Are you curious about the relationship between video games and violent children? Do you suspect that computers and road rage might be connected? Well, if you’re intrigued by these ideas, consider a major in Experimental Psychology. As an Experimental Psychology major, your main concern will be research. Topics of research are limitless—they’re bounded only by your imagination and curiosity. Students often work with one or more faculty members on research projects, but as your experience grows, many programs will give you the opportunity to begin projects of your own choosing. In all cases, you’ll be involved with conceptualizing the experiment, designing it, running it, and, eventually, documenting and analyzing your findings. In addition to your research, Experimental Psychology will also expose you to the world of psychology in general. You might take courses in cognitive psych, social psych, biology, chemistry, child psych, or any number of other fields. Once you learn the basics of each psychological field, you’ll be able to design relevant and valuable experiments, and you’ll begin to see what your research and the research of psychologists from the past and present contribute to the discipline.

Preparation

If your high school offers any psychology courses, taking them would be a great way to learn the basics of the field—the kinds of stuff you’ll learn in Psych 101. Other science courses, such as chemistry and biology, will be valuable, as will math courses—especially statistics. Since you’ll be doing a lot of research, hone your reading and writing skills so you can write up your findings in impressive papers.