Course Descriptions

Introduction to the historical development of personality theories with social, developmental, cognitive, affective and clinical concerns. Exploration of classic theories of personality such as psychoanalytic, behavioral, trait, humanistic, cognitive and social roles theories. Comparison of theories from a critical perspective that considers the definitions of healthy personality development in different cultures. Examination and discussion of contemporary research in personality stability, measurement, and definition.

Investigation of the past and recent research in clinical psychology. Examination of the basic characteristics of clinical evaluation and psychotherapies implemented in clinical intervention. Discussion of observation and interview techniques, importance of research, measurement and ethical principles from a clinical psychology perspective. Introduction to the basic features of forensic and health psychology, child clinical psychology, and other clinical fields. Discussion of prerequisites for becoming a clinical psychologist.

Job description of psychologists. Examination of various ethical codes. Investigation of ethics in research, psychotherapy, and the education of psychology. Investigation of various theoretical approaches from a historical perspective; and the comparison of ontological and epistemological approaches to human (and animal) behavior and research methods. Discussion of cases in various sub-disciplines of psychology, such as developmental, clinical and industrial.

Introduction to the experimental research methods through covering various examples of experiments in different fields of psychology, differentiation of various experimental designs in lab and field settings. Identifying the variables in these examples, conducting experiments and presenting these as verbal or posters in individual or student groups. The application of mostly the cognitive developmental topics such as attention, perception, learning, language, and memory with an experimental research design.

Introduction to the principles, skills, and ethical aspects of interviews in clinical and research settings, development of skills such as active listening, attention, evaluation, collecting personal narrative, emphatic behavior and report writing via examination of clinical case studies. Writing a report about clinical psychology applications. Presentation and discussion of student reports from a critical and cultural perspective.

Examination of advanced research topics in social psychology including attitudes, social cognition, cognitive dissonance, social influence, group processes and interpersonal behavior. Discussion of the emphasis on the immediate social situation, and the interaction between person and situation variables. Investigation of recent empirical and theoretical work in the field of social psychology. Critical discussion of applied and experimental social psychology trends in the literature.

Examination of the individual behaviors in organizational settings from a social-psychological perspective; understanding of concepts such as productivity, job satisfaction, motivational and transformational processes in organizational settings; discussion of leaders’ learning behaviors and the role of psychologists. Discussions on the relationships between the employer and employee from a critical perspective. The discussion of the evaluation of performances, motivation, leadership, group dynamics, job satisfaction, attitudes of the employers and employees, work-family balance and conflict, and stress in work environment.

Introduction to definitions of health and disease. Descriptions of major health psychology topics such as health promotion, stress, social support, coping skills, nutrition, exercise, weight control, substance abuse, pain, chronic and acute illnesses, and treatment methods. Exploration of theories in health psychology. Examination of theories and research methods in modern health psychology.

Area Elective-I

Area Elective-II