Improving the Writing Skills of Students in Introductory Psychology

Students bring many misconceptions about psychology to the introductory psychology course. We investigated whether scores on a 10-item Knowledge of Psychology Test (adapted from Vaughan, 1977) taken on the first class day were related to final class grades in 11 introductory psychology classes taught by the same instructor at three colleges. A total of 178 undergraduate students decided whether each of 10 statements referring to common psychology misconceptions was true or false. Overall, 83% of students held 5 or more misconceptions out of 10. We found a significant negative correlation between the number of misconceptions held and class grade. Misconceptions remain prevalent among undergraduates and continue to be predictive of student performance. Learning about the content, causes, and consequences of holding psychology misconceptions may be helpful to students and educators as they embark on an introductory psychology course. ********** Variation in prior knowledge is one factor that influences students' performance in college courses. Although prerequisites increase the degree to which students in upper-level courses share a common knowledge foundation, introductory classes (which rarely have prerequisites) often contain students who vary widely in their prior knowledge of course content. Identifying and addressing variability in prior knowledge may promote more effective study skills among students and better teaching practices among instructors. In this study, we report findings on the relation between undergraduates' pre-course knowledge and subsequent course performance in one of the most popular college courses, introductory psychology. Undergraduates enter the introductory psychology course with many misconceptions about the discipline. Beginning at least as early as the mid-1920s (Nixon, 1925), instructors have noted the prevalence of psychology misconceptions brought to the introductory course (e.g., Brown, 1983; Furnham & Rawles, 1993; Vaughan, 1977). Others have examined the resistance of misconceptions to change (e.g., Best, 1982; Landau & Bavaria, 2003; Standing & Huber, 2003) and the validity of misconceptions (Brown, 1984; Griggs & Ransdell, 1987; Ruble, 1986). A relatively underexplored realm is the association between the extent of misconceived beliefs and course performance. The few studies that have investigated the relation between number of misconceptions held and introductory psychology course performance have yielded mixed results. Valentine (1936) and Gutman (1979) both found that number of misconceptions correlated negatively with introductory psychology course grade (-.37 and -.35, respectively). By contrast, Vaughan (1977) failed to find an overall significant negative correlation between number of misconceptions and course grade in the four classes she studied. Given the age and conflicting results of these studies, we believed it worthwhile to re-examine this issue. Learning about the content, causes, and consequences of holding psychology misconceptions can be helpful to students and educators as they embark on an introductory psychology course (e.g., Smith, 2000, pp. 8-9; Swinkels, Guiliano, & Cardone, 2000, pp. 1.14-1.15). Using a much broader sample of students than any previous study we explored two questions: a) Do today's introductory psychology undergraduates still hold misconceptions about psychology? and b) Are undergraduates' misconceptions related to their subsequent performance in introductory psychology? We predicted that misconceptions would still be prevalent among today's introductory psychology students and that students who began the course with fewer misconceptions would earn higher course grades relative to students who held more misconceptions. Method Participants One hundred and seventy-eight undergraduates from 11 semester-long introductory psychology classes taught at three schools between 2001-2005 participated in this study. …

Students in an undergraduate psychology and law course and an introductory psychology course completed a variety of measures, at both the beginning and end of the semester, to assess their knowledge of and attitudes toward psycholegal topics. The psychology and law course improved students' knowledge of psychological topics concerning the legal system, but it also made them more pessimistic in their attitudes and beliefs. Introductory psychology students did not show similar changes. In both classes, students' attitudes were associated with their political orientation. Results demonstrated that a psychology and law course can alter students' views of psychological topics in the legal system.

To envision the introductory psychology course as a foundational part of the major curriculum, priority should be placed on its relevance to the subsequent coursework in the major and its responsiveness to evolving regional, national, and global standards. In this article the authors describe their own strategy for gathering information from multiple sources to explore the foundational potential of the introductory psychology course taught in their department at a medium-sized public university in the USA. They administered surveys to their psychology faculty and students, considered department characteristics and resources, and reviewed national and international professional standards. They conclude that their strategy may be useful for psychology departments at other institutions interested in considering the role their introductory course plays within the context of their undergraduate major curriculum.

Students enrolled in Cross-Cultural and Introductory Psychology courses completed measures of ethnocentrism at the beginning and end of the term. We predicted that those who took part in the Cross-Cultural Psychology class would have significantly reduced ethnocentric attitudes as a result of the course experience. We also predicted that the Introductory Psychology students would show a minimal decrease in ethnocentrism. As predicted, students in the cross- cultural class showed significant decreases in U.S. and generalized ethnocentrism, while the introductory psychology students did not. Course involvement was related to greater ethnocentrism reduction, but course grade was not related to ethnocentrism reduction. We discuss the implications for ethnocentrism reduction through cross-cultural class activities and education.

