Search

Recent evidence suggests that constraints can facilitate creative thinking rather than hinder it. This research tested how individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) affect the creativity of ideas generated under conditions of low and high constraint. Participants generated short sentences with either low or high constraints placed on the choice of initial letters used. Under the high-constraint condition, participants were less likely to successfully produce sentences but the sentences were judged as more creative. There was an interaction between constraint condition and working memory capacity such that WMC and creativity were positively associated in the low constraint condition, but not in the high constraint condition. An examination of strategy reports also indicated that higher WMC participants may have made better use of strategies which were related to higher creativity in the low-constraint condition. This research adds to findings that constraints can be beneficial for creativity, and is consistent with suggestions that WMC enhances efficient search and retrieval from long-term memory and use of strategies.

Guided by Bronfenbrenner's (1994) ecological systems theory Bronfenbrenner (Int Encycl Educ,3(2):37-43) , this study highlights the interplay between learner psycho-social challenges and teacher emotional fatigue, which affect classroom dynamics, and the critical role of systemic support--the role of school social workers (SSWs)--in South Africa. Using an exploratory-descriptive qualitative design, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 primary school teachers and 13 SSWs from various provinces. Our participants' diverse backgrounds and experiences provided comprehensive insights. Findings highlight the need for a holistic approach to addressing learner psycho-social challenges, emphasising comprehensive support systems for teachers, including training and early intervention. Additionally, the integration of full-time SSWs and the active involvement of psychologists, families, and communities is crucial. Insights can inform educational policies and practices, enhancing teachers' and learners' well-being and effectiveness.

Despite psychology's position within the National Council for the Social Studies' definition of social studies, the American Psychological Association is advocating the rebranding of psychology as a science course. This study interviews six high school psychology teachers and employs a Foucauldian framework to understand different perspectives on this rebranding, what makes teachers position their psychology course as science or social studies, and how that rebranding has impacted teachers' perceived ability to make psychology content relevant to students' lived experiences. We find significant disagreement among psychology teachers about the degree to which they should embrace the "psychology-as-science" paradigm. We also find that most professional development for high school psychology teachers is rooted in the science paradigm and that many teachers feel limited by their ability to connect psychology content to students' lived experiences under the science paradigm. We conclude with recommendations for teachers, curriculum leaders, researchers, and teacher preparation programs for upholding psychology as an interdisciplinary social studies course.

Effective teacher education is expected to ensure that future teachers acquire professional knowledge that is relevant for coping successfully with the requirements of their teaching practice. To strengthen evidence-based teacher education, we need to better understand which teacher education outcomes are predictive for high-quality instruction and student learning. This study hence investigates the impact of teachers' pedagogical-psychological teaching knowledge (PPTK) on student's perception of instructional quality and students' achievement in mathematics. The study is based on longitudinal data of 28 early career primary school teachers and their students (n = 509). The results indicate PPTK as a significant predictor for students' perception of teachers' classroom management as well as teachers' quality of explaining. PPTK and teachers' cognitive activation as perceived by students are significant predictors for students' mathematics achievement. These results emphasize the importance of PPTK for successful learning processes in mathematics in primary school. The findings are discussed regarding their relevance for the effectiveness of teacher education.

This article presents a theoretical justification and a proposal that seeks to educate university students in leadership through virtues and personal competencies. A distinction is offered between virtues and competencies without opposing them. Subsequently, a leadership education model based on virtues and personal competencies is offered. This proposal applies the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of education in virtues considering the contributions of psychology and leadership theory. The leadership model includes eight competencies linked to the cardinal virtues, which are grouped into three domains: understanding reality, relating to others and dedication to the task. Finally, some guidelines for the further development of assessment instruments and for leadership education of university students are offered.

Philosophers and moral educators have examined the potential for "narrative media" (e.g., novels or films) to influence the development of "practical wisdom" (the forms of perception and reasoning necessary for virtuous living). Interest in studying this relationship using social scientific methodology is growing. One social science discipline with relevant insights that have not yet been explored is "media psychology," a subdiscipline in communication that empirically studies the effects of narrative media. Drawing on media psychology research, this paper proposes a model of one process by which narratives can help us develop practical wisdom. Developing certain functions of practical wisdom involves increasing our sensitivity to types of "morally relevant features" (MRFs) that we normally miss (i.e., increasing the accessibility of those features). The proposed model explains how, under the right conditions, narratives can influence the "accessibility" of a given type of MRF. Implications for operationalizing narrative effects on practical wisdom are discussed.

