APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology …

APA GUIDELINES

for the Undergraduate

Psychology Major

VERSION 3.0

Empowering People to Make a Difference

in Their Lives and Communities

APA BOARD OF EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS TASK FORCE

ON PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR COMPETENCIES

APPROVED BY APA COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 2023

A M ER ICA N PSYCHOLOGICA L A SSOCI ATI O N

G U I D E L I N E S F O R T H E U N D E R G R A D U AT E P S Y C H O L O G Y M A J O R

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Copyright ? 2023 by the American Psychological Association. This material may be reproduced and distributed without permission provided that

acknowledgment is given to the American Psychological Association. This material may not be reprinted, translated, or distributed electronically without

prior permission in writing from the publisher. For permission, contact APA, Rights and Permissions, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242.

Suggested Citation



II

A M ER ICA N P SYCHOLOGICA L A SSOCIATION

G U I D E L I N E S F O R T H E U N D E R G R A D U AT E P S Y C H O L O G Y M A J O R

APA GUIDELINES

for the Undergraduate

Psychology Major

VERSION 3.0

Empowering People to Make a Difference

in Their Lives and Communities

APPROVED BY APA COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 2023

APA Board of Educational Affairs Task Force

on Psychology Major Competencies (2023)

Jane S. Halonen (Chair)

University of West Florida

Susan A. Nolan

Seton Hall University

Dana S. Dunn

Moravian University

Aaron S. Richmond

Metropolitan State University of Denver

David S. Kreiner

University of Central Missouri

Jaclyn Ronquillo-Adachi

Cerritos College

Ladonna Lewis

Glendale Community College

Jerry Rudmann

Irvine Valley College

Jasmine A. Mena

Bucknell University

Michael Stoloff

James Madison University

Karen Z. Naufel

Georgia Southern University

Jennifer L. W. Thompson

University of Maryland Global Campus

Garth Neufeld

Cascadia College

APA Staff Liaisons

Martha Boenau

Susan Orsillo

TA BLE OF CONTENTS

Vision and Mission

3

Executive Summary

3

Context4

Framework for Guidelines 3.06

Guiding Principles for 3.0

22

Summary of Changes and Improvements from Guidelines 2.026

Putting the Guidelines into Action

27

Articulation with Related APA Documents

42

Assessment Resources

44

References47

Appendices: A Roster of Other Useful APA Documents

2

A M E R ICA N P SYC HOLOGICA L A SSOCIATION

53

G U I D E L I N E S F O R T H E U N D E R G R A D U AT E P S Y C H O L O G Y M A J O R

VISI ON AND MI S SIO N

Vision

Psychological science will be recognized as a high-impact undergraduate major that empowers people from all

backgrounds to make a difference in their lives and communities.

Mission

To provide a comprehensive revision of the national recommendations regarding the knowledge and skills that

undergraduate psychology majors should acquire at the associate and baccalaureate levels of study in undergraduate psychological science programs. The APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major 3.0 (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines 3.0) is designed to foster collaborative discussions in psychological science

programs based on recommendations that reflect state-of-the-science curricular and assessment planning in

psychology. Our charge from the American Psychological Association¡¯s Board of Educational Affairs was to

anticipate the ways that the Guidelines 3.0 revision needed to reflect changes in culture and context to prepare

undergraduates who will function optimally prepared for contemporary life.

EX ECUTI V E S UMMARY

The APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major 3.0 capture a set of optimal expectations for performance by undergraduates engaged in the study of psychological science. This document builds on two decades

of experience with the American Psychological Association¡¯s (APA) support of undergraduate psychology

departments and programs for establishing such expectations. APA practice dictates that existing policies need

to be revisited and potentially revised every 10 years. This effort represents the second revision of work that

was originally approved in 2006.

Guidelines 3.0 specifies five broad educational goals and corresponding student learning outcomes that

outline reasonable program expectations for the undergraduate psychology major across educational contexts.

Indicators of progress on student learning outcomes represent two levels of development. ¡°Foundation¡± indicators roughly represent progress that students may be expected to make midway through the major. As such,

the outcomes may be helpful for psychological science programs at the two-year level or the psychology minor

in a four-year program. ¡°Baccalaureate¡± indicators represent an appropriate endpoint for the completion of the

major. The progression describes expectations for how a student would undertake the journey of a novice in the

discipline to the status of a reasonably informed and skilled undergraduate student on the completion of a

four-year program.

The tradition in publication of earlier Guidelines was to be aspirational and positive rather than prescriptive

in tone, a tradition we continue in Guidelines 3.0. Given that psychology programs face unprecedented demands

in higher education today for accountability data to document high-quality educational programming, the Guidelines provide a solid foundation on which psychology educators may engage in effective curricular and assessment planning. Faculty collaboration may produce distinctive programs that integrate local institutional and

program-level missions in the context of recommended national practices, as represented by Guidelines 3.0.

A M ER ICA N PSYCHOLOGICA L A SSO CI ATI O N

G U I D E L I N E S F O R T H E U N D E R G R A D U AT E P S Y C H O L O G Y M A J O R

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