Psychology can be considered a humanity as well as a science. Distinctions between the humanities and the sciences are examined, and five characteristics of a humanity are suggested. Three examples of psychology as a humanity are provided. The impact that this view might have on teaching and research is discussed. (Author/RM)

The 539 American graduate programs listed in "Graduate Study in Psychology 1983-1984" were surveyed in order to provide more information for advising psychology majors, particularly beginning majors. Information collected included courses students should take for particular types of training and other criteria, e.g., previous research activity, of…

Psychology departments should increase their efforts to develop separate courses on the psychology of women as a catalyst to mobilize resources for the more difficult task of mainstreaming research on this topic into the rest of the curriculum. Resources useful for developing a psychology of women course are described. (Author/RM)

Many teachers of the history of psychology course make women invisible, despite women's participation in and contribution to the discipline. The experience of psychologists of both genders should be included in the history of psychology course. Suggestions for ways of integrating material about women are provided. (Author/RM)

How classroom debates can be used in a developmental psychology course to teach students about controversial issues and to help them improve their thinking and oral communications skills is described. Evaluations indicate that students consider debates to be a positive learning experience. (Author/RM)

An activity that teaches psychology students about the primacy effect that occurs when individuals make judgments about the ability of other people is described. The primacy effect is the tendency for an observer's judgment to be influenced more strongly by early information about a person than by information that comes later. (Author/RM)

Undergraduate psychology students were asked to write about peak experiences that they have had as a way of helping them understand Maslow's theoretical construct. Student evaluations confirmed that the learning activity was successful. (Author/RM)

Two methods to help psychology students read research critically are described. One that has been used successfully with higher-level research classes focuses on the content of research articles. The second technique requires a more global response to a research article and can be used at all levels of the curriculum. (Author/RM)

How undergraduate psychology students were given hands-on opportunities for administering Piagetian clinical interviews is described. To facilitate the training process, flowcharts for Piagetian tasks were developed. These include instructions, checklists for student responses, and alternative procedures to be followed dependent on a child's…

Assumptions regarding undergraduate psychology research conferences (UPRCs) are questioned: (1) that UPRC's are more suited to undergraduate schools than to larger research-oriented universities; (2) that senior faculty speakers are essential; (3) that speakers should never read their papers; and (4) that practice sessions should only have…

It is argued that undergraduate psychology research conferences (UPRCs) are more suited to undergraduate schools than to larger research-oriented universities, that senior faculty speakers are essential at UPRCs, that speakers should never read their papers, and that practice sessions should only have reasonable questions posed to the speaker. (RM)

Hardware and software requirements for setting up a microcomputer-based laboratory for an undergraduate psychology course in research methodology are discussed. (Author/RM)

Described and evaluated is a course structured around SPSS (the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences) that helps psychology students review what they have learned in an introductory statistics course and apply these quantitative skills to other courses. Student evaluation showed that course objectives were met. (Author/RM)

Undergraduate psychology research conferences held at the regional levels provide students with opportunities to present their own work and learn about the work of others. Students' convention experiences would be enhanced if all convention presenters provided full abstracts or manuscripts of their work. (Author/RM)

Failure is frequently the end point of laboratory exercises in physiological psychology that involve stereotaxic surgery by inexperienced students. Lab instructors should caution students to pursue the potential location of misplaced brain lesions using a variety of simple behavioral tests and the Thompson stereotaxic atlas. (Author/RM)