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Department of Educational and Counselling PsychologyCounselling Psychology ProgramDOMAIN GUIDEPRE-ADMISSION ACADEMIC CHECKLISTCounselling PsychologyFor admission to the Doctoral and the M.A. “Project Concentration” in Counselling Psychology degreesapplicants must have a minimum of 42 course credits completed within the content domains listedbelow. The breakdown of these credits can also be found in the Pre-Admission Academic Checklist to besubmitted with your application to the Counselling Psychology PhD or MA Project Concentrationprograms found online on our departmental website (see page 2 for link). The objective of thisdocument is to assist applicants to accurately identify and classify their courses in the appropriatedomains prior to admission to the program.Students interested in the MA “Internship Concentration” should complete the 18 credit Pre-AdmissionAcademic Checklist. The domain criteria for content listed below apply for both checklists.Any course listed on the Pre-Admission Academic Checklist should be substantially in the contentdomain (e.g. an Introduction to Psychology course that reviews the history of psychology is not a Historyof Psychology course). If you are unsure of whether or not your course qualifies under a particulardomain, this Domain Guide will provide you with the topics/areas of focus necessary that must besubstantially covered in the course in question.These credits are normally completed at the undergraduate level. For the MA: Project Concentrationand PhD programs, some of these domains have credits that must be completed at the seniorundergraduate or graduate level. These domains include: the biological, social-cultural, cognitiveaffective, developmental, and history and systems of psychology domains. If taken at the undergraduatelevel, senior level courses must be beyond introductory in nature and content; they are normally takenin the third and fourth years of undergraduate study (e.g., usually classified as 300 and 400-levelcourses). Any credits obtained at the graduate level are over and above our M.A. level requirements forthe PhD will meet this requirement. Domains that require 6 credits require a minimum of 3 of the 6credits to be completed at the senior undergraduate level.Students can apply missing up to 6 credits from the below checklist at the time of application but musthave all requirements completed before beginning their studies in the Counselling Psychology program.All Pre-Admission Academic Checklists are subject to review by the Program Committee that evaluatesstudent applications. Courses are approved by this Program Committee as fulfilling the domainrequirements below. In certain cases further documentation may be requested to properly evaluatecourse content. Such documentation would typically include course descriptions from the calendarand/or course syllabi from the semester in which the course was completed.Updated: October, 2012
Department of Educational and Counselling PsychologyCounselling Psychology ProgramThe Pre-Admission Academic Checklists can be found online on our departmental website under thePrograms & Courses section of each degree ych/ma or sych/phd.BASIC DEFINITION OF A PSYCHOLOGY COURSEA psychology course is defined as a course that: Is designated as such in the program’s calendar (e.g., Psychology 401), ORHas an official title that clearly indicates it is psychological in nature (e.g., Psychology ofBehavior, Psychological Aspects of Rehabilitation), ORIs taught or tutored by a person who has a graduate degree in psychology AND is clearlypsychological in content. Official documents (i.e., university course calendar, syllabus) may berequired as evidence of the psychological content of the course and the credentials of theinstructor. Courses taught by professionals in other disciplines (ex: physicians, neuroscientists)may also be acceptable at the discretion of the Program Committee.REQUIRED DOMAINSApplicants must have successfully completed the stipulated credits in the following domains. Courseswith a ‘†’ must have 3 of the 6 credits completed at the senior undergraduate level for the PhD and MAProject degrees.1. Biological Domain† (6 credits total for PhD/MA Project; 3 of 6 at the senior-level)2. Social-Cultural Domain† (6 credits total for PhD/MA Project; 3 of 6 at the senior-level. 3 creditsfor MA Internship)3. Cognitive-Affective Domain† (6 credits total for PhD/MA Project; 3 of 6 at the senior-level)4. Developmental Psychology Domain† (6 credits total for PhD/MA Project; 3 of 6 at the seniorlevel. 3 credits for MA Internship)5. History and Systems of Psychology Domain† (3 senior-level credits for PhD/MA Project. 3credits for MA Internship)6. Psychological Measurement and Assessment Domain (3 credits for PhD/MA Project)7. Research Methods Domain (3 credits for PhD/MA Project)8. Statistics Domain (3 credits for PhD/MA Project/MA Internship)9. Personality Psychology Domain (3 credits for PhD/MA Project/MA Internship)10. Abnormal Psychology Domain (3 credits for PhD/MA Project/MA Internship)Updated: October, 2012
Department of Educational and Counselling PsychologyCounselling Psychology Program1. Biological DomainCourses in the biological domain address biological influences on behaviour, affect, cognition anddevelopment. Course content must include at least one of the following substantive areas: Basic neuroscience (e.g., neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry), clinicalneuroscience (e.g., brain-behaviour relationships, neurological syndromes and their contribution tocognitive and emotional status and behaviour), neurological disorders and their symptoms; Physiological correlates/determinants of behaviour and affect (e.g., symptoms of commonpsychophysiologic reactions and syndromes such as hyperventilation, anxiety disorders, depressivedisorders, stress reactions, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome); Biological bases of the behaviour and affect associated with acute and chronic illness (e.g., poststroke depression, diabetes, AIDS, asthma, chemotherapy, fibromyalgia, hypoglycemia, schizophrenia),including