Graduate Course List 2015-2016

Any discrepancies between the information listed below and the official course listings found at the Psychology Graduate Office the latter shall prevail.

Psychology 9040A. (Fall 2015). Scientific Computing with MATLAB. P. Gribble. The goal of this one-semester graduate seminar is to provide you with skills in scientific computing---tools and techniques that you can use in your own research. We will focus on learning to think
about experiments and data in a computational framework, and we will learn to implement specific data processing and analysis algorithms using a high-level programming language. We will use MATLAB although if you wish to use another language such as Python, R or C you are free to do so. Learning how to program will significantly enhance your ability to conduct scientific research today and in the future. Programming skills will provide you with the ability to go beyond what is available in pre-packaged analysis tools, and code your own custom data processing, analysis and visualization pipelines. Half course (0.5); one term. Monday 2:30 p.m.
- 4:00 p.m and Friday 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. StvH 3101. Start date: Monday Sept. 14, 2015.

Psychology 9041B (Winter 2016). Introduction to Statistics Using R. P. Gribble. The goal of this one-semester graduate seminar is to provide you with a deep understanding of the logic behind statistical analyses of data, to learn a set of standard statistical techniques, and to gain hands-on experience using the R language for statistical computing and graphical display of data. We will cover an initial set of core topics including sampling distributions, t-tests, ANOVA (and its variants), multiple comparisons & post-hoc tests, and multiple regression. We also cover a set of advanced topics pertinent to modern research in psychology and neuroscience such as maximum-likelihood estimation and bayesian approaches to data analysis and modelling.
Monday and Wednesday 2:30 p.m. - 4:00p.m, StvH 3101.

Psychology 9540 (Fall, 2015 & Winter, 2016). Research Design and Statistical Modeling. P. Tremblay. We will cover the main univariate and multivariate statistical and modeling procedures with the objective of developing a solid conceptual understanding and ability to use the methods correctly and efficiently in independent research. The lab exercises will provide hands-on training at the conceptual/hypothesis, design, and statistical analysis levels by using data examples that simulate realistic and often challenging research situations (e.g., missing data, non-normal distributions, unbalanced designs, and confounding variables). The course topics are organized into four general units: I. Foundational Statistics (sampling distributions, inferential statistics, confidence intervals, effect size, and power), II. ANOVA, ANCOVA and MANOVA (including experimental and quasi experimental designs), III. Multiple Regression and Extensions (including mediation, moderation, multilevel modeling, and models for categorical outcomes such as logistic regression), and IV. Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. Full course (1.0); two terms. The course textbook is Warner, R. M. (2013). Applied Statistics. From Bivariate Through Multivariate Techniques. Second Edition. Los Angeles: Sage. Wednesday 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., SSC 7405/09. Start date: Sept. 9, 2015.

Psychology 9207Y. (Fall 2015 and Winter 2016). Research Seminar in Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience. S. Köhler. Faculty and students in Behavioural and Cognitive
 
Neuroscience and related areas meet every week for one hour to report on ongoing research. Some didactic topics are also covered. Half course (0.5); two terms. Thursdays 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., SSC 3014. Start date: September 10, 2015

Psychology 9222A. (Fall 2015). Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory. S. Köhler. Starting with the classic paper by Scoville and Milner in 1957, the discoveries generated in studies on the amnesic patient H.M. launched a new era of research on memory in humans and in other species. They led to the widely held view that memory is a function that can be localized in the brain, and that contributions of the hippocampus are central to that function. In the present seminar, we will examine H.M.’s legacy, asking to what extent findings from current research in human cognitive neuroscience still support this ‘textbook view’ of memory organization and of the functional specialization of the hippocampus. We will cover research based on various methodologies, with an emphasis on functional-neuroimaging studies in healthy individuals and neuropsychological studies in patients. While not a systematic review of theories of hippocampal functioning, we will also examine to what extent available theoretical models can account for the diversity of findings reported. Although a comprehensive synthesis may not be possible yet, our goal is to explore exciting new perspectives that are currently driving the field.Half course. Tuesday 3:30
p.m. - 6:30 p.m., StvH 2166. Start Date: September 10, 2015

Psychology 9225A (Fall 2015). Current topics in Animal Behavior/Animal Cognition. D. Sherry. Half course. Tuesday 1:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., SSC 8409.

