Abstract
Volume 43, No. 3
Topical Articles
Excellent Teachers’ Perspectives on Excellent Teaching
Jared W. Keeley, Emad Ismail and William Buskist
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 175–179
Studies of master teaching have investigated a set of qualities that define excellent teaching. However, few studies have investigated master teachers’ perspectives on excellent teaching and how it may differ from other faculty or students. The current study investigated award-winning teachers’ (N = 50) ratings of the 28 qualities on the teacher behavior checklist. There was substantial overlap in the importance placed upon various teaching qualities among award-winning teachers and other faculty. However, excellent teachers placed more value upon being prepared and forming rapport with students. Full professors placed more importance on several teaching qualities than associate and assistant professors. Teaching training programs should include broad definitions of excellent teaching that incorporate components that some faculty may otherwise overlook.
The Impact of Participating in a Peer Assessment Activity on Subsequent Academic Performance
Rajiv S. Jhangiani
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 180–186
The present study investigates the impact of participation in a peer assessment activity on subsequent academic performance. Students in two sections of an introductory psychology course completed a practice quiz 1 week prior to each of three course exams. Students in the experimental group participated in a five-step double-blind peer assessment activity immediately following the practice quiz, whereas those in the control group participated in the identical activity 1 week after the exam. Results show that participation in the peer assessment activity enhanced subsequent exam performance in all three cases, even after accounting for online mastery quiz performance and attendance. A detailed description of the peer assessment activity is provided as a flexible template for instructors.
An Effective Intervention in Research Methods That Reduces Psychology Majors’ Sexist Prejudices
Janice D. Yoder, Aeriel S. Mills and Emily R. Raffa
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 187–196
We tested the effectiveness of a course-long intervention in an undergraduate Research Methods course aimed toward reducing students’ endorsement of hostile sexism (HS) and benevolent sexism (BS). Reading assignments illustrating diverse research methodologies, lecture examples, and a hands-on research project designed by student teams focused on ambivalent sexism—a topic that has personal relevance for students as well as research findings documenting its harmful individual, interpersonal, and sociopolitical effects. Of the 101 students across three Methods courses taught at a U.S. Midwestern comprehensive university by the same instructor, 31 responded to a postintervention survey, showing significant declines in HS and BS that were not duplicated in a comparison group of 29 twice-tested psychology majors. Supplemental analyses ruled out selection biases between responding and nonresponding intervention students and between all intervention students and 55 comparison psychology majors tested at the start of their courses. Our findings from a quasi-experiment in a naturalistic setting do suggest that repeated exposure to theory and research about ambivalent sexism can favorably influence students’ attitudes—thus adding a feminist social justice agenda targeting psychology majors as well as a model for targeting students’ other prejudices.
The State of Multiculturalism and Diversity in Undergraduate Psychology Training
Milton A. Fuentes and Casey R. Shannon
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 197–203
Over the past few decades, diversity and multiculturalism have received considerable attention in the field of psychology. While there have been notable efforts to ensure these important areas are addressed in undergraduate psychology training, little is known about this undertaking. The present study examined how diversity and multiculturalism were addressed in the course titles and course descriptions of 200 undergraduate, psychology programs across North America and their corresponding general education programs. Analyses revealed that while most undergraduate psychology programs offered diversity or multicultural courses, very few programs required these courses. Moreover, when these courses were offered, they typically examined diversity or multiculturalism in a singular fashion, giving very little attention to the intersectionality that exists among cultural factors. With respect to the institutions’ general education programs, we found that while some institutions had a multicultural awareness requirement, few offered or required psychology-based diversity or multicultural courses of their psychology students. Implications of these finding are considered, and several recommendations and resources for improving undergraduate psychology programs are provided.