Introductory psychology students need supports to read and think in a discipline-specific way when learning psychology theories. We tested the effectiveness of using a task-model steps chart to help students understand, evaluate, and use theories presented in their introductory psychology textbook and lecture videos. We randomly assigned 52 undergraduates enrolled in an asynchronous online introductory psychology course to either the task-model steps chart (experimental) or a business-as-usual assignment (control) section of the course. The outcome measures were Exams 2 and 3 and applied-summary activities. Results demonstrated that although scores were not different between the two conditions at the middle of the course (Exam 2), students in the experimental condition performed better than students in the control condition on Exam 3 on non-targeted (transfer) items and the applied summaries. This study provides initial evidence of the value of supporting students’ disciplinary-specific understanding of the role of theories and studies in psychology. This task-model steps chart is a general tool that can be adapted to help introductory students read and think in psychology.

At least 1.5 million students take an introductory psychology class every year in the United States (Cush & Buskist, 1997; Griggs, Jackson, Christopher, & Marek, 1999; Miller & Gentile, 1998) and Perlman and McCann (1999) report that 97% of colleges and universities offered an introductory psychology course in 1997. Students who enroll in an introductory psychology course are not necessarily psychology majors. In fact, a 1973 study by Kulik noted that only 6% of students in introductory psychology courses were psychology majors. Students who were not psychology majors take introductory psychology to fulfill a prerequisite for another major, to complete a general education requirement in the social sciences, or simply as an elective. For most students, introductory psychology is the only course in the field of psychology they will take (Buskist, Miller, Ecott, & Critchfield, 1999). Since this is the only exposure to the field, the comprehensiveness, depth, and accuracy of the topics covered are of particular importance. Little or no representation of a particular section of psychology, substantial errors in describing the subfield, or an absence of recent research citations could indicate that a particular subfield is not accepted or respected in the psychological community (Herzog, 1986; Roig, Icochea, & Cuzzucoli, 1991). The combination of topics taught in an introductory psychology class can also shape the students’ impression of psychology. These early impressions often affect the students’ decision to major in psychology and the area of psychology that becomes the focus of their study (Buskist et al., 1999; Maynard, Bachiochi, & Luna, 2002). I-O psychology was established as Division 14 of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1946 as industrial and business psychology (Koppes, n.d.). Since then, I-O psychology has been an officially recognized course of study within the psychological community. In a 1984 study, 25% of liberal arts colleges and 61% of universities offered I-O psychology classes (Carlson & Millard, 1984). In 1997, Perlman and McCann (1999) found that 44% of colleges and universities offered I-O psychology classes. Therefore, coverage of I-O psychology in introductory psychology textbooks should be expected. However, I-O psychology usually receives little or no coverage (Griggs & Jackson, 1996). In fact, Griggs and Jackson found that the percentage of applied psychology (including I-O psychology) represented in Hilgard et al.’s introductory psychology textbook decreased from 7% in the 1953 first edition, to 4% in the 1957 second edition, to 3% in the 1962 third edition, to 0% in the fourth thorough tenth editions spanning the years 1967 to 1990.

We compared the performance of senior psychology majors, introductory psychology students, and similarly aged individuals with no college psychology on seven different outcome measures including multiple-choice knowledge tests, attitudes, and open-ended scenarios requiring qualitative responses. On all measures, both senior psychology majors and introductory psychology students significantly outperformed individuals with no college psychology. However, the absolute magnitude of introductory psychology student performance would be depicted as a failing grade at most institutions (i.e., below 60% correct). We discuss this pattern of results in the context of judging the effectiveness of the major, the role of the introductory psychology course, and judging the effectiveness of the assessment/outcome measures utilized.

Background Textbooks shape the content and structure of most introductory psychology courses. It is important to compare the content of textbooks to assist educators in making the best textbook choice. Objective The purpose of this study was to conduct an analysis of five commonly used introductory psychology textbooks and examine the extent of overlap in their content coverage. Method Two trained readers identified 3878 key terms after performing a page-by-page content analysis. Commonality among texts was assessed by determining how many textbooks included each term. Results Coverage of psychology topics differed significantly across textbooks with 2766 terms (71%) unique to a single textbook. There were 494 terms (13%), 263 terms (7%), and 201 terms (5%) appearing in two, three, and four books, respectively. Only 154 terms (4%) were common to all five. Conclusion Given our results and how reliant course instructors are on textbooks, it appears introductory psychology students may not be exposed to similar vocabulary. Teaching Implications Introductory psychology textbooks may be similar at a chapter and topic level but do not share as much specific content as may be commonly believed. Instructors should take the time to check if the content matches course goals and expectations.

