In response to increasing student interest in expanding psychology curriculum, DigiPen has approved a new Psychology minor. Any degree-seeking undergraduate student may apply for the 15-credit, five-course minor once they have reached sophomore status or higher.
“Over the last several years, students across many of our degree programs have requested more and more psychology classes,” says Dr. Vanessa Hemovich, Associate Professor of Psychology and Assistant Dean of Faculty Development, who led the creation of the new minor. “As the popularity of these classes has increased, the addition of the Psychology minor made sense for those who would like to continue to explore how psychology applies to game design. Developing a robust understanding of making good games is difficult to do without thorough consideration for human behavioral factors, attitudes, perception, motivation, prior experience, and abilities.”
Students will only need to complete the introductory PSY 101 course to begin exploring the many newer psychology courses that were developed alongside the minor, including Fundamentals of Psychological Research (PSY 209), Cognitive Psychology (PSY 201), Social Psychology (PSY 210), and rotating PSY 399: Special Topics classes on subjects like aggression and violence, parapsychology, and more.
The lack of more stringent pre-requisites for higher-level psychology courses was a conscious decision in creating the minor, one Hemovich says was made “so that students would have more agency to take the classes they feel fit best with the direction of their degree and areas of interest.”
More psychology courses are under development for the future as well. Current students interested in the new Psychology minor should contact their Student Success Advisor to formally apply.