The Psychology specialisation focuses on the study of diverse aspects of human behavioural patterns and functioning of the mind. It guides students through various empirical approaches to understand the complexities and processes of the human mind. This specialisation prepares students for graduate study in any of the specialized fields of Psychology. It enables students to develop a critical understanding of the major concepts, themes, theoretical frameworks and methodology of the discipline.
The Psychology Major covers a wide range of topics that enable students to develop a critical understanding of basic concepts and theories of the subject, leading to the study of specialized areas such as Personality, Social, Clinical, Industrial, Developmental, Educational and Experimental Psychology. Students are trained in the Methods of Psychological Testing and Counselling; as well as experimental techniques and research methods.
The specialisation specific courses in the Major introduce students to basic concepts and varied fields of Psychology, focusing on a few significant areas of the discipline such as Biological Bases of Behaviour, Social and Personality Psychology. The intermediate courses focus more closely on refining the student's critical abilities by providing training in synthesis and critical analysis. The courses at this level are geared towards in-depth study of specialized areas of the discipline focusing on aspects of gender, cognition, learning and the role of cultural paradigms in human behaviour. The advanced courses train the students in methods of psychological testing and counselling that help them to analyze individual cases. The students are also trained in research methods that enable them to conduct research-oriented studies.
The Minor in Psychology inculcates an understanding of the discipline through exposure to the breadth of the discipline. It also aims at imparting basic psychological skills like observational skills, communications skills, active listening skills and interpersonal skills. Finally, the Minor prepares students to apply knowledge of psychological principles across various settings.
The Major will prepare students to pursue graduate studies in any specialized field of Psychology. Moreover, the knowledge and skills acquired through the course of the specialisation will equip them to work as part of a team in a variety of professions including but not limited to community health, support groups, NGOs, human resource management, recruitment etc. The Minor prepares students to join the workforce as a competent team player in any job profile that requires understanding human behaviour such as human resources, NGOs and others.
SPECIALISATION AIMS
The Psychology Major and Minor intends to:
- Inculcate in students an in-depth understanding of the nature and processes of the human brain, mind and behaviour, and their interdependence
- Inculcate an understanding of how the discipline of Psychology has evolved over time
- Impart the set of skills required to observe, understand and generate critical interpretations of human behavioural patterns within different social contexts
- Enable students to conceptualize and operationalize independent research projects and document the same
- Train students to use statistical methods to interpret empirical data and draw inferences
- Introduce students to practical applications of Psychology, e.g., counselling approaches, psychological testing, etc.
- Through internship expose students to diverse situations that involve applications of psychological principle
MAJOR OUTCOMES: After successful completion of the Major, the student will be able to:
- Have a comprehensive understanding of psychological concepts and varied theoretical frameworks and their evolution over time
- Understand the application of different theories across different fields of Psychology
- Conduct independent research studies, experiments, group projects and document the same
- Administer, analyze and interpret scores of different psychological tests and write reports
- Demonstrate basic skills in psychology like observational skills, communication skills, academic writing skills, listening skills, interpersonal skills and counselling skills across multiple contexts
- Think, observe, assess and critically analyze various psychological processes and the manifested behaviour across contexts
- Understand differences among individuals and cultures and be sensitive to diversity
- Use statistical software to conduct a variety of statistical analyses
- Articulate and effectively communicate knowledge both orally as well as in writing in the accepted styles of the discipline
MINOR OUTCOMES: After successful completion of the Minor, the student will be able to:
- Have a comprehensive understanding of psychological concepts and varied theoretical frameworks and their evolution over time
- Think, observe, assess and critically analyze various psychological processes and the manifested behaviour across contexts
- Draw on concepts in psychology in developing their understanding of their respective majors
- Use basic skills in psychology like observational skills, communication skills, listening skills and interpersonal skills across multiple contexts
- Demonstrate basic skills in psychology like observational skills, communication skills, academic writing skills, listening skills, interpersonal skills and counselling skills across multiple contexts
COURSES (CORE AND ELECTIVE) **
31 MAJOR COURSES
| Introduction to Psychology | Abnormal Psychology | Community Psychology |
| Methods in Psychology | Industrial Psychology | Positive Psychology |
| Psychology of Self and Identity | Psychology and the Environment | Advanced Research Methods |
| Fields of Psychology | Educational Psychology | Psychology and the Media |
| Biological Bases of Behaviour | Counselling Approaches | Psychology & Crime |
| Social Psychology | Experimental Psychology | Sports and Performance Psychology |
| Statistics in Psychology | Cross-cultural Psychology | Neuropsychology: Principles, Issues & Applications |
| Personality Psychology | Health Psychology | Advanced Quantitative Methods |
| Developmental Psychology | Methods of Psychological Testing | Psychotherapies |
| Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology | Cognitive Psychology | Risk & Decision-Making |
| Graduation Project |
Introduction to Psychology
This course will introduce the students to the subject of Psychology as a popular discipline and elaborate the basic psychological processes. It will place special emphasis on the significance of the different fields of psychology and will introduce to the students the contribution of the established and upcoming fields.
