Psychology is the science of behavior while neuroscience focuses on the structure and function of the nervous system. They are intertwined fields of study since neurological dysfunction can impact behavior.
Psychology is a fundamental component of a liberal arts education. Individuals who have majored or minored in psychology at UWM have found employment in a wide variety of occupations in business, education, and the social services or have gone on to graduate or professional school.
While many undergraduates aspire to a career in counseling, therapy or direct client care, many find a different passion and way to apply their degree after graduation. Careers in human resources, corporate training, marketing, sales, fundraising, and user experience design are alternatives that draw heavily on knowledge about human behavior and decision-making.
Undergraduates who earn a master’s or doctoral degree go on to careers as licensed professional counselors, social workers, clinical psychologists, school psychologists, and other professions providing direct client services. UWM’s graduate programs within the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences are focused on health psychology (terminal master’s) or clinical psychology (PhD). Other units at UWM offer related master’s programs for careers as a school counselor, a licensed professional counselor (LPC), or a social worker.
Our courses in psychology provide an understanding of the social and biological bases of behavior, proficiency in scientific methods and statistics, knowledge of the factors influencing behavior, insight into the applicability of psychological principles to everyday problems. It also includes familiarity with many core areas of knowledge, including:
- conditioning and learning
- personality
- social behavior
- psychopathology and therapy
- human development
- health
- stress and coping
- gender
- race and ethnicity
- sensation and perception
- language
- memory
- individual differences
Our courses in neuroscience cross over between psychology, biology, chemistry and physics and serve as excellent preparation for graduate programs such as medical school or other life sciences. There are many undergraduate research opportunities in neuroscience.
The neurosciences faculty hold multiple prestigious grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other foundations to explore important questions about molecular signaling and neural development; hormonal control of behavior and reproduction; and the neurobiology of memory and cognition in humans and laboratory animals. While we do not offer a graduate degree in neuroscience, students can apply to the master’s or doctoral program in biology or psychology and focus their work on neuroscience topics. Applicants should choose the program that has faculty members with research that aligns with their own and identify possible mentors.
