Abstracts of recent articles published in Teaching of Psychology

RICHARD A. GRIGGS

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 195–202

Most introductory textbooks discuss the story of Phineas Gage and his terrible accident in which he survived a three-and-a-half-foot-long tamping iron that weighed 13¼ pounds exploding through his head. Twenty-three current introductory textbooks were analyzed for the accuracy of their coverage of Gage’s subsequent (post-accident) history and psychosocial recovery and for inclusion of recently discovered photos of Gage and the most recent digital reconstruction of the path of the tamping iron through his head. Although coverage was generally accurate when included, only half a dozen textbooks discussed Gage’s subsequent history or recovery. Inclusion of the photos and recent modeling work was also lacking. Explanations for these coverage deficiencies and suggestions for improved coverage for teachers and textbook authors are offered.

JENNIFER A. MCCABE

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 203–210

The goal of this research was to determine whether there is a generation effect for learner-created keyword mnemonics and real-life examples, compared with instructor-provided materials, when learning neurophysiological terms and definitions in introductory psychology. Students participated in an individual (Study 1) or small-group (Study 2) in-class activity during which they used three strategies: generate new keyword mnemonics, generate new real-life examples, and read instructor-provided mnemonics and examples. Immediate and delayed quiz results showed that the keyword-mnemonic-generation strategy was superior for definitional quiz performance across both time points. Questionnaire data indicated that students overall felt “generating” was more helpful than “reading,” generating mnemonics was more helpful than generating examples, and a substantial portion would plan to use the mnemonic-generation strategy in the future. Results are discussed in the context of mnemonics training, specifically mnemonics-creation assignments, in the introductory-level psychology classroom and beyond.

KATHLEEN P. GREENBERG

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 211–217

A detailed rubric initially designed as a scoring instrument for grading APA-style empirical research reports was tested for its ability to help students improve their scientific writing skills. Students who used the rubric while preparing their reports wrote a higher-quality report than did students who did not. Students also improved the quality of their own reports after using the rubric to grade a report written by one of their classmates. These findings provide some of the first empirical evidence of the important role that rubrics can play in the process of formative assessment.

AARON S. RICHMOND, KRISTIN A. BROUSSARD, JILLIAN L. STERNS, KRISTINA K. SANDERS AND JUSTIN C. SHARDY

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 218–226

The purpose of the current study was to examine the sample diversity of empirical articles published in four premier teaching of psychology journals from 2008 to 2013. We investigated which demographic information was commonly reported and if samples were ethnically representative and whether gender was representative compared with National Department of Education data. Descriptive statistics showed that, in many cases, ethnicity was not reported in teaching of psychology journal articles. When ethnicity was reported, samples were predominantly Caucasian and not typical to that of Department of Education data. In addition, results indicated there is an overrepresentation of female students in these samples, which is typical of psychology students. Based on the results, teaching of psychology research is accurately sampling the intended population; however, the psychology student population is not representative of the greater college student population. Accordingly, generalizations from teaching of psychology research to teaching other academic domains should be made with caution.

GILLIAN M. SANDSTROM AND CATHERINE D. RAWN

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 227–233

When students chatter in class it can be disruptive, but could that chatter also have some redeeming qualities? We asked students to keep track of their social interactions in a particular class. On days when students had more social interactions than usual, they reported a greater sense of belonging, which was, in turn, related to greater class enjoyment (i.e., a within-person effect). Further, students who tended to have more social interactions than others reported a greater sense of belonging, which was, in turn, related to greater class enjoyment (i.e., a between-person effect). These results held when examining daily ratings of social interactions, belonging, and class enjoyment, and when examining overall end-of-semester ratings. Critically, higher average daily feelings of belonging mediated the effect of the number of average daily classroom interactions on students’ end-of-semester class enjoyment and marginally on grades. For educators, promoting peer-to-peer conversation may create a positive effect by which students judge the overall class experience positively.

PETER C. STEWART

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 234–241

With the burgeoning influence of cognitive neuroscience in the field of psychology, it is important to train, or at least expose, undergraduate psychology students to the discipline’s methods. Unfortunately, many instructors are limited in their ability to provide such tangible experiences due to resource limitations. However, recent advances in electroencephalography (EEG) technology now make it possible to rectify this deficiency. This article discusses affordable, manageable, and reliable EEG technology that is perfect for the classroom and describes two studies testing the utility of the technology for student learning. Results suggested that a demonstration incorporating this technology facilitated learning and stimulated interest in the areas of cognitive and physiological psychology.