Due to the growth of China's social economy and culture, the demand for psychology is becoming more and more urgent. Environmental health is the unity of people's behavioral health that constitutes the environment and environmental conditions that meet people's basic needs. In this paper, the improved a priori algorithm is combined with English-Chinese bilingual classroom of university students' psychology. It is based on the collected data and basic information of university students' psychology, which provides ideas for the construction of English-Chinese bilingual classroom and teaching platform of psychology under the background of environmental health. The consistency test results show that the consistency between the proposed algorithm and the manual processing method can reach over 96.5%, that is, the accuracy of the algorithm is over 96.5%. Compared with the traditional a priori algorithm, the improved a priori algorithm has a higher recognition accuracy, with the accuracy increased by 21.36% and the recall increased by 13.99%.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the unique lived experiences of international graduate students in light of COVID-19 and the recent sociopolitical climate in the USA (e.g. Black Lives Matter movement, protests against anti-Asian hate crimes and gun violence). Design/methodology/approach: The authors used an exploratory qualitative design embedded within a constructivist/interpretivist paradigm. A total of 31 international health service psychology graduate students completed an online survey, 17 of whom participated in a 60-min one-on-one semi-structured interview. Findings: Participants reported facing a range of difficulties (e.g. travel ban/inability to spend time with family, visa-related concerns, racism, decreased support) during the global pandemic and the recent sociopolitical climate in the USA. A total of 48 themes were identified and organized into six domains: COVID-19-related stress and worry, experiences of racism/discrimination, coping mechanisms, support received, recommendations for programs and higher learning institutions and advice for other international graduate students. Originality/value: The recent sociopolitical climate in the US exacerbated some of the preexisting inequities for international graduate students due to their international student status and the global pandemic. Although few in number, students also spoke about some positive changes as a result of these major historical and political events. Implications for graduate education, clinical practice and policymaking are discussed.

The role of individual feedback in (online) learning has been widely studied by researchers, but collective feedback based on quizzes and its impact on various academic outcomes has been overlooked to date. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of displaying individual or collective feedback during an online course on students' attitudes (interest in the course), emotions (social comparison threat), and behaviors (engagement and academic performance). A two-hour online learning session was conducted among undergraduate students in psychology (N = 155) to examine the effects of collective or individual feedback using quizzes on academic outcomes. In a control condition, each student received individual feedback from the teacher privately on their own device indicating the correct/incorrect answers to each quiz question. In an experimental condition, collective feedback was given publicly to the whole online class by displaying the distribution of answers by response options to each quiz question via a videoconferencing system which shared the teacher's computer screen. Results showed that students perceived a greater threat of social comparison, and demonstrated lower behavioral engagement and academic performance in the collective than in the individual feedback condition. The opposite effect was found on interest in the course, which was higher when collective feedback based on quizzes was displayed than when it was not. These findings suggest that collective feedback can be considered as a "double-edged sword" generating both positive and negative impacts depending on the type of academic outcomes taken into consideration.

In this paper, we explore measurements of design creativity through metrics related to the processes used in designing and relate them to the metrics used in psychology for idea creativity, ie, novelty and fluency. Our goal was to test the reliability of psychometric measures of creativity to assess creativity in team design. We studied 19 teams of 3 professional engineers that engaged in a one hour-long design task. Design tasks have a greater ecological validity than single repetitive tasks like the AUT and the RAT. Engaging in a design task involves a wide range of cognitive activities, which contribute to creative ideation and to expanding the design space. This study focused on the relationship between the teams' design idea creativity and design behaviors during the task. We explored to what extent design collaboration between teammates, design evaluation and the co-evolution of the problem-solution space relate to the psychometric measures of idea creativity. Results suggest no specific trend in the correlation between collaboration and idea creativity as measured by the metrics used in psychology, while more cognitive focus on problem-solution co-evolution negatively correlates with these measures of idea creativity. The paper concludes with potential explanations for this lack of correlation.

