Mar 28, 2024  
2005-2006 Graduate Catalog 
    
2005-2006 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]


Psychology



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The Department of Psychology offers graduate study leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in experimental psychology and the Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology.

Candidates for admission are expected to meet the general requirements of the Graduate School and to have had fundamental courses in psychology as undergraduates, including a laboratory course in research methods of psychology and a course in basic statistics. Applications for all programs are due Dec. 31 for a September admission.

The program leading to the M.A. in experimental psychology requires a minimum of 30 credit hours. This requirement includes six credit hours for the writing of an acceptable thesis based on empirical research, six credit hours of directed research, the first graduate statistics course, and fifteen credit hours of graduate content courses chosen by the student and his/her committee.

The programs leading to the Ph.D. in experimental psychology and clinical psychology have a residence requirement as specified in the general section of the catalog. However, the time required to complete course work and a thesis based upon an original investigation ordinarily is longer than that required for residence.

The Department believes the best graduate education involves close working relationships between faculty and students. Thus, a high faculty to student ratio and small class size characterize our graduate programs. Every incoming student is expected to work with a faculty member as a means of gaining valuable teaching, research, and professional experience. There also are opportunities for individualized study and experience in directed readings, research, and supervised teaching. A faculty committee, selected to represent the student’s interest, will assist the student in planning an appropriate graduate program.

Basic program requirements for all doctoral students are a minimum of 60 hours consisting of Scientific Inquiry; History and Systems; Advanced Statistics & Methods I; Advanced Statistics & Methods II; five courses selected from Social Development in Children or Cognitive Development in Children; Advanced Physiological Psychology or Biological Bases of Infancy and Development; Advanced Perception; Advanced Social Psychology; Advanced Cognitive Psychology; Advanced Developmental Psychopathology; Emotion Development and Adaptation; 12 hours of elective graduate content courses; 12 hours of directed research; and 6 hours of thesis credit.

 

Experimental Psychology Program

The goal of this program is to prepare students for careers in teaching and research. All students will be expected to demonstrate a high level of competence in one of the specialty areas listed below. Students also will be expected to demonstrate competence in statistics and experimental design, and in several areas of general psychology outside their specialty area. Competence will be assessed in terms of performance in courses, research projects, teaching, and a comprehensive examination. The comprehensive exam is given at the end of the second year of graduate study or at the end of the first year for students entering with a master’s degree from another university. The Department offers the following specialty areas within experimental psychology:

Developmental

The program offers training in social, cognitive, emotional, and psychobiological development. With children and adolescents, concentrated study is available in the areas of play, communicative competence, emotional development, friendship evolution, peer relations, learning, and information processing. Students are expected to become well-versed in developmental theory and methodology, as well as actively involved in research. Besides offering applied experience with preschool children in the Department’s Child Study Center, the program provides opportunities to work with developmentally disabled children at the Eastern Maine Medical Center. (Faculty: Cobo-Lewis, Eilers, Erdley, D. Hayes, M. Hayes, LaFreniere, Zeman).

Cognitive and Biological

This program covers several basic areas of experimental psychology, including cognition, perception, biopsychology, and neuropsychology. Students develop research skills and conduct in at least one specialty area. Students also become familiar with areas of general psychology outside their specialty, and with statistics and experimental design. Students work closely with a research advisor, and begin research involvement in the first year. There are many opportunities for individualized study and directed readings. Opportunities for teaching are available to advanced graduate students. Applicants should write to faculty members in their area of interest, with whom they might want to do research. (Faculty: Cobo-Lewis, Elias, Farthing, Martindale, Robbins, Rosenwasser, Smith {Coordinator}.

Social

By emphasizing basic and applied research at the Ph.D. level, the social psychology program aims to produce well-rounded academicians and practitioners by fostering in students a solid understanding of theory and research in social psychology, as well as knowledge of how social research may be applied to solve practical problems. The program operates on an apprenticeship model by which students work closely with faculty members on theory-driven research. Students are trained to think conceptually and to acquire proficiency in research methodology, statistics, scholarly writing, oral presentation, and teaching. Faculty research specializations include stereotyping and prejudice, personal and social identity management, social cognition, political attitudes, and attraction. (Faculty: Eidelman, Gold).

 

Clinical Psychology Program

The Clinical Psychology Training Program prepares students for the doctorate (Ph.D.) in psychology and for careers combining research and clinical practice. Students earn a master’s degree (M.A.) on the way to earning their doctorate. There is not an M.A. program in Clinical Psychology. The program is accredited by the American Psychological Association and adheres to the scientist-practitioner model.

An academic core provides the foundation of knowledge in the areas of general and experimental psychology as well as psychotherapy, psychopathology, assessment, professional issues and ethics, and clinical research methods. Clinical training is centered around course work, individual tutorials in research, and clinical experiences supervised by professional models actively engaged in careers in those areas. Students are given increasing responsibility for the content and emphasis of their training by being encouraged to sample a wide variety of training opportunities at the University and in the community. They are encouraged to articulate career objectives early in training, and to contribute to modifications in the program to meet their goals. Applicants are urged to match their interests with those of the clinical or developmental psychology faculty and to specify areas of compatibility. There are two tracks within the program. Students in the general track receive training from a generalist perspective. The developmental-clinical track focuses on children and adolescents and is described below.

