Psychology

M.A. Degree

The M.A. degree is not required for completion of the doctoral degree. All students complete an independent research project by the end of their second year and present the results at a departmental conference. Students may choose to write up their research in the form of a master’s thesis and submit it to the graduate school in order to receive an M.A. degree.

Graduate Training in Clinical Psychology

The basic philosophy in the training of clinical psychology students, as for all graduate students in the department, is that specialization, necessary as it is, is a process of individualization and emphasis rather than one of restriction, isolation, and compartmentalization. Our aim is to provide an integrated series of intensive educational experiences in class, laboratory, and practicum clinical settings (in the University and in other agencies) in which specialist training in clinical psychology is attained along with increasing competence in general psychology, theory, and research. It is our hope that these aims and training procedures will equip our graduates to deal with special problems in clinical psychology from the vantage point of knowledge about contents and methods of other areas of psychology. It is assumed that this perspective will develop inquiry-oriented psychologists with creative-integrative approaches to clinical problems and their relationship to psychological knowledge. We believe that such broadly trained psychologists can be flexible enough to meet the varied demands within the different settings in which the clinical psychologist currently functions and innovate conceptual approaches and methods of clinical psychology. The clinical-training program includes course work and practice with adults and children. In addition to more traditional training, the program offers opportunities in child clinical and marital-and-family intervention.

The program for the Ph.D. in clinical psychology has, in addition to the general requirements, the following special requirements. Each student must take at least one course from each of the five areas below. Notably, most of the Developmental Bases of Behavior courses (with the exception of Culture and Human Development) also fulfill at least one other requirement.

• Affective bases of behavior (e.g., Emotions and Interpersonal Relations, Social and Emotional Development);
• Biological bases of behavior (e.g., Brain and Behavior, Human Neuropsychology);
• Cognitive bases of behavior (e.g., Early Symbolism in Ontogenetic Development and History, Societal Approaches to Thinking, What Children Know, Cognitive Development, Morality and Culture);
• Developmental bases of behavior (e.g., Social and Emotional Development, What Children Know, Early Symbolism in Ontogenetic Development and History, Culture and Human Development, Cognitive Development); and
• Social bases of behavior (e.g., Motivation and Self-Regulation, Culture and Human Development, Advanced Topics in Social Psychology).

Each student must take PSYC311 Psychopathology, PSYC310 Theories of Psychotherapies, and PSYC301 Problem, Theory, and Method. Each student must complete a minimum of one year of internship in clinical settings. All clinical students participate for four years in practicum training offered at the University or other agencies. For further information contact the director of clinical training, James Cordova at jcordova@clarku.edu. The clinical-psychology program is currently accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). For more information, the APA Committee on Accreditation can be contacted at 750 First Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002-4242, (202) 336-5500, (202) 336-6123 TDD.

Graduate Study in Developmental Psychology

The developmental psychology curriculum is intended to prepare students for a career in research, teaching and scholarly activity. It strives to impart both theoretical sophistication and competence in observational, experimental, interpretative and comparative inquiry with regard to developmental issues. Emphasized are ways of representing and examining all life phenomena, rather than focusing exclusively on a particular population (e.g., infants, children, adults) or a specific subject matter. In-depth study is offered with particular populations and in specific areas bridging social, cognitive and language development. Students with a concentration in developmental psychology are required to enroll for two semesters in PSYC300 Developmental Psychology Forum and take a series of six graduate developmental seminars. These eight courses satisfy, at the same time, the content courses requirement of the graduate program. Since there are no sharp separations between different areas within the department, students who work primarily in developmental psychology have the opportunity to study with other faculty in the department who have an interest in their area of specialization.

Distinctive features of the program include a strong interest in theoretical perspectives, a concern with the relationship between problems and methods of inquiry, and an attempt to place questions in their historical and cross-disciplinary contexts. Faculty interests intersect around topics in the development of psychological processes in societal and cultural context, specifically in the development of conceptualization and reasoning, in the study of social relations and interpersonal interactions, development of languages, symbolization and communication, and study of the relation of environmental conditions to functioning.

Research facilities in the department include a child-study area. There are opportunities for research in the schools and in other community settings. The Goddard Library has an extensive collection of books and journals going back to the inception of graduate study in psychology in the United States. Computer facilities are available on campus and in the department. For additional information about study in developmental psychology, write toLene Jensen(ljensen@clarku.edu).

Graduate Study in Social Psychology

This program integrates social and cultural perspectives to link basic affective processes with socially crucial issues within and outside of North America. The social psychological perspective examines human interaction from the point of view of the experiences of self and the emotional feelings and actions of the participants. At Clark, it includes the study of group dynamics, inter-group relations, and societal peace and conflict. The cultural psychological perspecive examines how presuppositions arising from language, culture, social, and political ideology interact with our basic natures to produce human experience and behavior. Students and faculty in the program are concerned with how the understanding of basic developmental, social, and political processes, and the use of a wide variety of both quantitative methods--experimental, field, phenomenological, and semiotic--can be use to investigate and address pressing social issues in health and peace. The program encourages interdisciplinary research,as wellas novel projects and research-action paradigms. Faculty and students work together to design courses. For further information, contact Joseph de Rivera at jderivera@clarku.edu.

Graduate Study in Other Areas

Other current interests of the faculty include feminist approaches to thinking and self, cognition and instruction, and the psychophysics of taste and smell. Teaching and research emphasize theoretical relevance and preserving and exploring the connections among areas of specialization. Faculty and students typically maintain extensive and regular interactions. In particular, most of the faculty have close connections with all the programs. The department also has education research ties with a number of institutions in the Worcester-Boston area (e.g., the Neuropsychology Unit of the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, the University of Massachusetts Medical School), as well as other departments at Clark. For further information, write to the chair of the department,Marianne Wiserat mwiser@clarku.edu

Other Faculty

Frances L. Hiatt School of Psychology
The Frances L. Hiatt School of Psychology, formed in 1987, has a major endowment provided through the generous support of the Hiatt family. The school, which encompasses the Department of Psychology with the Heinz Werner Institute for Developmental Analysis and the Department of Education, provides, in addition to Frances L. Hiatt Graduate Fellowships, opportunities for organizing and attending conferences and support for travel and research activities for the school’s faculty and students.

The Heinz Werner Institute for Developmental Analysis
Associated with the department is the Heinz Werner Institute for Developmental Analysis, which has three aims: to integrate various research programs dealing with developmental problems; to attract scholars, teachers and research workers from disciplines for which developmental problems are pertinent, such as anthropology, biology and certain areas of medicine; and to train research workers on postdoctoral levels in the comparative-developmental approach to behavior. Available books can be purchased through the Editorial Office 508.793.7269 or by emailing Lmann@clarku.edu.

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