What is the difference between Psychology and Family Studies (FAMS) in the School of Education?
There is overlap between the two programs, especially in the area of child development, and many majors in one program take courses in the other. There are major differences, however. One difference is that Psychology is broader in scope, encompassing fields such as neuroscience, genetics and cognition. FAMS focuses more on the family/relational context of human development. Psychology is more science and research oriented while FAMS takes a more practical, applied approach, especially on marital and family issues. Both programs can feed into certain graduate training programs such as social work, marriage and family counseling and agency counseling. Other graduate programs, such as school psychology, clinical or counseling psychology are more likely to prefer a psychology major. Interested students should take courses in both to see which program better suits their interests and career goals.
