G. William Hill

Quality Benchmarks in Undergraduate Psychology Programs

Performance benchmarks are proposed to assist undergraduate psychology programs in defining their missions and goals as well as documenting their effectiveness. Experienced academic program reviewers compared their experiences to formulate a developmental framework of attributes of undergraduate programs focusing on activity in 8 domains: curriculum, assessment issues, student learning outcomes, program resources, student development, faculty characteristics, program climate, and administrative support. A continuum of performance was conceptualized for each attribute in each of the domains to characterize underdeveloped, developing, effective, and distinguished achievement for undergraduate programs. The authors hope to inspire a national conversation about program benchmarks in psychology in order to improve program quality, encourage more effective program reviews, and help optimally functioning programs compete more successfully for resources on the basis of their distinguished achievements.

Risk Perception and Use of Warnings

The purpose of the studies was to develop information about how the general public perceives the degree of danger represented by signal words in warnings. Although many organizations have guidelines for the determination of what signal words are to be used with specific hazards, these are usually unknown to the public. For 15 items that had been rated for the seriousness of risk, 288 subjects were asked to indicate which signal word they would use to inform others of the hazard. Signal words that had been found to rate high in seriousness by Leonard, Karnes, and Schneider (1988) tended to be used more with items rated as higher risks. Differences were found among age groups with older subjects using signal words that carried more serious connotations. The possible warnings that might be used were discussed.

Best practices for teaching beginnings and endings in the psychology major : research, cases, and recommendations

Introductory and capstone experiences in the undergraduate psychology program are crucial ways to engage students in their major and psychology department, impart realistic expectations, and prepare them for life beyond college. Providing the right orientation and capstone courses in psychology education is increasingly a concern of instructors, department chairs, program directors, and deans, and both types of courses have become important sources for gathering pre- and post-coursework assessment data for degree learning outcomes. The strategies presented here have been designed to help educators examine issues around teaching the introductory or careers course and developing a psychology-specific orientation program. The authors also provide concrete suggestions for building capstone experiences designed to fit the needs of a department, its pedagogical philosophy, or the educational agenda of the college or university. Undergraduate psychology curriculum designers and instructors can benefit from learning innovative and effective strategies for introducing the major to first-year students and, at graduation, for bringing closure, reinforcing the overall departmental learning outcomes, and helping students apply their disciplinary knowledge in capstone experiences and post-graduate life. In this collection of articles, psychology instructors involved in the improvement of teaching and learning review the research and share their own successes and challenges in the classroom. Discussions include effective practices for helping students become acclimated to and engaged in the psychology major, application of developmental knowledge and learning communities to course design, and use of quality benchmarks to improve introductory and capstone courses. Other chapters describe innovations in the design of stand-alone courses and offer concrete advice on counseling psychology graduates about how to use what they have learned beyond their higher education experiences.

Risk Perception is Affected by Experience

Use of safety devices concerns human factors and safety personnel both as a practical matter of reducing injuries and saving lives and as a basis for studying theories of human behavior. Many reasons are given for non-use of these devices. Seatbelt use provides a good model for examining generally what factors affect safety behaviors. Slovic, Fischoff, and Lichtenstein (1978) suggested that failure to use seatbelts resulted from fear extinction, in that the effort required to fasten the belt was not reinforced and ultimately habit strength was reduced. A test of this hypothesis provided evidence for fear as a factor. Professed seatbelt use was an increasing function of distance driven. In addition, other hazards examined generally showed the greater experience with a hazard the lower the perception of risk, supporting an extinction explanation.

Incorporating a Cross-Cultural Perspective in the Undergraduate Psychology Curriculum: An Interview with David Matsumoto.

G. William Hill is Professor of Psychology and Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA. His favorite courses to teach include cross-cultural psychology, research methods, careers in psychology, introductory psychology, and sensation and perception. His research interests include ethical issues in grading, opinions on and use of extra credit, and strategies for teaching effective library and database research and evaluation skills. He is also the founder and coordinator of the annual Southeastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology. David Matsumoto is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Culture and Emotion Research Laboratory at San Francisco State University. A recognized expert in the field, he has studied emotion, human interaction, and culture for more than 15 years. He is the author of more than 200 works on culture and emotion, including research articles, presentations, books, book chapters, videos, and assessment instruments. He also serves as an intercultural consultant to various domestic and international businesses. Dr. Matsumoto is also very active in the world of the Olympic sport judo and brings his expertise in intercultural relations to this arena as well. In addition to being the Head Instructor of the East Bay Judo Institute in El Cerrito, CA, he also currently serves as the Program Director of Development for U.S. Judo, Inc., the national governing body of judo in the United States. He was the team leader for the judo team representing the United States at the 1995 World Championships in Chiba, Japan; the 1997 World Championships in Paris, France; and the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA.

Factors Involved in Risk Perception

The ability to avoid the hazards that abound in the environment is affected by our capabilities for recognizing the hazards. The estimates of risk associated with different hazards will presumably affect the effort used to avoid them. The experiment was designed to examine perception of risk to oneself versus others, and explore the extent to which commonalities among different hazards may produce similar risk estimates. Data from 136 females and 98 males suggested that only younger males perceived themselves as less at risk than other sorts of individuals, but not less than other young males. Factor analysis techniques suggested a grouping based on perceived level of risk. The results were interpreted to indicate both situational and individual components are involved in risk estimates, and that this has implications for development of training techniques and warnings.

Effect of Labels on Risk Perceptions of Consumer Products

Previous studies have shown many individuals do not know the meanings of terms often used as stand-alone descriptions of hazards. Leonard and Digby (1992) found subjects rated the danger associated with different products very differently despite being given the same hazard description. One possibility for the differences in ratings is that substances are experienced in very different quantities. While gasoline is usually seen in multigallon amounts, fingernail polish remover is seen in quantities of a few fluid ounces. An alternative explanation is that peoples experiences (direct or vicarious) with the substances have given them different concepts of the characteristics of the substances. This study examined these alternatives by asking 88 subjects to rate the risk of a dangerous event occurring with the same specific quantity of each substance. Mean ratings over all subgroups indicated that they perceived less risk from certain substances than from others, although the substances are equally dangerous. Evidence for an experiential component of risk assessment was provided by differences between older and younger subjects on specific items. The importance of presenting information about the consequences of hazards in warnings was discussed.