Student studying in Burling library with ear buds in

Psychology

From the personal to the global, the biggest challenges need psychology to solve them.

Humans sit at the intersection of molecules, biology, our social environments, and broader cultures. As a psychology major, you work closely with peers and professors to learn how these systems interact to help explain human behavior. Starting in your first course, you will learn to think and communicate like a psychological scientist, and you will design and conduct research throughout our hands-on and lab-based curriculum. Because psychology is naturally interdisciplinary, you will solve problems that intersect across traditional disciplinary bounds. Finally, you will learn to give psychology away to help solve those challenges both locally and globally.

Studying psychology, you learn how to read texts closely, design and conduct laboratory research and use related technology, and analyze and interpret statistics. In courses you investigate the natural science and principles of behavior and learn how to ethically apply them to alleviate suffering. You can also participate in the Psychology Student Seminar Series, independent study, and internships. Majors can go on to graduate studies or careers in teaching, scientific research, clinical work, medicine, law, and more.

Why Study Psychology?

  • Students in psychology class

    Research Opportunities

    Put theory into practice with hands-on lab experiences.

    Starting with your first psychology course, you will learn to think and communicate like a psychological scientist. In Grinnell’s hands-on, lab-based curriculum, you will design and conduct research while gaining experience with the methods and ethical responsibilities of research. You’ll have the chance to work in a laboratory, a behavioral neuroscience suite with a contiguous animal colony, and a freestanding preschool that offers an ongoing curriculum in parallel with its laboratory function — and these are just a few of the laboratory course areas Grinnell offers.

  • Students laugh in psychology class

    Interdisciplinary Study

    Combine your interests and discover new ones.

    Because psychology is naturally interdisciplinary, you will solve problems that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. The requirements of a psychology major will leave time in your schedule for courses in science, social studies, and the humanities. You’ll be encouraged to discover the natural connections between psychology and many other disciplines and the creative thinking that grows out of multidisciplinary competence.

  • psychology poster session

    Career Opportunities

    A liberal arts education prepares you for a variety of fields.

    Situated in the liberal arts environment, the psychology curriculum will empower you with the tools for mindful inquiry. You’ll learn how to read texts closely, design and conduct laboratory research, and analyze and interpret statistics. A psychology education includes preparation beyond career paths toward helping individuals solve interpersonal challenges ranging from local to global. You’ll graduate with a well-rounded education, prepared for a variety of professional careers — almost all the major challenge we face as a society involve human behavior.

Featured Courses

A woman in a green turtleneck and glasses looks intently off camera. In the foreground are the backs of students.

The Psychology of Collective Action

The Psychology of Collective Action course takes students through readings by psychologists alongside work by those scholars in a range of disciplines and activists involved in social organizing and collective action — the likes of Malcom X and the Combahee River Collective.

Developmental psychology class

Science in the Service of Children

Developmental Psychology (PSY 233) brings together hands-on learning with reading and classroom discussion to study how children’s growing brains, minds, emotions, and behavior from the earliest point of life through adolescence interact with their experiences to make us who we are today.

child plays soccer with caregiver at preschool playground

An Innovative Approach to Psychology

Learn to think like a psychologist. Discover how to ask good questions (as all Grinnellians do) about the cognitive, behavioral, and social processes you study and turn these questions (and the answers) into productive hypotheses and theories and to evaluate research evidence.

Alumni Spotlight

Nhi Vo in a beautiful garden

Nhi Võ ’22: A Passion to Help Others

Nhi Võ came to Grinnell with a desire to learn about resilience and recovery after trauma. She left with an enhanced understanding of her life experiences and a store of knowledge with the potential to take her farther than she had ever imagined.
Miho Tatsuki poses with her research poster

Miho Tatsuki ’20: Fascinated by Psychology

International student Miho Tatsuki discovered a passion for research at Grinnell College.
Sarah Beisner presents research poster

Learning to "Ask Answerable Questions"

Truman Scholar Sarah Beisner ’22 is contributing to the greater good by focusing on the needs of children in the welfare system.

Department News

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Academic Excellence

Four Grinnellians Win ACM Grants

Four Grinnell faculty and staff recently received Faculty Career Enhancement (FaCE) awards from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest.
Students giving check to adults in office

Psi Chi Chapter Donates $500 to Grinnell Area Mental Health Consortium – JPK Fund

Psi Chi's mission is to recognize and promote excellence in the science and application of psychology. As an international honor society, Psi Chi aims to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in scholarship among its members across various fields, particularly psychology, while advancing the science of psychology itself. 
A black fence in front of a New York City skyline, made up of tall modern buildings.
Academic Excellence

Digital Technology in the Field of Neuropsychology

The International Honor Society in Psychology, Psi Chi, awarded Andrea Suazo Rivas ’24 a grant to conduct research on digital cognitive assessment surveys.

Psychology Career Outcomes

First Destinations

  • 67% Employment
  • 25% Graduate School
  • 1% Post-Graduate Service
  • 1% Fellowships
  • 3% Continuing Education
  • 4% Other

Employment

97%
Positions related to Career Goals

Positions Related to Career Goals

This graph illustrates the extent to which our graduates' first job is aligned with their career goals. It's one thing to find a job; it's an entirely different thing to land the job you want!

Employer

  • Center on the Ecology of Early Development
  • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Fairview Hospital
  • Psychological Counseling Services
  • University of Chicago
  • UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital
  • UTHealth Houston

Graduate Schools

95%
95% Accepted to 1st- or 2nd- choice programs

Graduate School Acceptance Info

Of those who applied to and were accepted to at least one program, this chart illustrates the percentage of admitted students who were accepted to either their first or second choice program and institution.

Institutions

  • Columbia University
  • Loyola University Chicago
  • Northwestern University
  • University of Minnesota
  • Vanderbilt University
  • Western University of Health Sciences
Explore More Graduate Outcomes

Faculty Chair

Nancy L Rempel-Clower

Contact Information

Phone
641-269-3172
Fax
641-269-4984

Noyce Science Center
1116 Eighth Ave
Grinnell, IA 50112
United States

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