HP7001 Advanced Research Design and Data Analysis
The course is designed to acquaint researchers with the principles of experimental design, basic experimental designs used in social science research including between-subjects, within-subjects/repeated-measures, mixed (split-plot) and nested designs. The core statistical tool to be discussed is General Linear Models with emphasis on model comparison approach to analyze data collected from various experimental designs.
HP7002 Research Seminar
The purpose of this course is to expose students to the most up-to-date research in the behavioral sciences. Through exposure to established scholars’ research and readings on research methodology, students will acquire broad knowledge in various fields of behavioral sciences and the foundation knowledge on research methodology needed for their own research.
HP7106 Pro-seminar in Asian Psychology
This course surveys and analyze contemporary psychological theories and empirical research in Asian populations. The objective of the pro-seminar is for the student to appreciate the person x culture interface and to gain insight into the research issues involved in conducting research in the non-Western cultural communities. Conceptualization and operationalization of culture both as a research variable and the context in which human behaviors take place will be discussed. Likewise, culture specific conceptualizations and operationalization of various psychological construct will also be discussed. Focus will be on the major cultural groups represented in Singapore: Chinese, Malays and Indians.
HP7107 Pro-seminar in Biological Psychology
This course surveys the board areas of biological bases of behavior including sensation and perception, sleeping and dreaming, aggression, biological rhythms, animal models of dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
HP7108 Pro-seminar in Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Psychology is the study of how we plan and carry out everyday tasks while interpreting and responding to the constant input of sensory stimulation present in the world. Cognitive psychology addresses both bottom-up (sensation driven), and top-down (internally driven) processing. The seminar will begin with perception in the visual and auditory domains, and then move to higher levels of processing including, object recognition, attention, memory, executive processing, language, learning, reasoning, social cognition, and an overview of the development of cognition across life span. Modern research has focused on finding the neural basis of cognition, and this seminar will reflect this focus. The objectives of the class are to (1) to learn the critical importance of the cognitive approach to studying psychology, (2) to study brain-behavior connections, and (3) to inform about the state-of-the art research in cognitive psychology. Students are expected to be able to review critically currently psychological findings of cognitive psychology, and more importantly, to be able to design and conduct cognitive psychology research.
HP7204 Special Topics in Personality Psychology
In this seminar we will study the state-of-the-art in the field of personality psychology, with a specific focus on the major theoretical, methodological, and developmental issues surrounding child and adolescent psychopathology. The course will investigate how group level and individual differences in psychopathology can be explained by personality and developmental factors. The major theoretical issues covered include: assessment of personality and psychopathology; personality stability and coherence and its relationship within the course of a disorder; contributions of individual and life-stage factors in risk and resilience to psychopathology. After several introductory sessions to survey the field, the rest of the term will involve student-led discussions about particular disorders such as Oppositional and Conduct Disorders, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Childhood Depression.
HP7206 Special Topics in Asian Psychology
Psychology, being a scientific study of human behavior, is intimately related to the social cultural context in which the behavior takes place. Historically modern psychology has its roots in Western culture, the present pro-seminar, seeks to introduce psychology, with its scientific approach, to the Asian cultural context. The seminar will begin by introducing the different framework and orientations to the culture and psychology connection, different approaches to culture, methodological issues and specific topics of research of psychology in Asia will be introduced and discussed. The objectives of the seminar are to (1) learn the critical importance of culture in psychological research, (2) ways to study culture-behavior connections and (3) inform about scientific studies of psychology in Asia. Students are expected to be able to review critically currently psychological findings of people in the Asian context and more importantly, to be able to design and conduct research of psychology in the Asian context.
HP7215 Family and Human Relationships
There is an increasing awareness that the individual's behavior takes place in the context of others. Individual behaviors develop within the context of interpersonal relationships and human organizations such as the family. Family and Human Relationships introduces the students to the major theories and empirical studies in the structure and processes of the family and interpersonal relationships. Students are expected to read the theories, significant empirical findings and the emerging theoretical and methodological perspectives in family and relationships studies.
HP7301 Advanced Quantitative Methods in Psychology
This course serves as the continuation of HP 7001. In HP 7001, we examine different types of experiments designs commonly used in psychological studies and discuss statistical methods for analyzing experimental data through general linear models. This course concerns advanced statistical methods for analyzing multivariate data collected from experimental and non-experimental settings. This course is designed to prepare students to conduct independent empirical research for their required thesis. Throughout the course there will be an emphasis on both conceptual understanding and the development of practical ‘how-to’ skills. Students will learn to select and conduct appropriate advanced statistical analysis relevant to their research.
HP7888 Independent Study in Psychology
The Independent Study Module provides the student an opportunity to engage in independent psychological research related to the proposed thesis. The content and activities of each Independent Study Module is to be determined by the student and her supervisor with approval by the Head of the Division.
HP7889 Directed Reading
One important element of graduate research training is a student's familiarization with classic and contemporary literature in the student's field of specialization. This would provide a solid theoretical and conceptual basis needed for advanced empirical scientific enquiry. This familiarization not only depends on student's reading of relevant topics in breadth and in depth, but also relies on the exchange of critical thoughts between the student and a faculty member who specializes in the specific area. In this course, students are expected to read widely and in depth under the guidance of a faculty supervisor.