Methods in Psychology
This course focuses on the various methods of Psychology. The course introduces and familiarizes students with basic concepts in doing psychological research. It will enable students to describe and understand several techniques for engaging with Psychological Data. Students develop an understanding of scientific process and scientific inquiry for psychological research.
Psychology of Self and Identity
The course is an introduction to psychological perspectives on self and identity. This course will look at the question of who we are and what makes us who we are. Learners will be introduced to the theoretical foundations of the development of self in society. This course will explore questions related to what makes us both unique and normative, how do we navigate gendered and sexual identities, as well as our personal prejudices and biases. Students will discuss popular theories and contemporary literature as a part of the course.
Fields of Psychology
This course will introduce the students to the different fields of psychology and the scope of the subject in terms of higher studies and career options.
Biological Bases of Behaviour
This course is directed towards a study of the basic structure and function of the nervous system, and its role in understanding behaviour. It emphasizes the role of biological factors, rather than the environment in directing behaviour.
Social Psychology
This course is designed to offer a broad introduction to social psychology, the scientific study of human social influence and interaction. The course explores the various ways people think about, impact, and relate to one another. The course will cover topics, such as social cognition, social perception, attitudes, prejudice and discrimination, social influence, self and identity, group behavior, prosocial behavior, and aggression.
Statistics in Psychology
This course serves to introduce students to the basic ideas in statistics, while highlighting their relevance to psychology as a discipline. As part of this course, students will be exposed to a variety of parametric statistical procedures and will also learn how to present research results in an effective fashion, both through written text and graphical methods.
Personality Psychology
This course is designed to acquaint students with personality psychology —the scientific study of an individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour, together with the psychological mechanisms —hidden or not—behind those patterns. The course focuses on a variety of classic and contemporary readings in personality psychology. The topics to be discussed include the history of personality psychology, trait models of personality, personality judgment, and the biological and evolutionary roots of personality, psychoanalytic approaches to personality, personality development, and cognitive approaches to personality. A number of applied topics will also be examined including, happiness and well-being, personality disorders, and personnel selection.
Developmental Psychology
This course will discuss the concept of development across the lifespan and will help students understand various developmental theories and their implications. Physical, cognitive and psychosocial development is considered from infancy through childhood, adolescence, young, middle and older adulthood.
Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology
This course is an introduction to principles of research in psychology, and will examine concepts and methods of research. Students will be exposed to both quantitative and qualitative research methods to help them appreciate the benefits of both methodologies, with an emphasis on taking a mixed methods approach to psychological research. This course will cover the entire process of conducting research, which includes writing a research proposal, collecting and analysing data, and producing a research paper using a mixed methods approach. It will outline common ethical and practical issues in conducting research, and indicate to students how to overcome them.
Abnormal Psychology
This course explores various clinical presentations of psychopathology (i.e. mental illness) that may occur throughout human development. It provides an overview of specific frequently observed psychological disorders. The key aspects of these disorders that are discussed, including their diagnostic criteria, their clinical features, and considerations of how such disorders might develop. Someprominent psychotherapeutic interventions are also discussed in brief.
Industrial Psychology
This course underlines the significance of the concept of work and the application of theoretical models in the discipline of industrial psychology to work.