Introductory psychology students (N = 149) prepared for a 33-item quiz by either completing 70 to 90 frames of programmed instruction, reading a standard text chapter, or reading a standard text chapter covering subject matter unrelated to the quiz. Findings suggest that programmed instruction is both an effective method for learning introductory psychology subject matter and a more efficient method than learning from a standard text. Several impediments stand in the way of programmed instruction, the most serious one being that educators do not create high-quality programs based on relevant research findings. With increasing use of computers in the classroom, programmed instruction has a new opportunity to demonstrate its earlier promise. The introductory psychology course is an ideal setting for implementing programmed instruction and demonstrating its effectiveness.

From 1984 to 1990, more than 400 students, taught by four different instructors, participated in psychology science fairs as part of their introductory psychology course. A sample of 110 students in upper level psychology courses responded anonymously to a questionnaire assessing their retrospective impressions about their introductory psychology course, current course selections and performance, and future academic plans. Students who had participated in a science fair (n = 30) gave significantly higher ratings than students in other introductory psychology courses (n = 80) to understanding basic principles and their application to everyday life, learning from the instructor and textbook, being prepared for other psychology courses, and having an opportunity to explore topics of interest. Science fair participants also reported exerting more effort in their coursework and being more likely to have taken another course from their introductory psychology instructor. Results suggested that a science fair can provide a unique, valuable, and memorable experience for students.

Participants were 131 (69 women, 62 men)students in Introductory Psychology, Social Psychology,and Computer Science courses. Eighty-six percent of thesample was Caucasian. The goals of this study were to assess (a) how accurate students'preexamination expectancies and postexamination gradeevaluations are and whether gender differences in theaccuracy of expectancies and grade evaluations onexaminations exist, (b) whether expected grades predictpostexamination grade evaluations even with actualgrades controlled (self-consistency effect), and (c)whether students' grade expectations and evaluationsbecome more accurate with experience. Throughout thecourse of a semester, students estimated their gradesfor each of their examinations. Students overestimatedtheir grades at all points in the semester, although women in Introductory Psychology overestimatedtheir grades less than men did. Students' expectedgrades were a better predictor of their postexaminationgrade evaluations than were their actual grades. For Introductory Psychology students,expectancies and grade evaluations became more accurateas the semester progressed. The importance of accurateself-perceptions regarding academic performance isdiscussed.

This study compared the performance of students in a televised introductory psychology course to that of students in a traditional introductory psychology course at a community college. All students had the same instructor and textbook. They took approximately the same tests. Students in the televised introductory course did significantly better than those in the traditional introductory course. These two groups were also compared on the basis of age, sex, and scores on the Sixteen Personality Factors Inventory. Students in the televised psychology course were more happy-go-lucky, conscientious, trusting, astute, controlled and less apprehensive. They were also considerably older. Students' evaluation of the TV course, text, and study guide were favorable. More students successfully completed the on-campus psychology course.

Background Introductory psychology courses provide a unique opportunity to educate students in ways that can inform how they will address major issues of the day. Objective We tested whether an integrative, last-day-of-class activity in which students applied pertinent psychological theories to climate change would empower students to address this issue. Method Across multiple introductory psychology courses, pre- and post-course assessments (Study 1) and a comparison to a control classroom condition (Study 2) were used to evaluate changes in students’ climate change efficacy beliefs and intentions to act. Results Students who experienced the activity were more likely to (1) believe their actions could make a difference in mitigating climate change and influence others to follow suit, (2) show increased intentions to adopt sustainable behaviors and take political action to address climate change, and (3) see psychology as relevant to solving societal issues like climate change. Conclusion Having students connect psychology to solving climate change led students to feel more empowered to address this global challenge. Teaching implications This classroom activity could readily be scaled up to thousands of introductory psychology courses around the world every year, connecting psychology to a major issue of our time and potentially mobilizing students to action.

The researchers investigated the relationship between social integration and persistence for high school students enrolled in an introductory psychology course. The researchers hypothesized that the social system interfered with the academic mission of the high school in this study. Persistence was operationalized as completion of an introductory psychology course with a grade of D or higher. Participants were 241 high school students in the southeastern United States. In support of the researchers’ initial expectations, students scoring higher on social integration were more likely to dropout. Based on the results of this investigation, secondary teachers should take a more active role in promoting interactions with their students. By employing a more collaborative learning environment, students may become more involved socially and academically. This could subsequently aid in reducing the high rate of attrition.

Studies show that misconceptions about psychology are pervasive. This study examined how the strength of prior beliefs and the sources of misinformation relate to conceptual change following an introductory psychology course. Ninety introductory psychology students completed a 36-item "Psychological Information" questionnaire. Testing during the 1st day of the semester showed 38.5% accuracy whereas testing during the last week showed 66.3% accuracy. These results suggest that misconceptions remain prevalent but can be reduced by taking an introductory psychology course. Our data also indicate that strength of belief is an important transitional variable that may reflect the process of change. Finally, although personal experience and media are important sources of misinformation, we found that they do not promote strongly held beliefs.