Introductory Psychology Classes Research Articles

Improving Information Literacy in Introductory Psychology Through Short, Adaptive Interventions

Background The American Psychological Association has identified information literacy as a crucial component to undergraduate education. One major barrier to comprehensive information literacy instruction has been a lack of guidance integrating this into survey courses, particularly with reduced pedagogical resources available. Objective This research evaluates the effectiveness of a scaffolded information literacy curriculum that may be integrated into psychology courses. Method Students in introductory psychology courses were taught with either an information literacy curriculum or the typical science-focused curriculum. Information literacy knowledge was evaluated using a multiple-choice test. Results Students who received the specialized curriculum demonstrated significant improvements on an objective information literacy test by the end of the course, while students in the control group did not. Conclusion Evidence suggests that this easily adaptable information literacy curriculum is effective in meeting psychology information literacy goals, more so than the traditional science-focused curriculum taught in introductory psychology classes. Teaching Implications Instructors and faculty should be encouraged to utilize this adaptive curriculum, available on Open Science Framework, as a way of improving information literacy. Other implications, including feasibility and content, are discussed.

Improving Student Learning in Introductory Psychology Courses with Peer Mentors and Supplemental Instruction

Research suggests that the presence of peer mentors in Introductory Psychology classes can improve student performance by raising course completion rates, promoting achievement of student learning outcomes (SLOs), and elevating overall grades (Asgari & Carter, 2016). Accordingly, Psi Beta student researchers brought honors psychology students into Introductory Psychology classrooms to serve as peer mentors. These mentors delivered three online lessons through Zoom, which covered scientific reasoning, biopsychology, and antidepressant therapy. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of these peer-presented lessons through a 64-item post-presentation assessment pertaining to Introductory Psychology. A total of 73 undergraduate psychology students from Irvine Valley College completed the assessment, with a control group of 64 participants and a treatment group of 9 students who participated in the supplemental Zoom lessons for extra credit. It was hypothesized that students who completed the supplemental lessons would score higher on the assessment than students who did not complete the supplemental lessons. A subset of hypotheses was posed that the treatment group would score higher on three individual SLO’s compared to the control group. These SLO outcomes encompassed the following abilities: First, recall of various fundamental concepts presented in Introductory Psychology, second, the application of critical thinking to differentiate between psychological misconceptions and truth, and third, the ability to recognize different research designs, and formulate conclusions based on data. Results indicated no significant differences between the groups on the overall assessment nor the individual student learning outcomes. Limitations include group sizes, potential bias in the treatment group, and reduced impact of online learning compared to in-person instruction. Future research should compare the relative effectiveness of live in-person lesson delivery, live Zoom sessions, on-demand pre-recorded lectures. Results from this study can be used to further enhance psychology instruction and ensure that students comprehend course content while simultaneously providing growth opportunities for peer mentors.

Paying Attention in Class: Using In-Class Quizzes to Incentivize Student Attention

Background: Methods are needed to incentivize student attention to class material. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of in-class quizzing to incentivize student attention to class material to boost exam performance. Method: A randomized, alternating treatments design embedded in an introductory psychology class compared learning benefits of two types of quiz-based engagement activities, mastery quizzes, and concepts checks, as compared to a no-engagement activity control. Results: Students performed significantly better on exam content linked to classes with quiz-based engagement activities. Learning benefits of engagement activities extended across levels of cognitive complexity indexed to Bloom levels, although were stronger for low-level items. The effects of engagement activities were also stronger for content directly discussed in class. There were no significant differences in learning outcomes between the two engagement activities. Conclusion: Students performed better on exam content linked to class sessions with quiz-based engagement activities that incentivized attention to class material compared to those that did not. Teaching Implications: Using in-class quizzes as attentional cues offers instructors a means of incentivizing student attention to class material with minimal disruption of class time and lecture flow, while also improving exam scores.

I Believe I Can Try: Self-Efficacy, Pandemic Behaviors, Coping, and Learning.

While colleges and universities grapple with delivering instruction face-to-face during the pandemic, there is still a lot to learn from remote teaching experiences. The present study aimed to predict self-reported learning during the first year of the pandemic. Building on previous scholarship on the topic, we focus on the moderating effects of self-efficacy, and the mediating effects of coping styles on the relationship between stress and self-reported learning experiences. We also included self-perceptions of class effort, the instructor, and changes in class, personal, professor, and health behaviors. Students (N = 272) in Introductory Psychology classes participated in an online survey as part of a class research requirement. Analyses demonstrated that self-efficacy predicted differences in many measures associated with learning and predicted learning over and above all other variables entered in a hierarchical regression. The relationship between stress and learning was mediated by coping, but not moderated by self-efficacy. These results suggest student beliefs about their ability to perform online are important to learning outcomes, but coping mechanisms mediate the relationship of stress and learning. Especially while teaching during pandemic times using different modalities, instructors will do well to directly address students' perceptions of their own ability and build self-efficacy.