Psychology and the Environment
This course explores the psychosocial factors that influence individual-environment interactions. Of particular interest is the impact of contemporary environmental issues (e.g., overcrowding, pollution, climate change) on human psyche. The course also delves into the psychological interventions that are crucial for sustainable living.
Educational Psychology
This course explores the ‘teaching-learning’ paradigm with reference to the changing role of teachers, the value of human connection and an understanding of the characteristics, behaviour, motives and cognitive abilities of educators and learners.
Counselling Approaches
This course will provide students a deeper understanding of the different domains of counselling and various approaches through which various issues and problems faced by human beings can be addressed. The course also provides the opportunity to learn basic counselling skills, and competencies essential to initiating, and maintaining relationships with clients, regardless of specific theoretical orientation. By means of weekly structured practice assignments as well as transcript assessments of their own interviews, students will learn how to identify, and conduct competent counselling interviews.
Experimental Psychology
This module will help discover the contribution of experimental psychology to building theories and testing various assumptions about cognitive processes and human behaviour. The students will be apprised of the processes involved in experimentation (from designing and conduction, to interpretation of data to test hypotheses), through extensive hands-on practical laboratory work with human participants. The course will also provide them with the opportunity of devising their own experiments.
Cross-cultural Psychology
The module examines the significance of the interplay between culture and psychology. In this course, comparative studies of different cultures are presented to analyse how various aspects of culture can impact psychological processes such as behaviour, cognition, sensation and perception.
Health Psychology
The course provides in-depth understanding of the field of health psychology. Course specifically addresses three issues: 1) the ways in which physical factors and experiences affect psychological health, 2) changing health behaviours and experiences and 3) the psychological effects of being ill or experiencing the illness closely. The course also helps to combine scientific, theoretical, and personal avenues of inquiry to understand the interplay between psychological factors and health.
Methods of Psychological Testing
This course focuses on psychological tests which are essential tools used in various aspects of psychological research and practice. Through this course the students will learn about the various measures of testing and will administer, score and interpret the test results.
Cognitive Psychology
This course focuses on the cognitive functions of the brain. It will give an insight into various theories of cognition which will then help in organizing, integrating and applying the research data, in conducting experimental research and in applying the concepts in a variety of areas.
Community Psychology
This course focuses on applications of basic psychological knowledge and methods to community problems. This course is aimed at helping students understand the concept and process of community psychology and mental health. It aims at using psychological methods to solve real life problems in the community. The course also focuses on community mental health through research and social intervention programs such as prevention, citizen participation, environmental change, and influence of public policy. This course will the key concepts involved and, through the use of community case studies and activities, acquaint students with the methods community psychologists use. It seeks to understand the relationship between individual well-being and societal influences.
Positive Psychology
This course helps students to recognize the positive aspects of human life and how psychological health and happiness are not just absence of disease or infirmity. It also helps introduce the student to topics in positive psychology such as happiness, subjective well-being, resilience etc
Advanced Research Methods
Through this course, students will learn advanced use of statistics with SPSS. They will learn to conduct analyses with datasets using a variety of procedures for both continuous and categorical variables, for parametric and non-parametric data. Students will learn to apply these in their own research.
Psychology and the Media
The objective of the course is to make students understand mass media, acquaint them with various issues related to media and psychology.
The course will also focus broadly on the role of psychology in socio-developmental issues like reality versus fantasy, socialization, stereotyping, violence, cybercrime along with interactive and emerging technologies such as social media, gaming, issues of internet addiction.This course focuses on the effects of media upon the individual and society, and how psychology can be applied to enhance media design and understand media consumption. The aim also is to discuss issues of ethics, accessibility, understanding diverse audiences, positive uses of media and professional applications.
Psychology & Crime
This course is aimed at introducing students to psychological factors underlying criminal behaviour and the applications of psychology in the criminal and legal system. Students will be exposed to various theories of crime, assessment in criminal psychology, and develop an understanding of research methods in criminal and forensic psychology. The course will use practical examples and teaching methods that improve communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills.
Sports and Performance Psychology
This course focuses on using psychological knowledge and skills to address optimal performance and well being of athletes, developmental and social aspects of sports participation, and systemic issues associated with sports settings and organizations. The course will use practical examples to make the information relevant, as well as pedagogies that refine communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills that are required in the field.
