Research Streams

Our 60 faculty members and over 130 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows conduct research across the spectrum of psychology, representing eight sub-disciplinary specializations.

Behavioural neuroscience research investigates the interaction between the brain and the nervous system and behaviour.

Topics typically associated with this area include behaviour genetics, behavioural neuroendocrinology, psychopharmacology, decision making, impulsivity, cognition, neuroplasticity and the underlying neurobiological components of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

Clinical psychology deals with a variety of issues related to psychopathology.

Our research works to advance clinical science through research and evidence-based practice related to assessment, understanding, treatment, and prevention of human problems in behaviour, affect, cognition or health.

Our research is designed to improve the lives of individuals struggling with issues highly relevant to our society including anxiety and depression, teen suicidality, parenting, children with friendship difficulties, and health problems.

The UBC Psychology Clinic is a state-of-the-art training facility in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. The clinic offers comprehensive psychological services for children, adolescents, adults, and families in the Greater Vancouver community.

The cognitive science area covers a wide range of research and theoretical interests.

This includes perception, learning and memory, memory in different physical and emotional contexts, prospective memory, the role of attention in cognition, psychophysics, perception-action interactions, cognition and creativity, cognition during and after general anaesthesia, consciousness, cognitive neuroscience of attention and thought, and perceptual and cognitive development across the adult lifespan.

Primary data used to address these topics include signal detection theoretic measurements of performance, reaction time, EEG, MEG and fMRI recordings of brain activity, and performance of neurological patient populations.

Developmental psychology focuses on the way that behaviour changes as the individual goes from infancy through childhood and all the way through to old age.

Our developmental psychologists study a number of topics including speech perception, language acquisition, social cognitive development, social learning and decision-making, moral reasoning, and stereotyping and prejudice.

Our research aims to make science fun for infants, kids and parents, while improving our understanding of child development. We have a shared database of over 40,000 BC families who participate in our research and the largest community outreach program in Canada through our partnership with Science World.

Health psychology examines how psychological, biological, and social processes contribute to health and disease. It integrates perspectives from multiple disciplines, including psychology and medicine, and it utilizes a variety of research approaches, such as experimental, repeated daily life assessments, survey and intervention methods.

Our scientists conduct research on a range of topics that include lifespan development and healthy aging, stress and coping, social relationships and health, emotions and well-being, health behaviours, and chronic disease management.

The learning enhancement area promotes the teaching and learning of psychology, with the primary focus to enhance the educational experiences of undergraduate students in psychology.

Our faculty members have expertise in diverse areas of psychology and teach courses in diverse sub-disciplines of the field.

Meet our Learning Enhancement Faculty.

The field of quantitative methods covers a broad spectrum of topics ranging from the mathematical modelling of psychological processes and phenomena (mathematical psychology) to the theory and techniques of mental measurement, individual differences, statistics, and data analysis techniques generally.

The focus of this area is on the measurement of human behaviour and the development and evaluation of psychological tests and statistical methods of analysis.

Learn more about statistical consulting support.

Our social and personality area is engaged in research on wide variety of topics including happiness, human social interactions, social cognition, personality, emotion, self-regulation, prejudice, and the impact of religion, culture, and evolution on behaviour.

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