Mission Statement

The Department of Educational Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin is dedicated to the advancement and application of knowledge about human behavior, especially in relation to education in the broadest sense. Professional training in educational psychology relates human behavior to the educational process as it occurs in the home, schools, peer groups, nursery through graduate school, business and industry, military and in a myriad of other settings. In so doing, it includes study in the following areas:

• biological bases of behavior;
• history and systems of psychology and of education;
• psychology of learning, motivation, cognition, and instruction;
• human development and education (developmental, personality, and social psychology);
• psychological and educational measurement, statistics, evaluation, and research methodology;
• professional areas of school and counseling psychology.

Special interests include computer applications to learning and instruction, psychometrics, and processing and analysis of data in psychological and educational research. Advanced degrees in Educational Psychology will qualify students as university and college teachers, counseling and school psychologists, program evaluators, and psychological researchers in educational and counseling environments, as well as provide them with the skills necessary to fill a variety of roles in other settings in which knowledge of human development, learning theory, research and evaluation methods, and personality is essential. The degree programs are designed to provide students with a scientific background relevant to making psychological contributions to the field of education.