Singapore

What is public administration? Why shall we study it? What is the relationship between politics and public administration? How does government management differ from private sector management? Is there a “one best way” to efficiency improvement? This module introduces public administration to undergraduate students who are interested in learning public sector management and those who intend to work in the public sector in the future. It aims to enable students to understand the importance of public administration and to grasp the core concepts, theories and major debates in this field.

The module has 13 lectures concerning the evolving nature of public administration. It begins with explaining how in its early stage, public administration is seen as an apolitical effort to improve organizational efficiency and productivity. It then explains the criticism to the classical approach, especially those of the “behavorialists”. Next, the module discusses the collapse of the orthodoxy by examining the pitfalls of taking politics out of public administration, blurring the differences between public and private sector management, and dismissing social equity as an important value. The last part of the module introduces two newly emerged paradigms in more recent decades: new public management and the transformation from government to governance. In analysis of these issues, classics from the literature of public administration will be introduced. These will be supplemented by more recent theoretical studies and country-specific cases published in the past three decades.

Social Psychology: Theories and Methods is a advance undergraduate class on Social Psychology. The objective is to expose you to the discipline in breath and in depth. By breath, I mean a wide range of issues will be covered. By depth, I mean going beyond any introductory class in exploring the complexity of each issue. The latest ideas, investigated using cutting edge methods, will be discussed, including topics in evolutionary perspectives, automaticity, attitudes, cognitive biases, self, emotion, attraction, altruism and aggression. Strong emphasis will be given to research methods.

Theories of social psychology can be applied to our understanding of how new media is produced, marketed, resisted, adopted and consumed. This module highlights these key stages in the developmental trajectory of new media and introduces relevant theories, while considering issues such as why some technologies succeed where others fail, how marketers should promote new technology, which services are likely to become tomorrow's killer applications and what goes through the minds of new media adopters.
This module is devoted to the psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and human-computer interaction (HCI). Theories and empirical research from communication, psychology, human-computer studies are used to explore:
psychological factors that influence interpersonal interaction when mediated by technology
social-psychological consequences of internet use from both positive and negative aspects
social responses to communication technologies
uses and effects of unique technological features

As always, learning outcomes are highly problematic as we cannot know in advance what we will learn and predefining outcomes is destructive to the purpose of education. The major aim of this course is to develop a deep understanding of what it means to perceive. Those of you that have already completed PL3232 will likely be familiar with the notion that seeing colour, for example, is dependent on specific wavelengths exciting cones in the fovea and then exciting striate cortex, at the back of the brain, via the lateral geniculate nucleus. Those physical components are necessary for colour vision but the deeper issue focuses on whether those physical components can explain colour vision. Stating that the sensation of red is the sensation of short wavelengths exciting nervous tissue in the brain somehow seems to miss the red experience. Thus, this course will focus on what is biologically necessary for sensation while also attending to what it means to be sensory creatures.

This module covers central issues in the fields of bilingualism/multilingualism. Seminars will include the following topics: bilingual language acquisition and processing; bilingual literacy skills; brain bases of bilingualism; cognitive consequences associated with bilingualism. Reading material is supplemented with local case studies to facilitate discussion of issues relevant to language and cognitive processes in bilingual populations. Students are expected to become familiar with the nature of language and cognitive processing in bilinguals.

The goal of this module is to equip students with knowledge necessary for formulating effective treatment plans for clients with mental health needs. To this end, this course will expose students to various psychiatric disorders, with emphasis on those that occur in adults. For each disorder, students will learn about its clinical features, course and prognosis, and treatments (pharmacotherapy and psychosocial therapies). Students will also learn about social, psychological, and biological factors that not only contribute to the development of common mental disorders, but also promote mental health at the individual and population level. Related to practical skills, students will be introduced to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (5th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), a handbook used by clinicians and researchers for the classification and diagnosis of mental disorders, early on during the semester. Through this introduction, students will learn about the use of diagnostic criteria for making various diagnoses. Whenever possible, students will also learn clinical skills and values necessary for working with individuals with mental health needs.

This module introduces psychology as an empirical and behavioural science.

The aim is to provide students with a broad overview of the different questions covered in psychology. The emphasis of the course is thus two-fold: (1) provide students with an introduction to the diversity and richness of the discipline of psychology; (2) acquaint students with the important questions and approaches used by psychologists to answer those questions. These approaches would include looking into the biological bases of behaviours, and the approaches of developmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive psychology, and abnormal psychology respectively.

This module will introduce students to the history, evolution, and contemporary practices of clinical psychology. Students will use the scientist practitioner model to study underlying theoretical frameworks and the skills and practices of clinical psychologists. Ethical and professional issues covered include classification and diagnosis, clinical research, assessment, case formulation and treatment planning, interventions, and prevention. The materials will be discussed in the context of typical work settings of clinical psychologists (e.g. mental health, forensic or neuropsychological) and across varied client populations (e.g. children, adults, couples).

Students will acquire an understanding of:
Profession of clinical psychology
Relevant theoretical areas of clinical psychology (research, classification of disorders, ethics, professional issues)
Application and practice of clinical psychology (assessment, case formulation, treatment planning, intervention, prevention)
Current trends and new developments in this field (e.g. mind-body medicine)
Clinical work across different settings and with different clients

This module presents the basic assumptions, strategies, and techniques of selected counselling approaches. Students are trained in counseling methods used by psychosocial, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and problem and solution-focused approaches to the treatment of problems in living. In addition, discussion on the application of counseling in specialized areas such as educational and vocational counseling, rehabilitation counselling, pre-marital and marital counselling, and counselling of specific groups will be included.

This course seeks to equip students with an understanding of criminal behaviour and the criminal justice agencies’ response to offending in the local settings. Students will be introduced to psychological theories of criminal behaviours, psychopathology associated with offending, offender assessments, offender programming, re-entry initiatives, professional practice and research.