Editorial: Research Participation Pools in Introductory Psychology Classes: Maintaining an Educational Benefit and Avoiding Coercion

Many colleges and universities require students in introductory psychology classes to fulfill a research participation requirement. Recent research has described the common practices used by colleges and universities that require research participation. Several recommendations are provided to encourage departments to follow best practices that enhance the likelihood that students will learn from the experience and support the autonomy of the student participants.

Experienced weight stigma, internalized weight bias, and maladaptive eating patterns amongheterosexual and sexual minorityindividuals.

The current study examined experienced weight stigma (EWS), internalized weight bias (IWB), and maladaptive eating patterns (ME) among sexual minority (SM) and heterosexual individuals. The sample consisted of cisgenderheterosexual and SM men and women. Participants were drawn from introductory psychology classes and a variety of supplemental recruitment methods (Facebook, Instagram, MTURK, etc.). SM individuals reported higher levels of EWS, IWB, and maladaptive eating patterns than heterosexual individuals.Heterosexual men reported the lowest levels of EWS, IWB, and ME compared to all other groups. Additionally,therewas a significant association between greater EWS and IWB and greater ME. Gender identityandsexual orientationimpacted the strength of the relationship between IWB and ME and, to a lesser extent, EWS and ME. This investigationcontributes toknowledgeoftheimpact ofgender identityandsexual orientationonEWS and IWB, and demonstrates that IWB and EWS are significant concerns for the SM community, especially in relation to ME. Level IV, cross-sectional study.

Evaluating schizotypy and alcohol usage as predictors of increased engagement in risky sexual behaviors in an undergraduate sample.

The window of risk for developing a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder overlaps with young adulthood, a time of increased independence and self-sufficiency. Research suggests that this period is also associated with increased substance use and risky sexual encounters. The current study aimed to examine rates of alcohol usage and risky sexual behaviors in those demonstrating higher rates of schizotypy (i.e., risk indicator for schizophrenia). Data was collected at a midsized university in the Northeastern United States during the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 academic years. A total of 385 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology classes completed the study either in-person or online. The study consisted of questionnaires related to alcohol usage, rates of sexual risk behaviors, and schizotypal traits. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and the time period covered by the sexual risk measure (i.e., the last six months), the authors deemed it necessary to omit certain participants, leaving 179 participants in our main analyses. Participants who reported higher levels of alcohol usage and positive schizotypy demonstrated increased engagement in specific sexual risk behaviors, while higher levels of negative schizotypy may have acted as a protective factor against engagement in sexual risk. Descriptive data for participants collected during the pandemic period was provided for comparison and for the interest of future researchers looking at the pandemic period (n = 180). The current findings provide a snapshot (baseline rate) of sexual behavior and alcohol usage in a nonclinical sample with varying risk for psychosis that extends previous research involving clinical samples.

The benefits of successive relearning on multiple learning outcomes.

Successive relearning involves repeated retrieval practice of the same information (with feedback) over multiple, spaced sessions. We implemented successive relearning in an introductory psychology class to explore potential learning benefits. After each weekly lecture, students were sent links via email to engage in three learning practice sessions, each separated by two days. Half the students engaged in successive relearning (relearn condition), answering 20 fill-in-the-blank questions with corrective feedback. Within each session, correctly answered questions were dropped, whereas incorrectly answered questions were presented up to 2 more times. The other half of students restudied the same 20 sentences without blanks twice per session (restudy condition). Unlike previous research, we controlled the exposure duration of the learning materials between the relearn and restudy conditions. Learning practice sessions continued throughout the remaining 10 weeks of the semester, with students alternating each week between the relearning and restudying tasks. Recall of course material at the end of the semester was better for relearning compared to restudying. Increased recall during relearning sessions was associated with further learning benefits including improved metacognition, increased self-reported sense of mastery, increased attentional control, and reduced anxiety. Individual differences were not associated with the benefit of relearning over restudying in the retention tests. Qualitative feedback indicated that students found successive relearning to be enjoyable and valuable. Our research indicates that successive relearning is a valuable addition to any university course and is easy to implement using digital resources.

