Fourth Year Objectives

The objective of the fourth year program is to help students acquire the knowledge, skills and scholarship necessary for achieving excellence in psychology. More specifically, the fourth program is designed to provide students with the opportunities

1. to learn the intellectual background, ethical principles, and content areas of psychology as a scientific discipline, and
2. to acquire the general skills for:
   • critically analysing the existing knowledge about a research topic prior to one's own research (e.g., sophisticated conceptual analysis of relevant content area/literature/intervention program etc., critical appraisal of one's own and others' research, generation of productive research questions);
   • constructing a research plan (e.g., research design, methods of observation) to address one's research questions;
   • executing one's research plan adequately to obtain data;
   • analysing the data so as to address the research questions appropriately; and
   • discussing the implications of the results coherently within the context of the existing knowledge relevant to the research topic.

Subject Objectives

• 512410 Current Topics in Developmental Psychology
• 512413 Current Topics in Social Psychology
• 512414 Current Topics in Cognitive Psychology
• 512415 Current Topics in Behavioural Neuroscience
• 512422 Advanced Design and Data Analysis
• 512423 Theories & Ethics in Psychology
• 512428 Research Project

 

512 410 Current Topics in Developmental Psychology

The general aim is to review advances in developmental research by analysing recent perspectives on the question of how best to conceptualise the impact of genetic, biological, neurological, cognitive, affective, interpersonal, social and cultural factors on the developing individual across the life span. The unifying focus is to analyse the theoretical, measurement and policy implications of contemporary claims about the nature of development. The nature of the correspondences between models of development processes and the analytical models used to explore those processes will receive particular attention, especially in terms of their relevance for policy applications.

A number of topics will be examined in-depth to highlight salient developmental issues. Recent research on the origins of young children's social and cognitive competencies will be analysed to assess claims about the domain specific and domain general nature of development. Hypotheses about genetic influences on development will be critically analysed. Claims about the impact of social factors (peers, parents, social environments, cultures) will be reviewed to (1) explore the ways in which external influences are thought to affect development, (2) examine the contribution of the person to his or her own development, and (3) assess the limitations of analytic methods used to test claims about influences and contributions. Other issues to be covered include: interactions between biological predispositions and environment conditions; the role of culture in the development of the individual; ways of theorising and measuring development change; specific versus general competencies; and, the implications of research for social policy and practice.

Students in this subject will be given appropriate opportunity and educational support to develop the following skills:

• Skills related to integrating and differentiating different approaches to development in order to develop an understanding of contemporary issues
• Relating theory to psychological analysis and practice
• Being able to discern and manipulate relationships between theoretical and methodological claims about development
• Drawing out the social implications of developmental psychology for current social policy
• Present, develop and support an argument for a position and anticipate criticism

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512 413 Current Topics in Social Psychology

Specific objectives:

• to develop an in-depth understanding of selected areas of contemporary research in personality and social psychology including their broader intellectual background, history, and current state of knowledge;
• to enhance a critical understanding of research methods in personality and social psychology;
• to strengthen the ability to critically appraise research appearing in the field's academic publications;
• to discuss orally and in writing theoretical issues and empirical findings, as well as current limitations and future possibilities in personality and social psychology.

On completion of this subject, students should have a greater ability to:

• critically appraise current knowledge and its internal structure;
• critically evaluate the methods used to acquire the current knowledge;
• critically analyse the current knowledge within a larger socio-historical and intellectual context;
• appropriately interpret empirical data in light of the current knowledge and methodological consideration;
• constructively plan a theoretical and empirical research project to advance knowledge.

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512 414 Current Topics in Cognitive Psychology

On completion of this subject, the student should have acquired:

• an active curiosity about the workings of the universe and what it is to be human;
• a profound scepticism regarding argument from any source of authority;
• a respect for carefulness, consistency, and coherence in the pursuit of scientific endeavours;
• the ability to evaluate critically empirical evidence in any area of psychology.

Specific aims of the subject are to:

• help students to understand long-standing issues of debate in cognitive psychology and systems neuroscience;
• develop in students an understanding of some of the important current theoretical issues in cognitive psychology and systems neuroscience;
• evoke in-depth discussion of current empirical studies in vision, memory, language, and related areas in cognitive psychology and systems neuroscience;
• assist students to be able to evaluate some of the positive features and limitations of empirical techniques currently used in cognitive psychology and systems neuroscience.

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512 415 Current Topics in Behavioural Neuroscience

Following completion of Current Topics in Behavioural Neuroscience (512415) it is anticipated that students will have gained insight into several areas that are of topical research interest. Depending on the particular staff members involved in any year the specific areas covered will be selected from a range of research topics. These will include endocrinological effects on gender-related behaviour and cerebral lateralisation, information processing approaches to cerebral asymmetry, functional approaches to the study of sleep, physiological models of emotions and neuropsychological function in the intellectually gifted. Students should acquire a detailed knowledge of a number of active research areas and have a greater understanding of the nature of research in biological psychology.

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512 422 Advanced Design & Data Analysis

Specific objectives:

• to develop an appreciation of the role and methods for exploratory analysis of multivariate observations;
• to develop an understanding of the forms and application of some major multivariate techniques, including mutliple regression, multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant analysis, principal components analysis and factor analysis; and multidimensional scaling and clustering;
• to develop a critical understanding of multivariate methods for data analysis, particularly in relation to applicability, interpretation and inference; and
• to develop skill in the use of the statistical software program SPSS for multivariate analysis.

On completion of this subject, students should have a greater ability to:

• design research studies requiring complex quantitative observations;
• present and analyse complex quantitative information; and
• critically evaluate and interpret complex quantitative information.

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512 423 Theoris and Ethics in Psychology

No specific objectives have yet been published for this subject

512 428 Research Project

There are no scheduled classes for subjects 512428 Research Project, but there are a number of activities associated with the completion of the Research Project. These activities are: writing a research proposal, completing and submitting an ethics application, an oral presentation in a mini conference format, producing an abstract of your thesis and writing your thesis. The maximum word length for the Project is 10,000 words and in 2005 the due date for submission is Monday 30 October 2006 by 5.00pm. The Research Project constitutes 50% of the requirements of the course. By completing these subjects students gain experience in all aspects of conducting and reporting an independent empirical research through completing an individual Research Project.

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