Cheesy debate
On Tue, 30 Jan 2001, Weisskirch, Rob wrote: > > Harris only offers weak substantiation that has been refuted by many of the > big cheeses in psychology (e.g., Maccoby and Steinberg). Ah, the oblique sideswipe technique and big cheese assertion gambit. Personally, I think Harris (Judith Harris and her `group socialization theory``, I presume) ably defends her views in her book _The Nurture Assumption_ , in her prize-winning article in Psychological Review (or Bulletin, I forget), and in her subsequent publications. I certainly wouldn`t call her evidence `weak` although she does admit that much remains to be done in supporting it. As for big cheeses, she bases her work on that of the excellent twin research of Robert Plomin and Thomas Bouchard, among others, and has no less than the eminent Steven Pinker and TIPS own David Myers as her supporters. Plus me :-) (for some reason my quotation key has stopped working properly, and the question mark gives É instead. So I`m afraid I can`t ask any questions in this note). But I do have my signature file. -Stephen Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's Universitye-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
Netiquette and introductions
On Tue, 30 Jan 2001, brucebachelder wrote: > I have been subscribed, here, for a good long time now and have even > posted a > couple of times, but I now realize I may have blundered by not > introducing myself. While introductions are interesting and welcome, there`s nothing either in the the TIPS guidelines (see the TIPS website at the url in my signature file) or in our general practice which requires this. Many of us (ahem!) have never done so. So the blunder concern is unfounded. And if everyone who never introduced now rushed to do it, we`d really be in trouble. But I personally like to see a signature file, even though this isn't required by TIPS guidelines either (which rarely concerns us, anyway). It usually provides the minimum information to satisfy my curiosity about the writer. Some lists do insist on it. But even if we don`t, it seems like basic netiquette to me. -Stephen Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's Universitye-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
Introducing myself, Bruce L. Bachelder
Tuesday 1/30/01 7:49 p.m. Good evening TIPSters, I have been subscribed, here, for a good long time now and have even posted a couple of times, but I now realize I may have blundered by not introducing myself. Please excuse me. I learned about lists via computer support lists and, to the best of my knowledge, personal introductions are not part of the etiquette there. I am a psychologist, PhD, Michigan State University, 1970. I majored in experimental/mental retardation and minored in developmental. I have always earned my living through applied professional psychology, first in residential institutions for the mentally retarded, then in independent practice the past 20 years. I like to teach and many years ago I taught regularly in community colleges, colleges, and universities as an adjunct staff member. My salary as a full-time state facility psychologist was ample enough to allow me to teach in my off hours for the pure enjoyment of it. The comparatively small amount of money I earned I generally spent on my hobbies. When I went into independent practice I had to actually support myself through fee for service and I found I could no longer afford to teach. Teaching had always taken lot of time for comparatively small remuneration. As an adjunct, I typically had to do a full preparation for each course, then teach it just one time which is one of the reasons teaching as an adjunct is virtually out of the question for me now. At any rate, I have not lost my interest in teaching and enjoy following the list. I teach my clients every day, do talks and presentations from time to time, and many of my current activities are highly relevant to teaching. For example, I recently posted responses to a question asking if psychotherapy is effective in treating major depression (yes, and manic-depression, and other diagnoses too). A more recent question was the proximal stimulus for this Introduction. A few days ago Michael Sylvester asked, "Whatever became of elicitation theory?" In a very real sense, elicitation theory lives on in my theoretical work. I'll explain some of that in another post responding directly to his. I have a practice which is personally very satisfying. I am in joint full-time practice with my wife, Judith B. Bachelder, MA, also full time in our practices. She is an educator, elementary and special education, Michigan State University, 1967. She has her own caseload, here, helping kids do better in school. We sometimes work jointly on specific individuals. By and large, my mornings are devoted to professional writing and my afternoons and evenings to client appointments. In between, Judi and I take a 10 or 15 mile ride on our tandem road bike. My professional writing focusses on the development of span theory, a theory of mental retardation, intelligence, and more. It is not well known, but I think that is changing. I also work extensively on several clinical matters, such as psychological formulations of "AD/HD" and "learning disabilities" and critiques of psychiatric diagnostic concepts and procedures. I have a particular interest in stress and its effects on school learning and performance. So far, my writing in clinical areas has been for regional professional conferences and the usual local public service talks and