Secularism Orientations

Introduction: There has been extensive research conducted on religious orientations, but less so of secularism orientations. We sought to examine several ways that secularist beliefs connect and compare. 
 Methods: Undergraduate students in introductory psychology classes (n = 397) completed an online questionnaire assessing their secularist beliefs, religious orientations, and psychological well-being.
 Results: An exploratory factor analysis yielded four types of secularism orientations: Faith in Humans, Faith in Law, Faith and Science, and Faith in Paranormal. These four factors then distinctly correlated with religious orientations and subcomponents of well-being. 
 Conclusions: Identifying secular belief systems and their implications is key to understanding the consequences of the Western decline in religious practice. These preliminary data provide insights into their types and benefits for psychological functioning.

Examining the Efficacy and Results of a Short-Form Alzheimer's Survey With College Students

College students are important stakeholders in addressing the significant costs of Alzheimer’s disease in their future roles as caretakers, health care consumers, taxpayers, and as individuals in the workforce whose careers may interact with and impact those with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. To assess their knowledge of Alzheimer’s, a 10-item True/False on-line quiz was presented to 912 students in Introductory Psychology classes. Participants were 61% white, 13% Asian/Asian American, and 10% Latinx, with 14% reporting other racial and ethnic groups, including that of mixed heritage; 59% of the sample self-reported as female. The quiz was counterbalanced such that items appearing in one format (e.g., True) appeared in the other format (e.g., False) across the two forms of the quiz. A significant difference was found for percent correct in Form A (61.4%) versus Form B (59.3%). In order to prompt participants to consider the ways the disease may impact their own lives, additional questions examined students’ own experience with Alzheimer’s, their interest and willingness to take action towards supporting Alzheimer’s research, and their perceptions about how Alzheimer’s would impact their lives personally, financially, and in their career pursuits. The research extends the findings of earlier research on student knowledge of Alzheimer’s (e.g., Bailey, 2000; Eshbaugh, 2014) by allowing the results to be broken down by gender, race/ethnicity, and student major. It also expands upon those findings by identifying how college students project the societal effects and costs of Alzheimer’s to their own lives and livelihoods.

Exploring a core psychopathology in disordered eating: the feelings of fat scale

BackgroundFeelings of fat are common for people with eating disorders, but ways of measuring its intensity are needed. Therefore, our goal was to develop a self-report feelings of fat scale that asked participants to indicate how intensely they currently felt statements such as “I feel fat”. With such a scale we can determine how strongly feelings of fat relate to evidence of disordered eating.MethodsWe conducted three studies of eating disorders with undergraduate women taking introductory psychology classes. The combined sample was 472 participants. A previous eating disorder diagnosis was self-reported by 33 participants and a current diagnosis by 11. All participants completed the EDE-Q and the seven (Study 1) or nine item (Studies 2 and 3) “State Feelings of Fat” (SFF) scales we developed. Each item asked them to rate the intensity with which they felt statements such “I feel fat” on a seven-point scale from “not at all” to “the most I have ever felt”.ResultsBoth the seven and nine item SFF scales were highly coherent (Cronbach’s α were .94, .95 and .94), but factor analysis supported the seven-item version. We found high correlations between SFF and EDE-Q scores (Study 1: .816; Study 2: .808; Study 3: .841). SFF scores distinguished participants self-reporting no eating disorder diagnosis from those with a former diagnosis, t (361) = 2.33, p = .021, who in turn were distinguished from those with a current diagnosis, t (42) = 2.09, p = .043. Due to the high coherence of the scale, the single item “I feel fat” captured most of the variance in EDE-Q scores (r [472] = .793).ConclusionsWe have constructed an eating disorders relevant feelings of fat scale. Given that the EDE-Q is considered a valid questionnaire for measuring severity of eating disorders, our findings suggests that feelings of fat are core to the psychopathology of eating disorders. To the extent that EDE-Q scores are stable it also suggests that feelings of fat are surprisingly stable. Furthermore, the single item “I feel fat” alone may capture most of what the EDE-Q measures.

Applying Bayesian cognitive models to decisions to drive after drinking.

