Psychology as a Science

For my second class period, I am going to be working on describing psychology as a science.  This includes a brief review of the scientific method and also research ethics.  Prior to any lecture material, students are asked to read through an article from popular media in pairs and decide if the article is an example of scientific research and whether they think psychology is a science.

I usually walk around the room to observe the answers they're writing down.  If they just answer yes/no to a question, I direct them to think more critically about their responses.  I let them know that yes/no are never sufficient answers to a question in my class.

Next, we discuss what science is and how it is different from other types of observation.  Then, research ethics.  After this discussion, students return to the article.  They are asked to review and modify their previous answers given the new information they learned during class.

At the end of the class period, the students are assigned their first scientific literacy assessment (for out-of-class completion).  It is not too difficult - the students read another popular media article (click here) and answer questions about it.  The worksheet asks them to provide straight-foward information (author, date and place of publication) and also to apply information about the scientific method to the article (e.g., how did the authors follow the scientific method, is it an example of research, etc.).    I am giving the students a little over a week to complete the assignment.

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Another goal of the second class meeting is also to further introduce students to different perspectives/occupations in Psychology, the biopsychosocial model of psychology (this may be textbook specific, I use Myers' Psychology in Everday Life, 2nd ed., but think the model is a useful one), and general problems with using personal experience to form beliefs (e.g., hindsight bias & overconfidence).

I will return once the classes have been taught to let you know how it's turned out.