Psychology Major

The psychology program at Bryn Athyn College offers a unique emphasis on spiritual and theistic approaches to understanding human behavior. The program covers both abnormalities as well as the healthy development of the mind, helping students comprehend the complex and varied range of human experience. Students consider questions about conscience, moral development, and free will.

Program Strengths

The psychology major at Bryn Athyn gives students opportunities to explore and integrate secular and spiritual perspectives in psychology.

Our program gives students a Swedenborgian perspective on human behavior, the mind, spiritual development, examining questions about conscience, moral development, and free will. The program covers both abnormalities and the flourishing mind, and the professors help students to find, describe, explain, and predict mental functions.

The program includes supportive requirements in sociology, anthropology, biology, and religion, and provides students with opportunities for internships in the field as early as freshman year.

Hands-On Learning

Psychology majors are given many opportunities for hands on learning. Projects may include opportunities to work under psychologists at nearby clinics, assisting with social skills training programs for autistic children, and working with individuals with memory problems. Psychology internships place students under the supervision of various types of psychologists working in the field, so students experience real-world psychology well before graduation.

Meet the Major Head

Dr. Erica G. Hyatt, Assistant Professor of Psychology

BA, McGill University
MBE, MSW, DSW, University of Pennsylvania

“Dr. Erica”, as she is fondly called by patients and students alike, has experience as a hospital administrator, child and family therapist, private practitioner, and researcher. She has worked with populations as diverse as returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, inner-city victims of gang violence, adult and pediatric cancer patients, and the seriously mentally ill. Dr. Erica gives conferences on her current research into near-death and spiritually-transformative experiences. She is also passionate about the field of bioethics and end-of-life decision-making.

More psychology faculty