The PhD Programme is intended for students that wish to pursue a research-oriented career in Psychology, students who interested in carrying out distinguished scholarly activities: have original, independent and critical thinking, and are able to develop of research-based knowledge in their selected fields of specialization. Students who are awarded Ph.D. degrees, are expected to have developed competence as teachers. Psychology PhD Programme provides you academic degree, promotes acquisition of advanced skills and abilities for academic research, and gives academic (teaching) practice.

There are currently six programmes running at the Doctoral School:

Cognitive Psychology Programme

The training focuses on one central and rapidly developing field of modern psychology, cognitive psychology and some of its co sciences, primarily on psychophysiology. Education and related research therefore mainly focus on the experimental study of the (broadly defined) cognitive processes (perception, attention, memory, language and communication, social cognition, behaviour management and control). The methodological background is primarily based on various behavioural and EEG/event-related potential procedures, including the eye-tracking process. The topics focusing on mature cognition, development (from infancy to old age) and atypical cognition (e.g. autism) are included in the programme’s framework, both in education and research. During the training, besides methodological preparation and intensive participation in research, there is a strong emphasis on conceptual foundations relating to the global issues of cognition. The programme is the result of close cooperation between the ELTE Institute of Psychology and the Institute of Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Behavioural Psychology Programme

The aim of the program is to provide an introduction to the modern Systems approach to the theory and to the empirical study of the regulation of behaviour. The courses of the program cover the roles of genetic, perinatal and biological factors in behaviour regulation, and discuss the processes of behaviour regulation with a special emphasis on the role of consciousness and altered states of consciousness – as for example hypnosis. The program discusses the broad spectrum and neuroscientific background of affective phenomena of vital importance in human interactions from the perspective of the ‘affective revolution’, which has recently taken place. We aim to develop a critical approach in our students to enable them to identify possible confounding contextual factors and plan for controlling them in their empirical studies of behaviour.

Personality and Health Psychology Programme

The primary and special objective of this programme is to provide an up-to-date presentation and processing of personality psychology and health psychology that can be considered as an applied science of personality psychology, as well as current trends in clinical psychology and addiction. The programme’s objective is to introduce and analyse the healthy and pathological functioning of the personality and the acquisition of modern personality theories and methods of measurement. Another basic objective is to prepare PhD students to conduct international standard research in the fields of personality, health and clinical psychology and addiction, in order to be able to contribute effectively to the intensive development of these fields. The programme, considering both the approach and the methodology, combines biological, psychological and social aspects; it aims to integrate these aspects regarding the understanding of human functioning. The programme shares the general goals of the Doctoral School in Psychology: its intention is to develop proficiency in scientific research methodology and in the application of complex data management methods, as well as in forms of activity that are integral part of scientific work, such as the written and oral presentation of scientific work and the inseparable scientific-critical analytical activity.

Socialization and Psychology of Social Processes Programme

The aim of the program is to prepare the students for doing creative research, enabling them to study research areas related to the relationship between the individual and society and fields related to the psychological components and factors in social processes. By including the perspectives of related branches of social science, this doctoral school aims at conveying the phenomena and rules of socialization, namely, the development, integration and role-taking of the individual in society, in an integrated way. Thus, the range of preparation for scientific work extends beyond social psychology, to the significant areas of educational psychology and cross-cultural psychology as well, while also discusses some aspects of decision making in economy and organizations and those of political psychology. Society, culture, and economy all depend upon and shape natural and built environments – as systematically demonstrated by studies in environmental psychology. The program creates a frame and prepares for the scientific study and application of historical, political, environmental, and organizational psychology as well (the latter aiming at the non-profit sphere, like school organizations).

Clinical Psychology and Addiction Programme

Aim of the program is to train researchers in the field of clinical psychology and addiction science. Professors involved in this program are internationally known experts of psychiatry, clinical psychology, and addiction science and have wide experience in running research projects using qualitative and quantitative methodology. Epidemiologic approaches, survey methods, as well as self-reports, behavioural, neuropsychological and neuroimaging methods are used in this respect. Recent research interest is focused especially on mood disorders, schizophrenia, psychopathy, substance use and behavioural addictions (internet gaming disorder, exercise addiction, gambling, compulsive buying, hypersexuality), and neurological disorders (e.g. Huntington’s Disease, Spinocerebellar Ataxia). Behavioural and psychological characteristics as well as cognitive (e.g., learning, memory) and affective (e.g., emotion processing and regulation) processes in the background of these disorders are in focus.

Sports and Health Psychology Programme

The program is focusing on life-style, recreation, physical activity and health. The aim is to approach these topics on a multi- and interdisciplinary. Students will become acquainted with the holistic concept of health and with the basic elements of healthy lifestyle. In addition, life-style will be explored from the perspective of recreation, leisure, and well-being. Physical activity, a major factor in mental health, will also be explored in the program, including exercise addiction. The students will also get acquainted with those exercise physiological and sport psychological methods by which they become able to characterize the psycho-physiological fitness which can help them to determine the optimal load. The program also deals with representations of the body, which provide the basis for the self and are closely connected to characteristics important in education like self-esteem, perceived competence and well-being. The placebo/nocebo phenomenon is also a topic approached from a psychophysiological point of view.

Strength of program

The Institute of Psychology of the Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University is situated in the heart of Budapest and is one of the main institutions of Hungarian psychological education and research. The number of our lecturers exceeds 100 and we maintain good professional relations with more than 50 organizations including major Hungarian research institutes.

The doctoral programme in psychology began at ELTE in 1993, and from the outset, covered a wide spectrum of areas of psychology. Within its framework, both basic and applied research has gained ground, and various disciplines of psychology have gained representation. The programme – according to the differentiation of psychological sciences, ELTE's tutoring capacity and the diversified disciplines – was originally complex and divided into several branches, but these branches have also always been intertwined, forming an integrated unit. Over the past two decades, the programme has changed to a small extent, partly owing to the improvement of certain disciplines, partly to personnel changes and partly to the restructuring of the Doctoral School.

The structure of the program is available on this link.

Developmental and Clinical Psychology Programme: developmental and clinical psychology module

Research Methods in Developmental and Clinical Child Psychology: Methodological Issues of Developmental Research

Specific methodological problems of developmental research. Typical mistakes in the attempts to reveal the causes of development. Age as a variable; the change of the meaning of time units with age. Age matching. The cohort-effect. Research designs to study development: crosssectional comparison, longitudinal strategy, time-lagged design – strengths and weaknesses, sources of errors. Complex (sequential) designs. Methodological implications of the systemmodels of development: longitudinal follow-up, tackling moderation and mediation using multivariate analyses. Modelling the risk and protective mechanisms. The problem of age in developmental psychopathology: the need for a developmental epidemiology. Cross-cultural studies. Studying the effects of education and teaching. The m

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Methodology in Developmental and Clinical Child Psychology: Methods in Assessment of Attachment

The course provides an overview of attachment assessment methods used in childhood. In particular, students will familiarize themselves with patterns of attachment-relevant infant behavior and childhood mental representations. Methods identifying these patterns in infancy (Strange Situation Procedure, SSP) and in childhood (Manchester Child Attachment Story Tasks, MCAST) are discussed in detail.

The Strange Situation Procedure is the most succesful and widely used experimental paradigm for assessing infant attachment. Evaluation of videorecorded sessions identifies four main, which are underlied by different caring environments. The attachment classifications are to some extent predictive of later social development.

In childhood, attachment assessment methodology is more

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Research Methods in Developmental and Clinical Child Psychology: Research Methods of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

During this semester students get to know the main methodological questions of clinical research, such as first rank and second rank aims of a study, parameters of study groups, inclusion and exclusion criteria, measures and the different types of studies (case control, randomised, double blind...).

After getting theoretical knowledge, students examine major studies in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry carefully and critically: the methodology, the results, the discussion and the limitations and the impact of that study on the future research.

The course discusses the ethical aspects of research in child and adolescent psychiatry. The students get to know several important instruments, which are used in studies in the field of child psychiatry.

By the end of the

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Theoretical Models of Development

The course covers the concept of development in psychology, the history of the theoretical approaches and explanations of development, and the contemporary models of development.

Issues to discuss:

Continuity and discontinuity in development
“Developmental function” and individual variability
Domain-specific models; models of cognitive development: constructivism, social constructivism, modularism, connectionalism
The claim for the overall explanation of development; atypical development in the focus of interest of developmental theoreticians
The nature-nurture dilemma. Main effect and / or interaction? Evolution and development
Systems-approach; dynamic system models
The importance of the transactional model for developmental psychopathology. Risk and protective me

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Social Cognition in Infancy and Early Childhood – Typical and Atypical Development

As a reading seminar, the course aims to focus on social cognition in infancy and early childhood. We review the most significant theoretical approaches and empirical results of the last few decades. Additionally, we discuss the most recent and ongoing research with their methodological issues. Beyond the typical development, we also discuss the atypical development of social cognition – depending on the students’ interest (autism, Williams syndrome, deaf children).