The line between gender and sex has become increasingly muddled in literature. Tensions surrounding this topic are ever-increasing and definitions of the two are rarely consistent. For improving conceptual clarity, we adopted the Social Role Theory to explore how these two terms differ and relate by laying out a cyclical framework of biological, sociological, and psychological components. Herein, we discuss the origins of the binary sex construct, anatomical brain/cognition differences, and sex/gender role implications for education and physical education. We confront the topic in a content area that continues to be masculine-oriented with the purpose to conceptualize sex/gender in physical education research through clarifying the evolutionary biosocial spectrum. Offering a reconceptualization of gender as a multidimensional construct could inspire further curricular reform for the content to be more inclusive of all participants, learnable by all students regardless of sex and gender, and beneficial both mentally and physically to all learners.

The present study examines university students' acceptance of e-learning according to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). We also investigate the influence of external factors, including self-efficacy with digital media, self-regulated learning, prior experience, and affinity for technology, to extend the model with valid individual factors. Structural equation modeling with maximum-likelihood estimation served to evaluate the proposed research model, which included online questionnaire data from N = 225 undergraduates studying various subjects in 53 universities. The results indicate that the TAM is replicable regarding e-learning for German-speaking university students. Additionally, we found self-regulated learning and affinity for technology to be significantly positively related to the two main components of the TAM, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, implying their importance in technology acceptance. However, self-efficacy with digital media and prior experience showed no significant impact on university students' technology acceptance. We also found a significant positive relationship between attitudes toward e-learning and behavioral intention, showing that university students with positive attitudes are more willing to use it in the future. Therefore, higher education should consider students' individual prerequisites for e-learning and support students during the use of e-learning environments, to promote the development of positive experiences and attitudes toward e-learning.

This paper is a critical discussion about how the curriculum contributes to the sense of belonginess within Higher Education (HE), and how the ongoing aim of decolonisation needs to incorporate a more consistent intersectional lens with the curriculum within psychology. Psychology as a discipline has been criticised for its focus on primarily conducting research with people from countries that are Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD; Henrich et al., 2010). This approach has neglected a number of social groups within the wider literature and has indeed marginalised the voices and experiences of many. Through the topic of decolonisation, there has been the discussion of the importance of belonging and belongingness, but the intersectional experiences of various social groups within the curriculum has been neglected. In summary, this discussion reveals that there are several key ways in which curricula and decolonial research can contribute to belonging: 1) communication of what (who) is important; 2) consideration of student learning needs; 3) appreciation of course content that is salient to students; 4) demonstration of alignment with a wider range of philosophical approaches; 5) promotion and celebration of cultural differences which allow students to be themselves; and 6) inclusion of a wide range of factors within teaching that contribute to belonging, for example the importance of place.

Previous research has demonstrated the benefits of peer feedback for improving student work. Gender, as an individual characteristic, is now receiving increased attention due to its influence on the peer feedback process. This study examined the effects of gender and peer assessment training on the amount and content of peer feedback provided by assessors for poor, average and excellent writing samples, using a randomised controlled design. A total of 240 undergraduate psychology students participated in the study. Half of the participants received peer assessment training, while the other half received task instructions only. Participants were assigned to eight subgroups, providing peer feedback to writing samples attributed to fictitious male or female assessee. Analysis of 3017 feedback segments revealed that women provided a greater amount of peer feedback compared to men. Women also offered more positive verifications and suggestive elaborations for average and poor writing samples. Male assessees received more suggestive elaborations, while trained assessors provided more positive verifications. These findings suggest the need for a multifaceted training programme to bridge the gap between gender-based differences in peer feedback characteristics.

Older adult education is still under-researched, with many terminological ambiguities, clichés, and prejudices. Older adult teacher education and older adult English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education is rare. Many factors can influence EFL teachers of older adults' teaching performance and its perception. Pre-service (presumably inexperienced U3A EFL teachers) and in-service teachers (experienced U3A EFL) were teaching EFL to selected older adults (aged from 64 to 75 years) at the Karkonosze University of Applied Sciences in Jelenia Góra, Poland, U3A. Their teaching Older adult education is still under-researched, with many terminological ambiguities, clichés, and prejudices. Older adult teacher education and older adult English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education is rare. Many facting performance factors list. By utilizing a critical foreign language geragogy and a strengths-based approach inspired by positive psychology, the research emphasized the role of general teaching experience and/or age-targeted teaching experience. And it led to validating the desirable teaching performance factors as factors that defined U3A EFL teaching performance as successful and positively evaluated by given older adult learners, i.e. on a small scale.

