What are the Guidelines?
APA released the latest version of the Guidelines for the Undergraduate Major in Psychologyopens in new window (version 3.0) in 2023. What exactly is this document and why should students care?
Have you ever wondered how the faculty at your college or university decided what courses you should take to complete the psychology major and what should be included in each course? As faculty, we start that process by identifying what we think you should know and be able to do by the time you finish your degree. Then, we make decisions about the curriculum (meaning the courses you take and what is included in those courses) so that our students graduate with the knowledge and skills that we think psychology majors should learn. This process also entails the sequence of courses that we think will work best to produce optimal performance.
At most colleges and universities in the U.S., psychology faculty refer to guidance from our largest professional association, APA, to make these decisions. This guidance comes in the form of the Guidelines, first published in 2007, and then revised in 2013. The current version identifies five goal areas:
- Content knowledge and applications
- Scientific inquiry and critical thinking
- Values in psychological science
- Communication, psychological literacy, and technology skills
- Personal and professional development
The goal areas emphasize categories of general skills that graduating psychology majors should be able to perform. Each goal contains more specific student learning outcomes that should be acquired through the major. For example, under the first goal area of content knowledge and applications is outcome 1.4, “Apply psychological content to solve practical problems.” Even more specifically, each outcome contains indicators, such as 1.4C, “Evaluate how psychological factors interact to influence health.” Indicators offer suggestions about how students might achieve an outcome.
The Guidelines have been instrumental in how many psychology programs approach the design of the major. Your faculty may refer to the Guidelines as they make decisions about degree structure. But as a student, familiarity with this document can directly help you in several ways.
How the Guidelines can help psychology students
Know what you need to know
If you know where you are trying to go, it is much easier to get there! Knowing what you should be able to do upon graduation will help you focus your efforts along the way. What your instructors want you to learn may be “hiding in plain sight” in your institution’s course catalog and course syllabus. Faculty often list learning objectives that spell out content to be covered or student learning outcomes that make explicit what skills you will learn in the course. Examine these listings closely; you will find many connections to the goals, outcomes, and indicators in the Guidelines. When you are struggling with a challenging assignment, consider what skills the assignment may help you to achieve or refine. Knowing what you need to know can serve as your recipe for success in life.
Identify your strengths and weaknesses
Like all humans, psychology students can have blind spots about their own capabilities. They may not be aware that they have “superpowers” that students in other majors may lack. Becoming familiar with the goals, outcomes, and indicators in the Guidelines allows you to focus on the unique skill set that you are developing, identifying areas where you may need to put in extra effort to meet expectations. For example, undergraduate students often lament that they have difficulties in time management. Goal 5 (personal and professional development) includes self-regulation and project management skills, which assists in managing complex projects. Once you have identified an area that needs improvement, then you should seek out opportunities to practice and improve those skills.
Show what you know
Chances are you will eventually want to obtain meaningful and rewarding employment. You will need to communicate your abilities to potential employers. Having a better grasp of what you can do as a psychology degree holder will help you identify promising job opportunities. The Guidelines can definitely assist you to become more articulate in describing who you are and how you might contribute to the organization. Think of specific examples of how you have demonstrated those skills during your major to illustrate your potential value to a prospective employer.
To assist with this important conversation, the Guidelines document contains a list of attributes (characteristics) related to each goal area. You can use these attributes as you revise your job application materials and think about how to respond to interview questions. For example, some attributes under Goal 5 include being “adaptable” and “dependable.” Can you provide evidence to employers that you have developed those traits, perhaps in working on a semester-long group project? If you can, you will impress potential employers. Your faculty may also mention specific attributes corresponding to the Guidelines to capture your potential in letters of recommendation.
Understand your degree
As you have probably experienced already, many people do not really understand what a psychology major entails, let alone recognize the value of the degree. As noted in the Guidelines, psychology “empowers people from all backgrounds to make a difference in their lives and communities” (APA, 2023, p. 3). The Guidelines provide a clear and specific picture of what you can expect in pursuing the major. Consequently, the document is a great resource to help you decide whether psychology is the right major for you. Further, if the major is the right one for you, having the big picture of what the psychology major is about, in a broader sense, can help you manage the many misperceptions you may encounter about the major’s value. A clear understanding about the psychology major should not only confirm the wisdom of your choice of major, but also help you become an ambassador for psychology. You will be able to explain to your friends and family members what psychology majors know and do, as well as why you want to be a part of a discipline that empowers people to make a difference.
Concluding thoughts
We believe that it is worth finding out what your faculty want you to learn and that the Guidelines can help you in that regard. The most successful students reflect on what they are learning and identify the areas in which they need to put in more effort. We encourage you to talk about the Guidelines with your instructors; we predict that they will be pleased to know that you are thinking about your learning process. The expectations that your faculty have for you, as represented by the Guidelines, are ambitious and impressive. Take pride in knowing that you have chosen a challenging major that will prepare you well for a versatile and vibrant professional life after graduation.
References
American Psychological Association. (2023). Guidelines for the undergraduate psychology major: Version. 3.0. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/undergraduate-psychology-major.pdfopens in new window
About the authors
Jane S. Halonen is a professor of psychology at the University of West Florida, where she also served as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for a decade. Her most recent research and consulting emphases have been in assessment, assisting good departments to become great ones, and trying to help legislators and others with serious misconceptions about psychology understand the true nature of discipline. Current publications of interest include the third edition of The Psychology Major’s Companion: How to Get You Where You Want to Go, with Dana Dunn, and the Critical Thinking Companion for Introductory Psychology, co-authored with Cynthia Gray, both books published by Worth. Halonen also co-authors advice columns with Dana Dunn on academic challenges for the Chronicle of Higher Education. She has been involved over the course of her career with helping APA develop guidelines or standards of academic performance from high school through graduate levels of education, including chairing three different task forces addressing APA’s undergraduate guidelines. She served as the chief reader for Psychology Advanced Placement Reading from 2004–2009. In 2000, she was named the Distinguished Teaching Award winner by the American Psychological Foundation. APA named her an Eminent Woman in Psychology in 2003. In 2013, she won the BEA Award for Distinguished Contributions of Applications of Psychology to Education and Training. The Society for the Teaching of Psychology named the early career award in her honor as a tribute to her mentoring of generations of psychology teachers at all levels. In 2019, she was named a Distinguished Member of Psi Chi.
David S. Kreiner is a professor of psychological science at the University of Central Missouri, where he has been on the faculty since 1990. He earned a BA in psychology and a PhD in human experimental psychology, both from the University of Texas at Austin. He teaches General (Intro.) Psychology, Research Design & Analysis I and II, Cognitive Psychology, and a capstone course, History of Psychology. His research interests include cognitive psychology, particularly in language processing and memory, as well as research on the teaching of psychology. He is active in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology and has been involved in a number of endeavors related to teaching. He is currently an associate editor for the APA journal, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, and is a member of APA’s Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education (CABE).
