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Volume 5, Issue 1 (April 2015)
Announcements
 
Professor David Chan has been appointed as a member on the Research & Development Advisory Panel to the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA) and Board of Directors for the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).
   
Professor David Chan delivered the Keynote Address on longitudinal methods at the National Psychology Graduate Students Conference held at the National University of Singapore, a talk on Singapore as Data Society at the Roundtable of Thought Leaders on Innovation in Cities organised by the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and an address on applying social and behavioural sciences to health and information technology (IT) at the Singapore National Health IT Summit.
 
 
Highlights of Recent Seminars
 
06 January 2015
Kibeom Lee, Professor of Psychology, University of Calgary, presented a seminar titled “The Origin and Development of the HEXACO Model of Personality”. He discussed how the theory could be useful in predicting important behaviours in various personal and social settings.
 
     
13 January 2015
Katherine Valentine, Psychology PhD candidate, Singapore Management University, presented a seminar titled “Parent, Partner, or Provider: Trading Resources for Childcare In Mate Selection”. She discussed how climate and income influence spousal expectations.
 
     
27 January 2015
Tsai Ming Hong, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Singapore Management University, presented a seminar titled “Effective Communication during the Expression of Dissenting Opinions”. He discussed the implications of framing and sleep quality on communications in conflict situations.
 
     
03 February 2015
Yang Hwajin, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Singapore Management University, presented a seminar titled “The Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism”. She discussed the cognitive advantages and research implications for promoting bilingualism.
     
10 February 2015
Ho Seng Beng, Senior Scientist, Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, presented a seminar titled “Effective Causal Learning”. He discussed a new framework for identifying relationships between causal events.
     
24 March 2015
Jennifer Tong, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Singapore Management University, presented a seminar titled “National Feelings or Rational Dealings?”. She discussed how procedural priming, framing, and multicultural attitudes affect acceptance of foreign acquisitions.
 
Insights from Behavioural Sciences

In this regular section on Insights from Behavioural Sciences, we feature interviews with Professor David Chan in a two-part Channel NewsAsia programme, Campaign Nation, which examined national campaigns conducted in Singapore over the last fifty years. Professor Chan explained why many campaigns were necessary in Singapore’s early years and how campaigns could be more effective today.The videos are available on the official website of Channel NewsAsia:

Campaign Nation (Part 1)
Campaign Nation (Part 2)

We also feature an invited commentary. The article discussed the importance of the psychological contract between the people and the government, and why Singapore needs principled and practical leaders, as well as robust and resilient citizens. The article was published in The Straits Times on 24 January 2015.
 
Applications from Behavioural Sciences
 

In this regular section on Applications from Behavioural Sciences, we feature "live" studio interviews and a panel discussion with Professor David Chan on the impact and legacy of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the public display of emotions displayed by Singaporeans, and the future of Singapore after Mr Lee Kuan Yew. You can watch each session by following the official MediaCorp website links provided below, in the order it is listed.

Interview 1 (25 March 2015)
Interview 2 (25 March 2015)
Interview 3 (28 March 2015)
Interview 4 (30 March 2015)
Panel Discussion on "Mr Lee's Legacy: What's Next?" (31 March 2015)

We also feature two invited commentaries published in The Straits Times.

The first commentary discussed the public reactions during the national mourning for Mr Lee Kuan Yew and the future of a post-Lee Kuan Yew Singapore.

The emotional commitment that Mr Lee inspired

The second commentary discussed lessons learned from the release of the Population White Paper two years ago, with suggestions on how the Government could more effectively frame population challenges and opportunities, and adaptively respond to public responses to the review of the Population White Paper five years from now.

Getting better at discussing population issues

 


About BSI
 
The Behavioural Sciences Institute (BSI) is a multi-disciplinary research institute for creating, disseminating and applying scientific knowledge about human behaviours in various social, organisational and cultural settings. For more information on BSI, please refer to our website. Should you have any further enquiries, do contact us with the email or phone contact details provided below.