Dates for submitting applications will be published during the first semester

The fields of specialization offered for M.A. students are: clinical psychology, clinical child Psychology, social psychology, cognitive psychology and psychobiology. The program consists of two years of study.

The curriculum for all programs includes:

• Compulsory coursework, including coursework on methodology and statistics and courses specific to the student’s program of choice.
• Elective courses, selected from the M.A. elective courses offered, to complete the semester-hour requirements.
• At least one term paper.
• A final paper (thesis). The paper, which must be based on empirical research, is written with faculty guidance and under faculty supervision.
• Practical field work (practicum) in the student’s field of specialization. For research-oriented programs, the practicum is conducted in laboratories and research workshops.

The clinical psychology program: focuses on four key topics: theory, research, diagnostics & evaluation, and psychotherapeutic intervention. In addition to the theoretical material, the program features a two-year guided clinical practicum, conducted twice a week at psychiatric hospitals and mental health clinics. The program’s compulsory and elective coursework covers a wide range of therapeutic approaches to working with adults of various ages, with a host of psychological problems, from difficulty handling everyday anxiety to severe psychotic phenomena. The clinical psychology program comprises 58 semester hours (52 for compulsory coursework, six for electives).

The child clinical psychology program: focuses on children from infancy through adolescence. Key courses in the program look at normal development and psychopathology, diagnosis and treatment of children and their families, broad-scale treatment and family therapy. The program features a two-year clinical practicum, given at hospitals and other mental health institutions, where students learn the practical applications of child psychology. The program integrates the knowledge which has been amassed through research with regard to child development, psychopathology and treatment. The child clinical psychology program comprises 58 semester hours (52 for compulsory coursework, six for electives).

The social psychology program: the first year of the social psychology program focuses on the research underpinnings of social psychology; with the exception of Introduction to Social Psychology, most of the coursework is methodological in orientation, focusing on statistics and research methods. Students take part in a research workshop, aimed at sharpening their research skills, from the planning stage through the final report, led by a lecturer who is involved in research in the topic at hand. Students acquire a theoretical background in social psychology by way of elective courses, taught by teachers in the program, on such subjects as the psychology of decision-making, social distance, persuasion and opinion modification, and empathy and understanding, as well as the Jewish-Arab conflict. Students may elect to take a number of applied courses, both within the program and in other departments. The social psychology program consists of 40 semester hours.

The cognitive psychology program: focuses on the basic processes which characterize information-processing systems in the fields of perception, attention, learning, memory, language, thought, problem-solving, communication, decision-making and cognitive development, teaching students to plan and execute studies in these fields. Students must take part in at least five and as many as seven compulsory courses within the program (fourteen semester hours), along with elective coursework within the program (with approval from the head of the program, students may take up to one course outside of the program). Students are obligated to take part in the program’s Colloquium. The requirements for the program consist of 38 semester hours; students may take up to six semester hours of additional coursework, free of charge, during their first two years in the program. Students who register for the cognitive psychology program may opt for a neuroscience-oriented track, titled behavioral and cognitive neuroscience (see below).

The psychobiology program: focuses on the biological basis of behavior, as well as psychological processes such as learning, memory and emotion, under normal and abnormal conditions (schizophrenia, Parkinson ’s disease). The existing knowledge in this field is based on research conducted in humans and animals. The program provides students with a grounding in neuroscience (including the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system and psychopharmacology), as well as research methods for psychobiology, such as brain imaging, electrophysiology, pharmacology and computational techniques. The psychobiology program consists of 40 semester hours; students must participate in a course titled “select topics in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience” over the course of three semesters. During their first two years in the program, students may take up to six semester hours beyond the program requirements for M.A. students, free of charge. Students applying for the psychobiology program may opt for the behavioral and cognitive neuroscience track (see below).