Psychology Major Requirements

You can find the 2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog for Psychology here.

REQUIRED COURSES:

You must complete all of the following courses:

• PSY 101 - Introduction to Psychology
• PSY 200 - A Major’s Guide to Psychology at CSU
• PSY 217 - Behavioral Science Statistics: Description or STA 145 or STA 147 or SOC 354 or OSM/BUS 201 
• PSY 317 - Behavioral Science Statistics: Inference or STA 347 or OSM 202 
• PSY 312 - Research Methods
• PSY 412 - Psychology Laboratory or PSY 415 - Evaluating Psychological Research
• PSY 499 - Exit Evaluation

CORE COURSES: So that you will be exposed to a broad range of topic areas in psychology, you must take courses that are distributed across the five core areas listed below. You must complete at least one course from each of the following five core areas. Additional core courses that you take beyond this minimum will count toward the ‘elective' requirement described in the next section.

Psychological Health Core

• PSY 345 - Abnormal Psychology
• PSY 353 - Health Psychology

Social/Personality Core

• PSY 339 - Social Psychology
• PSY 342 - Psychology of Personality

Perception and Cognition Core

• PSY 368 - Perceptual Processes
• PSY 372 - Memory and Cognition

Neuroscience Core

• PSY 482 - Biological Basis of Behavior
• PSY 487 - Brain and Cognition

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Core

• PSY 255 - Psychology of Women and Gender
• PSY 356 - Multicultural Psychology

ELECTIVE COURSES: Eleven additional credit hours (typically four courses) of any courses offered by the Psychology Department, including additional Core courses that you are not using to meet the Core requirements.

NOTE: For a course to count toward the Psychology major, you must earn a C or better.

What are "catalog rights"?

The requirements for a psychology major or minor depend on what the University calls your "catalog rights", which are labeled according to a particular semester and year. Generally, your catalog rights are for the semester and year in which you entered Cleveland State University. (For example, typically, a student who enters the University in Fall, 2023, has "Fall Semester 2023 catalog rights".)

You can find the semester of your catalog rights by getting a degree audit report in CampusNet. 

The requirements for any set of catalog rights are specified in the University's Undergraduate Catalog, which is published once per year. For example, the major, minor, general education, and other academic requirements published in the 2023-2024 catalog specify the expectations of students with Fall 2023 Semester catalog rights, Spring 2024 Semester catalog rights, and Summer 2024 Semester catalog rights.

There are three reasons for which your catalog rights might change:

1. You may, at any time, elect to have the catalog rights of a newer catalog. For example, if you have Fall 2022 Semester catalog rights but would prefer to complete the requirements specified in the 2023-2024 catalog, you may choose to change.
2. If you stop taking classes at CSU for a year or more, you lose your previous catalog rights and are assigned the catalog rights (and obligations) of the semester in which you return to the University.
3. If you leave CSU to attend another institution—even for a semester—and then return to CSU, you will have lost your catalog rights. When you return, you will be assigned the catalog rights (and obligations) of the semester in which you return. (This does NOT apply to students who travel abroad for a semester or who take a summer class or two at another university; it applies only to people who officially become students of another university.) If you are a CSU student who intends to take courses at another institution, before doing so you should consult an advisor in the COAS Advising Office (BH 221, 216-687-9321).