Infant and Childhood Attachment, Attachment Disorders

Main topics:

Attachment theory: mother-infant relationship in an evolutionary framework
Individual differences in the quality of early attachment. Assessment of attachment security in infancy: the Strange Situation Procedure. Secure and insecure attachment relationships. Classification of attachment patterns: A, B, C groups; subgroups. Care-giving background. Stability.
Breakdown of attachment strategies: disorganized/disoriented behavior in the Strange Situation. Care-giving background: atypical care-giving behavior.
Genetic influences in attachment disorganization, gene-environment interactions.
Diagnostic criteria of attachment disorders in childhood. Risk of attachment disorders: adoptive families, maltreated children, maternal psychosocial problems.

Development of the Self: From Perceptual Self to Representational Self

Topics covered by the course:

Beginnings of self-development – different theoretical approaches
Connection of body and self – changes with age
Self-representations - changes with age, measuring representations
Domain-specific and global self-evaluation – models of self-evaluation and self-esteem, measurement
Self-concept and identity – identity aspects, stability and change of self-concept
The concept and the function of identity in Erikson’s developmental theory, the critics based upon the new identity empirical research results
Empirical identity research – ISP (Identity Status Paradigm), ISP extended to adulthood developmental stages, identity questionnaires, unpacking exploration and commitment, new trends in identity research
Attempts to measure of Erik

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Classification Models of Mental Disorders, with Special Focus on Childhood

During this semester students get acquainted with the development of the different classification systems and those factors which motivate this process.
The course discusses how the main psychiatric disorders are categorized according to the different classification systems. In this way students get to know the different aspects of the mental disorders.

Moreover the course discusses how the standardized classification of mental disorders based on scientific data contributes to the improvement of the diagnoses and treatments of these disorders through different cultures and countries.

The course discusses the utilization of the classification systems in different fields as clinical practise, research, education, epidemiology and public health. The course provides knowledge on

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Clinical Psychology and Addictology Programme: clinical psychology module

Modern Trends of Clinical Psychology Research: Psychodynamic and Cognitive Approaches to Psychopathological Phenomena

The course aims at introducing various psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapeutic treatment possibilities of patients functioning at various levels of personality organization. Referring shortly to personality diagnosis (PDM) we turn our attention to treatment possibilities of the neurotic, borderline and psychotic levels respectively. Our main focus are the following modalities: the short-term psychodynamic terapies and CBT, TFP, MBT, DBT and SFT and, as far as schizophrenia is concerned, CRT will be discussed in a more detailed manner.

Modern Trends of Clinical Psychology Research: Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality Disorders

The course gives an introduction to the most recent findings of psychodynamic psychology of personality disorders. Developmental, object relational and neuronal underpinnigs will be discussed as well as the significance of early attachment and affect regulation. Specific personality disorders will be discussed and related psychotherapeutic strategies will be considered.

Modern Trends of Clinical Psychology Research: Psychobiography and Life History Analysis

Psychobiography is the explicit use of psychological models in analysing the connections between personality, life-history and life work. It is a qualitative, idiographic method which was established in the begining of 20th century as a form of applied psychoanalysis while investigating eminent creativity, although it has a lot to do with personality psychology and has significant clinical aspects as well. Owing to the success of narrative psychology in the last decades, we can experience the renaissance of life history approach and psychobiography. The modern version is more eclectic in theory, more precise in methodology and widening its resaerch focus towards scientific creativity and historical figures. In this course we are becoming acquainted with the characteristics and

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Modern Trends of Clinical Psychology Research: Risk and Protective Factors for Suicide with Special Focus on Young People

The course reviews the risk and protective factors for suicide on the base of the actual knowledge. About 800,000 people die from suicide annually, in age group 15-29 it is the second leading cause of death. In case of people who commit or attempt suicide, 90 percent of them suffer from psychiatric disorder – mostly untreated. The goal of the course is to get acquinted with researches in this field. Besides psychiatric disorders overviewing the latest researches in the field of further risk factors (family history, life events, special life stages) is also part of the course syllabus. In the semester students also get acquinted with the biological researches in the field (neurocognitive, neuroanatomic, biomarker, genetic, epigenetic). As part of the course besides overviewing r

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Modern Trends of Clinical Psychology Research: Psychological Models of Addiction

Objective of this course is the review and analysis of biological, psychological and sociopsychological models explaining chemical and behavioral addictions. The course aims at comparing different approaches and analyzing their empirical backgrounds along the relevant scientific literature.

Modern Trends of Clinical Psychology Research: Neuropsychological Approaches of Mental Disorders

It is widely accepted that most psychiatric and mental disorders are associated with cognitive disturbances. The neuropsychological approaches can shed light on underlying brain functions/dysfunctions and help us develop a better understanding of these disorders and more efficient treatments. Along the course we are going to discuss different neuropsychological and neurocognitive researches investigating the brain structural and functional changes in association with the following mental disorders: eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, obesity), depression, anxiety, epilepsy, life span brain plasticity (neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration).

Research Methods in Clinical Psychology: Clinical and Neuropsychological Methods

During the course students become acquainted with clinical- and neuropsychological methods which are useful not only in clinical practice but also in scientific research. Objective of this course is the critical review of these methods. Students also become familiar with multilevel analysis (quantitative-qualitative-syndrome analysis) of the results of clinical- and neuropsychological examinations.

Research Methods in Clinical Psychology: Qualitative Psychology Research Design and the Publication of Results

Definition of the research design: the research question, definition of the field or the sample, selecting the proper method/method combination or sample, theory of circulation in the process of data gathering; b.fieldwork (observation, participant observation, interview), other methods: interview (narrative and semi-structured), focal group, clinical studies; c. roles and identities in the fieldwork; d. qualitative study of multimodal texts (online and offline possibilities); e. qualitative studies based on special sampling techniques: snowball, privilegized access, targeted sampling and sample based on quotas.
Student should have their own experiences and they should have them in a written form. This is the basis of the next chapter: analysis of qualitative data.
Analysis of

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Research Methods in Clinical Psychology: Issues of Clinical Neuroscience

This course will provide a broad overview of theory and research in the field of clinical neuroscience. In each semester we focus on a specific topic such as personality and the brain,
non-conscious processes, decision making, habits, automatic behavior or psychiatry and neurological disorders. Moreover the course addresses methodological topics as well such as fMRI, EEG, computational modelling and reaction time analysis.

Research Methods in Clinical Psychology: Current Research Issues in Clinical Psychology

The course applying the style of „journal club” introduces the current issues of the field by means of reviewing and critical reading of recent studies. During the course participants interpret articles published in leading scientific journals of clinical psychology and through critical reading of these studies will the knowledge of students be deepened. Journals in focus are: Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Clinical Psychology Review, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, British Journal of Clinical Psychology, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Research Methods in Clinical Psychology: Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

The course aims at getting acquainted with the methods of systematic literature review and meta-analysis. During the course students acquire the knowledge and skills that will enable them to do a systematic review of literature on any specific topic or research question.

Scientific Writing

The aim of the course is to write and submit a scientific paper to an international peer-reviewed journal. During lectures, participants will learn about the basic writing techniques, rules and tricks. We will then discuss the structure and the content of the manuscript, followed by the submission and review process with a step-by-step approach. Homework is an integral and important part of the course which comprises the writing of the relevant part of the manuscript. We will discuss parts of the paper in groups during the practical sessions in between lectures. Data analysis is not part of the course material.

Clinical Psychology and Addictology Programme: addiction science module

Theoretical Basis of Addiction Psychology: Models of Addiction Psychology

Objective of this course is the review and analysis of biological, psychological and sociopsychological models explaining chemical and behavioral addictions. The course aims at
comparing different approaches and analyzing their empirical backgrounds along the relevant scientific literature.

Theoretical Basis of Addiction Psychology: Addictions from the Narrative Psychology Perspective

Illness (addictions) and recovery narratives: the process of narrative identity’s changes, the organization of non-addict identity and the importance of turning points in life story. The narrative approach of risk based on accounts of drugs users: narrative representations of risk taking and risk exposure. The process of therapy: narratives of drugs users and of professionals; similarities and differences; strategies and tactics: the rules of the „game of truth” (Ning, 2005). Processing of the current narrative psychology and addictions literature.

Theoretical Basis of Addiction Psychology: Emotion Regulation in Chemical and Behavioral Addictions

Traditional as well as modern theories and empirical results clearly support that characteristics of emotional life, thus negative emotions, emotion regulation difficulties and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, take part in the onset and/or persistence of addictions. The course, accordingly, aims to introduce the current emotion regulation approaches and the related research methods. Emotion regulation definitions, major forms of emotion regulation and characteristics of emotion regulation strategies will be analyzed. Besides the neurobiological background of emotion regulation, those socialization factors will also be discussed, which shape the emotion regulation competencies. For the reason that emotion regulation is directed by different context-specific motivational

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Theoretical Basis of Addiction Psychology: The Social Cognitive and Self-Regulation Models of Addictions

The course reviews the recent development of social cognitive theories and self-regulation models applied to addiction problems. During the course the relevant classic models (willpower (Mischel), self-regulatory strength (Baumeister), goal-oriented behavior (Carver & Scheier) and modern models including the rational vs. irrational decision models of addiction (West, 2005), the research on impulse control, the concepts of social cognitive theory, the models of relapse prevention and specific issues of self-regulation (e.g. craving, urge) will be reviewed. Studies concerning prevention and/or intervention strategies based on the above theories will also be reviewed.