Psychology 9300A. (Fall, 2015). Professional Foundations of Clinical Psychology. P. Hoaken. The course serves as an orientation to professional issues relevant to all areas of clinical psychology. Ethics, standards of practice, legislation, and other professional issues will be considered. This course is restricted to Clinical Students. Half course (0.5); one term.
Wednesday 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., WH 20

Psychology 9301B. (Winter, 2016). Clinical Skills Pre-practicum. N. Kuiper. This course is designed to provide clinical psychology students with an initial orientation to fundamental issues and skills that underlie assessment, intervention, and evaluation. Substantial practice in basic interviewing techniques, using a programmed micro-skills approach, will be one of the major components of this course. Students may also receive some preliminary practice using several standard cognitive-behavioral techniques. Examples of other topics that may be covered include therapist issues, the therapeutic relationship, client issues, assessment, and goal-setting procedures. The course will focus on helping each student developing a framework for understanding practical concerns and issues relating to clinical work. Pre-requisites: Successful completion of Psychology 9300 and current enrolment in the clinical psychology graduate program. Half course (0.5); one term. Thursday 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Psychology 9310A. (Fall 2015). Child Psychopathology and Diagnosis. E. Hayden. Half course. Tuesday 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., WH 20.

Psychology 9320B. Psychotherapy Approaches. D. Dozois. This course will introduce students to important concepts, issues, and theories in contemporary psychotherapy. The course will examine the theoretical rationales, goals, therapeutic techniques, and efficacy of several different
 
therapeutic approaches, broadly subsumed under psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioral, humanistic, and experiential modalities. This course will also address various issues in psychotherapy such as investigating effectiveness and assessing psychotherapy outcome. Through lectures, class presentations, readings, videos, class discussions, and experiential class exercises, students will critically evaluate the theories and techniques of major approaches to psychotherapy. Enrolment is restricted to clinical psychology students. This course is intended to serve as an overview course for more junior clinical students. Half course (0.5); one term.
Tuesday 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., WH 36.

Psychology 9351A. Cross-Cultural Issues in Clinical Psychology (Fall 2015). F. Otchet. This course will help students gain an increased understanding of the role of individual differences (e.g., culture, gender, ethnicity) in the research and practice of clinical psychology.  It will familiarize students with the current state of cross cultural research, contemporary issues in cross-cultural psychology, and current ethical and professional guidelines for work with non- traditional clients. It will also improve skills in practice and research with non-traditional
clients. Through increasing cross-cultural sensitivity, as well as introducing students to specific community/cultural norms, relevant ethical and professional guidelines, and/or prominent issues within cultures, it is anticipated that students will be better able to meet the needs of their diverse clinical and/or research populations. Half course (0.5); one term. Thursday 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., WH20E.

Psychology 9380Y. Clinical Psychology Proseminar (Fall 2015 and Winter 2016). D. Dozois This proseminar course consists of a series of workshops, brownbags and two clinical program meetings (1 in the fall and 1 in the spring). Typically, there are two workshops and six brownbags per year. Presentations focus on various clinically relevant topics, and are made by adjunct clinical faculty, core faculty, or other guest speakers. Workshops are typically a half-day or day-long, with each providing in-depth coverage of a specific topic of interest to clinical students. The proseminar series is a requirement of the clinical program, with all students (except those completed or on internship) expected to attend all of the events that are part of the proseminar series. This course is limited to clinical students. Zero weighted course; three terms.

Psychology 9800. (Fall 2015 and Winter 2016). Clinical Assessment Practicum. R.W.J. Neufeld and D. Saklofske. This course is designed to provide clinical students with basic skills in the administration, scoring, interpretation, and integration of several major psychological assessment instruments currently used in clinical practice with adults and children. Supervised practical experience assessing adults and children in clinical settings is included. Emphasis is also placed on the integration of assessment data, case conceptualization, and report writing.
There will also be discussions of current issues in clinical assessment, ranging from basic issues of psychometrics, to contemporary quantitative developments in assessment technology.
Prerequisites: Limited to clinical students who have already taken Psychology 9300, 9301. A course in psychopathology, either Psychology 9310 or 9311 are required as either prerequisites or corequisites. Full course (1.0); two terms. Monday 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., WH 36.

Psychology 9801U, 9802U, 9803U: Initial Intervention Practicum.
This  course will entail a placement at Western's  Student Development Center, typically in the Summer of the MScI year. Designed to help student ease into their roles as clinicians, there
 
will  be ample opportunities to observe, be observed by and/or conduct co-therapy sessions with a senior clinician. This senior clinician will either be an SDC Staff Psychologist or a London Clinical Psychology Consortium Resident. The amount to time committed to this placement is to be agreed upon by the student, his/her research supervisor and the SDC placement  coordinator. Enrolment is restricted to students in Western's Clinical Psychology Program. Quarter course; one term.

Psychology 9805Y, 9806Y, 9807Y, 9808Y, 9809Y, 9810Y, 9811Y, 9812Y, 9813Y or 9814Y.
Clinical Practicum. L. Swartzman. This clinical practicum involves placement of clinical students with an adjunct clinical faculty supervisor in one of our clinical settings (adult or child). Prerequisites: For clinical students who have completed Psychology 9300, 9301, 9800, and 9310 or 9311. Clinical students will complete 9805Y before using 9806Y for the next practicum placement, complete 9806Y before using 9807Y for the subsequent practicum placement and so on. Half-course (0.5 or 180 hours)=9805Y to 9819Y; two or more terms. Quarter-course (0.25 or 90 hours)=9820U to 9839U; two or more terms. Thursday, 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., WH 36.

