Trent University

School Description:

Psychology at Trent

Trent’s program in Psychology ensures that students acquire both research skills and a broadly-based background in the basic content of the discipline, combined with the opportunity at upper levels to focus on more specialized topics.

A first-year introductory course lays the foundation for second-year courses in the major content areas of Psychology (e.g., personality, cognition, learning, social, physiological, child, abnormal). Specialized upper-year courses — on such topics as emotion, gender, intelligence, neuropsychology, life-span and exceptional development, health, education, and human relations, in addition to advanced treatments of the major areas — build on the foundation laid in the first two years.

In addition to their content courses, all majors in Psychology take one (General degree) or two (Honours degree) courses in research methodology; Honours students may also elect to become involved in faculty research through research practica in their third and fourth years, while an independent research thesis under faculty supervision may form a major part of the fourth-year program.

Undergraduate Program Description

Undergraduate Studies

Undergraduate psychology at Trent provides not only a liberal education for its students but an in-depth study of the issues, methodologies, research findings and contributions within the discipline itself.

The Psychology Department acknowledges as its teaching goals the development of:

• a knowledge base of significant facts, theories, and issues within the discipline;
• critical thinking skills;
• communications skills;
• information gathering and synthesis skills;
• research methods and statistical skills;
• interpersonal skills;
• a knowledge of the history of the discipline;
• ethics and values relevant to the discipline.

Graduate Program Description

Psychology M.A./M.Sc.

The master’s program leads to the degree(s) of Master of Arts (M.A.) or Master of Science (M.Sc.) depending on the sub-discipline. The program is 2 years in length: students will typically complete their course work in the first year and their research thesis in the second year.

The master’s program has three distinct fields of study: Health, Developmental, and Cognition/Perception/Neuroscience.

Health

Health Psychology is a field of study concerned with the psychological, social, cultural and behavioural factors that influence overall health and well-being, as well as the impact of stress and illness on the individual. Specific foci within our program include affect regulation, analysis of health care, social and attachment relationships, cross-cultural relations, communication, family dynamics, dreams, emotional intelligence, human sexuality, personality and psychopathology, psychosocial oncology, and stress and coping.

Developmental

Developmental Psychology is a field of study that examines maturational processes and experiences on behaviour. Age-related behavioural change is examined across a broad range of topics including: acquisition of language, attachment relationships, conceptual understanding, development of motor skills, identity formation, problem solving abilities, and psychosocial functioning, Specific foci within our program include life-span development, attachment, language, culture, and cognitive development.

Cognition/Perception/Neuroscience

Areas of Psychology examine how neural and mental processes guide our behaviour and how these processes are constrained by the body and the environment. These areas of research examine questions about the workings of attention, behavioural neuroscience, creativity, knowledge representation, language, memory, reasoning, problem solving, and perception. Specific foci within our department include attention and reading, memory and cognition, sleep, vision, neural development, and stressor reactivity. This field of study is among the fastest growing areas in psychology.

ADMISSIONS

Applicants to the M.A./M.Sc. program will normally have completed a B.A. or B.Sc. honours degree in Psychology from a recognized university, with an overall average of at least B+ (77%, GPA 3.3) and an average of A- (80%, GPA 3.7) in Psychology courses.

Admissions to the M.A./M.Sc. program are based on the availability of appropriate faculty as instructors, supervisors and committee members, feasibility of the applicant’s proposed course of study and research project, and appropriateness of the applicant’s previous education and training. Graduate Record Examinations (General and Subject sections) are not required, but are highly recommended.