JORDAN D. TROISI, SADIE LEDER, JENNIFER J. STIEGLER-BALFOUR, BETHANY K. B. FLECK AND JESSICA J. GOOD

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 242–247

To date, research has not examined the influence of mentorship on the teaching effectiveness of Early Career Psychologists (ECPs). We sought to fill this void by conducting a national survey of 122 ECPs assessing the presence or absence of three types of ECP mentors (i.e., in their department, in another department at their university, or another self-selected mentor) as well as the successes and challenges associated with working with those mentors. Overall, ECPs viewed relationships with mentors quite favorably, and mentorship was positively related to more effective teaching activities and adherence to model teaching criteria. Implications for future research on the study of mentorship among ECPs and how junior and senior faculty can benefit from these findings are discussed.

TIMOTHY J. LAWSON, MARY KAY JORDAN-FLEMING AND JAMES H. BODLE

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 248–253

Critical thinking is widely considered an important skill for psychology majors. However, few measures exist of the types of critical thinking that are specific to psychology majors. Lawson (1999) designed the Psychological Critical Thinking Exam (PCTE) to measure students’ ability to “think critically, or evaluate claims, in a way that explicitly incorporates basic principles of psychological science” (p. 207). However, Lawson’s goal was not to present the PCTE as a standardized measure that was ready for use by other departments. We developed an updated version of the PCTE for broader use and investigated its reliability and validity. Results showed very good split-half and test–retest reliability. As expected, senior psychology majors scored significantly higher on the PCTE than junior psychology majors, senior biology majors, senior art majors, and introductory psychology students.

WILLIAM R. BALCH

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 254–259

In a classroom experiment during the first week of an introductory psychology course, randomly assigned students received a pretest and then a brief training on the definitions of general-vocabulary words either related (e.g., “facilitation”) or unrelated (e.g., “rendition”) to 16 technical terms (e.g., “social facilitation”). Two days later, after briefly studying the technical-term definitions, all participants took a test requiring recognition of both definitions and novel examples of the technical terms. The group trained on related general-vocabulary words averaged significantly higher on the technical-terms test than did the group trained on unrelated words. Thus, knowledge of related general vocabulary transferred to the learning of technical terms. The discussion focuses on both research-related and educational implications of the results.

KALA J. MELCHIORI AND ROBYN K. MALLETT

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 260–265

We describe an active learning exercise to teach students about social stigma. After lecturing on the topic, the instructor distributes a worksheet and shows several clips from the movie Shrek, pausing after each clip to lead a discussion of the concepts. We provide information about the movie scenes, the student worksheet, and instructor discussion guide. Students who attended a lecture on stigma and participated in the Shrek exercise (n = 14) scored higher on an assessment of the concepts than students who viewed the lecture and completed a self-reflection exercise (n = 13) as well as students who only viewed the lecture and did not participate in an exercise (n = 13). Students (N = 52) also indicated that they enjoyed the exercise and believed it provides clarification of the topics above and beyond the lecture material. Thus, our Shrek active learning exercise is a useful tool for helping students learn about the sensitive issues of social stigma.

DANIEL T. WILLINGHAM, ELIZABETH M. HUGHES AND DAVID G. DOBOLYI

Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 266–271

Theories of learning styles suggest that individuals think and learn best in different ways. These are not differences of ability but rather preferences for processing certain types of information or for processing information in certain types of way. If accurate, learning styles theories could have important implications for instruction because student achievement would be a product of the interaction of instruction and the student’s style. There is reason to think that people view learning styles theories as broadly accurate, but, in fact, scientific support for these theories is lacking. We suggest that educators’ time and energy are better spent on other theories that might aid instruction.

Volume 42, No. 4, October 2015

AMY C. FINEBURG AND ERIC AMSEL

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 275–281

D. ALAN BENSLEY AND SCOTT O. LILIENFELD

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 282–292

Studies of psychological misconceptions have often used tests with methodological shortcomings, unknown psychometric properties, and ad hoc methods for identifying misconceptions, creating problems for estimating frequencies of specific misconceptions. To address these problems, we developed a new test, the Test of Psychological Knowledge and Misconceptions, administering it to a sample of 162 graduate and undergraduate psychology students and to a second sample of 173 undergraduate psychology majors. Results revealed high consistency in item response frequencies across samples, allowing identification of specific misconceptions. We found that certainty ratings of the correctness of more frequently endorsed misconceptions were significantly higher than misconceptions endorsed less frequently, while some other items endorsed much less frequently also showed higher certainty. Our findings bear implications for dispelling erroneous but confidently held claims in psychology courses.

