Undergraduate labs and computers: the case for PsychExps

PsychExps (http:/(/)www.olemiss.edu/PsychExps) is an interactive on-line psychology laboratory designed to facilitate teaching and conducting research over the Internet. With the increased use of the Web among students and the development of technology enabling the deployment of experiments via the Internet, a laboratory such as PsychExps appears to offer numerous advantages over the solely classroom-based laboratory. As part of the development of PsychExps, a survey was conducted, to assess the utility of this novel approach to the traditional computer-based psychology laboratory classes. Responses generally indicate interest in and a need for cost-effective resources such as an Internet-based laboratory. In addition, PsychExps offers several advantages over the mostly pedagogical and demonstration-based psychology sites on the Internet.

[Problem-based teaching and learning. An opportunity for medical psychology, psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy?]

All proposals for a reform of the study of medicine recommend problem-based teaching and learning methods. The rapid increase in the number of medical faculties abroad offering experimental courses along these lines is an indicator of their usefulness. The results of empirical research also suggest that departments of medical psychology, psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy should participate more closely in the introduction and exploration of the advantages of this didactic approach.

Measuring study time distributions: implications for designing computer-based courses

In both traditional lecture-test courses and courses delivered over the World-Wide Web (WWW), both beginning and experienced college students reported studying almost exclusively just before exams. Automatic measures (computer records, WWW page hits, and electronic mail archives) confirmed the self-reported distributions of study times. Weekly deadlines produced weekly volleys of taking on-line quizzes, a pattern that was reflected in self-reports of study times. However, on-line study materials were used primarily for review for regularly scheduled in-class exams. Thus, regardless of course format, students engaged in massed practice and did not experience study aids at appropriate times. Computer technology provides new forms of learning for students, as well as opportunities for instructors to observe patterns of student study time. Management of instructional contingencies will be necessary to bring students into contact with the rich cognitive aids enabled by technology.

Assessing client satisfaction in a psychology training clinic

Client satisfaction with services obtained at a clinical psychology training center was assessed. A modified version of the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire was developed to obtain information about levels of satisfaction in such a setting and to evaluate training clinic-specific questions of interest, such as the impact of therapists' experience on satisfaction. Results indicated that client satisfaction is multidimensional. Consistent with other studies, satisfaction was greater among clients who were in therapy for longer periods of time, who completed treatment, and who sought therapy rather than an evaluation. Reasons for dissatisfaction included a wish for more directiveness or advice in therapy and concerns over videotaping procedures. Implications of these results for clinic administrators are discussed.

Psychology of religion and adolescents in the United States: past to present

Many of the early founders of America were concerned with religious issues, and some of their concerns continue in contemporary science. Psychology of religion has a long history in American psychology, but one marred by neglect and misguided claims about the nature of science. Psychology of religion offers a chance for an expansion of behavioral science into realms of importance to many people. For example, both development during adolescence and the implications of gender differences may be illuminated by a consideration of the role of religion in human life. Particular topics discussed include conversion and religious mobility, religious experience, images of God, identity, and mental health and coping.

Psychology's future in medical schools and academic health care centers

An exciting challenge exists for psychology to establish itself in the general health care delivery system. Advances in treating physical as well as emotional disorders offer the discipline the chance to expand its traditional and formerly limited role. Convincing empirical evidence suggests that psychology can simultaneously improve health care treatment and reduce its costs. Opportunities and obstacles on the path to success in this expanded venture are examined.

DOS-based exercises that demonstrate classic studies in human memory

Ten exercises are described that demonstrate some classic experiments in human memory and cognition. The studies, prepared in MEL Professional V1.0, have been incorporated in an undergraduate class taught by the author for a number of years. Survey data from students completing the course indicate that the exercises promote understanding of class material. Availability of the programs is described.

A demonstration of auditory top-down processing

A simple demonstration of auditory top-down processing is described in which one speech embedded in several others becomes much clearer when participants read a text of the target speech at the same time as they hear it.

Computer simulations of global memory models

Computer simulation models of memory--including the so-called global memory models--have had and continue to have a profound impact on current memory research and theory. Unfortunately, no memory textbooks published before 1998 present these models to students. The arguments for and against these types of models are summarized along with reasons why the models should be taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. A set of freely available computer programs that can facilitate classroom presentation is then briefly described.

