PhD in Sociology - Social Psychology in Ithaca United States | Cornell University

The Sociology Graduate Field accepts approximately 6-7 PhD candidates annually, maintaining a total enrollment of around 40 students. These graduate students receive guidance from over 30 distinguished Sociology Graduate Field Faculty members from various Cornell departments, though most hold primary appointments in the Sociology Department. Candidates may seek mentorship from any faculty member within this group. Prospective students should examine faculty research specialties and contact relevant professors, though admission decisions aren't tied to specific faculty or labs.

First-year sociology PhD students begin with general registration, completing core theory and methodology courses before selecting two specialization areas from the options below. These concentrations allow students to build expertise in either two major fields or one major and one minor field.

Following first-year coursework, students complete two concentration exams and develop a Qualifying Paper - an original research article suitable for journal submission. Successful completion leads to Doctoral Candidacy, typically achieved by the third year's start. Subsequent milestones include developing a dissertation proposal, completing dissertation research, and defending the final work.

Cornell's social psychology researchers investigate how social environments influence individual behaviors and beliefs. Current studies examine gender stereotypes' career impacts, power dynamics in negotiations, collective action foundations, social norm development, trust mechanisms, and emotional factors in exchanges. Methodologies include laboratory experiments, audit studies, network analysis, computational modeling, and survey research.