is not available in journals. Two of my projects promise to be especially relevant to classroom teaching. One is to develop and evaluate some experiencial methods of teaching basic measurement concepts and procedures, based on my measures of immediate memory span. The idea is simple: administer a memory span test to each member of the class (brief and about as reliable as one wants to make it) then pool the data for analysis of mean, standard deviation, correlation, variance, ANOVA, and probably more. Associated lessons can focus on concepts of latent variables, reliability, face validity, concurrent validity, and construct validity, all keyed directly to data gathered in class on the students themselves or other subjects. At advanced levels these data can be the basis for a discussion of historical and contemporary theoretical approaches to the span phenomena. Memory span tests have played a major role both in intelligence testing and intelligence research, but also in basic short-term-memory and working memory research. A closely related project is the development of computer software to assess Miller's three magical numbers, namely, memory span, span of apprehension, and span of absolute judgment. I will use the software for my own research, but I also will release it "Open Source" for use in research and teaching. Span of absolute judgment is in "beta testing" right now. That is, it works and is useful, but undoubtedly has problems and can be improved. Span of apprehension is well along, but not so usable yet. Memory span is the least developed simply because the manual methods are effective and sufficient for my current research plans. Eventually, I would lik
question: alcohol use and myelin damage
Tipsters - A student in intro today said that he learned in high school that alcohol use can damage myelin...can anybody verify that for me? While we're at it, how about an easy way to explain how the brain stem and the autonomic nervous system together are responsible for breathing, heart rate, and other self-regulating functions, etc. Thanks! -- \\|||// ( o o ) -o00-(_)-00o-- Traci A. Giuliano Department of Psychology Southwestern University Georgetown, TX 78627 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (512) 863-1596;fax 863-5788 http://www.southwestern.edu/~giuliant
Adolescent violence
TIPSfolk, I highly suggest that anyone teaching adolescence or even developmental take a look at Mike Males' two books: Scapegoat Generation (1994?) and Framing Youth: 10 Myths about the Next Generation (1999?). He describes how adolescents are unfairly targeted as the source of violence, drugs, sex, and whatever else you can think of when it is actually young adults. Harris only offers weak substantiation that has been refuted by many of the big cheeses in psychology (e.g., Maccoby and Steinberg). Rob Weisskirch Rob Weisskirch, MSW, Ph.D. Department of Child and Adolescent Studies California State University, Fullerton P.O. Box 6868 Fullerton, CA 92834-6868 (714) 278-2896 http://faculty.fullerton.edu/rweisskirch
Re: RE:The 5% solution
>These findings are not particularly surprising given the circumstances. >Remember there are huge differences in retrieval accuracy as measured by >recall, recognition and relearning. When an exam is given several months >after a course is over, recall and recognition memory will have declined >precipitously but there will still be a considerable savings. I have been >in a number of theatrical performances and have a difficult time learning >my lines. I was the lead in one play and received a frantic call from the >director a year and a half later. The lead has become ill and the "play >must go on" I had three days to relearn my lines which had taken me weeks. Furthermore, the material on a comprehensive exam is usually detailed and difficult to retrieve. I am not concerned that my students can't recall six months later whether GABA or glutamate is the excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter, but I certainly hope they have learned the concept of neurotransmitter and an appreciation of the complexity of the issue. And I expect that if they need to know the difference, they will know where to find the information and be able to relearn it quickly The same applies to any area. _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
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Re: RE:The 5% solution
I wonder if this tells us something about the efficacy of comprehensive exams? JL Edwards [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Carroll, M. DR BS&L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 11:27 AM Subject: RE:The 5% solution >Jeff Ricker wrote: > >> And does anyone know if similar kinds of studies have been done by >> anyone else (and more recently than 1977)? > >I've been lurking for awhile and learning a lot from many of the posts - >thought I would finally jump into the pool. Anyway, I remembered seeing an >article in Teaching of Psychology just a while back and was able to located >the reference: > >VanderStoep, S. W., Fagerlin, A., & Feenstra, J. S. (2000). What do students >remember from introductory psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 27, 89-92. > > >The article contains the reference from Ellis and Rickard that was >mentioned: > >Ellis, N. R., & Rickard, H. C. (1977). Evaluating the teaching of >introductory psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 4, 128-132. > > >Marjorie Carroll, Ph.D. >United States Military Academy >Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership >West Point, NY 10096 > >
