Transpersonal Psychology (Doctoral) in Chinese

This course is designed to introduce students to the latest thinking in the study of positive psychology. In this class, gratitude, appreciation, compassion, and forgiveness as practices will be highlighted. We will explore the use of positive emotion throughout the full cycle of successful therapy–from creating rapport through assessment and goal setting to intervention and feedback. Finally, students will be expected to understand the use of positive psychology in their own relationships, work, and lives.

This course examines the transpersonal psychology’s historical influences at its founding in the 1960s, all the way up to the present day. Psychoanalytic, Jungian, behavioral, existential, cognitive, and humanistic schools of thought will be examined in order to trace their initial and ongoing influences in the field. The course also examines the theories and applications of transpersonal psychology, especially how nonduality, integral holism, and transformational studies have influenced human developmental ideas that utilize the spiritual dimensions of the self to catalyze and quicken the process towards optimal mental health in ways that have proven to benefit individuals, societies, and the environment.

This course explores similarities and differences between various ideographic, qualitative research methods (QRM). During this course, students will identify the phenomenology and epistemology of different qualitative methods, design “mock” studies based on these methods using appropriate research questions, and finally, design, conduct, and analyze interviews with people outside of class. This course introduces both theoretical background and practical skills application within QRM.

This course examines how the choice of an appropriate research method (quantitative versus qualitative) is determined by the nature and type of the research question under study. It will explore how qualitative concepts may be operationalized into viable research variables and studied scientifically. It will also examine the limitations of this approach in understanding subjective psychological and psycho spiritual phenomena, as well as how quantitative components may be included as part of mixed designs to enhance or complement certain aspects of qualitative research.

This course will assist the student in the selection of research topics, formulation of research questions, use of APA writing style, drafting of a scholarly perspective, and organization of scientific concepts relevant to spiritually oriented clinical psychology. It is designed to enhance students’ critical thinking skills and scholarly writing ability. Lecture, discussion, writing exercises, and sharing of personal work will be used to develop and sustain creative interest, personal growth, and scholarly development. Students will be asked to read and analyze scholarly papers and methods. This course will help the student write more authentically, and, hopefully, to develop a love for the writing process. Students will participate in a daily writing practice.

This course will examine emotion and cognition, and their interrelationship, from biological, developmental, phenomenological and transpersonal perspectives. There will be an emphasis on exploring students’ direct experience of emotion and cognition and relating that to various theoretical and empirical views. The psychology of well-being and optimal functioning of emotion and cognition also will be discussed and explored.

Through biographies, interviews, and case studies, this course explores the essential qualities and characteristics of the entrepreneurial mind and a call to the transpersonal impulse. We will hear from leaders who have brought intuition, empathy, servant leadership, worldview, social-emotional learning, cognitive biases, and other aspects of transpersonal psychology that inform business.

An altered state of consciousness may be defined as any state of consciousness that deviates from normal waking consciousness in terms of marked differences in the level of awareness, perception, memory, thought, emotion, behavior, and the way we experience time, place, and self-control. In this course, we explore ways these states may be induced by meditation, psychoactive medicines, fever, psychosis, sleep, and religious experiences. We will be particularly interested in the ways altered state experiences may inform and transform ordinary, daily life.

This course offers an experiential and theoretical introduction of meditation and mindfulness practices from a variety of scientific, spiritual, and cultural traditions. We will study the psychology of attention and question how and why the untrained mind is prone to wander. This course explores therapeutic issues involving the use of psychedelic substances. It covers clinical research on psychedelic drugs as adjuncts to psychotherapy for the treatment of addiction, PTSD, and existential distress at the end of life, as well as how to address psychedelic experiences that clients bring into psychotherapy. Ancient, shamanic, and modern uses of psychedelics will be examined to provide broad cultural perspectives.

This seminar provides an overview of the major theoretical underpinnings of the field of transpersonal psychology. It focuses on the participatory turn in spirituality, mysticism, and religious studies in Transpersonal Theory.

This course presents critical hermeneutical theory as a discourse-based mode of inquiry (leading to understanding) that is more proper of the human sciences, in contrast to the explanatory method of the natural sciences. It also discusses the interpretation process that places explanation and understanding in a dialectical relation and, thus, offers a methodological reconciliation in the two sciences. Students will address problem-solving and decision-making for practical situations using a trans-disciplinary perspective that brings together key concepts from interpretive philosophy, anthropology, psychology, linguistics, history, ethics, language, literature, and critical thinking itself.

