Psychology

This course explores emotional, social, vocational, and health-related challenges individuals face throughout life. By integrating psychological theories, counselling techniques, and practical applications, it enhances well-being and promotes personal growth. Students engage with various therapeutic methods, assessment techniques, and ethical considerations in diverse cultural contexts. Emphasizing interpersonal skills, resilience, and self-reflection, the course prepares students to be empathetic communicators who can positively impact their communities. Through hands-on experience and coursework, students navigate mental health complexities for personal and professional development.

This course introduces the concept and practice of art therapy, exploring its role in psychotherapy through the creation and application of art. Through self-exploration and hands-on experience, students will engage in various art activities, understand the characteristics of art media, and explore self-healing. Topics include the meaning, characteristics, and functions of art therapy; its origins and development, including children’s painting stages; methods and approaches in art therapy; exploration of the inner world through painting and analysis of famous artworks; and artistic expression for self-discovery, healing, and holistic growth of mind, body, and spirit.

This course introduces the role of psychological theory, research, and practice in understanding and addressing contemporary social issues. It explores how psychological perspectives inform our understanding of social problems such as prejudice, inequality, violence, climate change, and mental health. It emphasizes critical thinking, empirical analysis, applied psychology, and hands-on experiences in promoting social justice, well-being, and policy change.

This course enables students to apply key areas of psychology in the understanding and practice of post-primary education and specifically provides a clear, reflective, and critical knowledge of areas such as adolescent development, identity development through adolescence, bully/victim problems, growth mindset, intelligence, and applied issues pertinent to bereavement, separation, and divorce.

This course examines theory and research on individual differences in motivation, emotion, and social behavior. 

This course explores mental health issues, relational conflicts, and environmental challenges in modern society while emphasizing resilience as one of the key factors in prevention and recovery. Students learn and apply strategies to strengthen resilience and navigate life’s challenges. Through discussions and activities, students develop inner strengths, build healthier relationships, and promote mental health for themselves and others. 

Topics include Depression, Anxiety, Perfectionism, Attention-related issues, Relationships, Society and culture, Digital world, Connections, Perseverance, Self-regulation, Postivity, Self-care, Resilience and community. 

This graduate course varies depending on the research topic but may include weekly lab meetings, presentations of up-to-date research articles, and participation in scientific discussion with the instructor and lab colleagues related to the topic of brain and consciousness.

This course provides an introduction to research methodology with an emphasis on experimentation. The goal of this course is to teach students how to turn an idea into a good research question and then turn that question into rigorous research studies. To do so, we survey a variety of basic and advanced research techniques, including experimental, behavioral, observational, survey, and physiological methods. Students participate in discussions to understand the applications of each class topic to their research interests. Finally, students design their own studies that utilize methodological approaches.  

Topics include Having and testing ideas, Operationalization and issues of validity, Statistical power and correlational design: measurement construction, Experimental design, Repeated sampling, Survey, Unobtrusive measures and observation, Inducing and assessing emotions, Physiological methods, Dyadic and group designs, Meta-analysis and cross-cultural research, Presenting and publishing research. 

This course provides an understanding of the neural basis of behavior and mind. It introduces the field of neuroscience and behavioral neurobiology from a biological perspective, incorporating both evolutionary and physiological approaches to behavior. Topics include the structure and function of the nervous system, genetic and biochemical models of behavior, hormones and behavior, the biological bases of learning, cognition, communication, and language, and the evolution of social organization.