Psychology
The School was established as a separate entity in 1920 (Psychology having been taught within Philosophy from 1913). It offers a number of postgraduate programs. Research degrees are offered at PhD and MSc level. It also offers a Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DCP) program, with MSc or PhD level research components (please see Faculty of Science Postgraduate Coursework brochure). In addition the School offers two graduate coursework programs in Applied Science: Coaching and Health Psychology. Both of these programs are offered at Masters, Diploma and Certificate level (please see Faculty of Science Postgraduate Coursework brochure).
Facilities
The School has extensive computer resources and technical support, and each postgraduate student is provided with a personal computer. In addition, the school has a large number of well-equipped specialised research laboratories for studies in perception, neuroscience, developmental psychology, cognition, human performance, human and animal learning, social psychology and clinical psychology.
These include:
- psychophysiological variables as well as audiovisual facilities, observation and interview rooms and a comprehensive test library
- access to clinical subjects at a number of Sydney hospitals
- access to observational facilities for studying infant behaviour
- joint research facility with Royal Prince Alfred Hospital including a Servo-Med Human Centrifuge
- facilities for conducting behavioural experiments with rats, as well as facilities for small animal surgery, immunohistochemistry and high performance liquid chromatography
- Mac-based laboratory available for recording up to 16 channels of EEG and other common psychophysiological measures
- affiliation with laboratories at Westmead hospital, including the Brain Dynamics and integrated Psychophysiology laboratory which is available for cognitive neuroscience, which includes EEG, ERP and simultaneous autonomic measures (skin conductance, heart/respiratory rate etc) and touch-screen based neuropsychological tests, and an associated network area storage system for imaging data
- the Peter Beumont Centre for Eating Disorders - one of the world’s leading clinical research units of its kind
- cognitive testing facilities including individual testing cubicles, data presentation and acquisition software, linguistic databases, speech-recording and editing software and eye-tracking equipment
- Vision labs using Pentium PCs fitted with Cambridge Research Systems Graphics Cards (VSG2/5) driving a 21” Sony Trinitron monitor; two mirror stereoscopes for binocular vision experiments; an OPTEC 2500P vision tester for screening subjects; 3-D Studio Max software for animated stimulus generation;
- computer-controlled research driving simulator
Areas of Research
Behavioural Neuroscience and Psychopharmacology
- behavioural, neural and cognitive effects of cannabinoids
- defensive behaviour and anxiety
- intravenous drug self-administration
- behavioural and neurotoxic effects of MDMA (“Ecstasy”) and methamphetamine (“speed”).
- alcohol craving: animal models and drug therapies
Coaching Psychology
- executive and organisational coaching
- enhancement of emotional intelligence
- well-being and applied positive psychology
- role of attention in behavioural and emotional self-regulation
- self-reflection and insight
- boundary between coaching and therapy
- working within complex systems
- outcomes of personal, workplace and executive coaching
Cognitive Neuroscience
- recognition of rotated objects
- relationship between object recognition and mental rotation
- mental transformation of objects and bodies
- mechanisms underlying RSVP phenomena
- integration of the cognitive, temporal, spatial network and arousal dimensions of emotion processing; application to clinical disorders and emotion dysfunctions
Cognitive Processes
- language: reading, spelling, speech production, bilingualism
- cognitive dysfunctions: aphasia, dyslexia, cognitive ageing, dementia
- attention and mental control
- memory: organisation of lexical memory, explicit and implicit memory
- object and face recognition
- cognitive mechanisms underlying intelligence
- reasoning and decision-making
- problem solving
- eyewitness testimony
Clinical Psychology/Neuropsychology
- anxiety disorders
- depression
- eating disorders and body image disturbances
- obesity
- epilepsy
- health psychology across a broad range of illnesses
- child and adolescent mental health issues
- childhood bullying
- anxiety and oppositional disorders in childhood
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorders/conduct disorders
Developmental Psychology
- kinaesthetic development and early motor control
- response inhibition
- development of haptic ability
- social and cognitive factors in young children’s testimony
- factors influencing suggestibility
- moral development
- cognitive and metacognitive development
- source monitoring
- language development and bilingualism
- emotional development in infancy and childhood
- attachment
- theory of mind development and social cognition
Differential Psychology
- structure of auditory abilities and their place in the measurement of intelligence
- effects of training in creative problem solving on intelligence tests
- relationship between personality and measures of intellectual abilities
- ageing of cognitive abilities
- role of confidence ratings in the measurement of intelligence
- speed of mental processes and intelligence
- cognitive complexity and correlates of working memory capacity
- decision-making processes and irrationality
- metacognitive abilities and their role in intelligence debates and decision-making
Health Psychology
- risk perception and communication
- psychological responses to genetic counselling and testing
- medical decision making
- the role of stress, personality and social support in the development and outcome of disease
- quality of life and psychosocial outcomes of disease
- psychosocial interventions to promote adjustment and healthy behaviours
- doctor-patient communication
- end-of-life issues
History and Philosophy of Psychology
- psychoanalysis
- concepts of motivation and emotion
- validity of connectionist modelling of cognitive processes
- reductionism and the relationship between psychology
- philosophy of science
- history of quantitative methods
Industrial & Organisational Psychology
- selection
- training
- applied cognitive psychology
- career decision making
Learning and Motivation
- basic mechanisms of associative learning in Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning paradigms in humans and rats
- the role of learning in the perception of, and preference for, odours and flavours in rats and humans
- activity-based anorexia in rats
- bi-directional interactions between behaviour and immune function
- conditioned analgesia and hyperalgesia
Perceptual Systems
- visual illusions of direction and orientation
- audiovisual integration
- auditory perception
- binocular rivalry
- judgements of body tilt
- coding of visual information
- colour, form and motion perception
- face perception
- neural correlates of visual perception
- the binding problem
- basic tactile perception and interactions between vision and touch
Sensory Processes
- vestibular function: measuring human balance function
- eye movement control
- development of diagnostic tests of human balance function
- sensorimotor coordination during driving
Social Psychology
- studies of nonverbal communication
- gambling addiction
- socialisation practices
- the psychological and physiological effects of ostracism
- interpersonal relationships
- marital role expectations
- family problem solving
- family cohesion and adaptability
- social psychology of religion
- measuring explicit and implicit prejudice
- factors involved in the development of racial prejudice
- sociocognitive understanding in childhood
- environmental psychology
- questionnaire bias
Academic Programs offered
- Honours
- Master of Science (MSc)
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
