Welfare Pack Distribution

Dear Psychology Students,

As exams are approaching around the corner, NUS Psychology Society has prepared exam Welfare Packs for everyone! Do come down to our booth to collect yours!

Date: 5th November (Mon) and 7th November (Wed) 2012
Time:
 10am – 6pm
Venue: Along AS1 walkway

 

Wear your Psych Shirt OR bring your NUS Psyche membership card to collect yours!

If you have not collected your membership card, you can also bring your receipt along to collect your membership card! 

Do come down and collect your welfare pack while stocks last! Hope to see you at our booth. 🙂

 

Warmest Regards,

NUS Psychology Society

http://nuspsyche.org/

 

Julianne Tan Wen-Li and Soh Wei Jie win Singapore Psychological Society Undergraduate Research Awards!

We are very proud to announce that two of our undergraduates, Soh Wei Jie and Julianne Tan, have had their undergraduate research recognized by the Singapore Psychological Society. Specifically, Wei Jie won the 2012 Best Undergraduate Research Award while Julianne won the 2012 Undergraduate Research Award for Best Qualitative Research. Congratulations, Wei Jie and Julianne!

julesprofile Photo

Julianne:

While recent research on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has turned its eye towards better understanding the high rates of comorbid anxiety difficulties in children and youths with ASD, there is a knowledge gap regarding how anxiety is qualitatively experienced in their everyday lives and the impact of this condition. Specifically, in this population of children who are different in terms of the way they perceive the world, behave and express themselves, are the various triggers and signs of anxiety, and the coping strategies used, unique to ASD or shared with other common experiences of anxiety in non-ASD individuals? Most studies have so far utilized standardized checklists developed for typically developing children and not children with ASD. Important information is often missed out as we try to “fit” ASD children’s experiences into those of children without ASD. Moreover, in most cases parents provide the information; teachers, who can provide unique and important observations from the often stressful school environment, are often ignored .

Therefore, this exploratory study reported a series of focus groups discussions with teachers from Special Education schools in Singapore regarding the anxiety difficulties of their students with ASD, most of whom also have associated intellectual and adaptive behaviour limitations. Teachers were interviewed in depth about their experiences with regards to their students’ anxiety triggers, signs, impact and strategies employed to manage anxiety. Their rich narratives were coded verbatim and a detailed coding system was developed to explore shared and autism-specific themes emerging from their perspectives. Taken together, the teachers’ views were strikingly consistent and provided a unique constellation of findings. Teachers identified change/unpredictability, aversive sensory experiences, social-communication difficulties and being prevented from engaging in stereotyped interests and activities as ASD-specific triggers of anxiety. These are thought to reflect common ASD-specific difficulties in sensory sensitivities, impairments in communication and perspective taking, and inflexible processing styles respectively. In addition, they also identified anxiety triggers that are shared with non-ASD individuals, such as specific phobias and performance-related demands. Strong themes were evident when we asked teachers how they can tell that their students are anxious, with most saying that they largely “see” anxiety in their students’ behaviour. For example, when children with ASD get anxious they will engage in more challenging, sensory or repetitive behaviours and more avoidance/escape behaviors.

The focus group results were also used to examine the potential validity of an existing framework of ASD-related stressors that has been proposed to account for heightened anxiety in ASD. While the existing model by Wood and Gadow was largely supported by the findings of the study, we also argued that the model was incomplete and that a more broad-based conceptualisation of anxiety across the entire autism spectrum is required.

Wei Jie:

The winning work is entitled “Hear No Evil: Can Music Attenuate the Irrelevant Speech Effect?”. Dr. Lim commented, “Many students listen to music while they study. We believe that this phenomenon transcends preferences towards learning styles, so that the benefits reaped from music listening during study actually have a very fundamental (biological) basis. Our goal was to show that music helps to consolidate cognitive resources that will in turn boost learning. Imagine the following scenario: In a noisy environment that is highly distracting, music creates this “transparent room”; when you step in (and close the door behind you), the distractors surround the room, remain visible (or rather, audible) and intelligible, are in fact processed, but they can no longer stifle you. Importantly, we think that it is the “music-ness” in music that creates this fascinating effect (which is why students listen to “music” in the first place). Through this work, we also hope to understand at least in part just what exactly constitutes “music”, a long-standing philosophical question that continues to fascinate scholars across a variety of fields.” For more information, go to our earlier story: https://blog.nus.edu.sg/fassnews/2012/10/22/nus-department-of-psychology-wins-singapore-psychological-society-sps-best-undergraduate-research-award-2012/

