General Arts & Science (GAS) - Behavioural Psychology Stream

Students explore in depth and improve their interpersonal skills. Students focus attention on personal growth to become aware of feelings, attitudes, values and self-concepts and use this awareness of themselves to improve communication skills and relationships with others.

This course provides a general overview of human interaction in Canadian society. Students will become familiar with a variety of factors which affect group behaviour, and individual behaviour within the group: factors such as cultural influences, socialization, norms, beliefs, and values. (3 hrs. per week)
Prerequisite: None.

The impact of psychoactive drugs on our society is examined in this course. Ananalysis of the use and impact of alcohol, psychoactive prescription medication,street drugs, over-the-counter drugs, caffeine, nicotine, and problem gambling isconducted. An overview of practical drug concepts, theories of drug abuse, healthpromotion and prevention and the Ontario addiction treatment system is covered.Students learn how to assess at-risk users and review evidence-based treatmentmodalities.

This course is designed for you to plan and implement effective stress managementstrategies in your personal lives. You will develop an informed understanding ofthe nature of stress and the stress response including causes, signs and symptoms,effects and impact. The course will then focus on the development of skills toreduce the negative impact of stress and to redirect inevitable stressors towardshealth and well-being. Students will analyse the impact of stress in their own livesand apply stress management strategies by designing, implementing and evaluatinga personal wellness plan.

(Winter only)
This course focuses on academic reading and writing and is designed to help students become objective, constructive critics of their own work. Students read expository models in order to examine how published authors put together a piece of writing so that it effectively conveys a well–planned message to a specific audience. Students emulate the techniques and strategies of these models by producing a series of discussion papers and a research paper. By evaluating one another’s work-in-progress in a workshop setting, students develop their editorial skills. Students then use these sharpened critical skills to refine their own writing.

Prerequisite(s): COMM12 and COMM13, or equivalent.

This course reviews selected topics within the field of abnormal psychology and allows students to understand abnormal behaviour. Students explore current issues in the mental health field and course content considers the issues of diagnosis/classification, physical and psychological manifestations of abnormal behaviour, and the current range of psychological treatments.

(Winter only)
Effective listening and interviewing techniques are important parts of any helping profession. Contact with clients, families, colleagues, other professionals and the Social Service System are necessary to obtain and share relevant information, develop goals and problem solve. Appropriate and sensitive communication skills are the foundation for effective helping and supportive relationships. This course will enable you to become a more effective communicator and interviewer. You will have the opportunity to learn and apply basic skills within a general framework, and will recognize and assess your own skills for strengths and areas to improve.
(3 hrs. per week)
Prerequisite: None.

This course is intended to give an introduction to the use of statistical methods in psychological research.  The course includes the use of descriptive statistical methods to summarize and present data, the application of inferential statistical processes to make decisions about populations from sample data, the use of correlational techniques to determine of two variables are related, and predictive strategies to make predictions from one variable to another.

This is an introductory computer course that familiarizes students with the functionality of internal college systems and the current version of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It also explores the theory and concepts of computer hardware and software, with a hands-on introduction to the Windows operating system, file management techniques, and Internet browsers. This course allows students to navigate through the software applications and learn how to create effective documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.