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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.
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.
Click here to read more about the impact of our behavioral economics research
Psychology researcher Jordan Wylie and colleagues found that artistic excellence, rather than moral excellence, offers greater access to one’s true self, in part because aesthetic pursuits are seen as less rule-bound.
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Two new papers – with experiments conducted in four countries – demonstrate that chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs) are quite effective at political persuasion, moving opposition voters’ preferences by 10 percentage points or more in many cases.
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Launching Jan. 27 with three episodes, “Research Matters” spotlights Cornell scholars whose research directly engages with real-world challenges, from climate change and public safety to mental health.
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The next time you visit Ithaca, check out exhibits on Chimes history, astronomical instruments, historical keyboards and so much more
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We can improvise new sentences so readily, language scientists believe, because we have acquired mental representations of the patterns of language that allow us to combine words into sentences.
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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 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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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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Undergraduate students develop critical thinking skills, emphasizing the foundational nature of the science of psychology.
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.
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.