knowledge of psychoneuroimmunology; Basic psychopharmacology (e.g., medication effects, side effects, and interactions), whichincludes knowledge of drug metabolism, drug categories (e.g., anxiolytics, antidepressants,antipsychotics, anticonvulsants), and addictive/dependency potential; Genetic transmission (e.g., the relationship of dominant and recessive genes) and its role inunderstanding disorders and their behavioural, emotional, and psychosocial manifestations (e.g.,Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s disease, Down syndrome); Relationship of stress to biological and psychological functioning, with particular reference tolifestyle and lifestyle modification (e.g., cardiac rehabilitation, smoking cessation, obesity), psychologicalreactions to stress, behavioural health, physical or biological reactions to a behaviour such as substanceabuse, eating disorders).2. Social-Cultural DomainCourses in the social-cultural domain address the social influences on behaviour, affect, cognition anddevelopment. Course content must include at least one of the following substantive areas: Social cognition and perception (e.g., attribution theory and biases, information integration,confirmation bias, person perception, development of stereotypes, racism); Social interaction (e.g., interpersonal relationships, aggression, altruism, attraction); Group dynamics and organizational structures (e.g., school systems, gang behaviour, jobsatisfaction, family systems, group thinking, cultural behaviour, conformity, compliance, obedience,persuasion), social influences on individual functioning (e.g., job satisfaction, family systems, groupthinking, cultural behaviour, conformity, compliance, obedience, persuasion); Environmental/ecological psychology (e.g., person-environment fit, crowding, pollution, noise); Theories of personality that describe behaviour and the etiology of atypical behaviour, includingknowledge of limitations in existing theories for understanding the effect of diversity (e.g., age,ethnicity, gender);Updated: October, 2012
Department of Educational and Counselling PsychologyCounselling Psychology Program Theories of cultural identity development, acculturation and psychological impact of oppression;within group and between group differences; the role of cultural differences in psychosocialdevelopment based on multicultural and multiethnic diversity (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, gender, age,disability, sexual orientation, religious groups).3. Cognitive-affective DomainCourses in the cognitive-affective domain address cognitive and affective influences on each other, onbehaviour and on development. Course content must include at least one of the following substantiveareas: Cognitive science (e.g., sensation and perception, attention, memory, language and spatial skills,intelligence, information processing, problem-solving, strategies for organizing information); Theories and principles of learning (e.g., social learning, classical and operant conditioning,primacy/recency effects); Theories of motivation (e.g., need/value approaches, cognitive choice approaches, selfregulation); Theories of emotions; Reciprocal interrelationships among cognitions/beliefs, behaviour, affect, temperament andmood (e.g., healthy functioning, performance anxiety, performance enhancement, job satisfaction,depression); Influence of psychosocial factors (e.g., sex differences, family styles and characteristics,academic/occupational success) on beliefs/cognitions and behaviours.4. Developmental Psychology DomainCourses in the developmental psychology domain address the range and diversity of normal andabnormal human functioning and development. Course content must include at least one of thefollowing substantive areas: Normal growth and development (cognitive, social, personality, moral, emotional, and physical)from conception through old age or over a specified stage of development (ex: Childhood, Adolescence); Influence of culture on normative or age-expected behaviours (e.g., normal age range, individualdifferences); how the definition of normative behaviour is influenced by culture; Risk factors that predict an atypical developmental course (e.g., nutritional deficiencies, healthcare including prenatal care, availability of social support, adequacy of income and housing, poverty,parental alcohol/drug abuse); Interventions to reduce risk factors (e.g., poor health care, nutritional deficiencies, violence), toincrease resilience (e.g., protective factors such as care-giving, increased social support), competencee.g., skill building) of Individuals living in at-risk environments; Life-event changes that can alter the normal course of development (e.g., injury, trauma, illness,onset of chronic disease or disorder in self or parent, death, divorce);Updated: October, 2012
Department of Educational and Counselling PsychologyCounselling Psychology Program Theories of development (e.g., constructivist theory, social learning theory, ecological theory); How psychological development is influenced by the organism-environment interaction overtime (e.g., understanding the relationship between the behaviour of the individual and the social,academic or work environment); Family systems functioning and family stages in life, and how these impact on individualpsychological development (e.g., family life cycle, parent-adolescent communication, birth of a child).5. History and Systems of Psychology DomainCourses in the history and systems of psychology domain address the historical progression of ideascentral to psychology, the philosophical and empirical roots of those ideas, and the confluence of thoseideas into the various systems we have today. Course content must include at least one of the followingsubstantive areas: The major schools and systems of psychology (e. g., Functionalism, Structuralism, Gestalt, etc.); The lives and works of the men and women whose work influenced or established the majorschools and systems of psychology (e.g., Freud, Piaget, Pavlov, Erikson, Jung, etc.). An analysis and investigation of how early contributions to psychology from the fields