To determine how topical coverage in introductory textbooks may have changed from the 1980s to the present, the author examined topic coverage in full-length and brief introductory textbooks from this time period. Because 98% of the teachers use textbooks for the introductory course and the majority do not assign reading beyond the textbook, the…

Because 98% of teachers use textbooks for the introductory psychology course and the majority of introductory teachers do not assign reading beyond the textbook, examining the topical coverage allocation pattern in introductory textbooks versus that in introductory course lectures is important for our understanding of how introductory students are…

In 2011, the Society for the Teaching of Psychology commissioned a presidential task force to document teaching criteria for model psychology teachers in undergraduate education. The resulting list of criteria reflects activities related to face-to-face course interaction and online teaching, training, and education; course design; implementation…

Introductory psychology is one of the most popular undergraduate courses and often serves as the gateway to choosing psychology as an academic major. However, little research has examined the typical structure of introductory psychology courses. The current study examined student learning objectives (SLOs) and course content in introductory…

The pedagogical value of capstones has been regularly discussed within psychology. This study presents results from an examination of a national random sample of department webpages and an online survey that characterized the typical capstone course in terms of classroom activities and course administration. The department webpages provide an…

Two experiments examined whether framing effects, in terms of losses and gains, can be extended to student learning and grading preferences. In Experiment 1, participants rated psychology course syllabi to investigate preferences for differently framed grading systems: a loss versus gain grading system. The results showed a clear framing effect…

There has been a rapid growth of diversity across North America in recent years, and hence the delivery of culturally sensitive services has found itself at the forefront of the field of psychology (Carter, 2001; Sue & Sue, 2008). Consequently, the need for multicultural education and training is increasingly critical, with a focus being placed on…

Lurking on the Internet aims to put a human face on psychopathology for the abnormal psychology course. Student groups are assigned major diagnostic categories and instructed to search the Internet for discussion forums, individual blogs, or YouTube videos where affected individuals discuss their symptoms and lives. After discussing the ethics of…

Early study of the curriculum focused on the ideal array of experiences that should comprise the psychology major. We developed a standardized coding scheme to identify common curricula and course titles across institutions and current implementation of the curriculum. We compared psychology major programs in 2005 to programs described a decade…

College students participated in a study on the "psychology of note taking" during which they took notes on video content and later completed a multiple-choice test on the material. Researchers assigned 71 participants to either the ringing condition (the video was disrupted by a ringing cell phone) or the control condition (no cell phone rings…

Although syllabi provide students with important course information, they can also affect perceptions of teaching effectiveness. To test this idea, we distributed 2 versions of a hypothetical course syllabus, a brief version and a detailed version, and asked students to rate the teacher of the course on qualities associated with master teaching.…

This article describes the design and implementation of a 1-credit-hour seminar in comparative psychology as a supplement to an introductory biopsychology course. The purpose of the course was to introduce students to the ecological and evolutionary aspects of animal behavior by building on topics that are introduced in many biopsychology courses.…

Genius-level achievement is a natural draw for undergraduate students, both as a cultural phenomenon and as a topic domain within the science of psychology. Yet within the teaching of psychology literature, the psychology of genius has been largely ignored. I designed a course that combines primary source material drawn from existing empirical…

Research methods and statistics courses constitute a core undergraduate psychology requirement. We analyzed course syllabi and faculty self-reported coverage of both research methods and statistics course learning objectives to assess the concordance with APA's learning objectives (American Psychological Association, 2007). We obtained a sample of…

Increasingly, psychologists practicing as clinicians, researchers, and educators are concerned about nutrition, obesity, dieting, and body image. This article describes the development and teaching of an interdisciplinary undergraduate class on the Psychology of Food and Culture. I describe the course philosophy and curriculum as well as make…