History

The history of the Department of Psychology at Wake Forest begins with the College's self-study of 1955 in which it was recommended that the joint Department of Psychology and Philosophy be divided into separate departments. The decision to separate the two departments, which had occurred in many universities in the 1920s and 1930s, had been delayed at Wake Forest primarily due to the broad training and interests of Dr. A. C. Reid, the long-time chairman of the joint department. Dr. Reid had studied with E. B. Titchener, one of the leading American psychologists of that era. Titchener himself had been a student of Wilhelm Wundt, who established the first psychological laboratory in Germany in 1879, and who is generally considered to be the founder of modern scientific psychology.

On April 26, 1957, the Board of Trustees voted to divide the joint department during the 1957-58 year, and implementation of the psychology program was begun during the spring of 1958 when Dr. John Frederick Dashiell came to Wake Forest as acting chairman of the department. During the year 1958-59, Dashiell began teaching courses in introductory and developmental psychology, assisted by Dr. Pascal Strong of the medical school who taught courses in abnormal psychology and statistics. Among other duties, Dashiell recruited the first continuing faculty members of the new department: John E. Williams, who had been on the faculty at the University of Richmond, and Robert C. Beck, who had recently completed his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois.

The first year of full operation of the new department was 1959-60. Dashiell and Beck had full-time teaching appointments while Williams divided his time between the department and the newly-organized Center for Psychological Services (now the University Counseling Center), of which he was Director. The physical facilities of the department consisted of one large office in Reynolda Hall (Room 209), Room 11 in the basement of Kitchin Dormitory which was used as a classroom-laboratory for experimental psychology, and rooms on the plaza level of Efird Hall. Psychology classes were taught in Room 20 in Reynolda Hall until the occupancy of Winston Hall in 1961.

The years 1960-1963 saw a continuation of the development of new programs. David A. Hills, who had just completed the Ph.D. at the University of Iowa, joined the faculty, and Dr. Williams was appointed chair of the department. Dashiell was replaced by Robert H. Dufort in 1961. David Catron and Jack Hicks were hired as new faculty members in 1963.

The curriculum in 1960 emphasized empirical knowledge about behavioral processes and the methodology for acquiring such knowledge. The basic requirements for all majors included courses in introductory psychology, experimental psychology, statistics, and, after 1962, history and systems. Statistics and experimental psychology were combined into a single, year-long, sequence (Psychology 311-312) called Experimental and Quantitative Methods in Psychology. These courses were later renamed Research Methods in Psychology (I & 2), and continue to provide the backbone for critical thinking and analysis skills within the major.

Winston Hall was occupied in 1961 and the department was allocated $40,000 for equipping the psychology labs in the new building. The department was also authorized to begin an honors program and to offer graduate work at the Master's level as soon as funds were available. Graduate work in psychology began in the fall of 1964 with the implementation of a general, research-oriented Master's program. From 1966 through 2000, the department awarded Master's degrees to over 314 students, 66% of whom have gone on to doctoral work at other institutions.

During the 1960s and 70s, minor changes were made in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum as individual courses were added or deleted and the honors curriculum implemented. By the early 70s, the faculty felt a need for a major study of the curriculum to reflect changes within the field of psychology and in the department.

In the curriculum, instituted in 1975, students were required to take Introductory Psychology, Research Methods in Psychology, History and Systems and one advanced course from each of two groups: Research in Personality, Research in Social Psychology, and Psychological Testing (subsequently, Research in Child Development was added); and Learning, Motivation, Perception, and Physiological (Cognition was added in 1986 and Animal Behavior was added in 1999). The earlier course in Experimental and Quantitative Methods was broadened to include more emphasis on non-experimental research and the name was changed to Research Methods in Psychology. In addition, to add flexibility to the curriculum, a series of modular, "topics"courses was added.In October, 1999, following the completion of the construction of Greene Hall, the department moved into state-of-the-art laboratory, classroom, and office space. Greene Hall has provided new research and teaching opportunities for faculty and students.

The department is currently made up of 17 full-time faculty, 11 part-time faculty, approximately 157 junior and senior undergraduate majors, 18 junior and senior undergraduate Honors students, and 19 graduate students. In February 2006, the Department of Psychology adopted a new curriculum. Under the new curriculum, students will continue to take Introductory Psychology, Research Methods in Psychology (311 and 312) and Contemporary Issues in Psychology (392). While students were previously required to take courses from three different groups of courses, under the new curriculum, students will take one course from two groups (Group A – 320, 326, 329, 331, 333, and 338; Group B – 341, 351, 355, 362, and 374).