Psychology 9850, 9851, 9852, 9853 or 9854. Applied Research Practicum. L. Swartzman. This applied research practicum involves placement of clinical students in any one of a range of local service delivery settings (including physical and mental health delivery settings, community agencies, etc.) where they undertake and/or serve as consultants for on-site research projects. "Research" in this context is broadly defined. Students work under the supervision of the course instructor and, when appropriate, may also be co-supervised by an on-site psychologist or other researcher. Those interested in taking this course are encouraged to speak with the course instructor as soon as possible, so that their particular interests, abilities and time constraints can be matched with the research needs of the service setting. NOTE: Enrolment in this course is limited to PhD clinical students. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor, and, preferably, successful completion of a graduate level applied research course or its equivalent (e.g., Clinical Research Methods (9340), Program Development, Evaluation, and Marketing (9341); Psychotherapy Research (9342); Quantitative Clinical Cognitive Science and Assessment (9343)). Clinical students will complete 9850 before using 9851 for the next practicum placement, complete 9851 before using 9852 for the subsequent practicum placement and so on. Half-course (0.5 or 180 hours)=9850 to 9854; two or more terms. Quarter-course (0.25 or 90 hours)=9855U to 9859U; two or more terms.

Psychology 9860Y, 9861Y, 9862Y, 9863Y, 9864Y, 9865Y, 9866Y, 9867Y, 9868Y, or 9869Y.
Clinical Supervision Praciticum. L. Swartzman. Clinical students will complete 9860 before using 9861 for the nex practicum placement, complete 9861 before using 9862 for the subsequent practicum placement and so on. Half-course (0.5 or 180 hours) = 9860Y to 9865Y; two or more terms. Quarter-course (0.25 or 90 hours) = 9870U to 9879U; two or more terms.
Thursdays, 1:30 - 4:30 pm, Room 36, Westminster Hall.

Psychology 9880U, 9881U or 9882U. Clinical Practicum in Community Mental Health. F. Otchet. Offered through the Department of Psychology's Clinical Program, this clinical practicum course will be
taught by community-based registered clinical psychologists who are Adjunct Clinical faculty within the Department of Psychology. It will afford clinical graduate students, typically during
 
their MSc I and/or II
year, the opportunity to provide basic supportive counselling to adults presenting with a range of personal concerns, in a transdisciplinary community setting. Students will be supervised by clinical psychology
residents or senior clinical psychology students as well as by registered psychologists.
Enrolment is restricted.

Psychology 9890. Clinical Internship. (Fall 2015 and Winter 2016). D. Dozois. This course is a full-year (2000-hour) internship for clinical students who have completed all course and practicum requirements, and have made substantial progress on their dissertation. Typically, students are expected to submit a first draft of their dissertation prior to leaving on internship.
The internship must be carried out at an approved setting, and written permission is required from both the supervisor and the Director of the Clinical Psychology Program.

Psychology 9100A. (Fall 2015). Fundamental Issues in Cognition. J. P. Minda. This course will provide graduate students with exposure to classic and current research in cognitive psychology. We will read and discuss articles on the major topics in the field, including high- level perception, mental representations, categorization, attention, working memory, decision making, language, and thinking. The readings will encompass theoretical approaches, behavioural research, computational modelling, and cognitive neuroscience. Meetings will follow a seminar/debate format, in which students will discuss the readings for each class and will debate the central topic. To frame the discussion for each meeting, the instructor will provide background and any needed tutorials. Marks will be based on participation and written         work. This course is required for students in the Cognition area but is open to students from other areas or from departments. This course is limited to 20 students and preference will be given to students in Cognition. Half course. Thursday 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., SSC 8438/8440. Start Date: Thursday Sept. 10, 2015.

Psychology 9120B. (Winter 2016). Bilingualism. D. Jared.Half course.< Thursday 1:30 p.m.
- 4:30 p.m., SSC 8409.

Psychology 9612A (Fall 2015). The Psychology of Personnel Selection, Recruitment, and Work Analysis. R. Goffin. Half course. Thursday 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., SSC 8409. Start date: Thursday September 17

Psychology 9621B (Winter 2016). Work Attitudes and Behavior. N. Allen. Half course.
Tuesday 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., SSC 8409.

Psychology 9647Y. (Fall & Winter). Doctoral Seminar in I/O Psychology. J. Meyer. Half course. Wednesday 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., SSC 8409.

