This course provides an in-depth introduction to the field of moral psychology. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the science of human morality; the goal of this course is to offer an introduction to the research in this field. The course will incorporate perspectives from a variety of disciplines including philosophy, animal behaviour, neuroscience, economics, and almost every area of scientific psychology (social psychology, developmental psychology, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive psychology). By the end of the course students will be well versed in the primary issues and debates involved in the scientific study of morality.

An intensive examination of selected issues and research problems in social psychology.

The development of social psychology is examined both as a discipline (its phenomena, theory, and methods) and as a profession. The Natural and Human Science approaches to phenomena are contrasted. Students are taught to observe the lived-world, choose a social phenomenon of interest to them, and then interview people who describe episodes from their lives in which these phenomena occurred. The students interpret these episodes and develop theories to account for their phenomena before searching for scholarly research on the topic.

This course investigates how linking theory and evidence from psychology, neuroscience, and biology can aid in understanding important social behaviors. Students will learn to identify, critique, and apply cutting-edge research findings to current real-world social issues (e.g., prejudice, politics, moral and criminal behavior, stress and health).

This course focuses on theory and research pertaining to gender and gender roles. The social psychological and social-developmental research literature concerning gender differences will be critically examined. Other topics also will be considered, such as gender-role socialization.

How can we break bad habits? How can we start healthy habits? This course will explore the science of behaviour change, examining how to go from where you are to where you want to be. Students will learn core knowledge of the field of behaviour change from psychology and behavioural economics. Topics include goal setting and goal pursuit, self-regulation, motivation, dealing with temptations, nudges, and habits. Students will read primary sources and learn how to critically evaluate research and scientific claims. Critically, students will not only learn theory but will be instructed on how to apply what they learn in class to their everyday lives where students work on improving their own habits.

An intensive examination of selected issues and research problems in developmental psychology.
The specific content will vary from year to year with the interests of both instructor and students. Lectures, discussions, and oral presentations by students.

Mutual recognition is one of the hallmarks of human consciousness and psychological development. This course explores mutual recognition as a dyadic and regulatory process in development, drawing on diverse theories from developmental science, social psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, literature, psychoanalysis, and gender studies.

An in-depth examination of aspects related to perceptual and motor development in infancy and childhood. The topics to be covered will be drawn from basic components of visual and auditory perception, multisensory integration, and motor control, including reaching, posture, and walking. Each week, students will read a set of experimental reports, and will discuss these readings in class. The format of this course is seminar-discussion.

Humans’ abilities to reason and think about emotion (i.e., affective cognition) is highly sophisticated. Even with limited information, humans can predict whether someone will feel amused, excited, or moved, or whether they will feel embarrassed, disappointed, or furious. How do humans acquire these abilities? This course will delve into the development of affective cognition in infancy and childhood. Topics include infants’ and children’s abilities to infer, predict, and explain emotions, the influence of family and culture in these developmental processes, and atypical development of affective cognition. Through reading classic and contemporary papers, presenting and discussing current topics, and proposing novel ideas in this research domain, students will gain an in-depth understanding of the fundamental aspects of affective cognition over the course of development.

An intensive examination of selected issues and research problems in personality psychology. The specific content will vary from year to year.

This course provides an in-depth introduction to the field of cultural-clinical psychology. We examine theoretical and empirical advances in understanding the complex interplay between culture and mental health, focusing on implications for the study and treatment of psychopathology. Topics include cultural variations in the experience and expression of mental illness.

This course reviews the latest research on the causes, longitudinal development, assessment, and treatment of personality disorders. Students will learn the history of personality disorders and approaches to conceptualizing personality pathology. Topics covered include “schizophrenia-spectrum” personality disorders, biological approaches to psychopathy, and dialectical behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder.

An intensive examination of selected issues and research problems in abnormal psychology. The specific content will vary from year to year.

This course reviews the psychopharmacological strategies used for addressing a variety of mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, psychosis, impulsivity, and dementia. It will also address the effects of psychotropic drugs on patients or clients referred to mental health professionals for intellectual, neuropsychological and personality testing. Limitations of pharmacotherapy and its combinations with psychotherapy will be discussed.

This course is an opportunity to explore how social practices and ideas contribute to the ways in which society, families and individuals are affected by mental health and mental illness.

This course provides an in-depth exploration of cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT) for psychological disorders. Topics covered include historical and theoretical foundations of CBT, its empirical evidence base and putative mechanisms of change, and a critical review of contemporary clinical applications and protocols.

An intensive examination of selected topics. The specific content will vary from year to year.

This course provides an intensive examination of selected topics in recent research on perception. Topics may include research in vision, action, touch, hearing and multisensory integration. Selected readings will cover psychological and neuropsychological findings, neurophysiological results, synaesthesia and an introduction to the Bayesian mechanisms of multisensory integration.

This course provides an overview of neural-network models of perception, memory, language, knowledge representation, and higher-order cognition. The course consists of lectures and a lab component. Lectures will cover the theory behind the models and their application to specific empirical domains. Labs will provide hands-on experience running and analyzing simulation models.

The course provides an intensive examination of selected topics in the research of visual recognition. Multiple components of recognition, as related to perception, memory and higher-level cognition, will be considered from an integrative psychological, neuroscientific and computational perspective. Specific topics include face recognition, visual word recognition and general object recognition.

An in-depth study of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as used in cognitive neuroscience, including an overview of MR physics, experimental design, and statistics, as well as hands-on experience of data processing and analysis.

This course takes a cognitive approach to understanding the initiation and perpetuation of gambling behaviours, with a particular interest in making links to relevant work in neuroscience, social psychology, and clinical psychology.

This seminar course will focus on the brain bases of pleasure and reward and their role in human psychology. We will examine how different aspects of pleasure and reward are implemented in the human brain, and how they contribute to various psychological phenomena such as self-disclosure, attachment, altruism, humour, and specific forms of psychopathology.

An extensive examination of selected topics in human brain and behaviour. The neural bases of mental functions such as language, learning, memory, emotion, motivation and addiction are examples of the topics that may be included.

This course offers the opportunity to engage in a year-long research project under the supervision of an interested member of the faculty in Psychology. Extensive data collection/processing and analysis will be required. The project will culminate in a written report in the form of a thesis and a poster presentation. During the course of the year, at appropriate times, students will meet to present their own research proposals, to appraise the proposals of others, and to discuss the results of their investigation. Students must first find a supervisor, which is usually confirmed before the start of the academic term in which the project will be initiated. Students will meet as a group with the coordinator as well as individually with their supervisor. This course is restricted to Majors and Specialists in Psychology and Mental Health Studies with a GPA of 3.3 or higher over the last 5.0 credit equivalents completed. Students planning to pursue graduate studies are especially encouraged to enroll in the course. Students must obtain a permission form from the Department of Psychology website that is to be completed and signed by the intended supervisor and submitted to the Psychology Office. Students seeking supervision off campus will need to arrange co-supervision with a faculty member in Psychology at this campus.

An introduction to major religious traditions of the world. This course emphasizes the history, beliefs, practices and writings of Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto.

An introduction to major religious traditions of the world. This course emphasizes the history, beliefs, practices and writings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Critical comparative study of the major Indian religious traditions.

An introduction to the academic study of religion, with special attention to method and theory.