MARK A. STELLMACK, RITA R. SANDIDGE, AMY L. SIPPL AND DANNEKA J. MILLER

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 293–298

Previous research has shown that when students are required to submit a draft and a revision of their writing, large proportions of students do not improve across drafts. We implemented a writing assignment in which students were permitted to submit up to four optional drafts. To encourage substantive revisions, students were awarded additional points if they received all points on the grading rubric. Based on the grades of the instructors, 31% of students eventually earned perfect scores in this assignment, compared with 13% in a typical single revision assignment. Permitting students to submit up to four optional drafts resulted in nearly the same amount of grading for the instructor as requiring students to submit two drafts.

LOGAN STIGALL AND SARAI BLINCOE

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 299–306

Despite the demonstrated reliability and validity of the Teacher Behavior Checklist (TBC) as a tool for evaluating postsecondary instructors, research has yet to consider the impact of student, instructor, and course factors on TBC ratings. In addition, it is unknown whether different evaluation sources converge when the TBC is used. This study examined self- and student ratings of 35 instructors. The same characteristics that affect student ratings using other instrumentation impact student evaluation via the TBC. Further, several course and instructor variables impacted instructor self-evaluations. Instructor self-ratings did not correlate significantly with the ratings provided by the students. The implications of the findings for using the TBC for formative and summative assessment are discussed.

MARY E. KITE, PRABIN CHANDRA SUBEDI AND KINSEY B. BRYANT-LEES

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 307–314

We explored how students view the teaching evaluation process and assessed their self-reported behaviors when completing student evaluations of teaching (SETs). We administered a 28-item survey assessing these views to students from a cross-section of majors across 20 institutions (N = 597). Responses to this measure were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. Students also answered an open-ended question about their views; responses were coded into 21 categories. We found that students generally held positive views about the evaluation process and that, overall, these positive views were consistent across type of institution, academic discipline, class standing, and respondent gender. However, compared with small and midsize institutions, community college students were more positive about the usefulness of SETs, and seniors reported greater willingness to provide specific feedback (such as by providing written comments) when completing SETs compared with sophomores and juniors. We conclude by providing suggestions for improving the evaluation process based on our findings.

RICHARD A. GRIGGS AND GEORGE I. WHITEHEAD III

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 315–322

Past studies of the treatment of Milgram’s obedience experiments in social psychology textbooks from the 1960s to the 1990s discovered an evolving “Milgram-friendly” coverage style (dealing with criticisms of his experiments either summarily, in a pro-Milgram manner, or not at all). We examined 10 current social textbooks to determine the present state of this Milgram-friendly coverage. Our findings indicate that such coverage has become the norm. Methodological and ethical criticisms of the obedience experiments and challenges to their external validity are seldom cited, and if they are, they are only briefly described and usually dealt with in a Milgram-friendly manner. We discuss two factors likely responsible for this insufficient treatment of these criticisms in social psychology textbooks and urge remediation.

RICK A. LACAILLE

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 323–329

Misconceptions of psychological phenomena are widespread and often not easily eliminated—even among students completing college-level psychology courses. As part of a research methods psychology course, students developed public-service-announcement-style posters as part of a psychology myth-debunking campaign and presented these to students enrolled in introductory psychology courses on campus. Results revealed that both the introductory students who were exposed to the myth-debunking campaign and the research method students who created the campaign endorsed significantly fewer myths than their respective comparison groups. The research methods students viewed their experiences with the myth-debunking campaign as enjoyable and valuable in developing scientific inquiry skills.

