Page 220 - HKSYU Prospectus 2023-24

Shue Yan University Prospectus 2023-24

departmental teaching staff, students will gain hands-on research experience and transferrable
working skills. They will also have opportunities to apply and consolidate their research skills
acquired from the preceding research courses.

PSY 320 Motivation and Learning
1 Term; 3 Credits
The course aims at introducing theories and empirical studies in exploring human
motivation and learning. Concerning motivation-related themes, the course covers various
topics in drives, instincts, needs, goals, self-regulation, emotion etc. In addition, the course is
aimed at developing students’ abilities to explore people’s conceptual or behavioural changes
from the perspective of their motivation. In lectures and tutorials, students are encouraged to
apply motivational theories to the local context and their daily lives.

PSY 330 Advanced Social Psychology
1 Term; 3 Credits
As an advanced course, this course will be conducted in a seminar setting, and students
are expected to
a) understand further in depth some important phenomena or issues, ideas, theories,
research paradigms and empirical findings on specific topics in social psychology;
b) critically evaluate research studies in social psychology from the cognitive-motivational
perspective and the person-in-situation perspective; and
c) integrate different social psychological knowledge and apply them to understanding and
tackling daily life issues.

PSY 340 Advanced Developmental Psychology
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course aims to broaden students’ knowledge on developmental psychology as well
as train their ability to critique on existing research. A student-oriented seminar approach will
be adopted. Each seminar follows a “consolidate-broaden-apply” routine to ensure thorough
understanding of the selected developmental psychology topics. Through presentations and
class participation, students are encouraged to apply their knowledge to local, practical issues.
Students are also trained to write a developmental analysis on a target participant in the course.

PSY 350 Criminal Psychology
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course helps students to appreciate the complexities of what constitute a criminal
behaviour considering the cultural, social, legal, emotional, moral, religious, political and
technological variables pertinent to such action. Students are intellectually challenged to view
a person’s offending behaviour in a critical manner and empowered to think in an innovative
way how crimes can be investigated and prevented.

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