Theoretical Basis of Addiction Psychology: Evaluation of Interventions and Intervention Systems Targeting Treatment of Addiction Problems

There is an increasing need for the evaluation of interventions and intervention systems both on the side of professionals implementing and on the side of stakeholders financing the interventions. The methodology of evaluation is generally better elaborated concerning the outcome and process evaluation of interventions. At the same time however, the methodology of policy level evaluation is extremely complex, diverse assessment techniques and approaches are known and there is no real consensus on these among professionals (see more in Stern, 2007).

In the frame of this course participants review the different forms of program and intervention evaluation (RTC, quasi experimental assignment, pre-test/post-test, meta-analyses) and levels of evidence. Participants analyze specific

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Theoretical Basis of Addiction Psychology: Behavioral Addictions

The course aims at elaborating the specific phenomena of behavioral addictions. The objective is the detailed analysis of these disorders; their symptomatology, their course, etiology and the introduction of the relevant therapeutic interventions. Another aim of the course is the analysis of the relation between chemical and behavioral addictions, the exploration and analysis of their common etiological factors and the differences. In the frame of the course, primarily the following disorders will be analyzed: pathological gambling, addiction related to online games, internet addiction, work addiction, trichotillomania, compulsive buying and exercise addiction. Besides the following references the course is based on the current empirical literature.

Theoretical Basis of Addiction Psychology: Trauma and Addictions

The aim of the course is two-fold; (1) first, it deals with attachment trauma (neglect and abuse) in the background of various addiction problems, (2) second, out of the possible responses given to traumas it investigates substance use as a maladaptive response. Regarding the second issue, research results on the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use will be discussed in the frame of current PTSD models. In order to understand the
relationship between attachment traumas and addiction problems the biological and psychological effects of trauma will be examined and results of those longitudinal studies will also be reviewed which highlight long-term effects. In addition, prevention and intervention strategies possibly preventing effects of

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Current Addiction Research

The course applying the style of „journal club” introduces the current issues of the field by means of reviewing and critically reading recent studies. During the course participants interpret articles published in leading scientific journals of addictionology and through critical reading of these studies will the knowledge of students be deepened. Journals in focus are: Addiction, Addictive Behaviors, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, European Addiction Research, Journal of Behavioral Addictions.

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Addiction Research: Qualitative Drug Research

Main theories of qualitative approach: characteristics of paradigmatic and narrative thinking (Bruner), concept of the hermeneutic circle (epistemology basis). Methods of qualitative surveys in practice: the fieldwork (observation, participant observation, interviews, focus groups, clinical research), roles and identities in the field, qualitative research of multimodal texts (online and offline options). Analysis of qualitative data: from the field text to the research text: coding options; analysis of the parallel layers of text from the narrative perspective (primarily based on the questions of perspective, modality and authorship). Possibilities of applying the Grounded Theory. Reporting and presentation of qualitative data: relation of author and reader; presenting the

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Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Addiction Research: Individual Behavior in Social and Environmental Context

In social sciences, researchers are often confronted with nested data structures, which is the case, for example, in diary studies when daily or situational assessments are nested within individuals, or in survey research, when students are nested within classrooms or faculties within schools or universities or when employees are nested within departments or working groups with companies or organizations. Moreover, these school, universities, companies, and organizations themselves are clustered within regions, countries, and continents. The present lecture will provide an introduction in the characteristics of nested data structures and their properties. It will deal with ways to describe the magnitude of clustering and to adjust for sampling design effects in (regression)

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Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Addiction Research: Population Studies on Addictions and in Health Research

Purpose of the course is to review theoretical foundations, methods and results of national and international (representative) population studies on health behavior. During the course characteristics of sampling, weighting, coding and data analysis processes, their difficulties, barriers and possible biases will be analyzed. Besides the adult population surveys, studies targeting school-aged children (e.g. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, ESPAD) and substance use of special populations (e.g. inmates, children living in foster institutions) will be highlighted. In addition to the prevalence of health behaviors, knowledge on the effects of the psychosocial setting will also be reviewed. Moreover, we analyze the domestic and international trends of adverse health behaviors

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Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Addiction Research: Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

Scientific Writing

Cognitive Psychology Programme: cognitive processes- psychology and neuroscience module

Methods of Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Scientific Publications

Topic: Wide knowledge on research methods on cognitive functions in the field of neuroscience, cognitive psychology and social sciences. The course also concentrates on statistical principles, ethical issues regarding investigations on adult humans. Skills on communication of results (papers, lectures, poster presentation). Basic knowledge on computer programming, experimental designs and control, data analysis, modeling. The most frequently used languages (Python, Matlab).

Perception and Attention

Recent advancement on human perception and attention. The course concentrates on results using methods of cognitive neuroscience (event-related potentials, brain imaging, and
oscillations).

The System of Representations: Human Memory

Reviews on representative field of memory research (historical perspectives and recent research). Declarative and non-declarative memory systems, knowledge systems, personal and
autobiographic memory. In all topics developmental and neuropsychological approaches are emphasized. Special interest of the students are considered.

The System of Represenations: Verbal Processes

Within the field of language-related processes the main topics are speech perception and understanding and cognitive aspects of reading. Wider reviews on psycholinguistics and
cognitive neuropsychology are also considered.

Thinking and Control Processes: Specific Topics on Thinking

Lecturer: Attila Krajcsi

Topics:

High level cognitive functions, like problem solving
Social aspects of, with special emphasis on numeric cognition, from representation of numbers to complex numerical processes (mental arithmetic, mathematical processes)
Phylogenetic and developmental aspects with numeric cognition, neurophysiological backgrounds, special brain conditions and brain damages

References: Papers from relevant journals on cognitive psychology.

Thinking and Control Processes: Control Processes

Lecturers: Horváth János, Czigler István

Topic:

The aim of the course is to review the main trends in investigating control processes. The course concentrates on results using event-related potential and brain imaging results of
the field.

References: Papers from relevant journals. Most frequent ones: Experimental Psychology, HP&P, and see: 2.

Thinking and Control Processes: Cognitive Processes in Adulthood

Age-related cognitive changes, models of cognitive aging. The course concentrates on perception attention.

Cognitive Psychology Programme: cognitive development module

Research Methods in Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology, Scientific Publication and Developmental Research

Wide knowledge on research methods on cognitive functions in the field of neuroscience, cognitive psychology and social sciences. The course also concentrates on statistical principles, ethical issues regarding investigations on adult humans. Skills on communication of results (papers, lectures, poster presentation). Basic knowledge on computer programming, experimental designs and control, data analysis, modeling. The most frequently used languages (Python, Matlab).

Development of Cognitive Functions

The main objective of this course is to deliver a state-of-the-art overview on the developmental perspectives of research on perception, attention, control processes, memory and language. The emergence of different memory processes Memory is one of the most important higher order cognitive capacities that – in its complex form – serves different functions and seems to be human-specific. The main focus of the course is to highlight the cooperation and specific role of different memory systems in distinct mnemonic performances, through normal functioning, and through the development of different susystems and the process of their integration. Moreover, the theoretical framework of the course tries to incorporate interdisciplinary debates with the aim of conveying more sop

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Social Cognition and its Relation to Other Cognitive Functions

This course will focus on the current questions of developmental social cognition. The aim is to review and discuss collectively both the dominant theories and empirical results of experimental developmental psychology. This collective discussion will explore the current interpretations of the contemporary developmental research, provide general methodological lessons, and reveal the limitations and unanswered questions that may motivate the research of the filed in the near
future.

This course creates its background on the basis of selected publications by internationally respected research groups. The selection will take into consideration the students’ interesting and research field. Owing to this approach, the participants process publications connected to their own field a

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Biological Aspects of Developmental Processes

The course focuses on the potential biological background of emergent processes from the theoretical angle of human etology, comparative developmental psychology and behavioral genetics.

Molecular behavior genetics
The aim of the course is to familiarize PhD students with the theoretical framework and new developments of behavior genetics.

Offered themes:

Variability of behavior, individual and group differences. Genes and behavior
Concepts and principles of the quantitative genetic approach
Methodology of studying inheritance of animal and human behavior
Estimating heritability in twin and adoptive designs
Links between genes and environment (interaction, correlation)
Limitations of quantitative genetic approach
Molecular behavior genetics. Molecular mechanisms of

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Behavioural Psychology Programme: behaviour regulation module

Genetic, Perinatal and Biological Factors in Behavior Regulation: Behaviour Genetics

Goal of the course is to provide an insight into the inherited components of human behaviour. At the same time, it is also important to help students develop a critical attitude in the interpretation of scientific findings in behavioural genetics and possible application of these results in psychology. Main topics of the course will include an overview of Mendelian autosomal diseases and characteristics, interpretation of twin-study outcomes, and thorough analyses of a few current results from the modern psychogenetic literature. The clear understanding of some basic terms in genetics and molecular biology is of vital importance in this interdisciplinary field, as well as acquiring a clear understanding of the methodological aspects (such as the problem of population

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Genetic, Perinatal and Biological Factors in Behavior Regulation: Perinatal Sciences

The aim of the course is to introduce students into the field of perinatal sciences. The holistic, systems approach of perinatal sciences treats the process of birth and being born as an integral whole, as a so called transgenerational process, from conception to the birth of the next generation. The interdisciplinary collaboration of various professions is important in this field.

