Course Catalog

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Course Catalog

RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY (PY2020)

Students will learn the basics of doing experimental research in psychology, including the ethics of working with human subjects, researching ideas in the scholarly literature, and designing and interpreting research findings. The principles learned here apply in many domains where research is employed to describe and understand persons and social reality. MA1020 is recommended as a prerequisite.

RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY LAB (PY2020L)

This LAB is a co-requisite for PY 2020. It will take place every second week. RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY LAB A and B are therefore scheduled at the same in the same room.

PERSONALITY & INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES (PY2022)

Personality addresses central psychological questions on how persons think, feel and act. This course provides students with a solid foundation in the basics of theory and research in personality psychology. Students will be introduced to classic and contemporary perspectives in the field, continuing controversies and debates and the rationale and techniques for personality assessment. PY1000 is recommended as a prerequisite.

INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY (PY2043)

This course is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the field of abnormal and clinical psychology, including the history and classification systems employed in understanding different forms of psychological disorders. It will cover the etiology, symptoms, and treatments of major psychological disorders, including anxiety, trauma, dissociative, mood, somatoform, eating, schizophrenia, personality and substance-related disorders. The course proposes to explore the intricate interplay of biological, psychological and social factors in the development, maintenance and treatment of psychopathology in the individual.

CLINICAL THEORIES (PY2044)

This course will provide an introduction to theories of personality and counseling, including psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive, behavioral, and family systems approaches. Theories will be examined in relation to their key concepts, view of human nature, therapeutic processes, techniques and procedures. Theories will be critiqued and compared, with special emphasis on the application of cultural and ethical issues

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (PY2045)

Studies the nature and causes of individual behavior and thought in social situations. Presents the basic fields of study that compose the science of social psychology, and how its theories impact on most aspects of people's lives. Topics of study include: conformity, persuasion, mass communication, propaganda, aggression, attraction, prejudice, and altruism.

CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY (PY2046)

Human beings are cultural beings. We cannot understand human nature without understanding its cultural fabric. We cannot understand ourselves and our being in the world without understanding this world as a cultural world, in fact, as consisting of multiple cultural worlds in which we live at the same time. In this course, we inquire why the cultural dimension is crucial for human psychology. To this purpose, we explore a number of cultural worlds, Western and non-Western. We also investigate various psychological functions such as thinking and consciousness, remembering and memory, and self-construction and identity. And we look at different cultural sign and symbol systems such as language, art, literature, and film. In this way, the course also offers the opportunity to think about our own cultural existence and the way we view ourselves and others.

BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR (PY2055)

This course provides students with knowledge of the central nervous system of humans and an understanding of its contributions to various psychological functions. An emphasis will be on applying this knowledge to various diseases, disorders, and injuries. A further focus will be on how individuals who are affected understand their neurological changes and how they cope with them. Additional topics may include the mechanics of basic biological functioning in behaviors such as emotions, sleep and sexual behavior.

POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY (PY2062)

This course explores international political affairs from psychological perspectives. It examines how psychology contributes to politics while being shaped by it. Students learn about a range of psychological phenomena – such as emotion, memory, socialization, resilience, self, and identity – in the contexts of political institutions, political movements, cultural politics, and governmentality.

SELF AND IDENTITY (PY2068)

What is my identity? And what is my self? Or should we speak of identities and selves? Whatever they are, these questions run through our lives. They are central issues in our relationships; they influence our view of the future; they impact what we remember from our past; they underlie our quest for a meaningful existence. They also are at the heart of countless investigations of psychologists, philosophers, social scientists, writers, and artists. In this class, we explore these issues both theoretically and empirically, that is, in research contexts of psychology and neighbouring human sciences.