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Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and the mind.
The Department of Psychology at the University of Hawai'i
at Mānoa (UHM) offers a graduate program leading to the
MA/PhD. The program aims to prepare students for careers as
researchers, academics, or clinicians. Please note that the
department does not offer terminal master’s degrees;
all students are expected to continue their education to the
doctoral level.
The program provides a foundation in statistics and methodology.
Students also participate in lectures and seminars led by
internationally recognized scholars in psychology. However,
the emphasis remains on scientific research and students are
expected to participate actively in research throughout their
training.
Research opportunities vary by concentration. The mentoring
relationship in the department necessitates the matching of
interests between students and faculty. Prospective students
are urged to visit the department's Website to become familiar
with faculty research and to find a faculty member with mutual
interests who may serve as an advisor.
The department offers the following areas of concentration:
Behavioral Neuroscience
The emerging discipline of behavioral neuroscience provides
a bridge between the biological sciences and the study of
behavior. It emphasizes both evolutionary and functional approaches
to the study of learning, motivation, and emotions and analysis
of the physiological mechanisms underlying these behavior
patterns. The concentration in behavioral neuroscience offers
graduate education leading to the PhD in psychology. The concentration
also offers a dual-specialty option with clinical psychology.
Training and research are offered in the following areas:
- animal learning and the evolution of intelligence,
- behavioral and pharmacological analysis of aggression,
fear and anxiety,
- biochemical bases of major neurological and psychological
disorders.
Students in this concentration will spend the majority of
their time involved in laboratory research. Research involvement
typically begins with collaboration with an advisor and progresses
to individual research projects. Access to faculty laboratories
will be provided by the student’s primary advisor. A
sampling of the laboratories include:
- The George von Békésy Laboratory of Neurobiology,
which includes 10 faculty members involved in neuroscience
disciplines. Students interested in the neural and pharmacological
control of fear and aggression or comparative studies and
theoretical modeling of learning processes may gain access
through collaboration with Dr. Blanchard or Dr. Couvillon
respectively.
- The Psychobiology laboratory is run by Dr. Takahashi and
his students. Students interested in the physiological mechanisms
involved in corticotropin-releasing factor systems, and
fear and anxiety-related disorders may gain access through
collaboration with Dr. Takahashi.
Clinical Studies
The concentration in clinical studies is accredited by the
American Psychological Association and the Academy of Psychological
Clinical Science and is based on the scientist practitioner
model of training. The goal is to train PhD clinical psychologists
who are well-versed in empirically based methods of assessment
and treatment, and who can contribute to this body of knowledge
as clinical researchers and scholar clinicians. Three tenets
guide the doctoral training in clinical psychology at UHM:
- Clinical practice should be based on the knowledge derived
from basic areas of psychological inquiry (e.g., social
psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology,
psychobiology, and learning);
- Practice, research, and training in clinical psychology
should be sensitive to individual differences; and
- Principles of accountability and scholarship should be
reflected in clinical practice. Clinical practice should
be empirically based and clinicians should engage in ongoing
assessment of clients throughout treatment.
The Department also offers a Clinical
Studies Respecialization Certificate Program that provides
clinical training for individuals holding a PhD in a basic
area of psychology from a regionally accredited university
(or foreign equivalent). Upon satisfactory completion of this
program, students receive a certificate enabling them to compete
for clinical research and teaching positions, and conferring
eligibility to sit for licensure in most states.
Specialized clinical/research facilities are available in
the Department Clinic as well as in local hospitals and medical
centers, schools, and clinics.
Cognition
Faculty members in this concentration have a diverse range
of interests in human high-level cognitive abilities. One
program of research concerns the nature of human insight:
that moment of “aha!” when the solution to a problem
seems to suddenly reveal itself. Why do some problems need
an insightful solution, others not? Why do people differ in
their ability to be insightful? What are the cognitive processes
behind insight? How do we recall insightful solutions when
we reencounter a problem? A second program of research examines
human performance on various types of combinatorial optimization.