The course handles the healthy (normal) physiological processes and their pathological forms, problems and failures within the same framework. This is to emphasize that the basis of all these
processes is the normal, biologically natural way of giving birth and being born.

The participants of the course will have the chance to take part in various forms of the ongoing research studies conducted at

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Genetic, Perinatal and Biological Factors in Behavior Regulation: Biological Basis of Regulatory Processes in Behavior

During the course the physiological and pathophysiological background of psychological functions are reviewed with special emphasis on regulatory mechanisms.

Main topics:

Interaction between the heart and cognitive-emotional processes: the anatomical-physiological background of related regulatory processes, psychophysiological correlates, principles of measurement, stress phenomena.
Blood circulation in the brain (functional anatomical background) and its relationship to cognitive and emotional processes.
Measurement of blood circulation (NIRS, fMRI, Doppler).
Correlation between metabolic changes of brain and psychological functions
Spontaneous and evoked brain electrical correlates of behavior. Graph theoretical approach.
Regulation of emotional processes:

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Consciousness, Altered States of Consciousness, and Behavior Regulation: Conscious, Subconscious, Unconscious

The purpose of the course is to present the most important problems concerning conscious, subconscious and unconscious processes from a historical perspective, and to cover current research and discussions concerning these problems. It is also aimed to motivate studens to think about the role of conscious, subconscious and unconscious processes in the regulation of behaviour. First, the most important problems will be covered by lectures, then the views on the functions of consciousness will be discussed in intensive seminars on the basis of the literature reviewed thoroughly by the students.

Course requirements: active participation in course discussions of each topic (on the basis of reading the basic literature) and an oral presentation of current research findings

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Consciousness, Altered States of Consciousness, and Behavior Regulation: Altered States of Consciousness

The aim of the course is to demonstrate how the investigation of altered – sometimes called alternative – states contributes to the current discussions regarding consciousness and unconsciousness. The lectures present the most important issues, then the seminars will deal with the adaptive or sometimes maladaptive roles of altered states of consciousness (ASsC) in behaviour regulation.

Requirement of getting the credits: participation in the discussion of the seminars and a written or oral summary on some debated topic of ASsC connected to the research fields of the PhD
students.

Main topics to be discussed:

Cognitive changes in ASsC, reflected in subjective experiences.
Changes of behavioural regulation in ASsC: reduction of volitional control, volitional control of&

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Consciousness, Altered States of Consciousness, and Behavior Regulation: Hypnosis

The purpose of the course is to demonstrate how much contribution modern hypnosis research made to the renewed interest of psychology in consciousness, resulting significant data and ideas that enriched our knowledge and insight concerning the nature of consciousness. The lectures give detailed discussion of dissociative disorders supporting compartmental theories of consciousness, and also discuss inductions and phenomena of hypnosis – the behavioural, subjective and relational changes and dissociative phenomena occurring in hypnosis – and their neuroscientific background. The current problems and research directions in the hypnosis literature will be reviewed and critically discussed in seminars following the lectures.

Course requirements: active participation in course di

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Affective Effects in the Regulation of Behavior: Affective Sciences

The purpose of the course is to discuss the broad spectrum and neuroscientific background of affective phenomena of vital importance in human interactions from the perspective of the „affective revolution” which has recently taken place. The lectures bring into focus the debatable problems, beyond the studies and facts concerning affective phenomena. The detailed discussion of the debated questions will take place in seminars, connected with the themes of the PhD students.

This approach makes it possible for the participants to recognize and to consider the affective connections of their own research.

Requirements of the course: an oral or written presentation of the most recent literature on the affective problems related to the research of the doctoral student, and the di

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Affective Effects in the Regulation of Behavior: Suggestive Effects

The aim of the course is to sensitise the participants to the suggestive effects manifested in various life situations. It introduces the main rules and principles of applications of suggestions.

Requirements: the participants will provide a summary of a suggestive phenomenon in their special field.

Main topics:

Concept and forms of suggestions
Suggestibility
Modes of consciousness
Rules of formulating suggestions
Application of suggestions

Methodology of Behavioral Research: Systems Approach to the Empirical Study of Behavior Regulation: Theory and Methodology

The goal of the course is to help students develop a scientific approach to the study of human behavior: to understand that interpretation of findings from the literature is impossible without considering biological, psychological and social aspects of behavior as well as interaction of the above factors. Introductory lectures in this field will be followed by discussion of a certain topic in seminars. We aim to develop a critical approach in our students to enable them to identify possible confounding contextual factors and plan for controlling them in their empirical studies of behavior.

Fulfillment criteria: the students will be asked to develop, to present and to discuss their
research plans.

Main topics:

Basic characteristics of Systems Approach
Data collection and

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Methodology of Behavioral Research: the Research of Consciousness and Non-Conscious Processes

The aim of the course is to provide an introduction to the research of consciousness and the non-conscious cognition (intuition, implicit learning, implicit memory, intuitive decision making). During the course, we plan to explore and discuss the challenges within consciousness research. We will put special emphasis on the questions of what and how the non-conscious aspects of human cognitive functions can be explored. The discussions of non-conscious control of the affective and cognitive processes will be adjusted to the interest of the participants of the course. The reading materials of the course will be taken from the recent and seminal papers of the international literature.

From the provided literature, the students will gain insight to the concepts and

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Methodology of Behavioral Research: Research methodology, Analysis of Interactions

The aim of the course is to give practical information on the methods that can be used in the study of human interactions. These methods make it possible to describe the qualitative and quantitative properties of the interaction, and also to grab the phenomena of interpersonal attunement. The course definitely focuses on practice, but does not neglect the questions of the interconnectedness of theory and practice, since the research methods are never independent from the principles of a given theory.

This approach makes the participants able to realize the relative advantages and disadvantages of the methods that could be used in their ongoing research projects.

Course requirements: Presenting and discussing a methodological problem of the participants’ own ongoing research p

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Methodology of Behavioral Research: Field Studies in Interactional Framework

The aim of the course is to introduce the participants into the world of field studies. So its intended aim is not the provision of the theoretical background, but to provide real first-hand experiences, knowledge and skills: starting from the getting in contact with the „field-institute”, along with the organization of the work there, up to the details of publications. The participants of the course will participate in a running study. Their experiences of the field will be summarized in a short presentation and shared by the others at the end of the semester. Listening and reflecting to each other’s presentation is also part of the course, everyone can comment, reflect to the discussed topics.

Requirement of the course:

active participation in a field study and discu

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Sports and Health Psychophysiology Programme: sports and health psychophysiology module

Life-style, Recreation, Exercise: Psychological Effects of Physical Activity

The purpose of this course is to examine in depth the key scholastic concepts in the joint fields of physical activity, exercise and mental health as a prelude to a more extensive personallyoriented research project in an area of interest of the student. The main topic, and a possibly wider research orientation within it – that could be either theoretically or experimentally approached -, includes the effects of regular exercise on various indices and / or determinants of mental health. For example, the PhD student can perform a literature review – systematic or meta analysis – on the effects of running on borderline depression, or on the psychological effects of specific sports (i.e., body building, martial arts, dance, etc.) on a specific mental condition, like mood, depre

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Life-style, Recreation, Exercise: Exercise Addiction and Other Behavioral Dysfunctions in Physical Activity

The purpose of this course is to examine in depth the psychological antecedents, everyday manifestations, and consequences of exaggerated exercise behavior. The various components of this morbid, or at least dysfunctional, exercise will be specifically discussed to form the infrastructure of a thorough personally-oriented research project in the field, which will be the main learning outcome in the course. The topics selected by the students could be either theoretically or experimentally approached -, and they include all aspects related to exercise addiction. For example, the PhD candidate can perform a literature review – that can be systematic or in form of a meta analysis – on the personality research carried out in context of exercise addiction. She or he may investigate se

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Life-style, Recreation, Exercise: Life-Style and Recreation

During this course, students will be able to become acquainted with the holistic concept of health, the basic elements of healthy lifestyle, and the major models in connection with health behaviour and their practical applications. The focus of the course is to allow students to gain practical skills; the aim is to enable students to identify the difficulties in health behaviour change and to give help during behaviour change. Some of the necessary and practical skills will be acquired.

The basic elements of lifestyle the course deals with are the following: physical exercise, diet, stress management, smoking cessation, and alcohol-related problems. Existing health education programs will also be discussed.

Life-style, Recreation, Exercise: Life-style, Recreation and Health

The course asks whether is it possible to talk about life-style, recreation and health from a scientific point of view, which are the main research areas, are there validated theories in the field. We examine whether – in addition to the theoretical thinking – could we give guidelines for how to fill days with happiness, has the well-being an internally constructed culture, a kind of generealisable behavioural practice. It seems important that could we, and, at all, is it necessary to help to avoid the catch of bad mood, is it possible to construct multidisciplinary models which could orient us to establish our individual quality life. We also examine the relationships of the life-style elements to the risk factors of diseases and to the prevention.