RE: The 5% Solution
Jeff, I did some searching on PsycInfo and the best I could come up with was a 1988 article by Rickard, Rogers, Ellis, & Beidleman. It was titled "Some retention, but not enough" and appeared in the journal Teaching of Psychology,Vol 15, pages 151-152. According to the abstract, they compared 59 students who had a psyc course to 15 controls who had not had the course. While they found differences, those differences were small. In addition, they compared retention for the 29 students who received traditional classroom instruction to retention for the 30 who received instruction emphasizing concepts. The scores in those 2 groups was similar. Hope that helps, Larry Larry Z. Daily Assistant Professor of Psychology Department of Psychology White Hall, Room 213 Shepherd College Shepherdstown, West Virginia 25443 phone: (304) 876-5297 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://webpages.shepherd.edu/LDAILY/index.html > -Original Message- > From: Jeff Ricker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 9:54 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; TIPS > Subject: The 5% Solution > > > I just finished reading a paper by Camac (1995) titled "Public > perceptions of psychology" (an interesting paper: I recommend it). In a > section in which she was discussing difficulties that arise in the > teaching of psychology, she mentioned a finding reported in Ellis & > Rickard (1977): > > "Even if we cannot dispel all the myths, surely students are learning > _something_ about the field [in our courses]. Well, perhaps not: Ellis > and Rickard (1977) gave a general test in psychology to introductory > psychology students four months after they had taken the course. The > students answered an average of 30% of the questions correctly. A > control group who had not had the course answered 25% of the questions > correctly" (p. 33) > > On the surface, this finding is fascinating (although, strangely, I am > not terribly surprised). I wish to order the Ellis & Rickard paper so > that I can get the details: things are probably more complicated than > such a brief summary suggests. The problem is that the citation is > missing from Camac's reference list. Can anyone give me the citation? > And does anyone know if similar kinds of studies have been done by > anyone else (and more recently than 1977)? > > Jeff > > Reference: > Camac, M. K. (1995). Public perceptions of psychology. Virginia Social > Science Journal, 30, 20-36. > > > > -- > Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (480) 423-6213 > 9000 E. Chaparral Rd.FAX Number: (480) 423-6298 > Psychology Department[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Scottsdale Community College > Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626 > > "Science must begin with myths and with the criticism of myths" > Karl Popper > > Listowner: Psychologists Educating Students to Think Skeptically (PESTS) > > http://www.sc.maricopa.edu/sbscience/pests/index.html > > >
RE:The 5% solution
Jeff Ricker wrote: > And does anyone know if similar kinds of studies have been done by > anyone else (and more recently than 1977)? I've been lurking for awhile and learning a lot from many of the posts - thought I would finally jump into the pool. Anyway, I remembered seeing an article in Teaching of Psychology just a while back and was able to located the reference: VanderStoep, S. W., Fagerlin, A., & Feenstra, J. S. (2000). What do students remember from introductory psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 27, 89-92. The article contains the reference from Ellis and Rickard that was mentioned: Ellis, N. R., & Rickard, H. C. (1977). Evaluating the teaching of introductory psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 4, 128-132. Marjorie Carroll, Ph.D. United States Military Academy Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership West Point, NY 10096
mind/body/spirit
Have your student go to http://www.google.com/ and search for "spirit spirituality graduate psychology college university". I got a lot of potentially relevant hits. Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, West Chester Univ. of PA, West Chester, PA 19383 ~~~ Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, herpetoculturist and bluegrass fiddler If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning. --Catherine Aird
Free History and Systems Books
Ok Tipsters, Today's special is History and Systems. The following books are available for "adoption": Chaplin and Krawiec's Systems and Theories of Psychology (2nd ed) Murphy'sHistorical Introduction to Modern Psychology Murphy'sPsychological Thought from Pythagoras to Freud Smith's Ideas of the Great Psychologists Heidbreder'sSeven Psychologies Boring'sA History of Experimental Psychology (2nd ed) Underwood's Experimental Psychology (2nd ed) BrunswikThe Conceptual Framework of Psychology Since the list is longer today, please be specific with your interest. Same policy as before all I am asking is that you reimburse the college for shipping expense. Michael Bergmire Psychology Department Jefferson College 1000 Viking Drive Hillsboro, MO 63050 (636) 797-3000 ext 347 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: The 5% Solution
