Course Descriptions

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The following are 3-credit courses unless otherwise indicated.

PSYC 601 Statistical Analysis and Experimental Design A detailed consideration of selected issues in Psychological statistics. Topics include parametric and non-parametric techniques, analysis of variance, power of statistical tests, and hypothesis testing.

PSYC 644 Clinical and Health Research Area Seminar I A seminar in which current research of faculty and students in clinical and health psychology is presented and discussed.

PSYC 645 Cognitive Science Area Seminar I A seminar in which current research of faculty and students in cognitive science is presented and discussed.

PSYC 646 Human Development Area Seminar I A seminar in which current research of faculty and students in human development and developmental processes is presented and discussed.

PSYC 647 Behavioural Neuroscience Area Seminar I A seminar in which current research of faculty and students in behavioural neuroscience is presented and discussed.

PSYC 690 Research and Thesis (30 credits)

PSYC 700 Psychopathology Prerequisite: Undergraduate course in behaviour disorders or equivalent. This seminar deals with historical and current approaches to the study of behaviour disorders and problems of life adjustment in both adults and children, including critical evaluation of empirical findings in selected areas. Classification systems, including the current revision of the APA Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, are critically reviewed. Students with credit for PSYC 660 or 860 may not take this course for credit.

PSYC 701 Models of Assessment I Prerequisite: PSYC 700; Co-requisite: PSYC 706 or permission of the Director of Clinical Training. Cognitive and ability testing of children and adults. This course stresses the conceptual bases of ability testing, research results and their implications for test interpretation, and strengths and limitations of current test batteries for children and adults. Specific course content includes: a) measurement theory, including issues of test construction, reliability, validity, and evaluation; b) appropriate use and interpretation of specific cognitive assessment batteries (e.g. the Wechsler and Stanford-Binet scales for children and adults); and c) special assessment issues, including the testing of minorities and assessment-related ethical problems. A practicum in assessment techniques (PSYC 706) is typically taken in conjunction with this course.

PSYC 702 Models of Assessment II Prerequisite: PSYC 701; Co-requisite: PSYC 707 or permission of the Director of Clinical Training. This course is a continuation of Assessment I, and focuses on the measurement of behaviour related directly to personality and/or behaviour disorders in both adult and child populations. Interviewing, projective techniques and structural (quantitative) tests of personality such as the MMPI and CPI are included. The course stresses the evaluation of assessment procedures in terms of reliability and validity issues, and focuses on the selection and use of assessment procedures for specific types of prediction. The course also stresses the integration of assessment procedures into treatment planning and evaluation.

PSYC 703 Psychological Treatment I: Foundations and Systems Prerequisite: PSYC 700. Models of psychological intervention with both adults and children are examined with respect to: a) theoretical formulations and etiological assumptions; b) treatment objectives and strategies; c) issues related to the application of these models; d) the efficacy of treatment procedures, including general issues in outcome research. The major emphases are on behavioural and psychodynamic approaches. Among other topics, the ethics of therapeutic interventions are discussed.

PSYC 704 Psychological Treatment II: Empirically Supported Interventions Prerequisite: PSYC 703. A continuation of PSYC 703. Psychological Treatment I: Foundations and Systems.

PSYC 705 Therapy Practicum I Prerequisites or Co-requisites: PSYC 700 and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. Students participate in case supervision, observe and/or assist with clients in therapy, and attend case conferences at the Applied Psychology Centre.

PSYC 706 Assessment Practicum I (1 credit) Prerequisites or Co-requisites: PSYC 701, 705 and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. This course focuses on the practical applications of the material discussed in Models of Assessment I (PSYC 701). Students administer intellectual tests under supervision. Techniques for administration, interpretation and report-writing of specific test batteries suitable for adults and children are stressed.

PSYC 707 Assessment Practicum II (2 credits) Prerequisite: PSYC 706, Co-requisite: PSYC 702, and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. This course focuses on the practical applications of the material discussed in models of Assessment II (PSYC 702). Students administer personality tests under supervision. Techniques for administration, interpretation and report writing of specific assessment test batteries suitable for adults and children are stressed.

