'Remember they’re playing for the love of the game’
A former Big Red star himself, women’s ice hockey coach and A&S alum Doug Derraugh ’91 has led the squad to five ECAC championships.
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In the Department of Psychology we focus on the investigation of behavior and its cognitive, neural and hormonal underpinnings in the full range of environmental situations. Our strengths lie in four broadly defined areas of development, cognition, neuroscience, and social and personality psychology. We develop and conduct theoretical and translational research to advance health and well-being.
Currently, we offer two majors and minors for undergraduate students. The Psychology major and minor are offered through the College of Arts & Sciences while the Human Development major and minor are offered through the College of Human Ecology. We also offer graduate degrees in the field of Psychology through the College of Arts and Sciences and the field of Human Development through the College of Human Ecology.
Explore the Department
Born at Cornell, embraced by policymakers
Cornell University helped pioneer the collaborative field of behavioral economics, where economists and psychologists work side by side to uncover how human behavior drives decision-making in markets and beyond.
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Department News
2025 Year in Review
In 2025, Cornell produced cutting-edge AI research, inaugurated a president and advanced agriculture and sustainability. The university’s faculty, staff, students and alumni made the world a better place, welcomed back two Nobel laureate alumni and conducted research that matters.
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From better sleep to stronger communities: The benefits of gratitude
Gratitude not only makes you feel good, but it helps you live up to your best self and be a better member of society, psychology professor Thomas Gilovich has found.
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Celebrating the journey with our December A&S grads
December graduates walk the stage this month, so we sat down for a talk with three A&S grads who’ve taken different pathways through Cornell.
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Cornell Center for Social Sciences awards fall grants targeting $50M in external research support
The Cornell Center for Social Sciences offers multiple grants to help Cornell faculty maximize their research impact. These awards help seed ambitious projects and provide support to teams of faculty applying to major external funding and collaboration opportunities.
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Grants to support research at nexus of AI, climate science
New grant funding will support eight research projects seeking to reduce AI’s energy use and integrate AI in environmental research.
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Nexus Scholar alumni profile: Jacqueline Allen ’23
"I got a taste of what neuroscience research is really like."
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Right or left, low-quality news links popular on social media
The spread of dubious headlines on social media isn’t just a right-wing thing – it's a social media thing, according to new research from psychology professor David Rand ’04.
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Preparing undergraduate students for the future of psychological research and practice
Undergraduate students develop critical thinking skills, emphasizing the foundational nature of the science of psychology.
Learn at the nexus of graduate level scientific inquiry
The Department of Psychology embraces multidisciplinary and translational research and graduate training, viewing psychology as a “hub science” at the nexus of many other areas of scientific inquiry.
A cross disciplinary approach to research
The Department of Psychology embraces a “big tent” approach to methods, techniques and analysis that can be used to expand the frontiers of psychological science.