JEFFREY S. NEVID, BRIANNA CHENEY AND CLARISSA THOMPSON

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 330–334

Students in an introductory psychology class rated their level of confidence in their answers to exam questions on four multiple-choice exams through the course of a semester. Correlations between confidence judgments and accuracy (correct vs. incorrect) at the individual item level showed modest but significant relationships for item sets scaled to levels in Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. We also found stronger relationships between confidence judgments and accuracy for items scaled to lower levels in Bloom’s taxonomy. Overconfident judgments occurred significantly more often among the lowest-performing students. These results underscore the need for students to become more accurate appraisers of their knowledge, which may help them correct gaps in their knowledge by taking steps to prepare more effectively for examinations.

TANYA S. MARTINI, ASHLEY RAIL AND COLE NORTON

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 335–338

We examined first-year psychology majors’ (N = 195) beliefs about the relevance of two types of university assignments (individual essay and group wiki) and their connection to the development of career-related skills. Students reported that assignments were only somewhat relevant to their career goals, and relevance ratings were typically justified by referring to assignment features (content and type) rather than skill development. Our results suggest that it is important for faculty to be explicit with students—particularly those in the early stages of their degree—about the career-related skills that their course-based activities are intended to foster.

CATHERINE M. REICH, KATIANNE M. HOWARD SHARP AND JEFFREY S. BERMAN

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 339–344

Despite attempts to engage students, undergraduate instructors are often challenged by low motivation among students to study outside of the classroom. The current study adapted motivational interviewing, which is often used with therapy clients ambivalent to change, to target college student motivation to study for exams. Findings indicated improved performance on exams following the brief 15- to 20-min intervention. The present study supports both the effectiveness and feasibility of this brief, classroom-based motivational intervention. This psychological intervention might be particularly fitting for psychology classes because an explanation of the intervention itself can serve as an additional learning opportunity.

MELINDA S. HARPER AND CHRISTINE L. ALLEGRETTI

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 345–348

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how a structured experiential course can be used to teach students to lead group discussions. Group dynamics and leadership skills were taught through two teaching strategies in the course: the first method required junior- and senior-level undergraduate students to participate in a process-oriented group led by the faculty instructor, and the second method required these students to participate in a practicum by serving as facilitators leading their own process-oriented groups comprising first-year university students. Results indicated that the student leaders’ confidence and satisfaction with their leadership skills increased significantly over the course of the semester. In addition, first-year group members’ evaluations of these student leaders indicated high levels of satisfaction and group connectedness with their leaders. Implications of the benefits of teaching group dynamics and leadership skills, including the generalizability of this course for a variety of students such as teaching assistants and new instructors, are discussed.

SHANNON R. MILES, LISA DEMARNI CROMER AND ANUPAMA NARAYAN

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 349–356

Human subject pools have been a valuable resource to universities conducting research with student participants. However, the costs and benefits to student participants must be carefully weighed by students, researchers, and institutional review board administrators in order to avoid coercion. Participant perceptions are pivotal in deciding whether coercion is a concern. In the current study, students answered an anonymous survey after completing 3 h of research-related activities. In order to gauge the relative value of research participation in participants’ eyes, we computed perceived benefits–costs ratios for research participation and for class attendance in a sample of university students. Results indicated that participants thought attendance and research requirements were generally positive experiences even after considering the costs. However, the benefits of research participation decreased with an increase in required research hours. Suggestions on how to increase student benefits and decrease costs of research requirements are provided.

AMY E. SIBULKIN AND J. S. BUTLER

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 357–360

We tracked a sample of primarily Black psychology baccalaureates’ advanced degree enrollments and completions and estimated the association of those outcomes with summer research experience by merging three data sets: (a) summer research program participants, (b) a comparison group of alumni, mostly without summer research, and (c) degree completions from the national Student Tracker (ST) database. Rates of degree completion reported by ST were higher for summer research applicants than for those not applying, but among applicants, rates were similar for those accepted and rejected. Controlling for grade point average (GPA) in a surveyed subsample, participation in summer research was not significantly associated with enrollment in or completion of master’s degrees. Students with higher GPAs were more likely to enroll and complete, and Black students were more likely to enroll.

RONALD E. RIGGIO

Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 361–367

The past two decades have seen a growing interest in college courses on leadership in a variety of academic disciplines. The study of leadership has a long history, much of it based on psychology. As a result, psychologists are well informed and quite capable of teaching leadership courses. In this article, I discuss core theories of leadership, make connections to specific areas of psychology, and review current and future trends in leadership research. I also discuss the value that a course on leadership has for undergraduates, as well as specific suggestions for enhancing a psychologist’s ability to teach leadership courses.