Ph. D. in Psychology (in English)

The Ph.D. program in Psychology at Ibn Haldun University offers a friendly, vibrant environment where students can conduct Ph.D. research with a growing team of academics, bringing together international experience and world-class research. The program provides advanced academic training and a solid background in theory and research methods and offers Ph.D. positions in Cognitive, Developmental, Perceptual, and Social Psychology.

Head of the Department Deputy:

Application Requirements

Visit Ph.D. Programs Application Requirements page.

A statement of purpose written personally by the candidate. The sub-discipline being applied (Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Perceptual Psychology, Social Psychology) should be clearly stated at the top of the statement of purpose. The information should include your motivations for applying for the program, past research experience or any other relevant experience, academic achievements, career plans, research interests, and the name of the faculty member with whom you are interested in working. (Word limit = maximum 1000 words)

A research proposal outlining your proposed Ph.D. research (Total word limit = maximum 1500 words, including Abstract full 150 words).

Visit the department page for Teaching Staff.

Course Contents

PSY 600A Seminar I

The Ph.D. seminar course aims to introduce students to psychology's most recent applied research subjects. As part of the course, the students will present subjects they plan to improve in their thesis, combining the knowledge they acquired throughout their Ph.D. training in compliance with scientific research methods.

PSY 600B Seminar II

This course aims to create the technical and scientific foundation the students will need during thesis preparation and to contribute to their training to become competent researchers. In addition, presentations of visiting researchers that will take place throughout the semester and departmental graduate colloquiums will enhance students' academic experience.

PSY 601 Advanced Research Methods and Ethics in Psychology

In this course, advanced research methods are covered. In addition to creating and planning a research design, students will acquire advanced knowledge and skills about specific research methods such as quantitative analysis.

PSY 685 Advanced Statistics

In this course, students receive training on advanced statistical analyses and how to interpret their results to improve their statistical knowledge and application skills.

PSY 694A-B Teaching Experience I-II

As part of the internship on academic experience, teaching experience courses aim to develop student's skills to give classes on the undergraduate level and contribute to their growth as academicians. As part of this internship course, students are introduced to contemporary teaching techniques such as blended lear and problem-focused used lear and plans to prepare and give an undergraduate-level course.

PSY 695C Research Experience in Cognitive Psychology

This course aims to gain research experience by participating in experimental research under the supervision of a senior researcher.

PSY 695D Research Experience in Developmental Psychology

This course aims to gain research experience by taking part in social psychological research under the supervision of a senior researcher. 

PSY 695S Research Experience in Social Psychology

This course aims to gain research experience by taking part in developmental research under the supervision of a senior researcher.

Elective Courses

PSY 611 Advanced Cognitive Psychology

This course will teach students about theories and recent experimental findings on basic cognitive processes like perception, memory, language, and problem-solving.

PSY 612 Current Topics in Cognitive Psychology

This course will cover recent research and findings on cognitive psychology.

PSY 613 Advanced Topics in Human Perception

This course covers topics on perceptual processes that allow us to sense and perceive events and objects in our surroundings.

PSY 614 Cognitive Neuroscience

This course covers issues on neurological structures and processes that participate in cognitive functions.

PSY 615 Social Cognition

This course covers fundamental basic theories and recent findings about issues in social cognition, such as decision-making, references, social effect, and self.

PSY 616 Neurological Basis of Social Psychology

This course covers issues on the biological bases of social behavior and essential topics on social psychology from a neuropsychological perspective.

PSY 618 Developmental Neuropsychology

This course deals with the development of the brain and developmental stages in the primary functional brain systems. Also, developmental problems prevalent in childhood will be discussed from a neuropsychological perspective.

PSY 619 Current Topics in Developmental Psychology

Recent studies and findings on developmental psychology will be discussed.

PSY 620 Psychometry

This course deals with applied quantitative methods used in developing, adapting, and conducting reliability and validity tests of psychological measures.

PSY 621 Advanced Social Psychology

This course discusses in detail fundamental theories and recent findings on social psychology.

PSY 622 Current Topics in Social Psychology

This course discusses current studies and findings in social psychology.

PSY 623 Self and Identity

This course deals with fundamental theories and studies on social dimensions of self and the phenomenon of social identity.

PSY 625 Positive Psychology

This course covers the fundamental principles of the positive psychological approach, its human model, and applied examples.

PSY 626 Community Psychology

This course includes theoretical and applied approaches to increase well-being in society with an understanding that treats the individual as an entity in a social context.

PSY 627 Cognitive and Social Development

This course teaches students about cognitive and social developmental theories and their relationships with others. The course covers the following topics: social learning, theory of mind, meta-theory, theory of information processing, and memory.

PSY 629 Advanced Developmental Psychology

This course will cover fundamental theories in developmental psychology and recent findings on the issue in detail.

PSY 637 Advanced Topics in Developmental Psychology

In this course, students will learn about current issues, novel research methods, and practices in developmental psychology.

PSY 641 Cultural Psychology

In this course, students will learn about human behavior, which develops within a social and cultural context.

PSY 657 Political Psychology

In this course, students will learn about political behavior with its cognitive, emotional, and socio-cultural aspects based on theoretical approaches and current findings.

PSY 658 Environmental Psychology

This course covers theories, recent scientific studies, and practices in the field of environmental psychology.

PSY 667 Psychological Well-being and Resilience

This course teaches students about factors and practices contributing to well-being. They are also introduced to topics related to sources of psychological resilience and techniques to improve these sources. Finally, the course will have students develop intervention programs to enhance the individual's and society's psychological well-being.

PSY 680 Advanced Topics in Psychology

In this course, students will evaluate current cognitive, social, and developmental psychology studies based on their desired field.

