The Psychology department at BGU is home to 21 faculty members who perform research in three general areas.
Research Areas
Clinical Psychology
Combining the scientist-practitioner vision, our labs train students to consult the best available scientific evidence in assessing psychopathology and in devising and administering psychological treatment.
Such training is achieved by emphasizing hands-on scientific research in the following labs.
- Prof. Gideon Anholt – We study obsessive-compulsive behavior (OCD) and different psychosocial factors affecting its course. Furthermore, we are interested in the integration of neurocognitive research with clinical psychology, particularly in OCD and other anxiety disorders.
- Prof. Gary Diamond - Our research focuses on attachment in adolescence, emotional processing, the therapeutic alliance, sexual minority youth and the change mechanisms in family-based treatments. Current studies include examining the efficacy and process of Attachment-Based Family Therapy with young adults suffering from unresolved anger toward a parent and promoting acceptance among parents of sexual minority youth.
- Dr. Nirit Soffer-Dudek - We focus on the relationships between unique consciousness states and traits (such as dream and sleep experiences, dissociation, and transliminality), on one hand, and psychopathology, stress, and resilience on the other hand. Subjective self-reported experiences are a focus of interest, and reseach utilizes longitudinal designs.
- Prof. Naama Atzaba-Poria - Child development and family studies lab. We study child development through an ecological perspective, with emphasis on parenting as well as mother-child and father-child relationship in stressful life situations (e.g., feeding and sleeping disorders, prematurity, special needs, and immigration).
- Prof. Golan Shahar – Stress, Self, & Health Lab (STREALTH). We focus on the roles of external stress and internal, subjective, self-related processes in mental and physical health and illness.
- Prof. Liat Tikotzki - We study child development and psychopathology. We perform longitudinal studies that focus on the links between parenting and infant sleep problems. Techniques include measurements of actigraphy that enable objective assessment of sleep durations.
