Psychology

M.Sc, Ph.D

The graduate program in Psychology at Queen’s is internationally renowned for the excellence and integrity of its faculty, students and training and the innovation and value of its research, scholarship and skill development.

We have designed our graduate programs in Clinical Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Social/Personality Psychology and Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science to emphasize research, skills and scholarship, preparing you for academic or research posts in government, industry and other sectors.

If you choose to study in our Clinical Psychology program, you will be proficient in both the scientific and clinical aspects of the field and able to work in a range of settings.

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"I find that I’m getting a really good balance of experiences here. I spend a lot of time doing research in the lab, but I also have a TA-ship and I’m supervising an honours student, which is great preparation for a career in academia. On top of that, I’ve had the opportunity to travel a lot. In the last two years, I’ve presented at conferences in Halifax, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico."

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Degrees Offered / Length of Program

• M.Sc.: 2 years
• Ph.D.: 4 years (plus 1 year internship for clinical students)

Method of Completion

Course work and thesis / dissertation

Degree Level Expectations & Learning Outcomes

M.Sc - view this information as a pdf (102KB)

PhD - view this information as a pdf (87 KB)

Supervisors and Fields of Study

We accept students only when a faculty member is available to supervise thesis research. We recommend that you contact a faculty member with similar interests prior to the application deadline. Faculty may, and often do, supervise students in more than one field.

Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science: You will be studying sensation and perception, including vision, hearing, touch, and olfaction in humans and animals; cognitive mechanisms of memory, learning, attention, language and communication; neurophysiology and neuroanatomy of aging, sleep, drug addiction, and neurodegenerative disorders. Among the many techniques you will learn about are motion capture technology, electrophysiology, eye-tracking, brain imaging, psychophysics, signal processing, computer graphics and computer vision.

Clinical Psychology: Affective disorders, aggression, anxiety, antisocial behaviour, attitudes toward aging, biofeedback, brain damage, clinical neuropsychology, coronary-prone behaviour, developmental disabilities and psychopathology, family stress and coping, learning disabilities, lateralization, personality assessment, program evaluation, self-control, sleep, suicide, behavioral medicine, and behaviour modification.

Developmental Psychology:Basic research interests include language, cognitive, emotional, and social development, as well as interests that extend beyond the traditional borders of Developmental Psychology such as animal cognition,neuroscience, psycholinguistics, psychophysiology, and applied developmental psychology (e.g., autism, bullying, developmental disorders, child eyewitness).

Social/Personality Psychology: Cross-cultural psychology; decision making in applied settings, detection of liars on psychological tests, health psychology, impact of alcohol on decision making, psychology and the law, social-cognitive consequences of depression, attitudes and persuasion.

Employment Opportunities

Graduates from our programs have found work in: academic positions at universities and colleges; research positions in government agencies and the private sector; research and clinical positions in hospitals, community health centres and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; clinical positions with Correctional Services Canada; and private practice.

Funding Information

Basic funding packages which include a combination of fellowships, scholarships and teaching assistantships:

• M.Sc: $18,000 minimum
• Ph.D.: $18,000 minimum

All applicants are encouraged to apply for all external fellowships for which they are eligible, including CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC, OGS and others. Queen’s will automatically issue a top-up to winners of federal government Tri-Council Awards in hte first year of their program.

Academic Prerequisites

Grades required are an honours degree with minimum B+ average (75-79%).

M.Sc. Programs:

• 4-year Honours undergraduate degree in Psychology
• Honours thesis preferred
• Applications from adjacent degrees such as Cognitive Science and Social Behaviour will also be considered

Candidates applying for the Clinical Program are expected to have completed course work in history and systems, the biological, cognitive-affective, social bases of behaviour and in abnormal psychology or its equivalent.

Ph.D. Programs:

• Master’s degree in Psychology from a recognized university

The Department discourages applicants for the M.Sc. program who do not plan to proceed into the Doctoral program at Queen’s.

Other Requirements

• Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, General (scores above 60th percentile) required for ALL applicants; Subject required for applicants who do NOT have an honours undergraduate degree in Psychology.
• Statement of Interest
• Clinical applicants also require 2 confidential Clinical references as well as the 2 academic references required by all applicants

Test Requirements

For international students, if required, a TOEFL score of 550 (paper based) or TOEFL iBT minimum scores of: writing (24/30); speaking (22/30); reading (22/30); listening (20/30), for a total of 88/120. Applicants must have the minimum score in each test as well as the minimum overall score.

Program Profiles

• Karen Blair(alumni) - her time at Queen's may be over, but her research keeps on giving...
• Emma Dargie - aspires to make changes...
• Jennifer Bossio - helping others with her work in anyway she can...
• Dr Niko Troje - pidgeons led the way...
• Daniel Saunders - Biological motion perception...
• Karen Blair - is fulfilling a life long dream...