Women seeking higher education frequently do so during peak childbearing years and women with higher levels of education are more likely to postpone motherhood until a later age. Fertility rate, defined as the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime, has decreased globally. The decrease in birthrate has been partially attributed to women seeking educational opportunities. Understanding the experience of students in this realm would allow higher education institutions to better support students who are (or wish to be) mothers. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of research examining graduate women and the factors involved in their consideration of having a child while in school. We seek to fill this gap by examining the impact of fertility concerns (FC) and importance of on-time degree completion (DC) on the probability of having a biological child in graduate school (PC) among 469 female graduate psychology students in the USA. We found higher FC was associated with higher PC. In contrast, higher DC was associated with lower PC. Furthermore, FC had a significant unique relation to PC after accounting for the contribution of DC. We discuss how institutions and programs may help support and empower female graduate students by implementing educational policies and procedures that are supportive of graduate student mothers. This is particularly important because a large proportion of women pursue advanced degrees, and this number is projected to increase.

This paper delves into the intricate realm of Shakespearean characters in love, employing a psychoanalytical lens to unravel the depths of their emotions, desires, and conflicts. Drawing on psychoanalytic theories, particularly those of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, this paper aims to dissect the subconscious motivations and psychological intricacies of characters such as Romeo and Juliet, Orsino and Viola, and other iconic figures. Through this analysis, the paper seeks to offer a nuanced understanding of how Shakespeare masterfully crafted characters whose emotional journeys resonate with universal human experiences. In addition to exploring the psychoanalytical aspects of Shakespearean characters' love, this paper also investigates the socio-cultural influences shaping their romantic dynamics. By examining the historical context in which these plays were written and performed, it aims to illuminate the ways in which societal norms and expectations intersect with individual psychology to influence characters' behaviors and choices. Furthermore, it analyzes how Shakespeare's portrayal of love reflects broader themes of power, gender, and identity, shedding light on the complex interplay between personal desire and societal constraints in Renaissance England. Through this multidimensional approach, it endeavors to provide a comprehensive examination of Shakespearean love that resonates with contemporary audiences while honoring the timeless brilliance of the Bard's storytelling.

The 0.05 boundary within Null Hypothesis Statistical Testing (NHST) "has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move" (to quote Douglas Adams). Here, we move past meta-scientific arguments and ask an empirical question: What is the psychological standing of the 0.05 boundary for statistical significance? We find that graduate students in the psychological sciences show a "boundary effect" when relating p-values across 0.05. We propose this psychological boundary is learned through statistical training in NHST and reading a scientific literature replete with "statistical significance". Consistent with this proposal, undergraduates do not show the same sensitivity to the 0.05 boundary. Additionally, the size of a graduate student's boundary effect is not associated with their explicit endorsement of questionable research practices. These findings suggest that training creates distortions in initial processing of p-values, but these might be dampened through scientific processes operating over longer timescales.

As in other subfields of psychology, developmental science faces a long-standing problem of limited diversity in research participants. This issue especially raises concerns when researchers make unwarranted broad claims about their results, such as using generic language that implies that a finding is unvarying and applies across participants and contexts. Variation in editorial practices may contribute to the extent to which generic language is used or how much information is provided about participant demographics. The present study expands on an existing corpus of articles published in developmental psychology journals and examines the extent to which generic language differed by journal and sample characteristics (such as racial/ethnic diversity or sample size). We observed widespread use of generic language: 73% of articles included at least one generic statement in article components that were coded (i.e. titles, highlights, and abstracts). However, differences across journals were observed: Articles published in "Developmental Science" and "JECP" (which require authors to include short research highlights) tended to have higher rates of generic language than articles published in "Child Development" and "Developmental Psychology" (which did not require highlights). Articles that fully reported sample race and ethnicity also included fewer generic statements to describe their results than articles with more incomplete reporting. We conclude by highlighting the importance of editorial policies in shaping scholarship, as well as challenges and opportunities for researchers to consider when reporting demographic information in a global field and clearly and accurately communicating the importance of research findings.

Diverse samples are valuable to the study of development, and to psychology more broadly. But convenience samples--typically recruited from local populations close to universities--are still the most widely used in developmental science, despite the fact that their use leads to a vast over-representation of Western, White, and high socio-economic status participants in our studies. Do convenience samples still have a place in our research? While diverse samples are crucial to advancing developmental science, policies designed to encourage recruitment of such samples may not always succeed in improving sample diversity in ways that will benefit our theories and reduce bias. Further, convenience samples are just, well, convenient--and because their costs are lower, they allow for faster and more precise research. We suggest three paths forward to resolve this tension: 1) use theory and observed variation to choose aspects of diversity to prioritize in a particular study; 2) use online methods as an important route to broaden which samples are convenient; and 3) work in teams to achieve "inconvenient" samples using many different convenience populations.

