Overview
The Psychology graduate program (MSc) is a research-intensive program with three distinct fields of study providing a sound preparation for careers in health, science or communications-related fields and a natural stepping stone to pursue further doctoral (PhD) studies, including our brand new PhD program in Psychology.
- Health Psychology focuses on affect regulation, analysis of healthcare systems, attachment relationships, cross-cultural relations, community and family dynamics, dreams, emotional intelligence, human sexuality, personality and psychopathology, and stress and coping.
- Developmental Psychology studies the acquisition of language, attachment relationships, community and family dynamics, culture and development, identity formation, and psychosocial functioning both in youth and aging.
- Cognition/ Perception/ Neuroscience examines cognitive enhancement and dementia, psycholinguistics, number representation, neural mechanisms of memory and learning, visual cognition, multisensory perception and action, neural plasticity and the molecular/ cellular foundations of stress biology and neuropsychiatric disorders.
The Program
As a research-intensive program, the MSc. in Psychology is geared toward the development of a research project and the writing of a thesis.
Course-based instruction will involve a series of statistical and field-specific courses that are typically completed during the first year. Candidates are required to complete six (6) graduate courses in total, including a Research Seminar on year 1 and 2, advanced statistics, research methods and two (2) electives. Normally, full-time students complete the majority of their course requirements in the first year of study.
The research-based thesis will start in the first year and will be completed during the second year. The thesis provides the opportunity for students to further their scientific training by acquiring valuable hands-on experience using a variety of methodological, statistical, and/or laboratory techniques.
* Students must attain at least a B- (70%) in all course work to remain registered in their program.
Required courses and electives
Admissions
The Psychology graduate program has a Fall intake only. The admissions process runs between October and February. Candidates interested in applying for the 2025-2026 are encouraged to prepare their documents for the Fall.
Contact information
Please contact psychologygrad@trentu.ca for inquiries.
