Scotch College

Psychology at work

The Year 11 and 12 VCE Psychology students have had a few guest speakers this term; during the presentations the students have been able to correlate the theories and research into the 'everyday workings of psychology'.

Dr Helen Skouteris - Developmental Psychologist, researcher at La Trobe University and co-author of the Year 11 and 12 VCE textbooks presented a Lecture to the VCE Psychology students on Friday 16 August in the Fraser Smith Theatre.

I was very impressed with all the boys who attended and they asked some articulate questions, which Dr Skouteris mentioned were the first year university standard.

Dr Skouteris addressed the boys on conducting Research in Psychology and referred to her most recent study on TV habits on young preschool children.

Her hypothesis was 'all television is educational, the question is what does it teach?'

Dr Skouteris also described her methodology and results to the boys and showed them the value of conducting research, and found many insightful patterns of childhood behaviour with TV:

• 44% of children between the ages of 3-6 years old watched videos several times a week
• 28% watched one or more videos per day
• 88% of children became more involved when watching videos and became more associated with play
• 77% of children understand the difference between good and evil in the videos

The research was carried out with 314 mothers of 3-6 year olds; average child age was 4 years old.

Throughout the lecture, research methodology was the main focus, which was in line with the 3rd section of the VCE Unit 4 paper in November. It was entertaining and informative.