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Psychology Pupil Conference Day
On the 6th July, the Developmental Studies Centre hosted a Psychology pupil conference for Year 6 students from 3 local schools. Children took part in several fun psychology experiments throughout the day and got an insight into what psychology was. The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all, with positive feedback from students and teachers.
“Thank you for a super day! We all enjoyed it and it was a great opportunity for everybody!” – Teacher
Using mentoring to support transition into and out of higher education
Dr Alana James discusses how cross-age mentoring, can be used as a way of supporting the transition into University. This blog has recently been published on the Higher Education Academy website and can be accessed here; https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/using-mentoring-support-transition-and-out-higher-education
Psychology Pupil Conference
On July 6, 2015, the Social Development Lab is hosting a Psychology Pupil Conference. Three local schools are bringing their Year 6 classes to take part in a range of psychology activities.
Equity and Justice in childhood and adolescence conference
On May 23, 2014, Patrick and Anna attended a one-day British Academy conference on ‘Equity and Justice in childhood and adolescence’ at Goldsmiths. We enjoyed international networking and sharing ideas on topics such as racism, prosocial behaviour, and multiculturalism. Fascinating discussions with others who also found that children’s and adolescents’ behaviour shapes their values over time!
In the photo, you can see Patrick discussing career opportunities for young researchers. Discussion panel (from left to right): Professor Robin Banjeree (University of Sussex), Professor Dominic Abrams (University of Kent, Canterbury), Professor Patrick Leman (Royal Holloway, University of London), Professor Melanie Killen (University of Maryland), Professor Peter Smith (Goldsmiths, University of London), and Professor Adam Rutland (host).
BPS Developmental Conference in Amsterdam
Alana, Patrick and Dawn will be attending the BPS Developmental conference in Amsterdam. Dawn will be presenting one of her undergraduate projects by Ramona DaCruz, Bethany Elms, Iesha Ginn, and Zehra Saifuddin this year. The presentation is titled: Children’s recognition of emotion through body language: Is recognition enhanced with cartoon drawings? This presentation will highlight that children’s emotion recognition has traditionally been explored using facial expressions of emotion; however, much information about emotion is conveyed through body language. From local and central London schools, we had 272 children between 6 and 12 years complete an emotion matching task of the six basic emotions (happy, sad, angry, fear, surprise, and disgust), where they matched emotive body posture with facial expressions of emotion. The stimuli were either cartoon drawings or human images (both reflecting the same body posture).
We found that children had better matching ability for the cartoon drawings than human figure, but this was particularly true when matching cartoon body to the cartoon face. We will be discussing the findings with regard to the emergence of emotion recognition skills and the nature of drawings versus human figures.
Social Development Lab welcomes new member!
The Soci
al Development Lab is happy to welcome Dr. Alana James as its newest member! Alana will be working on intervention studies that help promote inclusion and positive social relationships.
From left to right: Dr. Alana James, Prof. Patrick Leman, Dr. Dawn Watling, Ben Hine, and Dr. Yvonne Skipper (Absent Nikoleta Damaskinou)
‘Masculine’ and ‘Feminine’ Prosocial Behaviours…
Ben Hine has been exploring how boys and girls make judgments about prosocial behaviour.
Previous studies have shown that children and adolescents consistently gender-type prosocial behaviour as feminine (Study 1), and that at age 13 boys being prosocial are judged less positively than at other ages (Study 2). Boys will still have a desire to be prosocial, as these behaviours are morally good, and they will know the rules of right and wrong. Furthermore, parents and teachers will encourage good behaviour. However, if prosocial behaviour is female-typed, boys may be discouraged by their peers from performing behaviours that are feminine and therefore incongruent with their gender role. In this sense, boys may have a conflict between being a good boy and being a good example of a boy. How might they resolve this conflict?
These studies may also give insight into how boys are able to be prosocial, despite broad prosocial behaviours and prosocial behaviour, as a term, being labelled as feminine. Boys may identify prosocial behaviours that are masculine in their quality, and perform more of these behaviours to satisfy both social and moral obligations. These results are important, as they highlight how moral behaviours, like prosocial behaviour, are subject to social rules and peer pressures.
Bottom Line
There are masculine and feminine prosocial behaviours
For more information about this study, please email B.Hine@rhul.ac.uk
Invitation, Developmental Studies Centre Opening – 17 June 2010
We would like to invite local educators and practitioners to celebrate the opening of the Developmental Studies Centre on 17 June 2010. The afternoon starts at midday with lunch provided. Talks are arranged between 1pm and 4pm, including a coffee break. One of the talks includes a presentation from our guest speaker, Professor Julie Dockrell (Institute of Education). There will be many opportunities to meet our team, have a tour of our lab facilities and a chance to sample some of the experimental activities we ask children to complete as part of our research. The day ends with a drinks reception from 4pm and an opportunity for some informal networking.
This event is FREE but spaces are limited, so please contact the centre as soon as possible. Please note that we are only able to accommodate a maximum of two members of staff from each institution.
You can book your space by;
Email : SocialDevelopment@rhul.ac.uk
Phone : 01784 276 139
… or you can also find out more about us by visiting our website .