POPULARITY OF PSYCHOLOGY

If we seek an explanation for the rapid growth of this department of instruction, at least two facts must be understood. In the first place, under the old curriculum, psychology could be counted only as an optional course. Few candidates for the B.S. degree ever took the offered courses. But since, under the new curriculum, only the A.B. degree is offered, psychology may be counted as one of the two social sciences which each student must elect from a list of six. This, however, does not account for the increased number of students who make psychology their subject of major interest, or who take considerable advanced work. It may be assumed that these men are attracted by the nature of the material presented. The elementary courses state basic principles, with some sound physiology, fundamental psychological analysis, and controlled experimental data to give weight. The higher courses offer a more complete survey of these same facts, together with an historical background and an appreciation of the problems in the study of man by himself.

More specifically, the more advanced courses offered in recent years include the following: For those who major in psychology it is felt that a year's study of the techniques and applications of mental measurement is profitable. Methods of improving techniques of study and of teaching are considered. Another semester is spent in developing the concept of a quantitative measuring device, the statistical method. These courses are required for major students in the junior year. Further, a thorough grounding in the facts of the human nervous system and how its functions give us the ultimate basis for a scientific study of human behavior, is coupled with a semester's study of fundamental problems centering about the nature of learning and the puzzle of human motivation. The emphasis, here, is very strongly that of biological science.

In the senior year, major students are given an analysis of the history of psychology as a science, and an appreciation of the schools and trends of modernday thought. The problems which the new science of psychology faces are here discussed. Two optional courses are selected; and beginning with this year, a co-ordinating course is given to all major students in psychology, in an attempt to bring the various points of view to a clear focus.