Michael L. Stoloff

The Undergraduate Psychology Major: An Examination of Structure and Sequence

Early study of the curriculum focused on the ideal array of experiences that should comprise the psychology major. We developed a standardized coding scheme to identify common curricula and course titles across institutions and current implementation of the curriculum. We compared psychology major programs in 2005 to programs described a decade earlier to evaluate the progress that has been made toward implementing published curriculum design recommendations. These data will aid departments in curriculum development and serve as a benchmark for common curriculum practices at this point in the evolution of the undergraduate psychology major in North America.

Teaching physiological psychology in a multimedia classroom

In this article, I describe techniques used for teaching Physiological Psychology in a 104-Stuaent multimedia classroom that includes two computers and an array of permanently mounted audiovisual equipment. Lectures are illustrated with computer-generated text, graphics, animations, and video clips. Keypads mounted on student desks tabulate individual student responses to questions posed to the class. Use of the keypads promotes active learning in a large lecture class because each student formulates an individual answer to every question.

Using the good cop/bad cop profile with the MMPI-2

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) has been widely used in a variety of ways to screen candidates for law enforcement positions. This study extends the use of the MMPI Good Cop/Bad Cop (GC/BC) profile (Blau, Super, & Brady, 1993) to the MMPI-2. The MMPI-2 profiles of 39 veteran police officers were used to predict their performance (No Apparent Problems, Borderline, or Serious Problems Possible), and these predictions were compared with supervisors’ ratings of the officers’ actual performance. The MMPI-2 predictions were accurate for 46% of the officers, a rate that was significantly better than chance (p=.024). Based on the current data, the best selection outcome would be obtained by accepting officers whose MMPI-2 profiles place them in the No Apparent Problems or Borderline groups, and rejecting officers whose profiles suggest Serious Problems Possible. This could be accomplished simply by rejecting any officer who obtained a score above 65T on any of the clinical scales. This selection strategy would have resulted in the acceptance of 22 officers, 19 of whom were highly rated by their supervisors, and the rejection of 17 officers, 11 of whom were rated as borderline or poorer by their supervisors. It would also result in the erroneous rejection of 6 officers who were highly rated by supervisors.

The Major Field Test as an Assessment Tool for an Undergraduate Psychology Program.

Senior psychology majors completed the Major Field Test in Psychology (MFT) produced by the Educational Testing Service as a component of program assessment at James Madison University. We related MFT performance to student characteristics including academic success indicators and specific psychology courses completed. MFT performance strongly correlated with other measures of academic success such as Scholastic Assessment Test scores and grade point average. There was a weak but significant positive correlation between number of psychology courses completed and MFT score. Only 4 content courses appeared to improve MFT subtest scores: Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, Biopsychology, and Counseling Psychology. We discuss the use and interpretation of MFT scores for program assessment and the implications of these findings for curriculum design, academic advising, and preparation of students for the Graduate Record Examination Advanced Psychology Test.

A National Survey of Microcomputer Use by Academic Psychologists

A national survey of academic psychologists indicated increasing use of microcomputers for instructional purposes and that such use was unrelated to department size. Apple and IBM microcomputers, the predominant brands, were represented about equally. Software was used most frequently for statistical analysis and word processing. Microcomputers were used most often in research methods and statistics courses.

Characteristics of Successful Undergraduate Psychology Programs

Scholarly writings provide guidance for delivery of an undergraduate program in psychology (e.g., APA, 2007; Halpern, 2010). Much of the emphasis in this literature has been on examination of the curriculum (e.g., McGovern, 1993; Stoloff et al., 2010), yet minimal research has been conducted to empirically link the overall undergraduate psychology major experience with outcomes. This article relates program characteristics (including curriculum, resources, and faculty engagement) to student success and satisfaction among students completing psychology major programs at 110 institutions in North America. It provides evidence that important factors that correlate with student success are an institutional focus on undergraduates, frequent experiential learning, and faculty engagement outside of the classroom. Students are more satisfied with programs in which they have more laboratory experiences and where they interact with faculty at student events. Adequate staffing of the psychology major program is important; beneficial activities may suffer when faculty are overwhelmed with too many students or competing obligations.

Computer use in psychology: A directory of software (2nd ed.).

This new and expanded version of the second edition has been designed to assist psychologists in identifying those software packages that best fit their needs. The directory provides impartial, non-evaluative summaries of over 800 software packages, allowing academics and clinicians to choose the software they need. The volume is divided into four sections: academic software - appropriate for use in psychology instruction; psychological testing software - for use in testing; other clinical software - for use in clinical practice (other than testing); and statistics and research software - for data analysis and presentation. Several indices are provided for ease of use. Each software listing is standardised and provides complete information on which to base the selection and purchasing decision.

EFFECTIVENESS OF CITIZEN POLICE ACADEMIES IN CHANGING THE ATTITUDES, BELIEFS, AND BEHAVIOR OF CITIZEN PARTICIPANTS

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the citzen police academies (CPA) in two cities were effective in changing participants’ attitudes, beliefs, and behavior toward police. Pre-and post-test questionnaires were used to obtain participants’ ratings of their attitudes and beliefs concerning police officers and their willingness to cooperate with police. Participants were also asked to indicate what cooperative behaviors they had actually engaged in before and/or during the CPA. At the end of the CPA, participants in both cities rated themselves as having more positive attitudes toward police, and more willingness to engage in behaviors that would help police. There was also an increase in actual performance of some cooperative behaviors during the CPA. These changes did not seem to be overly dependent on the jurisdiction (large versus small city), the demographics of the CPA participants, or the specific characteristics of the CPA curriculum.

Characteristics of Programs That Maximize Psychology Major Success

We conducted a national survey of psychology department chairs, and, based on their responses, we concluded that psychology programs differ in the number of students enrolled in various types of classes; the degree of focus on each of the goals recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA) Guidelines for an Undergraduate Psychology Education; the frequency of student participation in research, study abroad, and field placement; and the frequency of student–faculty interactions. We describe the percentage of psychology majors who have these program-relevant experiences. We also demonstrate that there are relationships between key high-impact activities and graduate school attendance, assessment test scores, and program completion rate. Based on the findings, we suggest how psychology programs may be able to help students to maximize their success.

Predicting aggression in police officers using the MMPI-2

This study attempted to determine if any of four MMPI-2 scales formulated to measure various forms of hostility or aggression is useful in predicting aggressive behavior among police officers. In our analysis of 80 officers from two police departments, we found that some scales predicted supervisor ratings of officer performance in one of the departments but not in the second department. In one department, officers with higher ANG scores or HOS scores, or lower O-H scores, were judged by supervisors to be more assertive. Officers from the same department with higher HO scores or lower O-H scores received moire justified citizen complaints. We discuss the importance of predicting aggression in police officers, the difficulty of making this prediction using MMPI-2 scores, and differences between the two departments that might have impacted the outcome of this research.