Soh Wei Jie wins Singapore Psychological Society (SPS) Best Undergraduate Research Award 2012

Among the top psychological research entries from the respective Universities and Institutes in Singapore, the NUS Department of Psychology is proud to have won the overall Best Undergraduate Research Award conferred by the Singapore Psychological Society (SPS) this year. This Award recognizes the top psychological research of the year accomplished by an undergraduate student, and can be withheld unless there is a deserving candidate. Mr. Soh Wei Jie, who recently graduated from the NUS Department of Psychology with First-Class Honours, pursued his undergraduate thesis research under the supervision of Dr. Lim Wee Hun Stephen, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology who has won multiple awards for excellent teaching and student research supervision. Mr. Soh’s thesis research emerged as the best among all 83 Honours Theses received and examined by the NUS Psychology Department in the 2011-12 academic year, and was subsequently nominated for the 2012 SPS Undergraduate Research Award.

Dr. Stephen Lim (left); Mr. Soh Wei Jie (centre); SPS President and MinDef Psychology Head Col. Dr. Bernard Lim (right)

The winning work is entitled “Hear No Evil: Can Music Attenuate the Irrelevant Speech Effect?”. Dr. Lim commented, “Many students listen to music while they study. We believe that this phenomenon transcends preferences towards learning styles, so that the benefits reaped from music listening during study actually have a very fundamental (biological) basis. Our goal was to show that music helps to consolidate cognitive resources that will in turn boost learning. Imagine the following scenario: In a noisy environment that is highly distracting, music creates this “transparent room”; when you step in (and close the door behind you), the distractors surround the room, remain visible (or rather, audible) and intelligible, are in fact processed, but they can no longer stifle you. Importantly, we think that it is the “music-ness” in music that creates this fascinating effect (which is why students listen to “music” in the first place). Through this work, we also hope to understand at least in part just what exactly constitutes “music”, a long-standing philosophical question that continues to fascinate scholars across a variety of fields.”

Our heartiest congratulations to Mr. Soh and Dr. Lim on winning this Award!

Study by Schirmer & Escoffier highlighted in Scientific American

Annett Schirmer and her graduate student Nicolas Escoffier recently presented a study on the effects of rhythmic sound at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (http://www.sfn.org/am2012/), a major conference that attracts more than 30,000 attendees.

Their work has attracted attention from Scientific American, the leading source and authority for science, technology information and policy for a general audience, and has been featured as a blog entry on the Scientific American site (http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/10/19/the-power-of-music-mind-control-by-rhythmic-sound/). Well done, Annett & Nicolas!

FASS Forward to the Exam (Sharing Session and Relaxation Techniques Class)

FASS Forward to the Exam – Sharing Session

 

 

 Register HERE

Seats are available on a 1st-come-1st-served basis

Upon registration, please be sure to attend the talk or find a replacement if you are unable to make it

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FASS Forward to the Exam – Relaxation Techniques Class

 

Register HERE

Seats are available on a 1st-come-1st-served basis

Upon registration, please be sure to attend the talk or find a replacement if you are unable to make it

For further queries, please email faslp@nus.edu.sg or call 65167274.

Training Leaders

Training Leaders

By: Tan Wei Yuan, Year 4, Sociology Major, FASS Club President (33rd Management Committee)

The FASS Student Leaders Camp took place from 28th to 30th September, at the Outward Bound School in Pulau Ubin. In its second year, it was attended by 28 FASS students from different societies within the Faculty, as well as students from the NUS SM2 programme.

