Welcome to the Psychology Department at UMBC! Psychology is an exciting discipline and at UMBC, students can share and participate in that excitement! The University of Maryland Baltimore County's Psychology Department provides an exceptional opportunity for students to see how basic laboratory research can be translated into treatments, interventions, and policies that improve the quality of life. Interested undergraduates work with internationally recognized researchers at the cutting edge of science. In recent years, students have participated in studies of such issues as the neurological basis of laughter and yawning, how rats and people regulate eating, how infants "bond" to their parents, how nonhuman species learn complex tasks, the relations between behavior and heart disease, and what society can do to foster social and academic success of disadvantaged youth.

Thinking about majoring in Psychology?

Students choose to major in psychology for many different reasons. Some students see the psychology major as the first step towards a career as a psychologist and plan to continue their studies in graduate school. Other students choose psychology because it fits into their more immediate occupational plans; majoring in psychology is a good way to start a career in social work as well as many other social service and public sector professions. Psychology is also often a first step toward careers in advertising, business, civil service, personnel/human relations, public relations or any other field that includes extensive work with people. Many psychology majors go on to law or medical school. Finally, many students major in psychology just because it is interesting and fun. (If you ask your instructors, you are likely to find most of them started in psychology because they simply enjoy psychology!) You may have chosen psychology for any one of these reasons, or for some combination of reasons; UMBC's psychology major is flexible and designed to meet your needs. Whatever your personal and/or professional reasons, we welcome you to UMBC's Psychology Department and look forward to working with you.