The aim of the course is

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Life-style, Recreation, Exercise: Yoga and Health

The subject aims to provide the students with recent knowledge on various health aspects of yoga.
By the effect of yoga, numerous favourable changes can occur in the organ functions. For example in the brain function, in respiratory tract, immune and hormone function, in bone metabolism, in balance, in blood lipid levels, in body composition, in blood pressure, in heart rate variability, in the function of autonom nervous system.

From the aspect of disease prevention, wellbeing and quality of life, there is a high impact on lifestyle. Yoga can influence lifestyle factors, such as sleep, stress, anxiety, nutrition, smoking, sexual life.

Greater awareness of our feelings and bodily desires may increase the self-confidence necessary to make decisions that feel right, contributing

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Health Psychophysiology: Behavioral Physiology

The first part of the course discusses mechanisms of the behaviour from a psychophysiological point of view. It deals with the process of information uptake, with biological forms of communication, with the relationship of activity and reactivity, with the internal organization (e.g. drives, emotions, motivations) of the behaviour, with a new interpretation of homeostasis, with the alternative representations of behaviour, and with the psycho-visceral relationships.

Topics of the second part of the course are pain and its mechanisms, psychophysiology of aging and death, non-specific health problems and their background, and the relationship between life-style and health, respectively.

Dominant approach of this course is based on the systems theory and on the principles

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Health Psychophysiology: Non-specific Health Problems and Health Worries

Non-specific health problems are such – for the health-care system straining – dysfunctions, which have no detectable medical background, are not accompanied by any detectable organic failure, do not result in any physiological or laboratory diagnostic changes, thus cannot be identified by medical examination. Still, they cause complaints, affect quality of life, create anxiety and worries. Complains (symptoms) are non-consequent, cannot be clearly identified. Complaints may be of unpleasant character (dizziness, spasms, headaches, etc.) or pleasant (easiness, relaxation, feeling warms), and also indirect (diffuse decrease of productivity, light cognitive disturbances, uncertain emotional states, small motivational decrease). With the lack of medical diagnosis, one frequently due

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Health Psychophysiology: Body Awareness

The subject aims to provide the students with recent knowledge on various aspects of body awareness. Body awareness, its relationship to interoception, well-being, and decision making is an intensively investigated topic, however, our current knowledge is far from conclusive. The subject discusses the major points under debate. Most important topics to be discussed are (1) consciousness and its evolutionary roots; (2) body consciousness: definitions, assessment, and related constructs (mindfulness, self-consciousness, body image); (3) neurophysiological background of interoception: from receptors to the cortex; (4) visceroception: development and its effects on mood, emotion, and decision making; (5) assessment of interoceptive awareness with special emphasis on heartbeat

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Health Psychophysiology: Placebo and Nocebo

The subject aims to provide the students with recent knowledge on various aspects of the placebo phenomenon. The placebo phenomenon – both from theoretical and practical point of view – has become a hot research topic in the last 10-15 years, as it can be used as a model to understand the complex bio-psychosocial mechanisms of medical treatments. The ethical aspects of the therapeutic use of placebos has also been in the focus of professional discussion and debate recently. The most important topics to discuss are (1) history and definition issues; (2) the placebo in the light of the mind-body problem; (3) ethical issues in double-blind clinical trials and in the therapeutic use of placebos; (4) methodological issues and their solutions in placebo research; (5) major det

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Health Psychophysiology: Sport Psychophysiology Research Methodology Practice

The course aims to introduce students to the use of core concepts in sport science, research methods and processes, possibilities of their use in sports and recreation. The students get acquainted with those exercise physiological and sport psychological methods by which they become able to characterize the psychophysiological fitness of the organism in its complexity and which help them to determine the optimal load. They become familiar with some basic anthropometric devices as well as with physiological changes caused by different loads. Central topics are operation of the cardio-circulatory and respiratory systems and the musculature. The students learn how t o measure the most important physiological variables, too. An emphasized method is measuring cardiac functions by the

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Personality and Health Programme: positive psychology module

Positive Psychology as the Science of Psychological Well-Being and Human Strengths

The objective of the course is the elaboration of the continuously appearing research topics, methodological innovations and subjects through the review of the psychologically relevant historical roots of positive psychology as the science of the millennium.

Positive Psychology In Clinical Health Psychology

The course addresses how positive psychological approach crawled into the understanding of the psychosocial factors of acute and chronic somatic diseases, how this new approach got integrated to the research in this field to understand and promote coping with illnesses. We bring into focus the roles in clinical health psychology of such constructs like benefit finding, posttraumatic growth, positive emotions, optimism and happiness, spirituality, forgiveness, mindfulness.

Theories And Measuring Alternatives of Emotional Intelligence, Creativity, Wisdom and Mindfulness

One of the most important pivots of positive psychology is the study of positive individual characteristics. In the focus of the course there are the three most studied positive individual characteristics: emotional intelligence, creativity and wisdom. Our objective is tracing the past and historical antecedents of these constructs, the comparative analysis of the current theories related to these phenomena above, the review of the possible assessment alternatives and the synthesis of the related actual research results.

The course deals with the exposition of the application possibilities of the empirical research results, emphasizing the applied areas of clinical and health psychology and human recruitment-selection. During the course we make an attempt to place the construct

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Personality Antecedents of Psychological Immunity. The Positive Psychological Model of Coping

The aims of the course are to review the constructs of stress and coping in a salutogenetic approach and to analyze the protective traits of personality and those personality components which provide psychological immunity. As the course has a positive psychological perspective, it focuses on the analysis of the operational efficiency of copingsavoring tandem, its relationship with the position on the languishing-flourishing dimension and the levels of well-being and mental health as well.

Personality and Health Psychology Programme: quantitative research methods module

Person Oriented Multivariate Statistical Methods

The aim of the course is to present the most important person-oriented methods applied in empirical psychological research, their theoretical models and their use, primarily in statistical software ROPstat. The topic of the first class is an introduction to ROPstat, and the data import and export in SPSS, ROPstat, and Excel, by means of which data file created in SPSS or Excel can be analyzed in ROPstat. During the second class some rank modules of ROPstat will be presented by means of which person-oriented inferences can also be drawn. The next topic is the screening of missing data, giving descriptive information on the configurations of missing values. It is then followed by the different methods of data imputations and residual analysis, the identification of outlying,

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Introduction to Practice of Structural Equation Modeling

The goal is to introduce students to the practice of structural equation modeling (SEM) with examples. SEM is often used in latent variable modeling. After the discussion of basic concepts of SEM, we focus on confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, structural regression analysis, and latent class analysis. We use Mplus programs: (1) Confirmatory factor analysis is appropriate when our goal is to confirm a measurement model or compare measurement
models. (2) Path analysis is a type of SEM when we use only observed variables in testing complex patterns of associations. (3) Structural regression analysis is a type of path analysis with latent variables. (4) Latent class analysis is used when the latent variable is categorical. (5) Introduction to “item response theory”, the bas

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Methods in Social Psychology: Experiments and Cross-Cultural Studies

The course has two parts. The goal of the first part is that students acquire the skills necessary
to design and conduct social psychological experiments as well as to analyze their data. Besides
the basics (e.g. Trochim, 2006), aspects and problems of experimentation will be considered
which are specifically pertaining to social psychology (Wilson et al, 2010; Judd et al, 2010).
Methodological issues related to experimentation in social psychology will also be examined by
studying current social psychological literature (e.g., new articles from Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology), and students will also have an opportunity to design a social psychological
experiment themselves. The second part of the course deals with the methodology of crosscultural
research, with a special

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Preparing and Writing Research Papers and Critical Reading

This course covers the principles and steps of preparing and writing research publications including regular papers, brief communications, conference posters and presentations.

The course puts emphasis on presenting data (tables, figures) informatively based on the guideline provided by the current APA Publication Manual.

The course also prepares for the process and difficulties of scientific publications. Furthermore, the course introduces the practical skills of critical readings and preparing
reviews for international journals.

Specific Quantitative Research Method from Other Modules

Specific quantitative research method course with the agreement of the module leader in advance.

Multivariate Statistics Teaching Practice

This course helps to deepen the understanding multivariate statistics through teaching statistics. With teaching, students are able to refresh the basic concepts of multivariate statistics. With the guidance of the instructor, PhD students can improve their skills in SPSS, data management, communications regarding statistics.

Planning Empirical Research - Propaedeutics

The course focuses on the basic issues in planning research and prepares students to work on their own research project and to write doctoral dissertation.

The main topics of this course:

The process of research, formulating an empirically testable hypothesis and examining hypothesis validity
Basic issues in planning research
Comparing research designs, their basic principles and ecological validity
Sampling methods, internal and external validity
Measurement issues and psychometrics
Data analysis: how to select the appropriate methods
Testing moderator and mediator effects
Ethical issues in research, and the roles of Institutional Review Board

Personality and Health Psychology Programme: qualitative psychological research methodology module

Main Approaches to Qualitative Methods (Epistemology and Methodology)

Qualitative methods generally feature:

Interpretation of epistemological status of the observed reality;
The relationship of the observed reality and the observer, understanding as a Wittgenstein's language game;
Verify the results and reproducibility of the results (validity and reliability of qualitative research).