Methods and Techniques
Effects of a Risk and Resilience Course on Stress, Coping Skills, and Cognitive Strategies in College Students
Jess P. Shatkin, Ursula Diamond, Yihong Zhao, John DiMeglio, Michaela Chodaczek and Jean-Marie Bruzzese
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 204–210
This study tested the impact of the skills-building component of a two-semester risk and resilience (R&R) course on the stress, coping skills, and cognitive style of 36 undergraduates compared to 62 students enrolled in a child and adolescent psychopathology course. In the fall, students learned about risk taking and decision-making as well as coping skills and positive cognitive styles. In the spring, students taught these skills to ninth graders. Upon completion of the fall semester, R&R students reported improvements in stress, coping, and dysfunctional attitudes. Although maintained, these gains did not increase after the spring semester. We conclude that the course, particularly the fall semester, is an effective, practical classroom intervention for reducing stress and improving resilience in undergraduates.
Faculty Forum
Challenging the Status Quo: Evidence That Introductory Psychology Can Dispel Myths
Maureen A. McCarthy and Sue Frantz
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 211–214
Student beliefs in common psychological misperceptions were assessed at the beginning of an introductory psychology course, the end of the course, and again 1 year later. At the end of the course, students’ previously held misperceptions of psychological phenomena shifted toward more accurate perceptions, and 1 year later, students reported that they had not reverted to the original misconceptions for the majority of the myths evaluated. Results of this study suggest that the introductory psychology course can be effective in correcting common misperceptions of psychological phenomena.
The Importance and Interest of Introductory Psychology Textbook Topics: Student Opinions at Technical College, 2-, and 4-Year Institutions
Lee I. McCann, Kathy R. Immel, Tammy L. Kadah-Ammeter and Sarah K. Adelson
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 215–220
Introductory psychology students at a technical college, 2-year community college, and a regional university rated how important textbook chapters or topics were to them now and in the future and how interesting they were. Importance and interest ratings were highly correlated, and the whole course was rated of greater importance and interest than was any individual topic. Most topics were ranked between important and quite important both currently and for the future, and university students typically rated both topic importance and interest higher. Males rated statistics of greater interest than did females; females rated importance of developmental now and in the future higher than did males. Women also rated current and future importance and interest in abnormal psychology and the future importance of therapy higher. Implications for introductory psychology instructors, departments, and advisors are discussed.
Teaching Statistics in APA-Accredited Doctoral Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology: A Syllabi Review
Anna S. Ord, Jennifer S. Ripley, Joshua Hook and Tiffany Erspamer
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 221–226
Although statistical methods and research design are crucial areas of competency for psychologists, few studies explore how statistics are taught across doctoral programs in psychology in the United States. The present study examined 153 American Psychological Association–accredited doctoral programs in clinical and counseling psychology and aimed at identifying specific aspects of statistics instruction within these programs. We conducted a comprehensive review of statistics syllabi to clarify how much emphasis and time were spent on each topic, and whether different types of programs differed significantly in their approach to statistics instruction. We detected relative consistency of the material covered in statistics classes across the various doctoral programs.
Diagnosing Cartman: Psychology Students’ Use of Symptoms and Traits to Assess Child Antisocial Behavior
Matthew M. Yalch, Erika M. Vitale and J. Kevin Ford
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 227–231
Recent changes to the diagnosis of child antisocial behavior provide different methods of conceptualizing it (e.g., traditional symptom-based diagnoses and alternative trait-based methods). However, there is little research on how psychology students might use these different methods and what kind of instructional formats might be amenable to teaching students about them. In this study, we examined how students in an advanced psychopathology course used symptom-based and trait-based methods to conceptualize child antisocial behavior in a case study format. Results indicated that students perceived symptom-based and traitbased methods as providing complementary information that students found useful for diagnosis. Implications and future directions are also discussed.