Despite widespread negative perceptions, the prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving (AID) in the United States remains unacceptably high. This study used a novel decision task to evaluate whether individuals considered both ride service cost and alcohol consumption level when deciding whether or not to drive, and whether the resulting strategy was associated with engagement in AID. A two-sample study, where sample 1 developed a novel AID decision task to classify participants by decision strategy. Sample 2 was used to cross-validate the task and examine whether decision strategy classifications were predictive of prior reported AID behavior. A laboratory setting at the University of Missouri, USA. Sample 1 included 38 student participants from introductory psychology classes at the University of Missouri. Sample 2 included 67 young adult participants recruited from the local community. We developed a decision task that presented hypothetical drinking scenarios that varied in quantity of alcohol consumption (one to six drinks) and the cost of a ride service ($5-25). We applied a Bayesian computational model to classify choices as consistent with either: integrating both ride cost and consumption level (compensatory) or considering only consumption level (non-compensatory) when making hypothetical AID decisions. In sample 2, we assessed established AID risk factors (sex, recent alcohol consumption, perceived safe limit) and recent (past 3months) engagement in AID. In sample 1, the majority of participants were classified as using decision strategies consistent with either a compensatory or non-compensatory process. Results from sample 2 replicated the overall classification rate and demonstrated that participants who used a compensatory strategy were more likely to report recent AID, even after accounting for study covariates. In a hypothetical alcohol-impaired driving (AID) decision task, individuals who considered both consumption level and ride service cost were more likely to report recent AID than those who made decisions based entirely on consumption level.

Improving Students’ Study Habits and Course Performance With a “Learning How to Learn” Assignment

How can instructors help students adopt effective learning strategies? In this study, students in a large introductory psychology class completed a “learning how to learn” assignment in which they read one of four randomly assigned empirical articles about the utility of a learning strategy (i.e., distributed practice, rereading, practice testing, or forming mental images) and wrote a paper summarizing, analyzing, and applying the article’s findings. Students relied significantly less on low-utility strategies and significantly more on moderate and high-utility strategies at the end of the semester than at the beginning. Furthermore, students who completed this assignment outperformed their peers in a control semester of the same course, improving by about one-third of a letter grade. Suggestions for effective implementation of a similar assignment are presented.

Size Inflation in Drawing From Mirror and Proportional Accuracy in Observational Drawing.

In three experiments, a bias to inflate in drawing the proportion of an image on a mirror over the mirror itself is demonstrated in a sample (N = 146) of undergraduate students taking introductory psychology classes. The inflation is not confined to the image of one's own head but is likely to occur in depictions of any object from a mirror with the mirror frame included. Having to include in the drawing background objects visible in the mirror is found to reduce the inflation. The inflation also diminishes with a smaller mirror and at a longer viewing distance. An account for the inflation in terms of a mechanism of size constancy contingent on selective attention is offered. The size of the inflation suggests a conflation of the perceived mirror image size with the size of the distal object it signals rather than a complete take-over by the latter. The reduction of the size inflation when participants are asked draw both a target and background objects is more likely a result of the selective attention to proportional relationships in the mirror scene, rather than a manifestation of an evenly scaled visual space under distributed visual spatial attention. The implications of the findings to improving proportional accuracy in observational drawing are discussed.

Open Educational Resources as a Tool for Educational Equity: Evidence From an Introductory Psychology Class

A college education is becoming increasingly expensive, and the burden of this cost is often felt disproportionately by marginalized students. One aspect of rising college costs are textbook prices, which have increased at a rate that far surpasses inflation. Open educational resources (OER; free, openly-licensed course materials) are often proposed as a solution to this problem. It is not clear, however, whether these materials are equivalent in quality to standard commercial textbooks. During one semester, half of the Introductory Psychology sections at a large, public university were assigned to use OER while the other half were assigned to use the incumbent commercial textbook. Participants were asked to self-report the behaviors they engage in as a result of high textbook costs. We also examined student performance in the courses and students’ perceptions and use of the two books. We found no significant differences between textbook groups on course performance or perceptions of the book, but marginalized students (first-generation students and/or ethnic minority students) reported engaging in negative behaviors (i.e., dropping a class) more often than their peers as a result of textbook costs. These findings suggest that textbook costs disproportionately affect our most vulnerable students and the use of OER may be one solution to this problem, particularly given the equivalent performance across textbook groups.