This course focuses on the experience of extraordinary dreams and how they impact the dreamer's behavior. These unusual dreams are characterized by a vividness and intensity that makes them difficult to forget. They have been known to launch religious movements, inspire creative productions, and to change the course of relationships, vocations, and personal mythologies—the cognitive-affective maps that direct people's life decisions. The conventional scientific approach has been to focus on recent dreams gathered from surveys or sleep laboratories, considering extraordinary dreams "outliers" or exceptions. This course takes the position that highly memorable dreams need to be at the forefront of dream science, as they afford an invaluable route into psychology's understanding of the psyche. These dreams tend to be "transpersonal" because their content extends beyond the socially constructed identity of the dreamer. They have been termed "big dreams" by Carl Jung, "mythic dreams" by Mircea Eliade, and "dreams of the light" in the Upanishads. Extraordinary dreams may foretell the future, may initiate social movements, and may provide breakthroughs in art, science, and technology.

This course offers an overview of the history, experimental approaches, case studies, and theoretical basis for the study of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis. It will offer a balanced approach in which various perspectives on psi experience will be explored.

Humanistic and Existential Psychology (in development)

This course on the history and systems of psychology explores historical, methodological, and topical issues in psychology. The course will present an overview of psychology from a historical perspective (how psychology as a discipline has “evolved”) and consider some sociological and philosophical paradigms—for instance, Renaissance, positivism, or rationalism—that have impacted the development of psychology and its various schools. Transpersonal psychology stands on the shoulders of all previous schools of psychology. As we explore the development of transpersonal psychology, we will construct frameworks in which we situate and integrate the various schools.

Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology is the application of social science methods and principles to industrial and organizational behavior. Topics include teams in organizations, motivation, individual differences, attitudes and emotions relevant to work, stress and well-being, fairness and diversity within organizations, leadership and organizational change and development. The ultimate objective of this discipline is to maximize both employee well-being and organizational effectiveness. Because of the data-intensive nature of I/O Psychology, students with a basic understanding of how empirical psychological research is conducted (from statistics, Psychological Research Methods, Social Psychology or Personality), will find the course material more accessible.

This course focuses initially on a critical re-examination and redefinition of the technical definition of "lucid dreaming" and an on-going exploration of the nature of "lucid dreaming.” The course emphasizes practical experience incubating lucid dreams and making use of lucid dream experiences to enliven and deepen the creative possibilities of waking life, particularly in the areas of creativity, technical innovation, personal expressivity, and the cultivation of increased psycho-spiritual development and maturity.

Somatic psychologies and body-mind approaches to healing have long been known to Indigenous cultures, especially those outside the modern Western tradition. Since the beginning of the modern era, at least three centuries ago, Western thinking has been under the sway of Cartesian assumptions that partition the body and the mind. Only during the 20th century did the Cartesian tradition begin to crumble. Somatic psychology enters into Western thinking under the influence of psychoanalytic discoveries and heirs to Freud such as Wilhelm Reich. These developments are matched by an increasing knowledge of Asian philosophies within the Western world. In this course, somatic psychology and body-mind therapies will be introduced historically, theoretically, and experientially. Students will learn about the various doctrines that have shaken up Cartesian psychology and will gain an understanding of the breadth and depth of contemporary body-mind approaches to healing. The experiential aspect will involve special attention being given to the ways in which we maintain or avoid bodily experiences.

This course will build on the Foundations course and focus on the Integral Transpersonal Psychology’s understanding of stages of development, which extend from the earliest childhood stages to the most expansive transpersonal stages that may occur later in life. Students will be exposed to the basic research underlying integral stage theory, including critiques and controversies. There will be an emphasis on the complex relationship between stage development, emotional health, and maturity. The latter portion of the course explores applications of the Integral Model in psychotherapy, coaching, and spiritual guidance with an emphasis on peer exercises, instructor demonstration, and discussion of case study material.

This course covers the broad field of “personality,” starting with exploring various understandings of the concept, including differing approaches to its study. Then, major theories of personality are examined, including biological, somatic, cultural, behavioral, social learning, psychodynamic, trait, humanistic, and transpersonal approaches. Lastly, various applications of the concept of personality are covered pertaining to the individual’s health and growth, functioning within sociocultural and environmental contexts, and adapting to a rapidly changing world.

This course addresses the spiritual, recreational, creative, and therapeutic uses of psychedelic experiences. It covers clinical research on psychedelic drugs as adjuncts to psychotherapy for the treatment of addiction, PTSD, and existential distress at the end of life, as well as how to address psychedelic drug experiences that clients bring into therapy. Ancient, shamanic, and modern uses of psychedelic drugs will be examined to provide broad cultural perspectives. Special attention will be given the role of psychedelics as catalysts for mystical experiences.