We were broken into four different groups; namely Awesome, Batman, Coolcumber and Dolphins. Games and classes were planned and conducted to convey the principles of Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to us, challenging us to better ourselves.

One of the toughest challenges we faced was the final segment, a height element test which required some form of teamwork, organisation and a collective goal between all groups. Despite the difficulties we faced as a camp, we managed to pull through to meet our target. This was truly a remarkable achievement for a group partially divided by nationality and language, and without prior interaction with each other.

I strongly encourage all future members of societies to take this chance to experience this camp. Members of my team had successfully internalised some of the teachings in camp, which I believe to be of great benefit to the individual. I would like to hereby thank OSA and the FASS Dean’s Office for granting us this chance to participate in this event.

MOE The Outdoor Classroom Programme 2013

(https://moe.wufoo.eu/forms/application-for-the-outdoor-classroom-2013/)

What our past interns had to say!

“It was an amazing experience and the skills and knowledge gained will help me plan for future trips with my school.”

– Nur Azlyna Binte Mohamed Tahir, Geography graduate and The Outdoor Classroom Ambassador 2012, who went to South Korea for her school field trip with CHIJ St Joseph’s Convent

 

“I really appreciated having the chance to see the other duties of a teacher, it has really been a beneficial experience to not only share what it’s like to be with the students – venturing into a new place but as well, learning through observation and hands on work, what teachers need to do in any and every circumstance – pre, during and post trip.”

– Joanna Lim, Geography graduate and The Outdoor Classroom Ambassador 2011, who went to Vietnam for her school field trip with Shuqun Secondary

[Seminar] Between Me and the Media: 20 Years of Singapore Chinese Media

Between Me and the Media: 20 Years of Singapore Chinese Media
Presented By NUS Chinese Studies Students’ Society 

Date: 25 October 2012 (Thursday)

Time: 6pm to 8pm

Venue: AS1/03-01

Speakers:
(1)    Ms. Tan Li Yi, current Ngee Ann Polytechnic lecturer, former Mediacorp YES 93.3FM DJ.

(2)    Mr. Bob Lee, former photojournalist of Lianhe Zaobao and MyPaper and award winner in numerous international photojournalist competitions

Description of Seminar:
The teaching track and the media career are two conventional career pathways that many Chinese Studies graduates decide to embark on. The two speakers have a great deal of experience in the local Chinese media industry, particularly with Mediacorp Radio and Singapore Press Holdings. Through the sharing of past experiences and how the local Chinese media industry has evolved in the past two decades, students will be able to gain greater insights about the industry. This will be helpful for students who are interested in embarking on a career in the media industry.


日期:10月25日(星期四)

时间:6pm 至 8pm

地点:AS1/03-01

主题:《初探本地华文媒体与我的关系》

演讲人:
(1) 陈丽仪女士:现任义安理工学院讲师;前新传媒YES 93.3 DJ

(2) 前任《联合早报》和《我报》摄影记者,曾多次荣获国际摄影记者奖项

简介:
本地中文系毕业的学生,大多投身教育事业,或从事华文媒体行业。这次受邀的两位主讲嘉宾在本地华文媒体领域以活跃多年,身负经验,分别在新传媒和《联合早报》都曾任职。通过嘉宾分享自己的个人经验,以及讲解本地华文媒体业在近十多年来的发展,学生将能够更深入地了解这一领域如何蜕变并不断改革。分享内容必定能够让有志投身媒体工作的学生对本地华文媒体有更深一层的认识。

[NES BizAsia] Hong Kong Outgoing Trip

NUS Entrepreneurship Society is organizing BizAsia Hong Kong 2012, a 3-day international student summit that focuses on entrepreneurship in Hong Kong. For more details on the summit, please refer to the e-flyer below.

About BizAsia

BizAsia was established by the NUS Entrepreneurship Society (NES) in 2005, as part of the NES Global Projects division. It is an entrepreneurial student initiative offering bilateral student exchange programs. BizAsia endeavors to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship, create professional networks between prominent universities in Asia and forge meaningful relationships between students and successful entrepreneurs. Over the years, BizAsia has built strong partnerships with prominent universities in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.