Psychologische Bildung im Psychologiestudium und Psychologieunterricht

In der amerikanischen und britischen Hochschuldidaktik wurde psychologische Bildung (»Psychological Literacy«) zur Leitidee für die Vermittlung von Psychologie. Psychologische Bildung ist auch ein anstrebenswertes Ziel für die Sekundarstufe II, da sie einen fachspezifischen Beitrag zur Allgemeinbildung zu leisten vermag. Die Definition von McGovern et al. (2010) ist jedoch nicht hinreichend domänenspezifisch ausgerichtet, um vor allem gymnasiale und universitäre Einführungskurse gut anleiten zu können. Dieser Beitrag zeigt, wie Sternbergs triarchisches Psychologiedidaktikmodell verwendet werden kann, um ein fachspezifischeres Verständnis von psychologischer Bildung zu entwickeln, das psychologisches Wissen, psychologische Denkfertigkeiten und reflexive psychologische Haltungen verbindet und dadurch einen kritischen Gebrauch der Alltagspsychologie ermöglicht. Wenn solche psychologische Denkfertigkeiten und Haltungen effizienter in Einführungskursen vermittelt werden sollen, dürfen die Lerngegenstände nicht unkritisch die disziplinäre Struktur des Faches »abbilddidaktisch« spiegeln, sondern müssen überlegter und selektiver hinsichtlich ihres Beitrags zur psychologischen Bildung ausgewählt werden. Gleichzeitig verweist der psychologische Bildungsbegriff auf die allgemeinbildenden Aspekte der Hochschuldidaktik, die in der Berufsbildung von Psychologen und Nichtpsychologen zu berücksichtigen sind.

Expanding the Nomological Network of Work Avoidance: Antecedents and Consequences Across Contexts

Work avoidance, or the goal to reduce effort in an achievement context, is related to disengagement and may offer insight into disengaged students and employees. To shed light on this issue, we investigated the antecedents of work avoidance in academic and work contexts to distinguish it from mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. Two samples of employed college students (N = 207, N = 233) completed questionnaires about their jobs and in one sample about their introductory psychology class. Across both contexts, proposed antecedents of alienation, low need for achievement, and perceiving one’s competence needs as not being met predicted work avoidance. Work avoidance also accounted for additional variance when combined with achievement goals to predict citizenship behaviors, perceiving work/classwork as meaningless and wanting to leave/quit.

Classroom Evaluation of Online Quizzing and Concept Building Exercises Embedded in an Integrated Learning System

The advent of the integrated learning system (ILS) offers instructors opportunities to provide students with feedback-enabled, interactive learning exercises as online supplements to assigned textbooks. Major college publishers are now bundling an ILS with many of their textbook offerings in undergraduate courses in psychology and other fields. We incorporated an ILS in two separate classes in introductory psychology and evaluated the learning benefits of requiring ILS quizzing and concept-building exercises embedded within the ILS. The two classes were taught by different instructors using the same textbook and course examinations. We incentivized use of these ILS resources by allocating a substantial portion of the student's grade to performance on online assignments. Our findings suggest potential learning benefits of requiring these ILS resources. As learning benefits were limited to students in the upper third of the class distribution, additional efforts may be needed to help poorer performing students utilize online resources more effectively.

Measuring moral reasoning using moral dilemmas: evaluating reliability, validity, and differential item functioning of the behavioural defining issues test (bDIT)

ABSTRACTWe evaluated the reliability, validity, and differential item functioning (DIF) of a shorter version of the Defining Issues Test-1 (DIT-1), the behavioural DIT (bDIT), measuring the development of moral reasoning. About 353 college students (81 males, 271 females, 1 not reported; age M = 18.64 years, SD = 1.20 years) who were taking introductory psychology classes at a public University in a suburb area in the Southern United States participated in the present study. First, we examined the reliability of the bDIT using Cronbach’s α and its concurrent validity with the original DIT-1 using disattenuated correlation. Second, we compared the test duration between the two measures. Third, we tested the DIF of each question between males and females. Findings reported that first, the bDIT showed acceptable reliability and good concurrent validity. Second, the test duration could be significantly shortened by employing the bDIT. Third, DIF results indicated that the bDIT items did not favour any gender. Practical implications of the present study based on the reported findings are discussed.

Extraversion and neuroticism: Associated responses to a positive mood induction

The purpose of this investigation was two-fold: (1) to determine if a musical stimulus can successfully generate a positive mood induction and (2) to identify particular personality traits that may correlate with the response to this mood induction. Participants were recruited from social media websites (Facebook and Twitter), as well as from introductory psychology classes at a private university in the northeast, and completed online measures of the Big Five personality traits, positive, and negative affect. Participants were then asked to listen to a piece of music designed to induce a positive mood, followed by a subsequent assessment of both positive and negative affect. Results of our study show a complex pattern of interrelationships, consistent with the notion that both extraversion and neuroticism are characterized by mood reactivity. Future studies should attempt to replicate these findings.