- Applicants for licensure shall have completed a doctoral program in psychology accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) unless the program meets any of the exceptions provided in Board Rules 575:10-1-2.
- As outlined in the Rules, all doctoral programs shall meet all of the following criteria:
- Wherever it may be administratively housed, must be clearly identified and labeled as a psychology program. Such program must specify in pertinent institutional catalogs and brochures its intent to educate and train psychologists.
- The psychology program must stand as a recognizable coherent organizational entity within the institution.
- There must be clear authority and primary responsibility for the core and specialty areas whether or not the program cuts across administrative lines.
- The program must be an integrated, organized sequence of study.
- The program must have an identifiable psychology faculty and a psychologist responsible for the program.
- The program must have an identifiable body of students who are matriculated in that program for a degree.
- All doctoral programs submitted for review will be evaluated by the following criteria:
Except in school psychology, the three academic years leading to the doctoral degree must include a minimum of two years of full-time, on campus, graduate study (excluding internship). In school psychology, the three academic years leading to the doctoral degree must include a minimum of one year of full-time, on campus, postmaster’s graduate study as defined by the institution (excluding internship).
At least forty-two (42) hours of the specified course work must be primarily psychological in content. The applicant must have a minimum of three (3) or more graduate semester hours in each of the following substantive content areas, for a total of twenty-one (21) hours:
- (A) scientific and professional ethics and standards,
- (B) research design and methodology,
- (C) statistics and psychometrics,
- (D) biological bases of behavior [e.g. physiological psychology, comparative psychology, neuropsychology, sensation, psychopharmacology].
- (E) cognitive-affective bases of behavior [e.g. learning, memory, perception, cognition, thinking, motivation, emotion].
- (F) social bases of behavior [e.g. social psychology, cultural, ethnic, and group processes, sex roles, organization and systems theory], and
- (G) individual behavior [e.g. personality theory, human development, individual differences, abnormal psychology]
The remaining twenty-one (21) hours of specified course work may be in the foregoing basic areas or in courses pertaining to the specific program of study.
* REFER TO THE PSYCHOLOGISTS LICENSING ACT AND BOARD RULES TO ENSURE YOU MEET ALL REQUIREMENTS