Skills II: Observing Others and Yourself

Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience

Skills II: Observing Others and Yourself

Full course description

Skills II focusses on both personal skills and academic (research) skills. In Skills I students get a mentor assigned who will supervise the meetings of Skills II. The mentor and the group will meet in total 5 times during Skills II. The focus of the first, second and fourth will be on personal development skills. Students learn engage in character strength exercises in period 1, become aware of their own character strength (period 2) and learn how to apply them in a different setting. During period 3, students will work in small groups on their first observational research. These research projects are methodologically supported by the courses Methods and Techniques and Statistics for Psychologists I. The projects are substantively related to the course Discover Psychology which runs in parallel to the observational study in period 3. In this period the mentor and the group have three group meetings to discuss the progress of this research. Additionally, students will present their research results together with their subgroup and write a research report. As preparation for the observational research students follow the practical training Systematic Literature Search.. Finally, the students will complete the practical trainings Data Processing via SPSS, and Observing behaviour.

The corresponding practicals for this course are: Observing Behaviour, Data Processing in SPSS, Systematic Literature Search, Portfolio Year 1 Part 1

Course objectives

Students are able:

  • to mention their signature strengths and are able to apply them in a different context;
  • to explain the empirical cycle and have followed this cycle themselves in making a research design, the conduction of an observational research, and the analysis and interpretation of the data;
  • to mention the most relevant aspects of observation and have had exercise in the observation of behaviour;
  • to communicate in a scientific way by writing a research paper and presenting (orally) the results.
IPN1132
Period 1
1 Sep 2021
28 Jan 2022
Print course description
ECTS credits: 
2.0
Instruction language: 
English
Coordinator:
  • E.B. de Sousa Fernandes Perna
Teaching methods: 
Lecture(s), Paper(s), Presentation(s), Research, Skills, Work in subgroups
Assessment methods: 
Attendance, Final paper, Presentation
Keywords: 
research, communication skills, study skills, observation, mentoring