Denzin and Lincoln (2013), the moments of the qualitative research, so break up:

traditional age: 1900-1950;
modernist or "Golden Age”: 1950-1970;
blurred genres: 1970-1986;
the crisis of representation: 1986-1990;
postmodern, experimental and new ethnographies: 1990-1995;
postexperimental inquiry: 1995-2000;
methodologically contested present: 2000-2010
and a future that has already begun: 2010- emphasizing moral discourses and “sacred textualities”. In the qualitative

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Qualitative Psychological Research Design and the Publication

The research design

Research design is defined as research question, defining the field and the sample, choosing the qualitative tradition, then the method selection, the principle of circular research;
Work in the field (observation, participant observation, interviews) other methods: interview (narrative and semi-structured), focus groups, clinical research);
Roles and identities of the researcher in the field;
Qualitative research of multimodal texts (online and offline opportunities);
Based on a sample selection of qualitative research: the snowball method, privileged access, targeted and based on quota sampling.

Whenever possible, the student's own experiences are used. This research is the foundation of the next step: qualitative data’s analysis and i

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Methodology of Psychological Content Analysis

Theory of psychological content analysis:

Conceptual basics and historical development of content analysis. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis as a tool for identification of manifest and latent data, demonstrated with classic examples. Basics of corpus linguistics.

Practice of psychological content analysis:
Principles of language technological methods of psychological content analysis (word frequency analysis, graph-based search algorithms, local grammars). Methods and results of using most up-to-date corpus linguistic developments in psychological research and diagnostics.

Psychological content analysis software:

Word frequency based software (LIWC – Linguistic Inquiry Word Count, J.W. Pennebaker, et al.);
Thematic software (ATLAS.ti, Th. Muhr, et a

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Narrative Psychological Methods

Early proponents of the narrative psychological approach (Sarbin and Bruner). Narrative as a construct to generate meaning.

Definition of the narrative. Approaches to the analysis of narrative structure: literary studies (Russian formalism, concept of genre, narratology), cognitive psychology (story grammars), sociolinguistics (Labov). Components of narrative organisation: coherence, temporal and causal connections, perspective, evaluation.

Narrative identity: life-story model of identity (McAdams), narrative approaches to social identity (László).

Narrative as an organizing principle for mental functioning. Thinking: two forms of thinking (Bruner, Schank). Autobiographical memory (Rubin, Kónya). Narrative organization of emotions (Oatley, Stein). Flow of consciousness (C

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Applying Qualitative Methods in Social Psychology and Developmental Social Psychology

The course aims to get the students acquainted in detail with the application of some qualitative research methods, with data processing and with the methods of presenting research results.
One focus of the course is the interview technique: during the course we will examine when the interview technique should be applied and to anwer what kind of scientific questions. The course will address the technical questions of applying an interview, the details of the interpersonal dynamics of the interview situation, the non-quantitative content analysing techniques of data gathered during the interviews. The course also deals with the characteristics, technical requirements and ethical aspects of research interviews done with
children.
The course also aims to deal with the associative

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Socialization and Social Processes Programme: basic and applied social psychology module

The Past of Social Psychology and Trends: the (Critical) History of Social Psychology

National characterology from the period of national awakening, and mass psychology following – a critical approach to – socialist movements both played important roles in the prehistory of Social Psychology. These pre-scientific attempts point out the strong general need to a psychological interpretation of societal phenomena. The term, social psychology and its systematic empiricism appeared at the crossroads of Psychology and Sociology in the early 20th century. Social Psychology has always been an American science, in which the pragmatism of the American society played an important role and in which methodological individualism could flourish. Descriptive attitude research was followed by research on group-dynamics, attitudedynamics and cognitive style at the time of the Sec

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The Past of Social Psychology and Trends: Research Paradigms in Social Psychology and Related Disciplines

The course discusses various scientific methods, modes of dissemination, and the issue of social responsibility in science from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. We analyse these questions within the framework of the history of Social Psychology, but also looking at the connections with other scientific disciplines, particularly at the influence of social and natural sciences. The dilemma of scientific methods and social change are discussed in connection with the specific activities of social psychological research – finding a research question, choosing a research method, method of data analysis, dissemination of results. We pay a special attention to the problematic of social change, the social psychological motivations for change, and the role of the researcher

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The Dynamics of Social and Societal Relationships: Competition and Cooperation

The course consists of 4 subtopics and they are offered interchangeably:

Competition and cooperation as the main processes of social and societal relations
The (interpersonal/intergroup) nature of social conflicts
Social, self-conscious and ”competitive” emotions (affiliation, pride, embarrassment, sense of guilt, shame, envy, jealousy)
The individual and the group: social dilemmas and citizenship

The course considers the interpersonal and the intergroup competition and cooperation as the fundamental features of social/societal behaviour and unfolds this topic from different aspects. The course is announced in four possible versions focusing on different aspects of the topic of competition and cooperation. After the first thematic unit which discusses the rel

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The Motivated Society: the Psychology of Social Relationships

The main feature of the PhD module is that it does not lose sight of the macrostructural relations of the society and those motives summed up in social scale and appearing at personal level which keep the society going and set the course of the society. The conceptual construction of ”motivated society”, which is not completely conventional but it has been developed in Hungarian researches, relies on all the social psychological theories which deal with the the moving and the braking forces of social groups, the motivation and effective operation of power, and the dynamics of the level of aspiration and the economy. In this regard, the concept of justice/inequity associated with the formation of norm-consciousness and the motivation of collective activity, the not exhausted top

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Political Psychology and Public Thought

Ideological public opinions, their personal relevance and related political behavior are important subjects of social psychological research as they reveal the bonds between the individual and political community. Studying historical processes, especially the power relations of past dictatorships is essential to develop the conceptual background for political psychology. Acknowledging these backgrounds, the processes of governance and political elections in
democracies are in the focus of our course. It is in our special interest to study the quartercentury of Hungarian democracy after the fall of communism. It provides a possibility to study long term tendencies with dedicated methodological tools and on a well-constructed theoretical-conceptual basis. Theories about intergroup

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Applied Social Psychology: Evaluation of Public Policies and Programs (Science, Higher Education, Media)

The course is studying public policies, institutional practices and their impact on performance measurement and public perceptions in the field of higher education and media. Students
would become familiar with the epistemological background and social psychology related aspects of evaluation techniques currently in use. Another important task of the course is to introduce the ideological, public opinion and social sciences related underpinnings of public policies and social programs.

Topics:

Public policy development as a cognitive and community based process
The interpretation of being efficient and successful in the context of societal and community perceptions
The interpretation of scientific achievements – institutional solutions (citations, impact factor, patents, p

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Applied Social Psychology: Evaluation of Public Policies and Programmes

There is a growing interest in our days towards the evaluation of public policies. It is becoming evident that some of the public policies are having a high vulnerability as far as politics is concerned. It is especially true when the target of the public policy is a social phenomenon which is interpreted in a moral space (R.Room, 2005). During the course the students would become acquainted with the most important theoretical and practical approaches of policy making and policy analysis. The course is aiming at providing the students with the opportunity to get insight in the practicalities of policy formulation and evaluation. The problem of evidence based/evidence informed policy making will be discussed in details.

Socialization and Social Processes Programme: socialization and education module

Social Relationship and Social Psychology at School

The topics of this course are social phenomena at schools, the interpretation of the events of everyday educational situations at school from a social psychological point of view, and the study of researches on social relationships at school.

We study peer relationships and possibilities of the social relationship development at school, researches about educators, characteristics of student-teacher relationship and the influences of social, communicational and emotional factors on their relationship, and conflicts among pupils and the phenomenon of bullying.

Research of Socialization and Child Development. Theoretical and Methodological Approach to Socialization

Socialization Processes

1. Historical and contemporary perspectives on socialization theory
2. Agents, goals, methods and outcomes of socialization
Biological and cultural perspectives on socialization processes
Socialization in the family

1. family systems approach to socialization

the structure and the function of the family
the impact of social change on family socialization
determinants of family socialization strategies
child characteristics
challenging transitional periods in development
parent characteristics (personal resources, marital quality, parents’ psychological functioning)

The impact of macrosystem on family socialization

socioeconomic status
culture
religion
ethnicity

The impact of social and economic changes on family socialization and s

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Research of Socialization and Child Development. Research in Childhood Development

Changing image of childhood in the history of developmental psychology. Specific methodological problems of developmental research. The major sources of data in developmental research: observation, experiment, and quasi-experiment. The prominent role of observation in developmental psychology – requirements of observation as a scientific technique. Techniques of coding behaviour. Specific problems of conducting experiments with infants and young children. The parent as the source of information. Typical mistakes in the attempts to reveal the causes of development. Age as a variable; the change of the meaning of time units with age. Age matching. The cohort-effect. Research designs to study development: cross-sectional comparison, longitudinal strategy, time-lagged design – str

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Teaching Psychology in Higher Education (Issues of Methodology)

The main aim of the course is to prepare students for teaching psychology courses in the training of teachers, psychologists and other professions where psychology is part of the curriculum (social workers, educational studies, mental health studies etc.) at university level.