Neuropsychology: Principles, Issues & Applications
This module introduces the student to the broad area of neuropsychology, with a focus on contemporary issues and applications of research in the area. Relationships between brain, behaviour, emotions and thoughts are explored through functional neuroanatomy and neuropsychological disorders. The student is also familiarised with the concept of neuroplasticity, and how this can be capitalised on through the process of neuropsychological rehabilitation. The course will employ examples from the real-world to make the content relevant and employ pedagogies that hones communication, problem-solving, team-work and critical enquiry skills that are essential to the profession.
Advanced Quantitative Methods
Through this course, students will learn advanced use of statistics with SPSS. They will learn to conduct analyses with datasets using a variety of procedures for both continuous and categorical variables, for parametric and non-parametric data. Students will learn to apply these in their own research. The course will use practical examples and teaching methods that improve communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills.
Psychotherapies
This course will provide students the opportunity to learn about the specific characteristics, techniques and actual skills involved in popular and contemporary therapeutic approaches in Psychology. Through structured workshops and frequent role-play and practice sessions, students will be able to understand and practice the hands-on skills needed to successfully deal with client issues based on the theoretical approaches covered. Besides the popular approaches like REBT and CBT, the course will also introduce students to more recent approaches in the field like art-based therapies, mindfulness techniques, animal-assisted therapy and online psychotherapy. The course will use practical examples and teaching methods that improve communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills.
Risk & Decision-Making
The course will introduce students to the psychology of decision making. Discussions throughout the course will revolve around topics of Rationality, Uncertainty, Intertemporality, and Morality. The course will provide an insight into the process of decision making from psychological, behavioral and neural perspective. The aim is to allow students to understand self and other decisions and make effective decisions. Practical and research based teaching approaches will be employed so as to open both industrial and academic avenues in Behavioral Economics, Consumer Psychology, Neuromarketing and Neuroeconomics. The course will use practical examples and teaching methods that improve communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills.
30 MINOR COURSES
| Introduction to Psychology | Abnormal Psychology | Community Psychology |
| Methods in Psychology | Industrial Psychology | Positive Psychology |
| Psychology of Self and Identity | Psychology and the Environment | Advanced Research Methods |
| Fields of Psychology | Educational Psychology | Psychology and the Media |
| Biological Bases of Behaviour | Counselling Approaches | Psychology & Crime |
| Social Psychology | Experimental Psychology | Sports and Performance Psychology |
| Statistics in Psychology | Cross-cultural Psychology | Neuropsychology: Principles, Issues & Applications |
| Personality Psychology | Health Psychology | Advanced Quantitative Methods |
| Developmental Psychology | Methods of Psychological Testing | Psychotherapies |
| Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology | Cognitive Psychology | Risk & Decision-Making |
Introduction to Psychology
This course will introduce the students to the subject of Psychology as a popular discipline and elaborate the basic psychological processes. It will place special emphasis on the significance of the different fields of psychology and will introduce to the students the contribution of the established and upcoming fields.
Methods in Psychology
This course focuses on the various methods of Psychology. The course introduces and familiarizes students with basic concepts in doing psychological research. It will enable students to describe and understand several techniques for engaging with Psychological Data. Students develop an understanding of scientific process and scientific inquiry for psychological research.
Psychology of Self and Identity
The course is an introduction to psychological perspectives on self and identity. This course will look at the question of who we are and what makes us who we are. Learners will be introduced to the theoretical foundations of the development of self in society. This course will explore questions related to what makes us both unique and normative, how do we navigate gendered and sexual identities, as well as our personal prejudices and biases. Students will discuss popular theories and contemporary literature as a part of the course.
Fields of Psychology
This course will introduce the students to the different fields of psychology and the scope of the subject in terms of higher studies and career options.
Biological Bases of Behaviour
This course is directed towards a study of the basic structure and function of the nervous system, and its role in understanding behaviour. It emphasizes the role of biological factors, rather than the environment in directing behaviour.
