Social / Personality Psychology - Master

The Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon offers graduate training in both basic and applied domains of social and personality psychology. Research interests of faculty include: power and status hierarchies; decision making, emotion, and risk perception; emotion regulation; the psychology of religion; self-regulation and goal pursuit; structure, development, and change dynamics of personality attributes and belief systems; attitudes, values, and moral sentiments; social comparison and the self; interpersonal perception in social interactions; group dynamics; perspective taking and related social cognitive processes; and psychology and the law. Under the guidance of faculty advisors, each student can flexibly tailor his or her own graduate program, making the social and personality psychology program a distinctive training experience for each graduate student. Although students are required to take a small core of formal classes, most graduate training occurs in close, informal interactions with one or more faculty members. Students and faculty in the program also gather as a group on a regular basis to discuss their research. Students are encouraged to take advantage of departmental, university, and other institutional resources outside the social/personality area. Students regularly work with faculty in other areas of psychology, and some members of the area (faculty and students) participate in the Institute for Cognitive & Decision Sciences – an interdisciplinary institute that brings together scholars from diverse fields. Students have also been involved in Eugene-area research institutes such as Decision Research, Oregon Research Institute, and the Oregon Social Learning Center. Graduates of the social and personality Ph.D. program have gone on to become post-doctoral fellows, tenure-track academic faculty, or independent scientists at research institutes and private-sector organizations.