Ludy T. Benjamin

Personalization and Active Learning in the Large Introductory Psychology Class

Addressing selected issues and strategies in teaching the large introductory psychology class, this article focuses on personalizing the large class, making large classes into small classes to facilitate active learning, and incorporating active learning into the large class.

The Power of the Situation The Impact of Milgram's Obedience Studies on Personality and Social Psychology

Few psychological studies, if any, can claim a legacy as imposing as the obedience studies of Stanley Milgram. Their impact was of notable consequence in the separate spheres of research ethics, research design, and theory in psychology, and they changed the ways that psychologists conceptualize and conduct their research. The authors discuss the legacy of these studies, especially as they effected dramatic changes in the fields of personality and social psychology. The article concludes with a discussion of what psychological science has lost in the aftermath of Milgram--high impact studies--and the salience that such research has in illuminating the most significant problems of our society, studies that could produce great human benefits.

Coca-cola, caffeine, and mental deficiency: Harry Hollingworth and the Chattanooga trial of 1911

Harry Hollingworths 1911 investigation of the behavioral effects of caffeine is one of the earliest examples of psychological research contracted by a large corporation. The research was necessitated by a federal government suit against the Coca-Cola Company for marketing a beverage with a deleterious ingredient, namely, caffeine. Although Hollingworths research played little role in the outcome of the Coca-Cola trials, it was important as a model of sophistication in experimental design. As such, it set a standard for psychopharmacological research. It also was particularly important in directing Hollingworth toward a life-long career in applied psychology.

A History of the Child Study Movement in America

The child study movement constitutes an important chapter in the history of educational psychology. Although goals of the movement were diverse, its principal purpose was to establish a scientific pedagogy, to bring the methods of experimental psychology to bear in discovering all that could be known about the child: sensory capabilities, physical characteristics, humor, play, religious ideas, memory, attention span, and so forth. With this new knowledge, education would no longer be guesswork but a science. Pedagogical practices would be restructured in such a way as to be maximally effective for all kinds of students. In this context, child study was seen as a natural bridge between the universities and the schools, a link that would aid in the acceptance of an educational psychology.

Hugo Munsterberg's Attack on the Application of Scientific Psychology

No individual in the early history of American psychology is more identified with the promotion of applied psychology than Hugo Münsterberg, whose books and articles on applied topics such as industrial psychology, forensic psychology, psychotherapy, and educational psychology made him one of the most visible psychologists of his day. But there is an earlier chapter to Münsterbergs life that tells a very different story of a Münsterberg opposed to application. The story begins in 1898 when he wrote an article for an American magazine in which he told teachers that the findings of experimental psychology had no relevance for education, setting off a firestorm of controversy among his colleagues in psychology and education. This article describes Münsterbergs early denigration of applied psychology and his subsequent transformation as applied psychologist. Reasons for that transformation are discussed as well as issues involving the stigma associated with applied psychology and the popularization of psychology.

Recapturing a Context for Psychology: The Role of History.

With the ever-increasing fragmentation of psychology into narrower subspecialties, the field devolves further and further into a focus on specialized knowledge, answering smaller questions and avoiding the larger and more meaningful ones. It is argued that specialized knowledge acquires its meaning only from an understanding of its place in a broader intellectual context. Psychology appears to have lost that context and perhaps the opportunity for a more significant role in modern science. An understanding of the history of psychological science offers a way to recapture that context and to prepare future psychologists to address the truly significant behavioral problems that face our world.

John B. Watson's Alleged Sex Research: An Appraisal of the Evidence.

In 1974, a story was published about clandestine research done by John B. Watson that was judged to be so reprehensible that it was offered as the real reason he was fired from his faculty position at Johns Hopkins University in 1920, at perhaps the peak of his academic career. Watsons dismissal from Johns Hopkins may have been the most important event in his career, and it almost certainly altered the history of American psychology. Thus, this story has great significance. The claims of the story, however, have never been validated or invalidated. This article examines the evidence for and against the existence of such research and discusses Watsons academic dismissal in light of that evidence.

The window on Psychology's literature : A history of psychological abstracts

With the rapid expansion of scientific information at the end of the 19th century, disciplines sought ways to keep their members abreast of the relevant research. Those pressures were felt in the science of psychology in the United States, where psychologists developed a bibliographic aid, The Psychological Index, in 1895 only a little more than a decade after G. Stanley Hall opened Americas first psychology laboratory. The Index was useful but was only a listing of titles. More information was needed, which led to the development of a journal of abstracts, first published in 1927. This article traces the history of Psychological Abstracts from its origins in the Index to the evolution of the American Psychological Associations electronic information system known as PsycINFO, of which Psychological Abstracts has become an outmoded part. Nevertheless, for most of its 80 years, Psychological Abstracts was psychologys window on the world of research.

The APA Centennial and Teaching History of Psychology.

The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to stimulate interest in and promote scholarly activity about teaching history of psychology. We organized 56 articles into three categories: projects, perspectives, and evaluations. This literature on teaching history of psychology is a source of valuable reference material for teachers and scholars. The most glaring need is for thorough evaluative research.

A brief history of the psychology course in American High Schools

Psychology has been a part of the high school curriculum for the past 170 years in a variety of forms, in classes labeled mental and moral philosophy mental hygiene, personal adjustment, child development, human relations, and psychology. This abbreviated and selective account traces that history, including the considerable role played by the American Psychological Association. This history focuses on the social and educational contexts that led to changes in the nature of high school psychology classes and concludes with comments about the value of precollege psychology classes.