心理学是对心灵的科学研究。观察，实验和分析人与动物的思想是我们的重点。我们的操作方式差异很大。当然，我们可以看着大脑本身来了解思想-并且随着新技术的允许，我们也越来越多地这样做。但是行为的量度是我们了解思想的主要方法。哈佛大学心理学系进行的研究涉及基本的心理过程，例如注意力，知觉，记忆，分类，推理，决策，语言，认知和社会发展，社会认知，群体间关系和道德。此外，该部门的一些成员还进行精神病理学的病因学，发展和治疗研究。该部门的所有成员都有一个共同的目标，即通过实证研究来了解思想，大脑和行为，我们的教学反映了
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind. Observing, experimenting, and analyzing human and animal minds is our focus. How we do this varies greatly. We can, of course, look at the brain itself to understand the mind - and we increasingly do so, as new technologies allow. But the measure of behavior is our primary method to understand the mind. Most of the research conducted in Harvard's Department of Psychology concerns basic psychological processes such as attention, perception, memory, categorization, reasoning, decision-making, language, cognitive and social development, social cognition, intergroup relations, and morality. In addition, some members of the department conduct research on the etiology, development, and treatment of psychopathology. All members of the department share the common goal of understanding mind, brain, and behavior through empirical investigation, and our teaching reflects this goal.