PSY 681 Advanced Topics in Experimental Psychology

This course covers topics on recent studies and research designs in experimental psychology.

PSY 695CE Research Experience in Cognitive Psychology

In this course, students will gain research experience by participating in experimental research under the supervision of a senior researcher.

PSY 695SE Research Experience in Social Psychology

In this course, students will gain research experience by participating in social psychological research under the supervision of a senior researcher.

PSY 695DE Research Experience in Developmental Psychology

In this course, students will gain research experience by participating in developmental research under the supervision of a senior researcher.

PSY 524E Child and Adolescent Psychopathology

Students learn in this module about psychopathologies and their pathologies specific to childhood and adolescence. They also learn about the assessment tools, their applications, and the therapy methods widely used.

CPSY 512 Advanced Adolescent Psychology

Theories that explain the adolescence period, the issues of gender identity acquisition, friends and family relations, closeness, autonomy, identity acquisition, and adolescence problems will be covered within the dimensions of physical, cognitive, social, and psychological development during adolescence.

CPSY 528 Life Story Research

They are the interviews aimed at understanding the stages of life from childhood to old age, examining the critical events in their lives, their successes and failures, and how they interpret them. It can be completely spontaneous or semi-structured. It's based on interviews made by the researcher. In a sense, it requires the individual review of his own life story. It is a research method that can be used primarily on elderly individuals.

CPSY 529 Qualitative Research

His subjective life experience cannot be examined with curious and quantitative methods by conducting in-depth interviews with direct individuals. It is the method used to investigate the knowledge of the individual directly experiencing first hand and their reflection on them. Instead, it deals with the life experiences of people who are different from the mainstream and who differ in some way from others. It is a method used to focus on issues such as being discriminated against, being a woman, and being religious and ethnically different. It is more of a search for meaning. It tries to understand how these victims make sense of their victimization and try to understand it.

CPSY 530 Violence in Society

Violence in the family, violence against women, violence against children, sexual abuse and abuse, discrimination, peer bullying, cyber violence and cyberbullying, information technology, internet addiction, and mobbing are the common violence in society. Therefore, it is aimed to take measures to prevent their occurrence and to develop intervention techniques for the improvement of victims.

ANTH 622 Anthropology of Emotions

Emotion(s), one of human nature's most essential features, has been a neglected subject until recently in social sciences, especially sociology-anthropology circles. Are emotions universal, or do they differ from culture to culture? Are emotions cultural-collective phenomena beyond their psychological-individual aspects? This course aims to analyze emotions (love, hate, joy, anger, fear, etc.) as individual and collective experiences from an anthropological perspective. In addition, during the course, the relationship between emotion and mind, how innate emotions are innate, and how socially constructed are discussed.

POLS 510 Philosophy of Social Science

In this course, formative processes and the emergence of social sciences; and their relation with natural sciences will be discussed. Furthermore, the philosophical foundations of qualitative and quantitative research methods will be covered. Finally, the place of ontology, epistemology, and methodology in scientific disciplines will be analyzed concerning debates of positivism and post-positivism.

POLS 522 Social and Political Thought of Ibn Haldun

This course discusses Ibn Khaldun's social and political thought in the context of Islamic political thought. It deals with Ibn Khaldun's philosophy of history and socio-political philosophy in comparing them with modern Western political thought. It, therefore, introduces the basic concepts and theories of Ibn Khaldun, such as asabiyyah, civilization, and umran.

POLS 535 Identity, Ethnicity, and Nationalism

The course focuses on the political and social effects of ethnic, religious, sectarian, tribal, and local identities; and their influence on shaping politics and transforming social structures. In addition, experiences of coexistence and conflict in multicultural settings will be analyzed. Finally, theoretical approaches to the formation processes of national identities will be discussed with specific emphasis on nationalism and ethnic conflict in Turkey and surrounding geographies.

POLS 570 Conflict Analysis and Resolution

The focus of the course will be on the causes of national, international, and inter-group conflicts, their dynamics, and methods of resolution. The economic, psychological, cultural, and political dimensions of disputes will be covered alongside the methods of conflict resolution, such as mediation, peace-building, conflict resolution workshops, negotiation, and peace processes. Comparative analysis of different cases from various regions will be discussed. Conflict mapping and modeling peace-building will be practiced.

RLST 527E Theories of Human Nature

Human nature is one of the most central issues in social science and humanities. From theology to economic philosophy to psychology, politics to education in many fields, understanding human nature shapes these areas' paradigms. General-purpose of this course is to provide an overview of selected theories of human nature. Through the readings chosen, we will explore questions such as "what is natural?" "what is innateness?", "Why do we behave the way we do?" "To what extend do culture and the environment determine who we are" and "Are we inherently selfish or social?"

SOC 510 Gender and Society

The course aims to examine, discuss and analyze the phenomenon of gender within the framework of theoretical debates, concepts, and theories presented in this field with a critical perspective. Human sexuality and gender will be explored in different social and cultural settings. Family and marriage systems, expectations, and norms will be investigated. The categories of gender and sexuality will be treated in an interrelated manner to understand social behavior. An anthropological approach will facilitate the discussion, ns and students will be encouraged to study and present real-life case studies and their impact on political and social debates.

SOC 521 Discourse Analysis

This course deals with how language differs according to the workplace, the social environment, the purpose of communication, and social roles and identities. It examines the different forms of speech and writing. Daily conversations, interviews, interrogations, public speaking, emailing, messaging, and posts on social media can be mentioned as examples. In this course, the students will discuss the nature of the meaning, how the individuals convey what they say and write, the kind of courtesy in verbal communication, and what makes a text consistent. They will also be able to analyze the characteristics of various texts, characterize the interpersonal stances adopted by the speaker and the author, and identify and classify different text styles that function in specific social settings.

psy@ihu.edu.tr