PSYC 708 Therapy Practicum II: General Prerequisite or Co-requisites: PSYC 703, 704, 706, 707 and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. The focus of this course is the practical applications of the material discussed in Models of Assessment II and Models of Behaviour Change I and II PSYC 702, 703 and 704. Students are responsible for the assessment and treatment of selected clients of the Applied Psychology Centre under faculty supervision.

PSYC 709 Therapy Practicum II: Adult Prerequisites or Co-requisites: PSYC 703, 704, 706, 707 and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. The focus of this course is the practical applications of the material discussed in Models of Assessment II and Models of Behaviour Change I and II PSYC 702, 703 and 704. Students are responsible for the assessment and treatment of selected adult clients of the Applied Psychology Centre under faculty supervision.

PSYC 710 Therapy Practicum II: Child Prerequisites or Co-requisites: PSYC 703, 704, 706, 707 and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. This focus of this course is the practical applications of the material discussed in Models of Assessment II and Models of Behaviour Change I and II PSYC 702, 703 and 704. Students are responsible for the assessment and treatment of selected child clients of the Applied Psychology Centre under faculty supervision.

PSYC 711 Extramural Practicum I: General (non-credit) Prerequisites: PSYC 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 707 and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A four-month extramural practicum done under qualified supervisors in an applied setting approved by the department’s internship committee, e.g., hospitals, clinics, schools, community and rehabilitation centres.

PSYC 712 Extramural Practicum I: Adult (non-credit) Prerequisites: PSYC 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 707 and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A four-month extramural practicum with adult clients, done under qualified supervisors in an applied setting approved by the department’s internship committee, e.g. hospitals, clinics, schools, community and rehabilitation centres.

PSYC 713 Extramural Practicum I: Child (non-credit) Prerequisites: PSYC 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 707 and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A four-month extramural practicum with child clients, done under qualified supervisors in an applied setting approved by the department’s internship committee, e.g., hospitals, clinics, schools, community and rehabilitation centres.

PSYC 714 Central Topics in Psychology (6 credits) A general seminar dealing with basic theoretical and research issues in Psychology. Topics will be drawn from a wide range of areas in Psychology including perceptual and cognitive processes, learning, motivation, and psycho-pathology. Issues will be considered with respect to developmental, physiological and social approaches. Students who have credit for PSYC 602 may not take this course for credit.

PSYC 715 Vision and Audition A seminar on physical, physiological and psychological aspects of visual and auditory perception with special emphasis on the comparison between normal and defective vision and hearing.

PSYC 716 Advanced Human Development A seminar on theory and research in human development and developmental processes. Subject matter will vary from term to term and from year to year. Students may re-register for this course, provided that the course content has changed. Change in content will be indicated by the letter following the course number.

PSYC 720 Seminar on Ethical and Professional Issues Prerequisite or Co-requisite: PSYC 834 or permission of the Director of Clinical Training. In this biweekly seminar, ethical and professional issues in clinical psychology are considered through case presentations by students, faculty and guest clinicians. The ethical principles of national accrediting bodies and of the Order of Psychologists of Québec are reviewed.

PSYC 721 Special Topic Seminar Advanced treatment of specialized research literature in an integrative or selected area of psychology outside the department’s major areas of specialization. This course may be offered as a seminar, tutorial or directed reading course, or in any other format, subject to approval of the program director. Subject matter will vary from term to term and from year to year. Students may re-register for this course, provided that the course content has changed. Change in content will be indicated by the letter following the course number. Students with credit for PSYC 603 or 803 may take this course for credit only if the subject matter is different.

PSYC 724 Special Topics in Clinical and Health Psychology Advanced treatment of specialized research literature in an area of clinical and/or health psychology. This course may be offered as a seminar, tutorial or directed reading course, or in any other format, subject to approval of the program director. Subject matter will vary from term to term and from year to year. Students may re-register for this course, provided that the course content has changed. Change in content will be indicated by the letter following the course number. Students with credit for PSYC 603, 721, 803, or 805 may take this course for credit only if the subject matter is different.

PSYC 725 Special Topics in Cognitive Science Advanced treatment of specialized research literature in an area of cognitive science. This course may be offered as a seminar, tutorial or directed reading course, or in any other format, subject to approval of the program director. Subject matter will vary from term to term and from year to year. Students may re-register for this course, provided that the course content has changed. Change in content will be indicated by the letter following the course number. Students with credit for PSYC 603, 721, 803, or 805 may take this course for credit only if the subject matter is different.

