DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES
![Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Psychological and Brain Sciences professor Janette Herbers, PhD, does research in her lab.](/content/university/liberal-arts-sciences/programs/psychological-brain-sciences/_jcr_content/pagecontent/image.img.jpg/1707144639995.jpg)
The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences is home to undergraduate and graduate programs and world-class research in the family of sciences concerned with behavior, thought and experience.
At the core of our programs and activities is a scientific approach to understanding human nature and human experience. Our community of students, scholars and researchers includes Psychology majors (either a BA or BS track), majors in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, graduate students in our research-focused MS program, approximately twenty full-time faculty members, and additional faculty expertise in a wide range of psychological science and practice. We work together in the classroom and on our research projects at the forefront of Psychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience..
Tolentine Hall 334
Villanova University
800 Lancaster Ave
Villanova, PA 19085
Chair: Michael Brown, PhD
Staff: Eileen O'Donnell; Louise Carbone
NEWS & EVENTS
Psychological and Brain Sciences - I/O Psychology Faculty Job
THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES at VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY invites applications for a TENURE TRACK POSITION (ASSISTANT PROFESSOR) in INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL (I/O) PSYCHOLOGY OR RELATED AREA starting in August 2025. Candidates must have a Ph.D. in I/O, social, and/or personality psychology or a related area, the ability to generate a high-quality research program ideally with applications to I/O psychology and a commitment to teaching and otherwise being an active part of our undergraduate and graduate programs in psychological science, including mentorship of master’s theses in our rigorous, research-oriented graduate program. Teaching responsibilities will include undergraduate Industrial/Organizational Psychology, other undergraduate and graduate psychology courses, and one course per year in the graduate Human Resource Development program, with which our department has an ongoing cooperative relationship. We seek candidates whose research, teaching, and service have prepared them to contribute to our commitment to engagement and inclusion of culturally diverse students. Choose "More..." or click on the image itself to go to the formal job posting. MORE...
Psychological and Brain Sciences - Cognitive Psychology Faculty Job
THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES at VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY invites applications for a TENURE TRACK POSITION (ASSISTANT PROFESSOR) in COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY starting in August 2025. Candidates must have a Ph.D. in psychology or a closely related discipline with specialization in cognitive psychology and should have the ability to generate a high-quality research program and a commitment to teaching in our undergraduate and graduate (M.S.) programs, including mentorship of master’s theses in our rigorous, research-oriented program. We seek candidates whose research, teaching, and service have prepared them to contribute to our commitment to engagement and inclusion of culturally diverse students and to the diversity and excellence of our academic community. Choose "More..." or click on the image itself to go to the formal job posting. MORE...
Psychological and Brain Sciences 2024 Medallion Winners
The 2024 PBS medallion winners. Congratulations! To Natalee Torre (left) for being awarded the Bernard L. Bonniwell Award (BA), Isabella Lentini (center) the Thomas C. Toppino Award (BS), and Matthew Domanico (right) the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Medallion Award (CBN). MORE...
Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium
On April 5, the Villanova University Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences hosted a special colloquium that featured presentations from four alumni from the Master of Science program in Psychology. This daylong event in a packed Dougherty Hall East Lounge showcased the diverse research interests of successful alumni and was made more notable by the presence of each presenter's faculty thesis mentors, all of whom are recently retired or are retiring this year… MORE...
Concept Award and Acknowledgments
Congratulations to Tia Nicolas (MS) for working as an editor on this year's CONCEPT journal and congratulations to Ana Tompkins (MS) for publishing, "Beyond Entertainment: Exploring the Intricacies of True Crime Fascination". CONCEPT is an interdisciplinary journal of graduate studies sponsored by the Graduate Studies division of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. CONCEPT accepts submissions from Villanova graduate students in all fields of the arts and sciences. Submissions are reviewed by graduate student editors, faculty editors and peer reviewers, with final decisions made by the editors. For more information, click the image or go to https://concept.journals.villanova.edu/ MORE...
Master's Research Leads to NSF-GRFP
Villanova Psychology master's student Grace Gervino '23 MS earned a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRF) for her research examining the neural bases of stuttering. The NSF-GRFP is the country’s oldest fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. Gervino's application was selected out of a national pool of applicants as one of the best in her field. MORE...
New Book Challenges Conceptions About Scientific Thinking Development in Children
Young children have remarkable capacities for causal reasoning, which are part of the foundation of their scientific thinking abilities. A new book by Assistant Professor Deena Skolnick Weisberg, PhD, traces the ways young children’s sophisticated causal reasoning abilities combine with other cognitive, metacognitive and social factors to develop into a more mature set of scientific thinking abilities. MORE...
Nature vs. Nurture and Alcohol Use
Psychological and Brain Sciences Professor Benjamin Sachs, PhD, and his students Elisabeth Dimitratos and Leah Waltrip explain correlations they have found between gender, stress and alcohol use. MORE...
Villanova Research Team Explores How COVID Masks Impact Speech
A team of psychologists from Villanova University has published research showing how various types of masks affect speech recognition in different levels of background noise. MORE...
EDUCATION WITH IMPACT
AN EDUCATION IN THE LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES promotes intellectual curiosity and rigor; instills the fundamentals of critical insight, mature judgment and independent thinking; and strengthens students’ sense of their moral responsibility for others and for the betterment of society.