The Department of Psychology consists of six full-time and several part-time faculty. Our philosophy is to provide a balanced education in psychology presenting a thorough grounding in the study of human thought, emotion, and behavior, while emphasizing applications of psychology to students and to society. We develop an individualized atmosphere and work closely with our students to foster growth in both their personal and professional lives. Specifically, the department seeks to prepare its graduates for the next stage in their personal and professional development, whether this is graduate school, other advanced professional education or meaningful employment in psychology or a related field.

The program at Otterbein is especially noted for the numerous opportunities that students have to participate directly in research and for the focused training in health psychology and psychotherapy. Research is being conducted in pediatric psychology, basic perceptual processes, stress management, psychotherapeutic principles, assessment, attitudes, prejudice, relationships, memory, aging and media psychology. Students also may choose to receive in-depth training in many areas of clinical psychology.