Wildcat World: simulation programs for teaching basic concepts in psychological science

A series of computer programs is described that allows beginning psychology students to design, conduct, analyze, and interpret virtual (computer-simulated) psychological studies. This technique allows the instructor more control over the outcome of student experiments, increases the scope of experiments that can be done by students, decreases the amount of class time that must be devoted to conducting experiments, and eliminates concerns about student experimenters using human or animal subjects.

Wide-angle memories of close-up scenes: a demonstration of boundary extension

Boundary extension refers to a tendency to remember seeing a greater expanse of a scene than was shown in a photograph. It is hypothesized that the view shown in the stimulus activates expectations about the scene's layout just outside the picture's borders. Following presentation, the viewer remembers having seen this expected information, and this yields boundary extension. We provide photographs and instructions for conducting two brief demonstrations of the phenomenon and provide materials for a related class experiment on the journal's World-Wide Web site. These demonstrations of boundary extension provide graphic illustrations of the role of schematic expectancies in the representation of scenes and help to illustrate the role of real-world knowledge in cognition.

Psychologists' right to prescribe--should prescribing privileges be granted to South African psychologists?

Current changes in legislation regarding prescription rights increase the possibility of non-medical practitioners being authorized to prescribe medication. There has been ongoing debate about granting psychologists in South Africa a limited right to prescribe (RTP) psychotropic medication. The main reasons advanced for granting psychologists RTP include the advantage of delivering integrated treatments, with psychologists well placed to offer such treatment, and the shortage of mental health practitioners in South Africa. If psychologists were granted the RTP they would have to undergo extensive training in psychopharmacology. Curricula for such training are currently being prepared with the help of the American Psychological Association. But there is also considerable opposition to psychologists being granted the RTP, both from within psychology and from other quarters. Opposition from outside psychology is based largely on safety considerations relating to lack of relevant training among psychologists. Opposition from within psychology is based on a concern about the loss of the distinctive contribution of psychology to mental health care in South Africa. Various aspects of this debate are examined in this paper.

Jung's psychology in the light of his personal myth

The central argument of this paper is that Jung conceived his archetypal psychology as a locus of therapeutic deep-self narratives that in principle afford each and every one a chance to look for a satisfying personal myth that consoles us and gives meaning and depth to our lives as it imposes an archetypal pattern upon our historical existence which might otherwise seem intolerably defective and meaningless. In his memoirs he created a universal, ‘archetypal model’ of his own life, which he narrated as if it were a mythical story of a hero confronting the powerful forces of the Collective Unconscious in his search for the Holy Grail of psychic and spiritual renewal. Jung's depth-psychological mythification of man signified an escape from the pathogenicity of historical time to the timeless glamour of personal myth.

A historical cross-disciplinary perspective on the professional doctorate in occupational therapy

Clinical doctorates are emerging in occupational therapy. By examining the development of clinical doctorates in medicine, dentistry, psychology, pharmacy, nursing, and physical therapy, implications can be drawn for the future of occupational therapy education. These histories offer us a sense of the distinct purpose and curricular structure of the professional doctorate, its successes and problems, its general sequence of unfolding, the political dynamics surrounding it, and the potential it holds for supporting the profession's capacity for service to patients.

Ethnocultural resistance to multicultural training: Students and faculty

Teaching diversity courses in mental health programs presents a unique set of issues for the faculty. These courses generate various forms of emotional reactions in students that could take the form of anger, silence, avoidance, and passivity. The purpose of this article is to specifically focus on the experience of students of color who find themselves in these courses and the various ways they respond. This learning process is often impeded by resistance because of the personal experiences of all students, but students of color experience a unique set of resistances in each stage of this process, either because of their own experience or because of a lack of experience with racism, racial and biracial identity development, cultural and bicultural identity, or acculturation issues. Resistance in the classroom interferes with the reciprocal communication between instructors and students and interferes with learning and the development of trust between instructors and students of color. Suggestions are made to help faculty to understand these resistances and to develop appropriate responses for working through the process.