Psychology 9542B. (Winter 2016). Multilevel Modeling (MLM). P. Tremblay. This course serves as an introduction to theory, design, and application of multilevel modeling. The course is ideal for students who plan to do research with group level data (e.g., peer groups, teams in organization or sports, dyads such as couples or twins, surveys with clustered data, neighborhoods, and classrooms) or multi-observation studies (e.g., daily diary studies,
 
longitudinal designs, experimental designs with multiple repeated stimuli) Students should come with training in multiple regression and would benefit from experience in analysis of variance and structural equation modeling. Course topics include a review of traditional regression procedures, research design with multilevel structures, the basic two-level regression model (and extension to three-levels), methodological and statistical issues including power analyses, models with longitudinal data, models with dichotomous, categorical or count outcomes and structural equation models with multiple data levels and mediation. My overall objective is to provide students with the necessary knowledge to apply MLM to research through hands-on individualized projects tailored to students’ research interests and needs. Students have the opportunity to analyze their own data, to use large data sets provided in the course, or to conduct simulation studies (in Mplus or other packages such as HLM or SPSS Mixed Models). The course textbook is Hox J. J. (2010). Multilevel analysis. Techniques and application. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. Prerequisite: must have taken Psychology 9540 (Research Design) or equivalent course. Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., SSC 8438/8440.

Psychology 9545A. (Fall 2015). Test Construction and Survey Design. D. Saklofske. This course is intended for psychology graduate students who need to develop test instruments such as questionnaires, short performance scales, observation schedules, interview checklists etc. for their current research or practice. Students should know in advance what variables/factors they are intending to measure (e.g., resiliency, motivation, well-being) and be familiar with the relevant research and assessment issues . Students should also have completed at least a foundational course in psychometrics as well as intermediate statistics and be familiar with statistical packages such as SPSS. It is expected that students will complete the basic scale development and have sufficient data to demostrate the psychometric integrity and usefulness of the measure. While each project will stand alone, common themes such as item writing, reliability and validity, and norming will be discussed in the larger group, creating a richer and collaborative/supportive learning opportunity. Students interested in applying to this course require the approval of the instructor and should meet with him/her to determine the 'goodness of fit'. Half course (0.5); one term. Tuesday 12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., SSC 7405/7409.

Psychology 9555A (Fall 2015). Structural Equation Modeling. P. Tremblay. This course serves as an introduction to structural equation modeling (SEM). No prior experience with SEM is required; however, experience in multiple linear regression, factor analysis, and psychometric principles of reliability and construct validity is recommended. My overall objective is to help you develop a solid conceptual and theoretical understanding and ability to use SEM and its extensions correctly and effectively in your own independent research. The course topics include the foundational concepts of the measurement and structural models, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), traditional path analysis, and basic principles of model building including specification, identification, estimation, hypothesis testing, and modification. Topics also include applications and extensions of SEM such as scale construction and validation, mediation and moderation, multi-group analyses, measurement invariance and latent growth modeling. Students will have the opportunity to work on projects tailored to their research interests and needs.
Software packages demonstrated in the course will include Mplus and AMOS but students are free to use other programs such as R or EQS. The course textbook is Kline, R. B. (2011).
Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. Third Edition. New York: Guilford Press. Prerequisite: must have taken Psychology 9540 (Research Design) or obtained the permission of the instructor. Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., SSC 8438/8440. Start date: Sept. 15, 2015.

Psychology 9702F (Fall 2015). Social Psychology Research Methods. L. Campbell. This course will acquaint students with the major research designs and procedures in social psychology, as well as explore recent methodological innovations that were designed to address issues unique to social psychological research. The objectives are to develop a firm grasp of the research methods available, including the application of these methods in research settings, and statistical considerations of these methods. Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to, validity and reliability, mediation and moderation, field research, modelling interdependence (data from groups of 2 or more), multi-level modelling, methods for the study of social cognition, and meta-analysis. Half course; one term. Thursday, 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., SSC 8409.

Psychology 9723F (Fall 2015) Special Topics: Attitudes. J. Olson. TBA. Half course (0.5); one term. Tuesday, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., SSC 8409.

Psychology 9724B (Winter 2015) Special Topics: Interpersonal Relationships. L. Campbell.  This graduate seminar will focus on theory and research regarding interpersonal relationships. This field is characterized by enormous breadth of content, several unique methodological and statistical challenges and, perhaps most importantly, the need for meta- theories around which various empirical findings might be integrated and organized. The purpose of this seminar is four fold: (1) to familiarize everyone with classical and contemporary theorizing in the field of close relationships; (2) to read and critique some of the best research in this field; (3) to develop a meta-theoretical perspective on the field; and (4) to identify what critical questions must be asked (and eventually answered) if a stronger, more complete, and more integrated science of relationships is to emerge. Half course; one term.  Half course (0.5);