Psychology
The University of Sydney’s School of Psychology was the first established in Australia, and it is currently one of the largest and most prestigious. There are a number of postgraduate programs available. Research programs are offered at PhD and MSc level.
University of Sydney advantage
The School has extensive computer resources and technical support, and each postgraduate student is provided with a personal computer. The School also 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:
- clinical psychology facilities including audiovisual facilities, observation and interview rooms, equipment for recording psycho-physiological variables and a comprehensive test library
- access to clinical participants 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 and psycho-pharmacological experiments with rats and mice
- facilities for small animal surgery, immunohistochemistry, 2-DE proteomics, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
- the Peter Beumont Centre for Eating Disorders - one of the world’s leading clinical research units of its kind
- the Centre for Medical Psychology and Evidence-based Decision-making (CeMPED) is a cross-faculty, multidisciplinary organisation sitting within the School of Psychology, School of Public Health and the Department of Medicine.
- 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 21” Sony Trinitron monitors; two mirror stereoscopes for binocular vision experiments; an OPTEC 2500P vision tester for screening subjects; 3D Studio Max software for animated stimulus generation;
- computer-controlled research driving simulator
- a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) lab, equipped with a Magstim Rapid2 stimulator and a neuronavigation system for precise localisation of TMS sites
Areas of Research
Behavioural Neuroscience and Psychopharmacology
- behavioural, neural and cognitive effects of abused drugs
- defensive behaviour and anxiety
- intravenous drug self-administration models
- olfactory learning and memory in rodents
- alcohol craving: animal models and drug therapies
- ADHD medications and their effects
- drug discovery and drug design
- the neural mechanisms mediating the effect of chronic pain on behaviour, cognition and mood
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
- leadership development
- coaching and developmental theory
Cognitive Neuroscience
- recognition of rotated objects
- mental transformation of objects and bodies
- mechanisms underlying RSVP phenomena and conscious awareness
- integration of the cognitive, temporal, spatial network and arousal dimensions of emotion processing; application to clinical disorders and emotion dysfunctions
- neural correlates of perceptual processes
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
- belief in luck and decision-making
- problem solving
- eyewitness testimony
- source monitoring
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
- conduct disorders
- gambling addiction
- traumatic brain injury
- memory disorders in children and adults
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
- emotional development in infancy and childhood
- attachment
- theory of mind development and social cognition
Differential Psychology
- relationship between personality and measures of intellectual abilities
- cognitive complexity and correlates of working memory capacity
- decision-making processes and irrationality
- metacognitive abilities and their role in intelligence and decision making
- personality traits and dimensional approaches to personality disorders
- adult attachment styles
- cross-cultural psychological and psychopathological elements of religion and spirituality
Health Psychology
- risk perception and communication
- psychological responses to genetic counselling and testing
- 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
- influences from the philosophy of science upon psychology
- individualism in psychology
- reductionism in psychology
- psychoanalysis
- theories of personality
Industrial & Organisational Psychology
- selection and training
- applied cognitive psychology
- executive and organisational coaching
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
- complex spatial cognition in rats (executive function, dissociating competing and complementary memory systems, goal directed and habitual behaviour)
Perceptual Systems
- visual illusions of direction and orientation
- audiovisual integration
- auditory perception
- binocular rivalry
- judgements of body tilt
- colour, form and motion perception
- face perception
- neural correlates of visual perception
- 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
- the psychological and physiological effects of ostracism
- interpersonal relationships
- measuring explicit and implicit prejudice
- cross-race and intergroup interactions
- factors involved in the development of racial prejudice
- prejudice reduction strategies
- unravelling the attitude-behaviour relationship
- automatic and controlled components of stereotyping and prejudice
- intergroup relations
- social psychology of religion
- acculturation, identity and adjustment
Academic Programs offered
- Honours
- Master of Science (MSc)
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)