PSYC 726 Special Topics in Human Development Advanced treatment of specialized research literature in an area of human development and developmental processes. This course may be offered as a seminar, tutorial or directed reading course, or in any other format, subject to approval of the program director. Subject matter will vary from term to term and from year to year. Students may re-register for this course, provided that the course content has changed. Change in content will be indicated by the letter following the course number. Students with credit for PSYC 603, 721, 803, or 805 may take this course for credit only if the subject matter is different.

PSYC 727 Special Topics in Behavioural Neuroscience Advanced treatment of specialized research literature in an area of behavioural neuroscience. This course may be offered as a seminar, tutorial or directed reading course, or in any other format, subject to approval of the program director. Subject matter will vary from term to term and from year to year. Students may re-register for this course, provided that the course content has changed. Change in content will be indicated by the letter following the course number. Students with credit for PSYC 603, 721, 803, or 805 may take this course for credit only if the subject matter is different.

PSYC 734 Multivariate Statistics Prerequisite: PSYC 601. Building upon material presented in PSYC 601, this course covers multivariate procedures, includes MANOVA, cluster analysis, canonical correlation, factor analysis, structural equation modelling, and multilevel modelling. Note: Students who have received credit for PSYC 730 or PSYC 732 may not take this course for credit.

PSYC 801 Research Seminar I A seminar attended by all doctoral students in which specific research proposals and related theoretical issues and methodological problems are presented for discussion by students and participating faculty.

PSYC 802 Research Seminar II A continuation of PSYC 801.

PSYC 823 Therapy Practicum III: General Prerequisites: PSYC 708 (or 709 or 710), 711 (or 712 or 713). Prerequisites or Co-requisites: PSYC 834, 835 (or 836 or 837), and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. Advanced students are expected to begin to define clinical interests and treatment methods consonant with their career goals. They receive the appropriate clinical experience and supervision in this practicum (e.g., working with children, adolescents, adults, working with clients who present particular types of problems).

PSYC 824 Therapy Practicum III: Adult Prerequisites: PSYC 708 (or 709 or 710), 711 (or 712 or 713). Prerequisites or Co-requisites: PSYC 834, 835 (or 836 or 837), and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. Advanced students are expected to begin to define clinical interests and treatment methods consonant with their career goals. They receive the appropriate clinical experience and supervision in this practicum working with adult clients, e.g. working with a particular orientation and/or with particular types of problems.

PSYC 825 Therapy Practicum III: Child Prerequisites: PSYC 708 (or 709 or 710), 711 (or 712 or 713). Prerequisites or Co-requisites: PSYC 834, 835 (or 836 or 837), and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. Advanced students are expected to begin to define clinical interests and treatment methods consonant with their career goals. They receive the appropriate clinical experience and supervision in this practicum working with child clients and families, e.g. working with a particular orientation and/or with particular types of problems.

PSYC 826 Therapy Practicum IV: General Prerequisites: PSYC 823 (or 824 or 825) and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A specialized practicum for advanced students involving clinical experience under supervision.

PSYC 827 Therapy Practicum IV: Adult Prerequisites: PSYC 823 (or 824 or 825) and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A specialized practicum for advanced students involving clinical experience with adult clients under supervision.

PSYC 828 Therapy Practicum IV: Child Prerequisites: PSYC 823 (or 824 or 825) and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A specialized practicum for advanced students involving clinical experience with child clients under supervision.

PSYC 834 Advanced Clinical Seminar I Prerequisites: PSYC 711 (or 712 or 713), 708 (or 709 or 710), and permission of Director of Clinical Training. This seminar provides an advanced treatment of issues in current psychological theory and research that are relevant to clinical practice, e.g., causal models and their assumptions, legal and ethical issues, classification by state, trait, and situational context; brain-behaviour relations. The aims are to foster in students a) regular review of clinically relevant literature; b) a critical perspective regarding current clinical practices; and c) guidelines and criteria for optimal assessment and treatment decisions tailored to the needs of clients.