The course focuses on two main topics:

compilation and development of a curriculum
teaching practice

The course offers knowledge of methodology, simulations of and/or real life teaching situations, and analyses of these experiences. For these analyses we developed checklists and registration shits for systematic observations for two main types of courses, for seminars and for lectures.

Psychological and Pedagogical Issues of School Learning: Motivation in School Learning

The course deals with motivational issues of learning. Theories of motivation and relevant researches are discussed with a focus on their application in educational context. The course is concerned with issues of learning, teaching, learning difficulties, motivational differences among teachers, students, parents, and between the two genders, and cultural aspects of motivation. The course lays an emphasis on making use of the findings of the above mentioned fields of psychology in school practice, and on the conveyance of this knowledge in an understandable way to school leaders and teachers.

Psychological and Pedagogical Issues of School Learning: Cognitive Processes and Learning Disabilities

The course deals with cognitive issues of learning. The latest scientific findings of developmental cognitive neuroscience on the relationship between brain and behavior contribute to the understanding of typical and atypical cognitive processes. Understanding the most common learning disabilities is supported by case studies, through which the unique manifestations of the general syndrome are highlighted as well. The course lays an emphasis on making use of the findings of the above mentioned fields of psychology in school practice, and on the conveyance of this knowledge in an understandable way to school leaders and teachers.

Psychological and Pedagogical Issues of School Learning: Cultural Aspects of Family and School Socialization and Education Processes

The course concentrates on the most important factors of the formal and informal knowledge construction and knowledge transferring processes, like family/informal socialization and institutional/formal education. We consider these institutions and processes themselves also cultural constructions. Along the contemporary literature and research we unfold the cultural specificities of these systems and processes showing that without at least a basic understanding of the cultural aspects of the family and school socialization/education processes our understanding on these phenomena can be only partial and temporary. We also shed light on the family and school socialization/education processes of minority children in Hungary (eg. immigrant, ethnic minority, Gypsy and other minority

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Socialization and Social Processes Programme: decision making and organizational psychology module

Judgment and Decision Making

Decisions are made in an uncertain world. When making decisions, people are rarely fully informed or have enough time and mental capacity to consider fully the situation and available alternatives in order to make optimal choices. In addition to revealing the mechanisms and processes of decision making under uncertainty, the course will also analyze how detrimental these limits are for making right decisions, and how the shortcomings are compensated by people and by organizational actors. Current debates concerning judgmental biases will be discussed. In addition to the cognitive components of the decision making process, the role of emotions, social and organizational norms, fairness and equality considerations, moral commitment and social dilemma situations will be discussed.

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Risk Taking, Innovation and Enterpreneurship in Individuals and in Organizations

Innovation is the engine of the social and economic growth. It requires creativity, entrepreneurial orientation and attitudes, and abilities to implement ideas. After reading and presenting comprehensive studies, meta analyses and empirical works on individual and organizational innovation, knowledge will be intensified through interactive discussions. Creativity will be regarded as a result of individual, social and cultural processes, which can be studied in experimental and field studies. After discussing the antecedents of creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation, the organizational conditions of innovation e.g. organizational culture, implementation of ideas, reaction of colleagues, team composition, leadership will be tackled. Finally the impact of the environmental

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Organizational Psychology and Leadership

The aim of this course is to provide insight into the psychological problems related to organizations and management using the most current literature. During the course we will focus on the most important theoretical trends and on the thematic issues of organizational and management psychology. Our primary goal is to stimulate deeper awareness in personal reflections related to the functioning of organizations, to develop the ability of students to recognize the most relevant issues in this domain and to define further research directions, and to choose the appropriate conceptual and methodological tools. The course provides insights into the new issues and specific areas of the management of modern organizations, focusing both on characteristics of the external environment of

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Wellbeing and Mental Health in Organizations

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the theory and practice of mental hygiene, the study of the development of healthy mental and emotional habits, attitudes and behavior, and the prevention of mental illness at workplaces. It will present cutting-edge research findings to identify the prerequisites of psychological wellbeing. Types and characteristics of undesirable workplace behavior (rudeness, gossip, destruction, stealing, bullying, informing) and the means of possible behavioral changes will be discussed. During the course students will learn about the research underpinning new theoretical models concerning the connection between work and mental health, work related stress and burnout, and they will be introduced to the process of planning and managing

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Social Relationships on the Workplace, the Development of Social Systems

The aim of this course is to present the most current theories of organisational socialization. During the course the most specific issues of the workplace, such as workaholism, procrastination, and phenomena of free riding will be explored. Students will learn about certain forms of behavior specific to the work environment, will uncover the special motivation and environmental factors which trigger behaviors, and will discover the different possibilities for interventions. The understanding of the functioning of organisations, the promotion of changes, and the forms of intervention depend on the theoretical paradigm used for definition of organisations. During the course we will discuss social behavior in the workplace and the possibilities of interventions using different

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Methodological Issues In Organizational Research: Experimental Investigation, Qualitative Methodes, Field Studies and Case Studies

The scientific study of organizations raises methodological problems: what are the criteria of organizational theory’s validity, how can organizational theory be tested and what is the unit of research in organizations? How can manifest or latent determinants of decision making be understood? How can the problems of sample size and representativity be addressed, how can the multi sided organizational context be taken into account? The criteria, the appropriate methods and the measurement of the efficient OD practices also require considered analysis. Psychology of decision making is traditionally studied by laboratory methods. It is debatable whether results from such experiments could be extrapolated to apply to real life situations where dynamic changes occur, where context is

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Socialization and Social Processes Programme: intercultural and intergroup process module

Culture, Social Behavior and Socialization

The course examines the interaction between culture and psychological processes. It discusses cultural determinants of human behaviors, thoughts, and emotions and how social and developmental psychology and the study of socialization deal with the role of culture in these processes.

Based on the theoretical and conceptual frameworks and methodological tools of cultural, cross-cultural and indigenous psychology, it throws new light upon, and handles with criticism, the different approaches and results of mainstream psychology while discussing topics such as values, self and social identity, person perception and attribution, helping behavior, close relationship, psychological well-being, social influence, family models, parenting, moral development, and socialization of the

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Social and Societal Identity and Stigma

The course examines identification with in-groups and its consequences. It pays special attention to situations in which identification with in-group holds negative consequences for societal status of the individuals. It discusses majority and minority groups’ acculturation strategies and the impact of these strategies on minority groups’ identities. The contexts of minority identities and multiple identities as well as their influence on psychological well-being and positive minority identities are also addressed.

Besides introducing survey methods, the course includes the symbolic interactionist approach to stigma and minority identity and the study of minority and majority identity constructions. The course is concluded with the investigation of the impact of negative aff

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Social Hierarchy and Prejudices

The course discusses how social psychology has integrated the cognitive and motivational approaches into the investigation of the forming and maintaining of prejudices, what factors explain the dynamics of prejudices on societal level and what factors explain individual differences. It examines the determinants of the perception of legitimacy, stability or changeability of the existing social inequalities. Determinants of the motivation to bring about changes such as system-critical attitudes and egalitarianism as well as guilt felt by members of the privileged groups are also discussed. Special attention is paid to the social psychological roots and the dynamics of extreme prejudices. Methodology of prejudice research, especially methods and findings of prejudice research in

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Interactions Between Cultures: Intercultural Communication and Acculturation

The course brings cultural characteristics of communication, the understanding of intercultural interactions and relations into focus. It also discusses how opportunities inherent in these interactions could be exploited and how conflicts could be successfully managed. It pays special attention to the concepts, development and measurement of intercultural competence. It investigates cultural norms, cognitive and affective processes that lie behind the differences in verbal and non-verbal communication and that influence the interpretation frames of people from different cultures.

While discussing acculturation - the process of cultural and psychological change following contact between cultural groups and their individual members – the course gives an emphasis on identity c

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Gender. Gender Ideologies, Gender Discrimination, Gender and Career, Gender and Politics

The course brings gender – one of the basic dimensions of social hierarchies – into focus to show how interpersonal and social relations and roles are organized by gender differentiation. It examines how stereotypes and ideologies justify the status differences between the sexes and how gender differences are reproduced in social institutions. The key concept of the course is the question of gender and career, focusing on workplace and politics – the two critical scenes of public sphere.

Besides the theoretical overview, the course introduces a critical approach concerning gender inequalities and power relations. At the same time, it critically examines the gender aspect in social psychology: when it is and when it is not relevant to investigate gender differences within a

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Cross-Cultural Research Methods

The course aims to acquaint students with methodological questions of cross-cultural research. As a first step, it discusses what research methods have been developed and what theoretical grounds they are based on in cultural and cross-cultural psychology. The course leads students through the questions that must be taken into account while planning a sound cross-cultural research: application of culturally sensitive research methods, construct equivalence, sampling, translation issues, involving quantitative and qualitative methods, methodological treatment of response biases, interpretations of results, recognition of restraints, and ethics questions.

