Teaching of Psychology

In this article we describe an instructional program that focuses on applying causal reasoning and related principles of the scientific method to problems faced in daily life. In a highly interactive classroom setting, the instructor gives students repeated opportunities to apply methodological reasoning to real-world scenarios for the purpose of making informed decisions. In addition to describing the program, we report the findings of a capstone exercise that examined changes in students' beliefs toward legalization of marijuana after reading persuasive communications. Students who experienced the instructional program exhibited less bias in evaluating information and less attitude polarization than students in a comparison group. We discuss the implications of these findings for developing and evaluating instructional programs in methodological reasoning in psychology.

Focused Interactive Learning (FIL) is a tool for teaching psychological concepts through student participation in a focused discussion with other class members. Students from 5 upper and lower level psychology courses participated in FIL exercises in which they answered several multiple-choice or opinion questions on their own and then systematically discussed each item for about 2 min with other students before giving a final answer. FIL increased student test performance, helped them get to know other students in the class, and had a small effect on students' self-reported participation and interest in psychology.

This study documents and quantifies the benefits of serving as an undergraduate research assistant based on the results of a national survey of undergraduate psychology educators (N = 211). The survey consisted of a list of 40 potential benefits, skills, and abilities. Respondents rated each of the items on (a) whether their research assistants attain the benefit, skill, or ability and (b) the importance of each item to an undergraduate education in psychology. Factor analysis revealed 2 major themes: The first factor contained items relating to technical skills, such as math, statistics, writing, and effective communication, whereas items in the second factor pertained to interpersonal benefits. This study provides important information for evaluating the value of the assistantship experience.

We discuss the use of a mock trial of the controversial Jack Kevorkian euthanasia case in an undergraduate psychology and law course. We provide an overview of the project, student feedback, and recommendations for improving the exercise. Based on feedback from students, we conclude that constructing a trial around a controversial topic with psychosocial issues as the foundation of a course can increase the utility of a mock trial and make the course a better learning experience.

A concept map is a graphic, hierarchically arranged knowledge representation that reflects the content of an individual's semantic long-term memory. In this article we describe the basic mapping technique, a number of variations on the technique, how faculty members can use concept maps as an adjunct to traditional assessment techniques in psychology courses, and as a means of evaluating students' maps both quantitatively and qualitatively. Based on the results of a comparison between students' concepts maps completed at the beginning and the end of semester, we conclude that the technique is effective at evaluating students' knowledge.

Across different terms, introductory psychology college instructors offered incentives to students for participating in department-wide research as part of a course requirement. Students received either no incentive (n = 590) or exam “bonus points” (n = 480) on both a midterm and final exam. Students offered bonus points began work at an earlier date and completed the research requirement more frequently than students not offered bonus points. Use of the bonus-point system could benefit students, instructors, and researchers.

In this article I describe a method of fostering empathy in undergraduate and graduate students of abnormal psychology. Students depicted a psychological disorder by writing a brief biography and then role playing the characters they developed. Students demonstrated understanding of the disorders by acting and interacting in a manner consistent with their character and diagnosing other student “characters” using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980) results indicated student empathy increased significantly after the exercises. Qualitative analyses of focus group interview data supported and augmented the quantitative findings. Students attributed complex gains to the exercises.

To experience the strength of social constraints, 341 social psychology students chose to either enact or imagine enacting an assigned norm violation. Students then explored in writing how text material accounted for their norm-violation experiences (or imagined experiences) and for the experiences (or imagined experiences) of the targets of the violations. A large majority of students, whether they enacted a violation or merely imagined enacting one, reported discomfort about doing the violation. They also evaluated the assignment as interesting, effective in getting them to think about how course concepts apply to their experiences, a valuable learning experience, and worth recommending for future classes.

Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology has typically been neglected in introductory psychology textbooks and courses. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) recently developed a series of teaching modules for introducing I/O psychology. We evaluated 4 modules with 12 samples (N = 333) for student learning and intentions and for student and instructor reactions. Overall, student knowledge of I/O concepts increased after presentation of the modules. Additionally, students were more likely to want to take a course in I/O psychology after the presentation. Finally, students found the presentations interesting and easy to understand. All instructors reported that the modules made presenting a lecture on I/O easy and that they were considering the use of the modules for future sections.

Faculty of color often find themselves in a double bind. Seen as role models by students of color, they receive numerous requests for information, mentoring, advice, and letters of recommendation. Departmental colleagues send mixed messages to faculty of color who devote extra time to undergraduates of color. One message praises them for their service efforts, whereas the other message reminds them that publications and grants are crucial. We describe The Psychology Group, a program designed to help faculty of color meet the needs of students of color and the demands for grants and publications.

Because college graduates with baccalaureate degrees in psychology are often employed in positions that are not directly related to psychology, we offer a rationale for introducing applied technological skills in the classroom. We focus specifically on presentation software, primarily as a vehicle for creating posters. Given the surge in popularity of poster presentations and the impact of high-quality visual displays, we review sources of information for preparing posters and graphs. We also offer guidelines for the use of PowerPoint™ presentation software to create single-unit poster presentations, a skill applicable in a variety of academic and employment settings.

We review the benefits of using an interactive, graphics-based program called Estimating Statistics (ESTAT) as a teaching tool for statistics with psychology students. ESTAT incorporates two features not found in other programs: eyeball estimation and instantaneous statistical display. We describe an overview of the statistical concepts covered by the program, its unique pedagogical features, and the exercises used to address these concepts. The majority of our students recommended that we use this program in the future. In addition, we include a critique of the program.

Tom Pusateri received his doctorate degree in 1984 from Ohio State University. He is a professor of psychology at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa specializing in Social and Industrial/Organizational psychology. He served a 2-year appointment as Assessment Coordinator for his campus, continues to serve on its assessment committee, and has delivered several conference presentations on assessment. Tom serves as Executive Director for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.

Tom McGovern is professor and cofounder of the interdisciplinary Department of Integrative Studies at Arizona State University West. He was the first campus-wide Director of Assessment at Virginia Commonwealth University. Tom chaired the American Psychological Association (APA)/Association of American Colleges' project on liberal learning and study in depth as well as the steering committee for the St. Mary's Conference on Enhancing Undergraduate Education in Psychology (McGovern, 1993). He coauthored the Quality Principles with the steering committee from that APA-sponsored conference (see McGovern & Reich, 1996).