ofphilosophy, religion, physics, physiology, and psychophysics are related to the various psychologicalschools of thought of the 19th and 20th centuries. An analysis of the cultural and social forces andvarious scientific paradigms that have shaped psychological theory and more modern psychologicalperspectives.6. Psychological Measurement and Assessment DomainCourses in the psychological measurement and assessment domain address theory and techniques forthe measurement of characteristics of individuals, groups or systems. Course content must include atleast one of the following substantive areas: Psychometric theory and concepts (e.g., measurement, reliability, validity, item characteristics,test fairness, standardization, norms) and test validation procedures (e.g., criterion, predictive, constructand content strategies; appropriate measurement standards and legal regulations); Assessment models (e.g., psychometric, behavioural, neuropsychological, ecological); Tests for the measurement of characteristics of individuals (e.g., social, emotional andbehavioural functioning; cognitive; achievement; aptitude; personality; neuropsychological; vocationalinterest) and the adaptation of these tests for use with special populations; Techniques other than tests (e.g., interviews, surveys, naturalistic and structured behaviouralobservations, history/biographical data, medical evaluations, imaging techniques and laboratory tests)for the measurement of characteristics of individuals; Theory and techniques for the measurement of client changes (e.g., client tracking, clientcompliance and progress);Updated: October, 2012
Department of Educational and Counselling PsychologyCounselling Psychology Program Program planning and evaluation strategies and techniques (e.g., needs assessment, processand implementation evaluation, cost-benefit analysis, public health benefit). Instruments and methods for the measurement of characteristics of jobs, organizations,educational and other social institutions (e.g., job analysis, job evaluation, needs assessment,organizational diagnosis, ecological assessment);7. Research Methods DomainCourses in the research method domain address the philosophy and techniques used in investigation ofphenomena as dictated by employing the foundations established by the scientific method (Description,Prediction, Method Selection, Control, Data Collection, Analysis, and Explanation). Course content mustinclude at least one of the following substantive areas: Research methods (e.g., sampling, instrumentation, data collection procedures),appropriateness of instrument selection, issues of research design; Research designs (e.g., hypothesis generation; experimental, quasi-experimental and naturalisticinquiry; group designs; single-case research); Criteria for critical appraisal and utilization of research (e.g., technical adequacy; limitations togeneralizations; threats to internal, external and construct validity and design flaws), integration ofqualitative and quantitative results, and use of research.8. Statistics DomainCourses in the statistics domain address the various statistics and techniques that are used in thecontext of psychology research. Course content must include at least one of the following substantiveareas: Appropriate analytical methods (e.g., descriptive, inferential, univariate, bivariate andmultivariate; parametric and nonparametric), which analysis is appropriate, interpretation (e.g., causalvs. correlational, degree and nature of generalizability); Methods including frequency distributions, measures of central tendency and dispersion, thenormal curve, correlation, linear regression, elementary probability theory, an introduction tohypothesis testing, and the t test. Further methods including general linear model, (multiple regression, analysis of variance[ANOVA], and analysis of covariance [ANCOVA]), examining the limited and alternatives to nullhypothesis significance testing (NHST), including confidence intervals, measures of effect size, and metaanalysis.9. Personality Psychology DomainCourses in the personality psychology domain address the dynamic and organized set of characteristicspossessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviours invarious situations. Course content must include at least one of the following substantive areas:Updated: October, 2012
Department of Educational and Counselling PsychologyCounselling Psychology Program General theoretical perspectives of personality psychology (conditioning, psychodynamic, andGestalt/field theories and symbolic interactionism) and ‘middle level’ theories (cognitive consistency,self-perception, attitudes & persuasion, motivation and cognition, personality); Different empirical approaches to the study and understanding of human personality, includinghistorically important and current conceptualizations of personality. An analysis of the major theories and topics of personality psychology, including the definitionand measurement of personality; biological and cultural aspects of personality; psychoanalytic,cognitive, and behavioral perspectives; gender differences; and personality disorders.10. Abnormal Psychology DomainCourses in the abnormal psychology domain address the symptoms, possible causes, and treatments ofmental illness. Course content must include at least one of the following substantive areas: Utilization of various classification systems (e.g., DSM, ICD) for diagnosing client functioning;DSM diagnosis, syndromes, differential diagnosis and diagnostic criteria, epidemiology of associatedfeatures of behavioural disorders, base rates of disorders in clinical or demographic populations,comorbidity among behavioural disorders and with medical disorders, comorbidity rates, age rangesaffected and associated features; An analysis of psychological disorders from the four major theoretical perspectives (biological,psychodynamic, cognitive, and behavioral).Updated: October, 2012
and PhD programs, some of these domains have credits that must be completed at the senior undergraduate or graduate level. These domains include: the biological, social-cultural, cognitive-affective, developme
