PhD in Psychology

PhD IN PSYCHOLOGY

The focus of postgraduate program in Psychology is on the training of Ph.D. students in research, teaching and scholarship in the areas of behavioral neuroscience, perception, cognition and social-personality psychology. This graduate program does not offer training in clinical psychology, school, counseling or industrial psychology.

Historically, the research programs in the Department were on the intersections of the social, cognitive and biological areas. This is still true today. It produces high levels of interaction among students and faculty across areas, while serving to broaden students' knowledge of the content and methodologies of the science of psychology.

Coursework:

Research Courses:

Seminar

Independent Study:

COURSE DESCRIPTION

PSY 800: Basic Statistical Concepts:

An introduction to basic statistical concepts and operations in psychology. Topics include central tendency, variance, correlation, sampling distributions, and hypothesis testing. This course is a prerequisite for enrolling in Experimental and Statistical Methods

PYS 801: Experimental and Statistical Research Methods:

A review of experimental and statistical research methods, including analysis of variance, multivariate statistics, and meta-analysis. Emphasis is placed on understanding the assumptions that underlie each method, and critically evaluating published research in which these methods are employed.

PSY 811: Ethics and Standards in Psychology:

A case study approach to the application of psychology's ethical guidelines and code of conduct. The emphasis on the integration of the student's social philosophy with professional ethics. The history, structure, and functions of professional organizations, as well as contemporary issues professional psychology are reviewed.

PSY 812: Emotion Cognition & Motivation:

A survey of different approaches, e.g., the phenomenological, the cognitive, and the psychoanalytic, to the study of emotion. Emphases is placed on the research strategies and conceptual achievements of the various approaches.

PSY 813: Psychology of Communication:

An exploration of the phenomena of human communication in their language and non-language aspects, with consideration of cross-cultural issues.

PSY 821: Advanced Qualitative Research Seminar I:

Two complementary portions make up this course. One provides a systematic, in-depth presentation of a single qualitative research method, including its philosophy and procedures. Students actively engage in data acquisition and analysis according to the presented method. The other portion affords students the opportunity to develop their own research projects, reporting regularly on their progress and receiving feedback from classmates and the professor.

PSY 822: Advanced Qualitative Research Seminar II:

PSY 823: Special Research Topics:

Special problems in contemporary psychology are selected for intensive study and research.

PSY 824: Special Topics in Qualitative Research:

This course may be dedicated to one qualitative research method, or a course directly related to qualitative research, such as philosophy of science or to interpretive psychology. The latter option required department approval.

PSY 831: Phenomenological Exploration of the Life-World of the Child:

Considers how human development involves qualitative changes in the way the world is engaged and experienced. This course examines the ways embodiment, temporality, spatiality, and community are lived and experienced at different stages of life. Students are introduced to phenomenological observation as aspects of the life-world are addressed both concretely and philosophically.

PSY 832: Language and Development:

A phenomenological approach to the study of the development of language and the way language shapes the person and the world. Language stands at a point of intersection between the child's experience of the world and the culture into which the child is born. Language is a public system of representation that defines the universal, but it is taken up as a personal means for expression of a particular life. Topics include the embodied character of language (gesture, reference, indexicality), syntax as an existential phenomenon rooted in sociality, language as a constitutive phenomenon, poetry and poesies.

PSY 833: Theories of Development:

How is the change from child to adult to be interpreted? This course reviews both mainstream and existential-phenomenological theories of the processes of development and learning, including structuralist, cognitive, behaviorist, psychodynamic, and dialectical theories, as well as recent attempts to vie development and learning as more than cognitive phenomena, including theories of situated cognition and practice, and cultural psychology.

PSY 834: Childhood and Social World:

Any theory of child development is implicitly a theory of the construction of social reality, and of a particular historical social order. This course addresses the social contexts of childhood (family, community, state), the social construction of reality, and the constitution of persons. The social and historical character of identity and selfhood will be emphasized.

PSY 843: Independent Study in Qualitative Research:

A course in which the student will, with a faculty member's advisement, propose and complete a qualitative research project of his/her own choosing (other than the dissertation).

PSY 844: Qualitative Research Group:

Students participate in a faculty member's ongoing research.

PSY 853: Philosophical Psychology:

The goal of this course is to explore areas of convergence between philosophy and psychology and to elucidate the ontological assumptions underlying psychological theories. Using primary sources, the seminar discusses the importance of a particular philosopher, or a philosophical theme that is of relevance to psychology. Texts from Kierkaagard, Nietzsche, Marx, Husserl, Heidegger, De-Beauvoir, Levinas, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, Derrida, Foucault, Irigaray, Kristeva , and others can be used, as well as a cross section of primary texts from different authors.

PSY 854: Current Psychological Issues:

Discussion and critique of selected points of view in contemporary psychology, presented by regular faculty.

PSY 862: Existential Theories of Human Being:

The study of a particular existential-phenomenological or hermeneutic thinker with special emphasis placed on his/her philosophical anthropology as a basis for understanding personality.

PSY 874: Seminar in Psychoanalytic Theory:

Focus on one of the following: a major psychoanalytic theorist, a particular tradition in psychoanalysis, or an important psychoanalytic concept. Whichever the focus, the historical context as well as the political and intellectual stakes are explored. Theorists who may be discussed include Freud, Jung, Lacan, Laplanche, and Klein. Traditions that may be discussed include those of Lacan, Klein, object relations theory, French feminism, and American ego psychology. Concepts include transference, sublimation, the drives, the unconscious, and repetition. This course is repeatable.

PSY 875: Special Topics in Clinical Practice:

Seminars on particular clinical issues, problem area, or field of literature. When offered in summer session this course is based on group supervision of clinical cases.

PSY 876: Psychology and Cultural Diversity:

This course considers issues of cultural, ethnic, religious and gender differences in psychology. Those differences are investigated in a variety of psychological areas, such as personal development, social relations and clinical applications.

PSY 877: Readings in Psychology:

Intensive, supervised study of a particular topic in psychology not covered in one of the other courses. Permission of the chair required.

PSY 864: Advanced Clinical Practice:

Weekly seminars and case consultations are used to develop the trainee's skills in psychotherapy and clinical interviewing. The three areas of special focus are: 1) the shared epistemological, ontological, and cultural-historical ground of psychotherapy and existential phenomenology, 2) levels of therapeutic listening and response, with a special emphasis on the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship, 3) clinical interviewing for assessment purposes: presenting problem, history taking, mental status, suicide risk, etc.

PSY 899: Thesis