Under certain conditions, humans are better at solving such
problems than computer algorithms, and this program is investigating
the cognitive processes involved in this ability. A third
program of research is being established to utilize the techniques
of modern cognitive neuroscience—in particular, transcranial
magnetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging—to
examine how neural systems implement some aspects of high-level
cognition.
The cognitive concentration has excellent facilities for
computerized experiments, response time recording and video
analysis. A transcranial magnetic stimulation laboratory is
in the process of being established. There are excellent links
with a neuroimaging center in the UHM medical school.
Community and Culture
The Community and Culture Concentration (CCC) is a graduate
specialization leading to the PhD in psychology. The importance
of multi-disciplinary education is recognized and, therefore,
the core CCC curriculum is combined with offerings from other
departments at the University of Hawai'i. This multi-disciplinary
curriculum is designed to provide systematic coverage of the
major theoretical and empirical work in the field with sufficient
flexibility to meet student interests, enthusiasms, and career
goals.
The concentration's multi-disciplinary curriculum, including
Certificate options in Conflict Resolution, Disabilities Studies,
Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, Planning
Studies, and Policy Studies, is grounded in an empirical orientation
applied to professional activity. The skills people develop,
the interpersonal relationships they form, and the organizations
and settings in which people participate are regarded as so
interwoven that human behavior is best understood as part
of its social and cultural fabric. Consistent with this model,
professional activities are guided by research and data-based
assessment and directed toward social and cultural contexts
and settings for the prevention of human problems and the
enhancement of social competence. For these reasons, we believe
that the CCC offers education relevant to employment and impact
in a wide variety of settings, including academic, research,
consultation, social services, advocacy, program planning,
evaluation, and community development.
The CCC is a nucleus for the collaboration of faculty and
students with common scholarly interests. It is an educational
and professional specialization based on the scholarly foundations
of community and culture psychology, the enhanced intellectual
and professional opportunities inherent in multi-disciplinary
education, and the nationwide coordination provided by the
Council of Program Directors in Community Research and Action
(CPDCRA). In this endeavor, we are united by three commitments:
- a scientist-practitioner approach to the creation and
application of knowledge,
- a multi-disciplinary curriculum, and
- a scholar-apprentice model of education. We seek to advance
knowledge and influence social policy through research and
the application of social intervention strategies.
Please contact Dr. O’Donnell
for information on research facilities for this concentration.
Developmental Psychology
The concentration in developmental psychology at UHM is based
on a mentorship model in which students develop research skills
through close collaboration with faculty on research of mutual
interest. Prospective students should carefully evaluate the
match between their interests and those of the faculty.
Students are expected to engage in faculty-supervised research
from their first year at UHM, and to take increasing responsibility
for charting the direction of that research as they progress
through the program. Although each student will have one primary
advisor, students are encouraged to gain additional research
experience with other faculty in the concentration to gain
familiarity with a variety of research methods and lines of
inquiry.
Students involved in developmental psychology research with
Dr. Maynard will have access to a state-of-the-art facility
for the analysis of video recordings of children’s verbal
and non-verbal behavior.
Experimental Psychopathology
The concentration in experimental psychopathology is a program
of graduate study leading to the PhD in psychology. The program
emphasizes:
- the learning, biological, cognitive, and social bases
and correlates of behavior disorders,
- methods of multi-modal measurement and assessment appropriate
for research in psychopathology, and
- research designs and statistical analyses in experimental
psychopathology.
It is expected that graduates will be actively involved in
research throughout their graduate careers and assume positions,
following graduation, as psychopathology researchers, typically
in academic or research settings.
Social-Personality
In the concentration of social-personality, the MA and PhD
programs are designed to provide students with an understanding
of what scholars and scientists know about the behavior of
individuals in social contexts. Students work closely with
an advisor to develop programs of research on a variety of
basic and applied social-psychological topics.
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