Background

Establishment and opening of Department of Psychology goes back to September of 1974 when five faculty members with the leading head of Dr. Hossein Shokrkon, started their educational activities. At the beginning, the department started its educational activities with some general courses. Gradually, however, in addition to the Industrial and Organizational Psychology courses, in the fields of educational psychology, clinical psychology, and general psychology, more students were accepted. The department, after establishing a master's degree program in educational psychology, took serious steps for the establishment of a doctorate program in pure psychology. After that, the psychology department continued its work with two undergraduate (Industrial/Organizational, and Clinical Psychology), and three Master programs (Clinical, Educational, and Industrial and Organizational Psychology) and one Ph.D. program (Pure Psychology). Since 2017, two programs, including a master of Cognitive Sciences and a PhD of Industrial and Organizational Psychology were added to the department programs. Immediately after it was formally established, the department started publishing a scientific journal, Education and Psychology Journal, in association with the department of Education. Now, it is publishing an independent journal named Journal of Psychological Achievements which encourages original and innovative research articles of different issues related to psychology.

Department's Teaching focus 

The department of Psychology at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz stands at a high national visibility with a great commitment to teaching. It, now offers both undergraduate and postgraduate training, including several Master, and PhD programs. Also, Shahid Chamran University is the only Iranian university which offers a PhD program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. The different psychology courses such as Sensation and Perception, Cognition, Development, Personality and Individual Differences, Neuroscience, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Learning, Motivation and Emotion, and Social Psychology, form the curriculum of the psychology department.

Graduates of different programs of psychology department develop a broad knowledge of theoretical foundations and outstanding analytical skills, which allow students to contribute creatively to future issues in conducting relevant research and offer different psychological services to the organizations and public.

Broad Range of Degree Programs

The Department currently offers one undergraduate program. In this program, the primary focus is on familiarizing students with the wide scope of different fields of psychology as a science, and helping them find their areas of interest in order to pursue higher education. Fifteen faculty members work actively at the undergraduate program, at the graduate programs including four disciplines of Cognitive Sciences, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Clinical Psychology, and at the PhD programs including Pure Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

The line of research of the department of psychology:

The quality of research and researchers' practice in the department of Psychology is so well recognized nationally, to the extent that Shahid Chamran University is now among the ten top Iranian universities, in terms of psychological research findings and contributions. The proof of such claim is the four prominent and distinguished professors from this department, widely known in this regard at the national level. Following are the research fields of the department:

• Organizational psychology
• Industrial psychology
• Mental health at workplace
• Motivation and emotion
• Individual differences
• Development
• Cognition
• Neuroscience
• Social psychology
• Learning
• School psychology
• Positive psychology

Dr. Hossein Shokrkon Psychology laboratory

The installation of a psychology laboratory was another great undertaking of the department which happened shortly after the formal establishment of the department. Recently, in appreciation of the scientific efforts of Dr. Hossein Shokrkan, the laboratory was named as Dr. Hossein Shokrkon Psychology laboratory. Some of the devices in this lab that are used for teaching practical experimental psychology courses and conducting relevant research experiments are:

• Transcranial Direct current stimulation (tDCS)
• Neurofeedback
• quantitative Electro-Encephalography (qEEG)
• Event-Related Potentials
• Eye tracking

The number of faculty members

Currently there are around 18 faculty members including:

• Four Assistant Professors
• Seven Associate Professors
• Seven Professors

The number of students in the department of psychology

• Undergraduate: 237 students
• Master of industrial and organizational psychology: 17 students
• Master of educational psychology: 25 students
• Master of cognitive sciences: 16 students
• Master of clinical psychology: 17 students
• PhD in industrial and organizational psychology: 15
• PhD in pure psychology: 35 students
• PhD in educational psychology: 30 students

International students

Recently, some international students have shown interest in studying at graduate programs offered by the department of psychology. Now, two international students are studying in Pure Psychology at PhD level and one has applied for Master degree. It is expected that more international students would apply for the educational programs at this department in near future.