Jeff Ricker wrote: > And does anyone know if similar kinds of studies have been done by > anyone else (and more recently than 1977)? >From my dissertation: == In 1977, Eva Vaughan published the first of a series of articles introducing the study of false prior beliefs in psychology to the journal Teaching of Psychology. She identified a number of popular discipline-specific beliefs that run counter to the findings of mainstream psychological research, and created a "Test of Common Beliefs" (TCB) that simply asked students to identify each as "true" or "false". She then looked for change in prevalence of those beliefs across span of the introductory psychology course. While some of the false beliefs were significantly reduced across the semester, many of them were not. The total improvement of only 5.5% (of 80 items) across a semester of introductory psychology was very similar to the 6.6% noted by McKeachie (1960) on a similar list, the roughly 4% improvement (on a 76-item version of the Test of Common Beliefs) found by Lamal (1979), the 5-6% improvement on the TCB found by Gutman (1979), and the 7.98% improvement found on a 14-item inventory derived from the TCB by Gardner and Dalsing (1986). Furthermore, both Gutman (1979) and Griggs and Ransdell (1987) observed that students tending to hold more of the false beliefs from the list created by Vaughan tended to have lower grades in their introductory psychology courses. == Okay, so it's not a lot more recent, but it's something. References: Gardner, R. M., & Dalsing, S. (1986). Misconceptions about psychology among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 13, 32-34. Griggs, R.A. & Ransdell, S. E. (1987). Misconceptions tests or misconceived tests? Teaching of Psychology, 14, 210-214. Gutman, A. (1979). Misconceptions of psychology and performance in the introductory course. Teaching of Psychology, 6, 159-161. Lamal, P. A. (1979). College students' common beliefs about psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 6, 155-158. McKeachie, W. J. (1960). Changes in scores on the Northwestern Misconceptions Test in six elementary psychology courses. Journal of Educational Psychology, 51, 240-244. Messer, W. S. & Griggs, R. A. (1989). Student belief and involvement in the paranormal and performance in introductory psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 16, 187-191. Vaughan, E. D. (1977). Misconceptions about psychology among introductory psychology students. Teaching of Psychology, 4, 138-141. Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee
The 5% Solution
I just finished reading a paper by Camac (1995) titled "Public perceptions of psychology" (an interesting paper: I recommend it). In a section in which she was discussing difficulties that arise in the teaching of psychology, she mentioned a finding reported in Ellis & Rickard (1977): "Even if we cannot dispel all the myths, surely students are learning _something_ about the field [in our courses]. Well, perhaps not: Ellis and Rickard (1977) gave a general test in psychology to introductory psychology students four months after they had taken the course. The students answered an average of 30% of the questions correctly. A control group who had not had the course answered 25% of the questions correctly" (p. 33) On the surface, this finding is fascinating (although, strangely, I am not terribly surprised). I wish to order the Ellis & Rickard paper so that I can get the details: things are probably more complicated than such a brief summary suggests. The problem is that the citation is missing from Camac's reference list. Can anyone give me the citation? And does anyone know if similar kinds of studies have been done by anyone else (and more recently than 1977)? Jeff Reference: Camac, M. K. (1995). Public perceptions of psychology. Virginia Social Science Journal, 30, 20-36. -- Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (480) 423-6213 9000 E. Chaparral Rd.FAX Number: (480) 423-6298 Psychology Department[EMAIL PROTECTED] Scottsdale Community College Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626 "Science must begin with myths and with the criticism of myths" Karl Popper Listowner: Psychologists Educating Students to Think Skeptically (PESTS) http://www.sc.maricopa.edu/sbscience/pests/index.html
Re: Adolescent Violence?
On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, Jessica Percodani wrote: > > Does anyone know of any recent articles examining aspects of parenting > related to violent adolescents? > I'd recommend the work of one of my favourite gadflies, Judith Harris (as in her book "the Nurture Assumption"), which argues that parents have much less influence than they've been traditionally assigned in how their adolescents turn out. In a recent reply to one of her critics (Harris, 2000), she cites a book (Reiss, 2000) summarizing a major research project on the topic. She says this about Reiss's findings: "Reiss has confessed that he was "shocked" by the results...The results are indeed shocking to believers in the nurture assumption (and Reiss, in spite of everything, remains a believer). Virtually all the correlations between parental behaviors and child outcomes [adolescents, apparently] were accounted for by genetic factors. The parents did indeed treat their children differently, but they were reacting to genetic differences...rather than causing the differences". -Stephen References Harris, J. (2000). Socialization, personality development, and the child's environments: comment on Vandell (2000). Develop. Psychol. 36, 711-723 Reiss, D. (2000). The relationship code: Deciphering genetic and social influences on adolescent development. Harvard Univ Press. Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's Universitye-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