Positive Psychology Course and Its Relationship to Well-Being, Depression, and Stress
Leilani B. Goodmon, Ashlea M. Middleditch, Bethany Childs and Stacey E. Pietrasiuk
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 232–237
The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of a positive psychology course on student well-being, depressive symptoms, and stress in a repeated measure, nonequivalent control design. As hypothesized, the positive psychology students reported higher overall happiness, life satisfaction, routes to happiness, and lower depressive symptoms and stress compared to students in the control course. These findings replicate previous research on the benefits of positive psychology courses on wellbeing and extend previous research by showing that the benefits generalize to other reliable and multidimensional measures of happiness as well as measures of depression and stress. Our results indicate that a positive psychology course may be one way to improve students’ mental health.
A Pilot Test of a Graduate Course in Suicide Theory, Risk Assessment, and Management
Robert J. Cramer, Claire N. Bryson, Caroline H. Stroud and Brittany E. Ridge
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 238–242
The present discussion outlines the design and initial implementation of a semester-long graduate course in suicide theory, risk assessment, and management. While the structure of the course is adaptable in light of various considerations (e.g., targeted group of students and availability of resources), we review suicide risk assessment core competencies and course structure and provide sample evidence-based applied and interactive assignments. An initial empirical test of the course yielded a number of encouraging findings, including increased factual knowledge concerning suicide risk assessment and management, and improved objectively assessed student accuracy in estimating chronic and acute suicide risk in response to a mock case vignette. We offer suggested next steps for modification and testing of the course in undergraduate and graduate training contexts.
“Try Walking in Our Shoes”: Teaching Acculturation and Related Cultural Adjustment Processes Through Role-Play
Byron L. Zamboanga, Lindsay S. Ham, Cara C. Tomaso, Shannon Audley and Nnamdi Pole
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 243–249
In this article, we describe several role-playing exercises on acculturation and relevant cultural adjustment processes that we incorporated into Tomcho and Foel’s classroom activity on acculturation, and we report data that examine subsequent changes in students’ responses on pretest and posttest measures shortly after the activity and present qualitative themes derived from students’ reflections taken from an assignment at the end of the semester. We found no increases in students’ perceptions that role-playing can help them gain a better understanding of acculturation. However, there were increases in students’ awareness that acculturation is a real-world phenomenon, their understanding of how acculturation can impact people’s lives, and their sensitivity and empathy for people who face some of the challenges associated with acculturation, even after controlling for students’ pretest level of interest in cultural issues. Furthermore, thematic analyses indicated that students learned some of the challenges associated with acculturation and were able to label personal experiences associated with acculturation. They also gained concrete knowledge about and in-depth realization of the concept of acculturation. Instructors who teach psychology classes can use this exercise to complement traditional methods of teaching
Postbaccalaureate Salaries of Psychology Majors From a Historically Black University: How Much Does a Master’s Degree Add?
Amy E. Sibulkin and J. S. Butler
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 250–254
A sample of predominantly African American psychology major baccalaureates from a historically Black university self-reported job types, salaries, and master’s degree completion. For this pre-2009 recession sample, we found that (a) the rates of employment were quite high; (b) most jobs were related to health, mental health, social work, and education; and (c) the average salary was comparable to national estimates. After controlling for GPA, completion of a master’s degree predicted substantially higher salaries.
The Generalist’s Corner
Teaching About Psychosocial Aspects of Disability: Emphasizing Person–Environment Relations
Dana S. Dunn
Teaching of Psychology 43(3): 255–262
This article presents some psychosocial aspects of disability linked to the person–environment relation that teachers should share in the psychology classroom. Disability is an often-overlooked form of diversity, one that teachers should discuss alongside race, gender, sexual orientation, social class/socioeconomic status (SES), religiosity, and aging. The experience of disability and disability culture are important topics that should be shared with and understood by secondary and postsecondary students, particularly because people with disabilities are no longer at the social margins of everyday life in the United States. To that end, I review definitions for disability as well as a nascent model for understanding the experience of disability, some select but fundamental psychosocial constructs regarding disability, and a representative negative (stigma and stereotyping) and positive (disability identity) context example from the social psychological literature on disability. I then close with suggestions for teaching about disability