The Psychology Department’s Psychological Services Center serves as the primary practicum training agency with additional practicum experiences available at inpatient, outpatient, community, and hospital settings elsewhere in Maine. Core training in the traditional areas of clinical psychology is supplemented with opportunities for innovative approaches to psychotherapy and community involvement; geographic considerations permit special attention to rural problems.

Ph.D. training culminates with the doctoral dissertation and a full-year internship in an approved clinical setting. (Faculty: Hecker, Nangle, Sigmon, Thorpe, Zeman) 

Developmental-Clinical Track in the Clinical Program

The developmental-clinical track offers joint training in developmental and clinical psychology. Students complete core programs in clinical and developmental psychology, in addition to the practicum, internship, and dissertation requirements of the traditional clinical program.

 

Research Facilities

Facilities for experimental and clinical research include laboratories for the study of animal behavior, social psychology, cognitive psychology, depression, emotion regulation, peer relations, and anxiety disorders. There are also rooms designed for observation and audio-visual recording of behavior, as well as an electrically shielded room for psychophysiological recordings. The department also operates a pre-school Child Study Center for instructional and research purposes. Research opportunities are also provided through faculty affiliation with the Eastern Maine Medical Center.

 

Graduate Faculty

Jeffrey E. Hecker, Ph.D. (Maine, 1986), Professor, Chair. Anxiety disorders, cognitive behavior therapy, juvenile sex offending.

Alan B. Cobo-Lewis, Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin, 1992), Associate Professor. Visual perception; language development; statistical and computational methods.

Scott H. Eidelman, Ph.D. (University of Kansas, 2004), Assistant Professor. Stereotyping, social cognition, political attitudes, and personal and social identity.

Rebecca E. Eilers, Ph.D. (University of Washington, 1972), Professor. Language development, bilingualism.

Merrill F. Elias, Ph.D. (Purdue, 1963), Professor. Neurobiological correlates of hypertension, age, and cardiovascular disease; behavioral-cardiovascular epidemiology and aging.

Penelope K. Elias, Ph.D. (University of Rochester, 1974).

Cynthia A. Erdley, Ph.D. (University of Illinois, 1992), Associate Professor. Social development, children’s peer relationships, children’s social-cognitive processes.

G. William Farthing, Ph.D. (Missouri, 1969), Professor. Decision-making, risk-taking behavior, intrinsic motivation.

Joel A. Gold, Ph.D. (Colorado State, 1966), Professor. Interpersonal attraction (love, equity, jealousy); authoritarianism.

Donald S. Hayes, Ph.D. (Iowa, 1975), Associate Professor. Mass media effects in children; children’s memory functioning; children’s friendships.

Marie J. Hayes, Ph.D. (Northeastern, 1979), Associate Professor, Director of Child Study Center. Psychological determinants of development in infancy; sleep state organizations and sleep habits; mother-infant attachment.

Peter J. LaFreniere, Ph.D. (Minnesota, 1982), Professor. Ethology; developmental psychopathology; attachment and early peer relations.

Douglas W. Nangle, Ph.D. (West Virginia University, 1993), Associate Professor, Director of Clinical Training. Child and adolescent peer relations; other-sex social interactions and psychological adjustment; social skills assessment and intervention.

Michael A. Robbins, Ph.D. (University of Maine, 1985), Research Associate Professor of Psychology. Neurobiological correlates

Alan M. Rosenwasser, Ph.D. (Northeastern, 1980), Professor. Biopsychology and behavioral neurosciences; mechanisms and functions of circadian and other biological rhythms.

Sandra T. Sigmon, Ph.D. (North Carolina at Greensboro, 1989), Associate Professor. Seasonal affective disorder; depression; coping with cyclical stressors; gender issues in psychopathology.

Laurence D. Smith, Ph.D. (New Hampshire, 1982), Associate Professor. History and philosophy of psychology; psychology of science; intuitive statistics; perception of graphs.

D. Alan Stubbs, Ph.D. (George Washington, 1967), Professor. Teaching interests: perception, animal behavior, and learning. Research interests: picture perception, perception of graphs, multimedia.

Geoffrey L. Thorpe, Ph.D., ABBP (Rutgers, 1973), Professor. Cognitive-behavior therapy; cognitive assessment.

 Janice L Zeman, Ph.D. (Vanderbilt, 1991), Associate Professor, Graduate Coordinator, Developmental/Clinical Coordinator. Emotional regulation and socialization in children; developmental psychopathology.

 

Associate Graduate Faculty

Jeffrey Aston, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Jonathan Borkum, Ph.D., Faculty Associate

Susanne Carol Duffy, Ph.D., Faculty Associate

Margaret Fernald, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Christine Fink, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Bruce Hale, Ph.D., Cooperating Professor

Jerold Hambright, Ph.D. Clinical Associate

Jonathan Heeren, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Anne Hess, Ph.D., Clinical Associate Professor

Keith Houde, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Gina Kenney, Psy.D., Clinical Associate

Larissa Mead, Ph.D., Clinical Assistant Professor

David Mills, Ph.D., Faculty Associate

Karen Mosher, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Philip S. Pierce, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Kevin Polk, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Lucy Quimby, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Susan Righthand, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Robert Riley, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Raymond C. Russ, Ph.D., Faculty Associate

Laura Santilli, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Susanne Stiefel, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

Cristin Sullivan, Ph.D., Clinical Associate

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