While conducting critical methodological analysis of pieces of research work selected during the course and completed doctoral

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Socialization and Social Processes Programme: environmental psychology module

Environmental Psychological Analysis of Built, Natural and Virtual Spaces

This is the environmental psychology module’s foundation course. The course is designed to provide an overview and raise awareness of environmental psychological processes in basic environment types. We interpret space and object use in a transactional way, in the relationship between people and the environment. Thus, we analyse built, natural and virtual environmental situations taking place people's psychological processes and their interactions. Also, how these affect the formation of the environment. According to the environmental psychological view/approach the psychological and environmental processes both receive the same emphasis in analyses. Based on the relationship of psychology and related disciplines (architecture, landscape planning, design, interior design) the c

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Environmental Orientation

Wayfinding, orientation in environment is essential for survival, and therefore spatial orientation, environment cognition is a classic topic of environmental psychology. Man has a number of ancient evolutionary coded orientation processes, which have been running partly unchanged since ancient times; however, there is and has been a necessity for the development and effective use of new orientation mechanisms in the context of modern environmental conditions. Literally or figuratively speaking "to be lost" is a very stressing situation. Man uses partly the same, partly different - conscious and unconscious - orientation strategies in natural and man-made and, more recently, virtual environments. The course aims to analyse how cognitive, emotional, and behavioural factors play a

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Person–Environment Fit in a Life Span Approach

During the course we will analyse the most important spaces of human life stages as defined by Erikson (from conception to death), from an environmental psychological perspective (focusing on cultural and trans-generational effects). The analysis begins with the socio-physical contexts (home) of family formation and proceeds through different stages: childbirth places (hospital, alternative maternity institutions, home), (small) childhood scenes (nursery, kindergarten, playground), school-age educational sites, adolescence (entertainment and favourite places, the role of places in identity), young adult and adult spaces (own home, work, consumption and leisure venues), the aging room (average aging, home and other environmental uses, retirement, illness, dementia: hospitals,

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Contexts of Environment Usage

In the processes of identity the socio-physical context is fundamental as we define ourselves through important places and objects. During the course we will examine the short- and longterm development of the place identity processes in the light of changes in the environment or cultural characteristics (establishment identity, moving, tourism, culture shock, migration, and homelessness). The problems of power and space are organically related to this as well. Gender has an important role in the diversity of space use, as from childhood onwards girls’ and boys’ socializations differ with respect to space use: There are typically woman and man spaces. The inclusive spatial design is not a special design; its goal is not to create a somewhat distinguished, unique world of objects f

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Socialization and Social Processes Programme: optional courses

Optional subject

Choice from the courses of the Doctoral Schoolof Education Science and the Doctoal School of Psychology

Courses altogether

Complex exam

Under construction

Supervised research I.

Under construction

Supervised research II.

Under construction

Supervised research altogether

Teaching in higher education

Under construction

Teaching in higher education

Career opportunities

A psychological doctoral programme from ELTE qualifies their doctoral fellows to conduct high-level research in psychology by providing sophisticated theoretical and methodological background to them. After obtained PhD degree, our PhDs find jobs or apply for postdoctoral grants successfully all over the world.

Job examples

Researcher
University lecturer
Data-analyst

Tuition fee/semester

5,500 EUR

Application fee

120 EUR (non-refundable)

Other costs

Entrance exam fee: 120 EUR (non-refundable)

Tuition fee/semester

5,500 EUR

Application fee

120 EUR (non-refundable)

Other costs

Entrance exam fee: 120 EUR (non-refundable)

Offered for the next academic year

Yes

Start program

01, Sep, 2025

Deadline for applications - September intake

25, May, 2025

Is there a February intake

Admission requirements

Entry requirements

Applicants are expected to present the documentation of their MA/MSc diploma.

The Doctoral School of Psychology requests all applicants to contact a potential supervisor in advance to discuss the research plan, the supervisor’s statement, and the connection to the doctoral program.

The list of the doctoral programmes’ leaders can be found on the following link: https://www.ppk.elte.hu/en/psychologyphd/doctoralprogrammes

The list of the research topics can be found on the following link: https://www.ppk.elte.hu/en/psychologyphd/researchtopics

If the applicant is taking their final examination during the current semester and their degree certificate (diploma) is not issued before the application deadline, a certification is required, which verifies that the applicant will presumably receive a degree. In case of being accepted as a student, however, the applicant must present the diploma upon enrolment at the latest.

This programme is not available for Hungarian citizens.

Language requirements

Minimum level of language proficiency (oral) (A1-C2): C1
Minimum level of language proficiency (written) (A1-C2): C1

The language of instruction for the entire programme is English, so a very good command of English is required during the oral entrance exam and throughout the whole programme. The language knowledge is assessed and evaluated during the interview, the Faculty of Education and Psychology does not require an official language certificate.

Documents to submit with application

Document	Comment
online application form	-
Master-level degree	-
CV	-
Motivation letter	-
Research work plan	-
Letter of recommendation	not obligatory
Copy of the main pages of the passport	needs to be valid
Copy of application fee transfer	-
Entrance exam fee	-
Reference work	It can be any academic paper written in English by the applicant within the field of psychology (MA thesis extract, a research paper, a seminar paper, a research report, a published journal article or a book chapter, a case study, a literature review, etc.) Either a new paper or an improved version of an earlier work can also be written for the current application. The ideal length should be between 5-15 pages excluding references and the appendices. There are no special requirements concerning the format.
An official English translation of the MA certificate if the language of the original is not English. It can be a translation from the university too.	-
Supervisor statement	The Doctoral School of Psychology requests all applicants to contact a potential supervisor in advance to discuss the research plan, the supervisor’s statement, and the connection to the doctoral program.
List of publications	not obligatory

Further comments (if needed)

Applicants are expected to present the documentation of their MA diploma with at least good average.

If the applicant is taking the final examination during the current semester, and their degree certificate (diploma) is not issued before the application deadline, a certification is required which verifies that the applicant will presumably receive a degree. In case of being accepted as a student, however, the applicant must present the diploma upon enrolment at the latest.

Application procedure

The application starts in the online application system (apply.elte.hu). Students need to register in the system, fill in the online application form, upload the required documents and follow the instructions during the application process.

Students must upload all the required documents in the online application system, and after adding all the required documents, submit it.

The application and the entrance exam fee can be paid separately or in one amount as well.

Both fees should be transferred to the following account:

Name of Bank: Magyar Államkincstár (Hungarian State Treasury)
Address of Bank: Budapest, Váci út 71, Hungary – 1139
Holder of the account: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem
Account No.: 10032000-01426201-00000000
SWIFT Code: HUSTHUHB
IBAN Number: HU03 1003 2000 0142 6201 0000 0000
On the transfer order please put down your full name and “AB01 B104 B10406/18”!

The deadline for application means the deadline of submission of the full and complete application package in the online system.

When the university receives the full application package, and it is checked by the Student Affairs and Registrar’s Office an entrance exam date option will be sent in the online application system after the application deadline for the relevant period. Please, check your messages in the application system, and the e-mail address that is linked to the account regularly.

Procedure of the entrance examination

The applications are examined by the Admission Board and applicants are notified of the outcome of the selection in the online application system. Admission letters are sent out in the online application system.

The entrance exam is an interview based on the applicant’s research work plan. It can be taken in person or via an MS Teams meeting. The application does not need to be downloaded, the meeting is accessible through the browser.

Criteria of evaluation:

the feasibility of the research within the framework of the doctoral programme,
the awareness of the research's theoretical and bibliographical background,
the knowledge of foreign languages,
previous research results and the ability for completing academic teaching tasks.

Results and the official decision will be announced within 6 weeks after the entrance exam date, in the application system.

Type of entrance examination: oral
Place of entrance examination: in person or online. (Via MS Teams)

Further details of selection and evaluation:

The ranking is based on a total evaluation of the academic excellence (based on the submitted documents) and the results of the entrance exam.

Program leader

Róbert URBÁN
University Professor

Program coordinator

Violetta FRANK
International Admission Coordinator
E-mail: admission@ppk.elte.hu
TEL: +36 1 461 4500 / 3499
Postal address: 1075 Budapest Kazinczy utca 23-27.

More information
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Faculty of Education and Psychology

Campus Tour Join our student guide, Peter Enim (PhD student at the Doctoral School of Psychology) for a tour at the Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary.

Campus Tour Join our student guide, Peter Enim (PhD student at the Doctoral School of Psychology) for a tour at the Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary.
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) offers more than 60 degree programs in foreign languages in the fields of Education and Psychology, Humanities, Informatics, Law, Social Sciences and Science. Currently, about 2400 international students study at ELTE and the community of international students is growing from year to year. Check out what our international students think and discover the wide-range of opportunities waiting for you at ELTE. Join the growing international community of ELTE.
The Social Integration MA program at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Faculty of Education and Psychology is one of the few of its kind in Europe. It is strongly committed to interdisciplinary studies with a focus on psychological and educational issues, making it not only truly relevant in our ever-changing world but also really popular among international students. Watch the video and find out more yourself!
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