PSYC 835 Advanced Clinical Seminar II: Adult Prerequisite: PSYC 834. The seminar provides an advanced analysis of issues in the assessment and treatment of behaviour disorders in adulthood. Prototype cases are presented for illustrative discussion of particular clinical issues, e.g. indicators of risk for suicide, homicide, and psychosis; imagery and dreams in psychological treatment; stress-related physical disorders; anxiety-spectrum disorders; treatment for couples, families, and groups. Assessment and treatment approaches to particular disorders are compared with reference to etiological assumptions and levels of inference.

PSYC 836 Advanced Clinical Seminar II: Child Prerequisite: PSYC 834. The seminar provides an advanced analysis of issues in the assessment and treatment of behaviour disorders in children in a developmental context. Prototype cases are presented for illustrative discussion of particular clinical issues, e.g. stress-related physical disorders; family therapy; child abuse; age-related symptom expression and variability; non-verbal therapies.

PSYC 837 Advanced Clinical Seminar II: General Prerequisite: PSYC 834. This seminar is a blend of issues examined in PSYC 835 and 836 (see above).

PSYC 838 Extramural Practicum II: Adult (non-credit) Prerequisites: Psych 708 (or 709 or 710), 711 (or 712 or 713), and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A senior extramural practicum with adult clients, done under qualified supervision in an applied setting approved by the department’s practicum committee, e.g. hospitals, clinics, schools, community and rehabilitation centres.

PSYC 839 Extramural Practicum II: Child (non-credit) Prerequisites: Psych 708 (or 709 or 710), 711 (or 712 or 713), and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A senior extramural practicum with child clients, done under qualified supervision in an applied setting approved by the department’s practicum committee, e.g. hospitals, clinics, schools, community and rehabilitation centres.

PSYC 840 Extramural Practicum II: General (non-credit) Prerequisites: Psych 708 (or 709 or 710), 711 (or 712 or 713), and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. A senior extramural practicum done under qualified supervision in an applied setting approved by the department’s practicum committee, e.g. hospitals, clinics, schools, community and rehabilitation centres.

PSYC 844 Clinical and Health Research Area Seminar II A seminar in which current research of faculty and students working in clinical and health psychology is presented and discussed.

PSYC 845 Cognitive Science Area Seminar II A seminar in which current research of faculty and students working in cognitive science is presented and discussed.

PSYC 846 Human Development Area Seminar II A seminar in which current research of faculty and students working on human development and developmental processes is presented and discussed.

PSYC 847 Behavioural Neuroscience Area Seminar II A seminar in which current research of faculty and students working in behavioural neuroscience is presented and discussed.

PSYC 850 Practicum in Experimental Techniques (3-6 credits) Prerequisite: Permission of the PhD Program Director. A practicum designed to give students the opportunity to develop their research skills by such activities as: (a) learning new experimental skills and techniques; (b) developing computer programs for the execution of experiments or the recording or analysis of experimental data; (c) developing new instruments to facilitate research on a problem, and other equivalent activities. Students who elect to take this option submit to their thesis supervisor and to the program director a 3-5 page outline of what they want to do to meet the practicum requirements. Once the practicum is approved, students are responsible for carrying out the activities described in the outline. The number of credits is based on the rule that 45 hours of work equals one credit.

PSYC 851 Teaching of Laboratory Techniques Prerequisite: Permission of PhD Program Director. A practicum designed to train students in the teaching of laboratory techniques. Under supervision, the graduate student will be responsible for training an apprentice in specialized experimental skills that require extended on-the-job supervision. Suitable topics would include high pressure liquid chromatography, electrophysiological recording, in vivo voltammetry, or computer programming related to a specific experimental application. The number of credits is based on the rule that 45 hours of work equals one credit.

PSYC 880 PhD Comprehensive Examination (non-credit)

PSYC 885 Predoctoral Internship (non-credit) Prerequisites: PSYC 835 (or 836 or 837), 823 (824 or 825), and permission of the Director of Clinical Training. The pre-doctoral internship consists of the equivalent of 12 months full-time employment under qualified supervision in an applied setting approved by the department’s internship committee. The internship is usually done after completion of course requirements, and after data collection and analysis, and a draft of the doctoral thesis have been completed.

PSYC 890 Research and Thesis (60 credits)