Contrasting Student and Instructor Views of Psychology Jeffrey Holmes ICTP : July 15, 2008

Introduction  Calls for critical thinking skills  Students who “hate math and science”  Potential differences between students and instructors  Scientist-Practitioner Model  Current Objective: Compare students and instructors on interests and views of psychology

Method  Participants undergraduate students ( N = 282) college and high-school psychology instructors ( N = 160) (119 college instructors)  Instruments Scientist-Practitioner Inventory (Leong & Zachar, 1991) Psychology as Science Scale (Friedrich, 1996)  Procedure online administration

Results  Professors tended more toward viewing psychology as a science than did students M(prof) = 89.55, SD = 8.28 M(students) = 75.63, SD = 8.89  Professors had higher scientific interests than students M(prof)= 74.23, SD = M(students) = 53.99, SD =  Students had higher practitioner interests than professors M(students) = 69.91, SD = M(prof) = 53.45, SD = 23.68

Item Level PAS Data  “ Carefully controlled research is not likely to be useful in solving psychological problems. ” (neutral or agree) college professors: 7.6%, college students: 28.4%  “ Our ability as humans to behave in any way we choose makes our attempts to predict behavior ineffective. ” (neutral or agree) college professors: 10.9%, college students: 35.4%  “ Psychological advice given in popular books and magazines is often as useful as more research- based claims. ” (neutral or agree) college professors: 11.7%, college students: 34.4%

Item Level PAS Data  “ Courses in psychology place too much emphasis on research and experimentation. ” (neutral or agree) college professors: 5.9%, college students: 36.9%  “ Students get little benefit from learning about procedures for conducting psychology experiments. ” (neutral or agree) college professors: 0 (0%), college students: 20.1%  “ The Study of Psychology Should be seen primarily as a science. ” (neutral or disagree) college professors: 6.7%, college students: 36.9%

Conclusions and Implications  Disconnect between instructors and (at least some) students?  Context provided by previous findings  Solution is elusive – dissonance is powerful  Students are not blank slates

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