This course explores archetypes, myths, and symbols as living energies that transcend time and culture. Students will reflect both personally and conceptually on themes from several different cultures, and express their insights in writing and symbolic art.

This highly experiential course with a mind/body/heart orientation, is designed to explore practices that increase student’s capacity to spontaneously embody mindfulness, gratitude, compassion, discernment, and love, in order to thrive on their life’s path bringing their gifts into the world. This course examines life narratives, spiritual inclinations, and philosophies while exploring a wide spectrum of contemplative traditions, practices, and pathways. These experiences can serve as a touchstone for future contemplative direction.

This course examines historical and contemporary discourse on creativity as it pertains to creative imagination and its philosophical and artistic traditions. Participants will engage the phenomena of creative imagination and relate these experiences to theories through classroom and online discussion. This will occur via artistic inquiry, reading, dialogue, writing, and presentation.

Case study methodology has been a foundational research approach in the evolution of psychology from Freud to contemporary brain research. This course prepares students to conduct a case study by examining published case studies, preparing a case study research proposal, and conducting a pilot case study. It has been well-documented that most graduates of psychology doctoral programs never conduct another piece of research after their dissertation. The case study is a research method that psychologists can employ throughout their career in any setting, and without external support. Meditation and mindfulness neuroscience research has shown that mindfulness practices increase activity in brain areas associated with attention and emotional regulation, and imaging studies indicate that mindfulness also facilitates neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, the creation of new connections and neural pathways in the brain. Mindfulness practices have also been empirically linked to enhancing empathy and compassion. Carefully conducted clinical trials have supported the efficacy of mindfulness and meditation-based programs for treating a number of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Additionally, third-wave cognitive behavioral therapy has also embraced mindfulness in empirically supported interventions such as MBSR, MBCT, DBT, and ACT. But meditative and mindfulness practices are drawing increasing interest outside of healthcare. Mindfulness practices are promoted as self-care or even educational activities that can be integrated into many sectors of modern life. In addition to covering contemporary theories and research, each class will include time to engage in a variety of mindfulness practices including tai chi, aikido, qigong, walking meditation, sitting meditation, and yoga.

This course offers an in-depth consideration of hermeneutic phenomenology as a psychological research method. Interpretive and narrative phenomenological research methods will be covered, and students will choose a method of interest and develop a proposal for research. Class discussions will include topics suitable for hermeneutic phenomenological research, and systems of meaning in symbols, narrative, literature, film, art, poetry, and therapy.

This intense course introduces students to the approaches and methods in the study of religious and spiritual experience, as the latter is viewed in religious studies, phenomenology of religion, and psychology of religion.

This is a course that focuses on the emerging paradigm in research that consciously integrates both quantitative and qualitative research methods into a single study. This course will explore the variety of ways of combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, the differing weights given to quantitative and qualitative elements within different designs, and how the combining of quantitative and qualitative approaches can deepen the research.

In this course, students will be introduced to philosophical traditions in understanding the mind and analytic philosophy, which is concerned with the mind-body problem, introspection, consciousness, and particular mental states. Students will explore philosophical mental experiments, and the questions of self-knowledge, as they refer to both theoretical thinking and the way of life.

At the beginning of the modern age, Rene Descartes described “resextensa” (extended thing) as a main characteristic of the external world structured from material bodies. On the other hand, he postulated that the human mind is a specific kind of “observing” existence that he called “res cogitans” (thinking thing), the Soul. More than 300 years later, Francis Crick described basic rules for the future science of consciousness and argued that the traditional “Cartesian” concept of the soul as a nonmaterial being must be replaced by a scientific understanding of how the brain produces mind. On the other hand, scientific research provides evidence that the opposite approach is also true, and the mind may influence its brain and produce measurable changes in the brain processes and brain structural changes. In the brain, these processes are related to specific forms of attention and conscious awareness of brain information represented by physiological states. Taken together, these novel scientific findings provide interesting findings on how we can understand the "Soul" and transpersonal aspects of human experience within a framework of psychology, neuroscience, and physics. These novel scientific findings mainly include the theory of self-organizing systems, or chaos and complexity theory that enable one to understand some specific qualities of mental process and living organisms per se.

This course will explore the latest research on the brain and meditation from various perspectives. Students will consider both the epistemological and ontological aspects of this topic, considering both subjective and objective dimensions.

