台大心理系

Introduction：

The Department of Psychology at NTU was established in 1949 as the first psychology department in Taiwan. It has since evolved into the most prominent psychology department in the country. The Master program was established in 1961, and the Ph.D. program was set up in 1971. The department has 3 divisions and 7 programs: Abnormal and Clinical Psychology Program in the Abnormal and Clinical Psychology Division; Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Program, Psychobiology Program, and Developmental Psychology Program in the Basic Psychology Division; and Personality and Social Psychology Program, Industrial/ Organizational Program, and Psychometrics Program in the Cultural, Social and Differential Psychology Division.

Members：

Presently (the 104 academic year), the faculty of the Department is composed of 41 experienced full-time faculties and 23 part-time faculties.

Full-time:
Professors: 25 (including 2 Honorary Professors and 5 Joint Professors)／Associate Professors: 9 (including 2 Joint Associate Professors)／Assistant Professors: 9 (including 4 Joint Assistant Professors)

Part-time:
Professors: 4／Associate Professors: 2／Assistant Professors: 3／Faculty Specialists: 14

Administration Assistants: 3
Undergraduate students: 267
Graduate students: 193

Courses：

Required Undergraduate Courses

Psychology is the scientific study of human mind.

1.General Knowledge

Science: Calculus, General Chemistry or General Physics, General Biology.
Humanities and Society: Cultural Anthropology or Introductory Sociology.

2. Required Core Courses

Freshman

General Psychology
Statistics in Psychology and Education

Sophomore

Method of Psychological Experiment
Psychological Testing
Psychology of Personality
Developmental Psychology

Junior

Perceptual Psychology
Human Learning and Cognition
Physiological Psychology
Social Psychology
Abnormal Psychology

3. Elective course

After completing all required courses, students can choose various electives, including clinical, industrial and commercial courses. The Department encourages students to take elective courses outside of the department to establish a broader base of knowledge. Students interested in the academic field should be join Departmental research projects and seminars during their Senior year.

Undergraduate students are required to enroll in courses in methodology and in major fields of general psychology over a three-year period. In their fourth year, students are encouraged to select courses on a variety of topics in preparation for graduate study or their chosen career path.

Required Graduate Courses

The department offers master’s and doctoral programs in various fields of psychology. Students pursuing a master’s degree are required to develop skills in research methodology and to acquire knowledge in their area of concentration during their first year. During their second year, students are expected to take special topics courses and conduct research to fulfill their thesis requirement. Doctoral candidates are encouraged to learn about topics related to their program of research, to conduct original independent research, and to publish their work in scholarly journals. In addition, master’s students in the Clinical program must fulfill a one-year internship.

Facilities：

Occupying a total floor space of 5,386 square meters, the department has a full range of facilities located across two buildings. There are computer labs, an auditorium, psychobiology laboratories and animal rooms, playrooms and observational booths, experimental laboratories, and research sections. In addition, the department owns a collection of approximately 300 psychological tests used to measure individual characteristics such as intelligence, personality, and aptitude across a wide range of domains.

Approximately 300 pieces of laboratory equipment are available for scientific research, including the following: four-field T-scope, vision and perception equipment, eye tracking system, image processing analyzer, a fully equipped video facility for observation and production, human physiology monitoring system, stereotaxic instrument, neurophysiology equipment, HPLC with electrochemical detector, in vivo microdialysis equipment, microscope, computer-controlled operant conditioning system and startle system, and sensory-motor response assessment systems. Recent efforts include the utilization of a functional magnetic resonance image system for interdisciplinary projects on campus to explore brain activities related to specific cognitive processes.

Careers and Further Studies：

■ Further studies

Bachelor’s degree students may pursue graduate programs in Psychology, Physiology, Neuroscience, Behavioral Medicine, Criminology, and Business Administration and Management.

■ Career options
(1)
While there is not one particular profession tailored to students with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, but there are lots of professional fields that need employees with training and background in psychology. With a Bachelor of Psychology and interests and knowledge in psychology, students are suited for work in a range of career paths, including (but not limited to) marketing research, product promotion, advertising, human resources and training, materials-medical research and development, and academic support.

(2)
For M.Phil / Ph. D., Degree in Psychology-
Most graduates of the M.Phil. and Ph. D., programs enter scientific and research work. Other graduates join the following fields:

a. Graduate students of the Psychobiology program: materials-medical research and development, and academic instruction.

b. Graduate students of the Psychometrics program: marketing research, survey research, academic instruction.

c. Graduate students of the Industrial / Organizational program: human resources and training, marketing, administration and management, architect of advertising.

d. Graduate students of the Cognitive and Developmental programs: academic instruction (especially in pre graduate programs for Graduate students in the Developmental program)

(3)
For M.S. / Ph. D., Degree in Clinical Psychology-
Most graduate students of this program enter hospitals as clinical psychologists. Others become teachers, join government agencies (e.g., Bureau of Health), or serve as counselors in foundations.

Future：

In the late 20th Century, psychology research developed two new directions. Psychology first closely integrated with life sciences to explore the biological action of emotion and consciousness. It has also been studied from the system level to the molecular and genetic levels. As technology and theory progressed over the years, the brain became a new field to explore the mind and more evidence showed that mental activity and brain structure have reinforced each other. Emerging interdisciplinary research such as Cognitive Neuroscience, Affective Neuroscience and Social Neuroscience will eventually dominate the 21st century.

The other direction of psychology reserach is to resume the emphasis on the impact of culture on mental functioning. European and American thinking dominated the development of psychology for over 100 years. As the field matures, an increasing number of psychologists became interested in studying psychology from different cultural contexts. While culture is formed by mental activity, it also affects mental functioning as both exist within an intertwined relationship. Understanding the mental processes beyond the common operations of the culture, as influenced by culture, has become the focus of psychological research.

Both psychological trends seem to diverge from one another. One leans towards life sciences while the other is to humanities and social sciences. These two academic development shows that mind science has the potential to link culture and life functions. In another words, the exploration of psychological process will build a bridge to narrow the gap between material and spiritual. “Culture, Mind and Life” will be the main concept of mind science. Although the three concepts are considered to be independent among each other, more and more evidence show that culture and life, and life and mind have the co-evolution of a close relationship. Faced with this development, the expectation of the Department of Psychology is to link the Chinese culture with life phenomenon through research in Chinese mind activity.

Through the years, psychology has fallen under the department of Humanities and Social Science of the National Science Council; the College of Science at National Taiwan University, and is the third category of group during entrance examinations. This illustrates the diversity of psychology. We welcome students interested in life science to join us. We also encourage students in the humanities and social classes to apply to the Department of Psychology. In the 21st century, the department of psychology will train up student the research capability in the commonality of mind, life and the culture, to making them to contribute to psychological academic development, social services and human civilization.