scaled up in diverse contexts. Recent courses offered include Global Mental Health, Child and Adolescent Global Mental Health, Community Psychology, and Culture and Social Cognition.

  Faculty and students at the Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab investigate the identification of mental health issues as well as the development and implementation of novel interventions that can reduce barriers to care in low-resourced contexts. Current research focuses on refugee mental health and psychosocial support, hospital-based mental health detection and prevention, human rights and global mental health, and laboratory-based work.

  Students are advised to meet with associate professor of psychology Adam Brown to discuss how to best tailor these opportunities to their specific interests, including identifying volunteer field experiences, and how to ensure that they are adequately prepared to undertake them.

  This subject area is an informal path within the MA in Psychology and does not appear on students' transcripts or diplomas.

• Continuation to a PhD

  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.