Social Program PhD Requirements
Curriculum
The curriculum is designed to provide students with a solid grounding in social psychology, research methodology, and statistics. It is reviewed periodically by the core faculty and modified when necessary.
Core Courses
Students are normally required to satisfactorily complete a course on basic research methods in social psychology as well as the four core courses offered on attitudes, small group processes, social perception and cognition, and intergroup relations. Students will normally complete these courses during their first two years in the program.
Statistics Courses
Students are expected to take at least three graduate-level courses in statistics. These courses should be selected to ensure that students gain a thorough knowledge of analysis of variance and correlation/regression techniques. Students are also encouraged to acquire skills in such areas as nonparametric statistics, causal modeling, factor analysis, and psychometrics. At least one statistics course should be taken during the student's first year in the program.
Advanced Courses and Seminars
Before obtaining the PhD, students are required to take at least two additional courses and/or seminars to deepen and expand their knowledge. Students can take courses offered by social psychology faculty, by other psychology department faculty, or by faculty in other departments. Such courses are normally graduate level classes.
Selection of such courses/seminars should be done in consultation with the student's advisor. Each student should meet regularly with his or her advisor to develop and monitor an individualized course of study appropriate to the student's goals and needs.
Master's Thesis
Normally during the second year of graduate study, the student, in consultation with his or her advisor, submits a tentative list of three committee members to the core faculty of the Social Program.
After the committee is approved by the core faculty, the student submits a proposal for an empirical research project (15 pages maximum, excluding references) to committee members. The committee then meets with the student to discuss the proposal. After the proposal is approved and the research is completed, the student distributes a written report to committee members. This report resembles a journal article in length and format.
The final report is defended orally before the committee. The MS degree is not awarded until the student has completed the Social Program core courses and at least two graduate statistics courses.
Specialty Paper
After the MS degree is obtained and normally during the third year of graduate study, the student, in consultation with his or her advisor, submits a tentative list of three committee members to the core faculty of the program.
After the committee is approved, the student submits a proposal (10 pages maximum, excluding references) to committee members, who then meet with the student to evaluate the proposal and perhaps ask for modifications. The goal of the paper is to critically review and theoretically integrate work addressing an important issue in social psychology. After the proposal is accepted, the student has four months to complete the paper (60 pages maximum, including references). The student is expected to work independently.
When the paper is finished, the student meets with the committee to discuss it. Committee options include accepting the paper as is, requesting a revision, or failing the paper (failure does not occur unless the student has had at least one opportunity to revise the paper). The committee may or may not ask the student to orally defend revised papers.
Doctoral Dissertation
After completion of the specialty paper and its approval by the faculty, normally during the third year of graduate study, the student, in consultation with his or her advisor, submits a tentative list of four committee members to the core faculty of the Social Program.
All committee members must be on the graduate faculty, and three committee members should hold primary appointments in the Department of Psychology. One committee member must hold a primary appointment in another department at Pitt or another university. The committee must meet at least once in each calendar year.
The rest of the procedure is identical to that for the Master's thesis, except that the prospectus and final document can be longer. Departmental regulations require that the doctoral degree be granted within three calendar years after successful completion of the specialty paper. Students who fail to meet this deadline must complete another specialty paper.
Undergraduate Teaching
Each student must assume responsibility for teaching an undergraduate course sometime during his or her graduate career. This teaching is conducted and evaluated according to departmental guidelines.
Research Experience
Students are expected to become strongly involved in research soon after entering the program and to sustain this involvement throughout their graduate careers. Research training is done under the supervision of program faculty, and students are expected to do research with at least two program faculty before graduation.
Professionalization
Students meet frequently with their advisors to discuss current and future research; in many cases, such meetings involve other faculty and students working on related problems.
Students are encouraged to present papers at scientific meetings and to submit papers to professional journals. Finally, meetings of all program faculty and students are held to discuss research progress and plans, to debate theoretical issues, to hear about the work of investigators outside the Social Program, and to discuss career development issues of relevance to students.
Evaluation
The performance and progress of students is normally evaluated by the core faculty in the spring of each year. Students are asked to provide information about their work during the past year and their plans for the coming year.
Student evaluations are based on the quality of the student's research and the student's potential for making a contribution to the field, as well as the student's rate of progress toward the PhD, course work, involvement in the intellectual life of the Social Program and University, and teaching. Following the evaluation, the student is sent a written evaluation of his or her past work and plans for the future.
Job Opportunities and Placement
After graduation, students are employed in a variety of settings that demand strong research skills in social psychology. These settings include universities and colleges, applied research institutes, businesses, and governmental agencies.