Boston University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

MA in Psychology

PS704 A1 Contemporary Trends in Psychology.

This course, offered in the fall semester, is a proseminar in which a number of department faculty present their current research. Topics covered include areas such as brain functioning, language acquisition, cognition, genetic bases of behavior, drugs and behavior, addiction, and selected topics in social psychology, clinical interventions and human development.

MA 614 Statistical Methods II.

This course reviews all basic concepts covered in a first semester statistics course (e.g., CAS MA 613) and presents in detail more advanced topics such as analysis of variance, covariance, experimental design, correlation, regression, and selected non-parametric techniques. This is a problem-solving course in which students carry out analysis of data taken from educational and other social science sources.

PS 901 or PS 902 Directed Study in Psychology.

Students, working with a faculty supervisor, undertake an independent research project. A written product is required, which is usually a report of an empirical study or an extensive literature review with a theoretical contribution. In addition, students must fulfill the comprehensive requirement. The rationale for the comprehensive requirement is that students should demonstrate proficiency in several major areas of psychology. M.A. students must demonstrate knowledge by successfully completing at least one approved course from two of the three programmatic knowledge areas.

Programmatic Areas

Brain, Behavior & Cognition

• 520 – Research Methods for Perception and Cognition
• 521 – Animal Models
• 525 – Cognitive Science
• 528 – Human Brain Mapping
• 529 – Neuroplasticity
• 530 – Neural Models of Memory Function
• 531 – Imaging & Manipulating Memories
• 532 – Neurobiology of Motivation
• 721 – General Experimental I
• 734 – Psychopharmacology
• 737 – Memory Systems of the Brain
• 821 – Learning
• 822 – Visual Perception
• 824 – Cognitive Psychology
• 828 – Seminar in Psycholinguistics
• 831 – Seminar: Neuropsychology
• 832 – Physiological Psychology
• 833 – Advanced Physiological Psychology
• 835 – Attention
• 836 – Molecules & Behavior 8

Clinical

• 732 – Behavioral Medicine
• 735 – Motivation
• 773 – Child/Family Assessment
• 791 – Social Oppression
• 829 – Principles of Neuropsychology
• 831 – Seminar in Neuropsychology
• 860 – Child Therapy
• 874 – Seminar: Psychotherapy
• 875 – Advanced Psychopathology
• 880 – Empirically Supported Treatments
• 881 – Addictive Behaviors
• 882 – Child/Family Treatment
• 883 – Social Anxiety

Developmental Science

• 541 – Social Development
• 544 – Developmental Neuropsychology
• 545 – Language Development
• 546 – Cognitive Development
• 549 – Developmental Psychopathology
• 550 – Childhood Adversity
• 743 – Cross Cultural Developmental Psychology
• 747 – Infant Development
• 790 – Family Theory & Research
• 825 – Early Social Cognition
• 840 – Developmental Behavioral Genetics
• 843 – Life Span Development
• 844 – Theories of Development
• 847 – Atypical Development
• 848 – Developmental Psycholinguistics
• 893 – Contemporary Issues: Psychology Family

U.S. News & World Report ranks Boston University #37 in the world (tied with Cornell University) for the strength of its combined psychiatry/psychology faculty research strength—a ranking to which BU psychological and brain sciences faculty contribute greatly.