Social Psychology
This course is designed to offer a broad introduction to social psychology, the scientific study of human social influence and interaction. The course explores the various ways people think about, impact, and relate to one another. The course will cover topics, such as social cognition, social perception, attitudes, prejudice and discrimination, social influence, self and identity, group behavior, prosocial behavior, and aggression.
Statistics in Psychology
This course serves to introduce students to the basic ideas in statistics, while highlighting their relevance to psychology as a discipline. As part of this course, students will be exposed to a variety of parametric statistical procedures and will also learn how to present research results in an effective fashion, both through written text and graphical methods.
Personality Psychology
This course is designed to acquaint students with personality psychology —the scientific study of an individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour, together with the psychological mechanisms —hidden or not—behind those patterns. The course focuses on a variety of classic and contemporary readings in personality psychology. The topics to be discussed include the history of personality psychology, trait models of personality, personality judgment, and the biological and evolutionary roots of personality, psychoanalytic approaches to personality, personality development, and cognitive approaches to personality. A number of applied topics will also be examined including, happiness and well-being, personality disorders, and personnel selection.
Developmental Psychology
This course will discuss the concept of development across the lifespan and will help students understand various developmental theories and their implications. Physical, cognitive and psychosocial development is considered from infancy through childhood, adolescence, young, middle and older adulthood.
Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology
This course is an introduction to principles of research in psychology, and will examine concepts and methods of research. Students will be exposed to both quantitative and qualitative research methods to help them appreciate the benefits of both methodologies, with an emphasis on taking a mixed methods approach to psychological research. This course will cover the entire process of conducting research, which includes writing a research proposal, collecting and analysing data, and producing a research paper using a mixed methods approach. It will outline common ethical and practical issues in conducting research, and indicate to students how to overcome them.
Abnormal Psychology
This course explores various clinical presentations of psychopathology (i.e. mental illness) that may occur throughout human development. It provides an overview of specific frequently observed psychological disorders. The key aspects of these disorders that are discussed, including their diagnostic criteria, their clinical features, and considerations of how such disorders might develop. Someprominent psychotherapeutic interventions are also discussed in brief.
Industrial Psychology
This course underlines the significance of the concept of work and the application of theoretical models in the discipline of industrial psychology to work.
Psychology and the Environment
This course explores the psychosocial factors that influence individual-environment interactions. Of particular interest is the impact of contemporary environmental issues (e.g., overcrowding, pollution, climate change) on human psyche. The course also delves into the psychological interventions that are crucial for sustainable living.
Educational Psychology
This course explores the ‘teaching-learning’ paradigm with reference to the changing role of teachers, the value of human connection and an understanding of the characteristics, behaviour, motives and cognitive abilities of educators and learners.
Counselling Approaches
This course will provide students a deeper understanding of the different domains of counselling and various approaches through which various issues and problems faced by human beings can be addressed. The course also provides the opportunity to learn basic counselling skills, and competencies essential to initiating, and maintaining relationships with clients, regardless of specific theoretical orientation. By means of weekly structured practice assignments as well as transcript assessments of their own interviews, students will learn how to identify, and conduct competent counselling interviews.
Experimental Psychology
This module will help discover the contribution of experimental psychology to building theories and testing various assumptions about cognitive processes and human behaviour. The students will be apprised of the processes involved in experimentation (from designing and conduction, to interpretation of data to test hypotheses), through extensive hands-on practical laboratory work with human participants. The course will also provide them with the opportunity of devising their own experiments.
Cross-cultural Psychology
The module examines the significance of the interplay between culture and psychology. In this course, comparative studies of different cultures are presented to analyse how various aspects of culture can impact psychological processes such as behaviour, cognition, sensation and perception.
Health Psychology
The course provides in-depth understanding of the field of health psychology. Course specifically addresses three issues: 1) the ways in which physical factors and experiences affect psychological health, 2) changing health behaviours and experiences and 3) the psychological effects of being ill or experiencing the illness closely. The course also helps to combine scientific, theoretical, and personal avenues of inquiry to understand the interplay between psychological factors and health.
Methods of Psychological Testing
This course focuses on psychological tests which are essential tools used in various aspects of psychological research and practice. Through this course the students will learn about the various measures of testing and will administer, score and interpret the test results.
