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About Us

The Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) has cultivated a tradition of strong, empirically based teaching and research in contemporary experimental psychology.

The 42 faculty, 70 graduate students, and many of the 2500 undergraduate majors conduct cutting-edge research in core areas of experimental psychology, including cognition and the perceptual sciences, developmental and evolutionary psychology, neuroscience and behavior, and social psychology.

The department's commitment to interdisciplinary pursuits are reflected in expansive research and teaching collaborations with a variety of other disciplines, including the biological sciences, anthropology, communication, educational psychology, linguistics, geography, and sociology. One of 10 campuses of the prestigious University of California system, and the fifth leading public university in the nation, UCSB provides a dynamic intellectual environment that prizes academic rigor and creativity to generate discoveries with wide-ranging impact. The inspirational setting is embedded in nature, nestled between the Santa Ynez mountains and the Pacific Ocean.