Stimulating Critical Thinking in Abnormal Psychology

This article describes a teaching exercise used in an undergraduate abnormal psychology course to strengthen students' critical-thinking abilities. Students complete a term paper critiquing a book that is itself a critique of the conventional wisdom in the field. Several books representing a variety of unconventional perspectives are available. The exercise aims at increasing students' historical perspective on the field and at confronting them with controversial issues. It also requires students to engage in an active dialogue with their instructor about an issue raised by the book. This dialogue culminates in the students defining a clear personal position on that issue. The exercise is consistent with an active approach to learning.

Download Full-text

Poetry: It's Not Just for English Class Anymore

Teaching of Psychology ◽

10.1207/s15328023top3204_2 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 32 (4) ◽

pp. 215-221 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Patricia A. Connor-Greene ◽

Janice W. Murdoch ◽

Art Young ◽

Catherine Paul

Keyword(s):

Critical Thinking ◽

Creative Thinking ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Thinking Skills ◽

Accurate Information ◽

Abnormal Psychology ◽

Psychology Class ◽

English Class ◽

Research On Teaching ◽

Content Analyses

Higher level thought involves both critical and creative thinking skills. Although the psychological literature is rich with research on teaching critical thinking, relatively little published work addresses ways of promoting creative thinking. In this article we describe the use of poetry writing in an abnormal psychology class to encourage creative exploration and informed empathy. Content analyses suggested that the majority of students' poems communicated both accurate information and empathy. Furthermore, most students described the poetry assignment as a positive learning experience. Two examples demonstrate creative ways students' poems can distill and communicate information.

Download Full-text

Beyond the Sponge Model: Encouraging Students' Questioning Skills in Abnormal Psychology

Teaching of Psychology ◽

10.1080/00986289809709713 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 270-274 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Stuart M. Keeley ◽

Rahan Ali ◽

Tracy Gebing

Keyword(s):

Critical Thinking ◽

Critical Evaluation ◽

Abnormal Psychology ◽

Training Strategy ◽

Critical Questions ◽

Essential Component ◽

Psychology Courses ◽

Questioning Behavior ◽

Explicit Training

Much of education emphasizes an “answers-by-the-experts” and “student-as-sponge” orientation, thereby failing to encourage students' questioning behavior, an essential component of critical thinking. We argue that educators should provide students with explicit training in asking critical questions. We describe such a training strategy taught in 2 recent abnormal psychology courses. At the beginning of both courses, students completed a pretest for which they asked questions after reading an essay. On an identical posttest at the end of the courses, students asked significantly more questions overall and particularly asked significantly more critical evaluation questions. The results support the promise of using explicit questioning training in promoting the evaluative aspects of critical thinking.

Download Full-text