History of psychology students wrote essays about historical figures and counterfactual events. A linguistic analysis of the essays revealed that counterfactual assignments included more auxiliary verbs and more references to tentativeness and the future. More important, scores on the counterfactual assignments but not the historical figure assignments correlated positively with a critical thinking subtest of the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency. The linguistic analysis and standardized test results suggest that the counterfactual assignment promotes a different form of thinking than more traditional historical assignments. Counterfactual thinking assignments may be applied to courses in other areas of psychology.
References
1.
AndersonT., & SodenR. (2001). Peer interaction and the learning of critical thinking skills. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 1, 37–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/plat.2001.1.1.37
2.
BenjaminL. T. (2006). The history of psychology in letters (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
ByrneR. M. J. (2005). The rational imagination: How people create alternatives to reality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
6.
CarrollD. W. (2006). Thinking about historical issues: Debates in the history and systems class. Teaching of Psychology, 33, 131–134.
7.
CarrollD. W. (2007). Patterns of student writing in a critical thinking class: A quantitative analysis. Assessing Writing, 12, 213–227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2008.02.001
8.
CoxB. D. (1997). Students' basic philosophical assumptions in history of psychology: A measure and teaching tool. Teaching of Psychology, 24, 39–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top2401_8
9.
CowleyR. (Ed.). (2003). What Ifs of American history: Eminent historians imagine what might have been. New York: Berkley Books.
10.
El LeithyS.BrownG. P., & RobbinsI. (2006). Counterfactual thinking and posttraumatic stress reactions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 629–635. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.115.3.629
11.
GrayP. (1993). Engaging students' intellects: The immersion approach to critical thinking in psychology instruction. Teaching of Psychology, 20, 68–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top2002_1
HornsteinG. A. (1992). The return of the repressed: Psychology's problematic relations with psychoanalysis, 1909-1960. American Psychologist, 47, 254–263. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.47.2.254
14.
MedvecV. H.MadeyS. F., & GilkovichT. (1995). When less is more: Counterfactual thinking and satisfaction among Olympic medalists. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 603–610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.603
15.
OlsonR.HoganL., & SantosL. (2005). Illuminating the history of psychology: Tips for teaching students about the Hawthorne studies. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 5, 110–118. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/plat.2005.5.2.110
16.
PedenB. F., & CarrollD. W. (2008). Ways of writing: Linguistic analysis of self-assessment and traditional assignments. Teaching of Psychology, 35, 313–318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00986280802374419
17.
PennebakerJ. W.BoothR. J., & FrancisM. E. (2007). Linguistic inquiry and word count: LIWC2007. Austin, TX: LIWC.net
SchkadeD. A., & KahnemanD. (1998). Does living in California make people happy? A focusing illusion in judgments of life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 9, 340–346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00066
22.
SimontonD. K. (1994). Scientific eminence, the history of psychology, and term paper topics: A metascience approach. Teaching of Psychology, 21, 169–171. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top2103_11
23.
StedmanM. E. (1994). Historical knowledge: Assessment of outcomes in a history of psychology courses. Psychological Reports, 75, 22. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1994.75.1.22
24.
WoodyW. D.VineyW., & JohnsJ. C. (2002). Historical literacy of advanced undergraduate psychology students: Pedagogical implications for courses in the history of psychology. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 94, 1013–1024. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/PMS.94.3.1013-1024
