The psychology department at Macalester College seeks to foster a scientific approach to the study of behavior and experience. The department offers a broad curriculum to serve both those students who will later do graduate work in psychology or related fields and those who intend to terminate their formal education with the bachelor's degree.Students who plan to continue their study are prepared for graduate degree programs leading to college teaching and research or to professional applications in such fields as personnel/human resources, industrial/organizational psychology, behavioral neuroscience, counseling, school psychology, social work, and clinical practice on an independent basis or in such agencies as mental health clinics and treatment centers for the mentally ill.

Whether or not the student intends to continue her or his formal education in psychology, she/he encounters a broad course of study in which emphasis is placed upon the application of scientific method to the complex problems of human behavior.

The psychology curriculum is designed to provide access to a broad array of psychological information for students with general interests in the field and also to provide for majors an intensive common experience with the methods of investigation and conceptual analysis as well as the areas of application which are most characteristic of contemporary psychology. Laboratory activity, observation in non-laboratory environments, internships and independent projects supplement the curriculum, and students are encouraged to use these opportunities wherever possible in their educational program.