Cognitive Psychology
This course focuses on the cognitive functions of the brain. It will give an insight into various theories of cognition which will then help in organizing, integrating and applying the research data, in conducting experimental research and in applying the concepts in a variety of areas.
Community Psychology
This course focuses on applications of basic psychological knowledge and methods to community problems. This course is aimed at helping students understand the concept and process of community psychology and mental health. It aims at using psychological methods to solve real life problems in the community. The course also focuses on community mental health through research and social intervention programs such as prevention, citizen participation, environmental change, and influence of public policy. This course will the key concepts involved and, through the use of community case studies and activities, acquaint students with the methods community psychologists use. It seeks to understand the relationship between individual well-being and societal influences.
Positive Psychology
This course helps students to recognize the positive aspects of human life and how psychological health and happiness are not just absence of disease or infirmity. It also helps introduce the student to topics in positive psychology such as happiness, subjective well-being, resilience etc
Advanced Research Methods
Through this course, students will learn advanced use of statistics with SPSS. They will learn to conduct analyses with datasets using a variety of procedures for both continuous and categorical variables, for parametric and non-parametric data. Students will learn to apply these in their own research.
Psychology and the Media
The objective of the course is to make students understand mass media, acquaint them with various issues related to media and psychology.
The course will also focus broadly on the role of psychology in socio-developmental issues like reality versus fantasy, socialization, stereotyping, violence, cybercrime along with interactive and emerging technologies such as social media, gaming, issues of internet addiction. This course focuses on the effects of media upon the individual and society, and how psychology can be applied to enhance media design and understand media consumption. The aim also is to discuss issues of ethics, accessibility, understanding diverse audiences, positive uses of media and professional applications.
Psychology & Crime
This course is aimed at introducing students to psychological factors underlying criminal behaviour and the applications of psychology in the criminal and legal system. Students will be exposed to various theories of crime, assessment in criminal psychology, and develop an understanding of research methods in criminal and forensic psychology. The course will use practical examples and teaching methods that improve communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills.
Sports and Performance Psychology
This course focuses on using psychological knowledge and skills to address optimal performance and well being of athletes, developmental and social aspects of sports participation, and systemic issues associated with sports settings and organizations. The course will use practical examples to make the information relevant, as well as pedagogies that refine communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills that are required in the field.
Neuropsychology: Principles, Issues & Applications
This module introduces the student to the broad area of neuropsychology, with a focus on contemporary issues and applications of research in the area. Relationships between brain, behaviour, emotions and thoughts are explored through functional neuroanatomy and neuropsychological disorders. The student is also familiarised with the concept of neuroplasticity, and how this can be capitalised on through the process of neuropsychological rehabilitation. The course will employ examples from the real-world to make the content relevant and employ pedagogies that hones communication, problem-solving, team-work and critical enquiry skills that are essential to the profession.
Advanced Quantitative Methods
Through this course, students will learn advanced use of statistics with SPSS. They will learn to conduct analyses with datasets using a variety of procedures for both continuous and categorical variables, for parametric and non-parametric data. Students will learn to apply these in their own research. The course will use practical examples and teaching methods that improve communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills.
Psychotherapies
This course will provide students the opportunity to learn about the specific characteristics, techniques and actual skills involved in popular and contemporary therapeutic approaches in Psychology. Through structured workshops and frequent role-play and practice sessions, students will be able to understand and practice the hands-on skills needed to successfully deal with client issues based on the theoretical approaches covered. Besides the popular approaches like REBT and CBT, the course will also introduce students to more recent approaches in the field like art-based therapies, mindfulness techniques, animal-assisted therapy and online psychotherapy. The course will use practical examples and teaching methods that improve communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills.
Risk & Decision-Making
The course will introduce students to the psychology of decision making. Discussions throughout the course will revolve around topics of Rationality, Uncertainty, Intertemporality, and Morality. The course will provide an insight into the process of decision making from psychological, behavioral and neural perspective. The aim is to allow students to understand self and other decisions and make effective decisions. Practical and research based teaching approaches will be employed so as to open both industrial and academic avenues in Behavioral Economics, Consumer Psychology, Neuromarketing and Neuroeconomics. The course will use practical examples and teaching methods that improve communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and critical inquiry skills.