While I sometimes feel that I have student who find choosing appropriate clothing and finding something to eat challenging - one thing I have noticed is that a very small percentage of bright students have trouble with Intro Psych. They do very well in Physics and Math and courses where things are unambiguous and there is a "right" answer. When dealing with the ambiguity of an application question on a psych exam, they have anxiety attacks and don't know what to do.
Introductory Psychology is very superficial in many ways. We point out the highlights and gloss over the fine points. Have you ever had a class really get into an example of Operant Conditioning? Suddenly you have to explain that whether and what is the reinforcement depends on the point of view. Is it the Mom being negatively reinforced when giving her screeching child the candy so he quiets, or the child being positively reinforced for screaming. And why is that candy a reinforcer anyway? Doesn't classical conditioning play a role as well? The course has concepts that make sense to us. We probably wouldn't have chosen the field if we didn't already have some patterns of thinking that matched the discipline. What about the student with a very different understanding of the world, where our considerations are not relevant? Where punishment is the way to get a child to behave because "we have always done it that way." Students also get bad grades because everything they read seems self evident - until it is an exam question. After all, it is all common sense isn't it But which is true: Opposites attract Or Birds of a feather flock together? For me the ambiguity and complexity is fun and interesting. For many of our students it is a failed class waiting to happen. Suzi Susan J Shapiro Associate Professor, Psychology Indiana University East 2325 Chester Blvd Richmond IN, 47374 (765) 973-8284 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