This course offers a bridge between ecological and spiritual approaches to nature within the context of transpersonal psychology. It considers the human embeddedness in nature and will explore the dynamics of eco-trauma and eco-therapy.

This core course examines emotion and cognition and their interrelationship from biological, developmental, phenomenological, and transpersonal perspectives. There will be an emphasis on exploring students’ direct experiences of emotion and cognition and relating that to various theoretical and empirical views. The psychology of well-being and optimal functioning of cognition, affect, and consciousness will be discussed and explored.

Be introduced to the world of dreams and dreaming. Explore projective dream work, multiple layers of dream awareness, synchronicity, and culturally diverse ways to engage with dreaming. Record dreams in a dream journal. Work alone and with others to gather greater insight into dreams. Deepen understanding of how dreams can facilitate transpersonal awareness.

This course surveys various learning theories with attention to the development of concomitant pedagogical approaches. Authors include Ivan Illich, Paolo Freire, Howard, Gardner, Sherry Turkle, and Matthew Crawford.

What is the importance and place of ethics in the study of psychology? Do we have a universal metaethics from which we can evaluate the psychology of people and cultures? How do we build a multicultural society involving diverse and plural ethics? What are some of the cardinal roadblocks in creating harmonious relationships among peoples of various cultures and ethnicities? These are some of the questions that we addressed in this course, with the help of postmodern approaches involving Social Constructivism of Kenneth Gergen, the idea of multiple objective worlds of Richard Shweder, and postcolonial critiques of Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Frantz Fanon. A postmodern evaluation of the thoughts of the aforementioned thinkers will help us in the formulation of our own creative approaches towards addressing the topic of this course.

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and experience. Psychological trauma can lead to a constellation of persistent disorders including anxiety, depression, and recurring nightmares. This constellation, labeled Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), is a condition that follows experiencing or witnessing life- threatening events that exceed one’s coping capacity, emotional resources, and/or existential worldviews. Western mental health workers apply this socially constructed label to noticeable changes in someone’s behavior, attitudes, and/or values after an accident, natural disaster, armed combat, rape, torture, abuse, or a variety of other assaults. When the person who suffered the trauma has not been able to recover, gain equilibrium, and “get on with life,” this dysfunction is typically attributed to the traumatic experience. The problem of PTSD has increased, as an increasing number of combat veterans return to the United States in need of healing and re-integration with society. However, PTSD survivors extend well beyond combat veterans. The phenomena of cultural PTSD and intergenerational PTSD persist around the globe accompanied by a great need for transpersonal healing. There are many effective treatments for PTSD survivors, ranging from conventional to transpersonal and various combinations. This course will emphasize both the current scientific “evidence based” treatments for PTSD, and other healing methods for PTSD including alternative, holistic, cross-cultural, creative, arts-based, humanistic, existential, and transpersonal approaches.

This course will start with the examination of current scientific theories of consciousness, and the biological processes that are both necessary and sufficient for normal conscious functioning. It will then explore the neurology of major disorders of consciousness. Students will have an opportunity to learn about current methods of assessment, together with neuroimaging methods like fMRI, MEG, and EEG.

This course will build on the skills students learned in the Qualitative and Quantitative Research courses. Using Charmaz’s approach as the main theoretical and operational foundation for exploring Grounded Theory (GT), students will also be exposed to other theorists/researchers. Students will practice the basic concepts of GT by applying them to an in-class research project. Though readings and class discussions will cover the steps involved in a GT study, it will be impossible to practice all those steps, so this course will focus on beginning a GT study: collecting data in the form of two interviews, coding, and memo-writing.

This course provides an overview of the anatomical and neurophysiological underpinnings of mental processes and behavior, focusing on the organization and functioning of the nervous system. Students gain familiarity with traditional methods of studying brain structures and functions as well as with the increasingly powerful brain imaging tools of modern neuroscience. The course covers recent advances in research on the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological bases of cognition, language, motivation and emotion, and social behavior.

The student learns about the dissertation process, the "inner and outer dissertations," and the expected content and format of proposals and dissertations. The student focuses the research topic, questions, hypotheses, and methods, and prepares a preliminary proposal ("mini-proposal"). Extensive structure, support, and feedback are provided for this work. This course is needed before the student moves into getting a Dissertation Chair, establishing a committee, and registering for dissertation.

Students will learn to apply integral research skills derived from mindfulness practices (including working with intentions, quieting and slowing, direct knowing and intuition, focusing attention, auditory skills, visual skills, kinesthetic skills, proprioceptive skills, and accessing unconscious processes) to research. Students are expected to evaluate their own means of integral knowing and exploring applications of the skills with a selected research topic.