In response to COVID-19, universities worldwide experienced drastic and sudden changes including the need to shift to online teaching and assessment. Following previous research suggesting that individual differences in typing skills could influence text quantity and quality, we investigated whether university students' typing speed is related to their performance in an online written exam, considering that low typing skills could potentially be disadvantageous. To this end, first-year university students participated in a copy-typing task immediately after completing a graded online exam. Results show a trend toward a triangular relationship between typing speed, text length and exam performance. Despite coefficients being small, this approach allows unique insights into externally valid data of university students' typed free text production in an authentic online exam situation. Our findings emphasize the need for more research into this highly variable skill in order to understand and minimize unwanted interindividual differences that could possibly influence exam outcomes.

Students who ignore feedback are poorly positioned to reap its intended benefits. In this study we examined three reflective assignments written by undergraduate Psychology students about their experiences of receiving feedback. We also recorded what proportion of their instructors' feedback each student had accessed during the first two years of their degree, plus their average grades. Using linguistic text analysis software we searched for linguistic features of students' reflective writing that were statistically associated with their tendency to ignore instructors' feedback. We found no meaningful associations between feedback-accessing and students' language use. Exploratory analyses, however, indicated that a greater tendency to ignore feedback was associated with lower grades, and that students with lower grades tended to focus relatively more on the past or present in their reflections than on the future. We discuss the possible merits of using language as an indirect measure in studies of feedback literacy.

This study aimed to investigate whether students' Distance Education (DE) acceptance is influenced by the same factors affecting the acceptance of new digital technology. Furthermore, we also study competencies and motivations as factors affecting DE's acceptance. The study was cross-sectional, and linear regressions tested the hypotheses. 165 Italian college students (F = 87.3%; average age 23) compiled an online survey. The main results are that considering the future intention to use DE as an indicator of its acceptance, the perceived usefulness, subjective norm, and perceived ease of use influence the future use of DE. Moreover, intrinsic motivation and emotional control during the exams directly and negatively determine the intention of using DE in the future. The perceived usefulness and ease of use, together with the subjective norms, totally mediated, in different ways, the effect of teachers' relationships, time management, learning assessment, extrinsic motivation, and study dedication in explaining the future intention of using DE.

The term "nei juan" (in English "involution") has become a buzzword in recent Chinese tertiary educational contexts, denoting the intense competition and anxiety among Chinese college students. This project aims to develop a reliable and valid scale measuring Chinese college students' competitive psychology, that is, an Academic Involution Scale for College Students in China (AISCSC). To this end, the scale was administered online to 1015 Chinese college students from a university from the Northern China. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in a determination of three factors (i.e., academic behavior, social activity, and social relationship) with a strong psychometric basis. The correlations between students' academic anxiety and their involutional behavior further confirmed the concurrent validity of AISCSC.

Positive psychology (PP) is the study of the role of positive emotions in optimizing performance. In response to a dearth of research on harnessing the potential of PP in enriching language teacher education, the present study aimed at integrating PP into an English as a foreign language teacher education program to assess its effects on the development of positivity among teachers and possible improvement in their instructional practice. To that end, first the PERMA-Profiler was administered to 25 teachers, who were about to attend a teacher training course. The results of this phase revealed the need for an intervention to raise three focal participants' awareness of the tenets of PP since they scored below the mean on the scale. During the second phase, the three focal participants were trained in the principles of PP for six weeks. They were also asked to write reflections about the instruction they received on a weekly basis. Thematic analysis of their reflections indicated that the teachers formed positive emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment, which resulted in their enhanced instructional practice. Moreover, the participants believed that the intervention helped them actively engage with the main teacher training course. The findings imply that PP has the potential to enrich teacher education programs.

Positive Education equips students with the skills and mindset to lead fulfilling lives, navigate challenges, and contribute positively to society. Geelong Grammar School (GGS), the largest co-educational boarding school in Australia, is dedicated to fostering student wellbeing through Positive Education. With four campuses and a vibrant community of approximately 1,600 students, GGS embraces Positive Education as an evidence-based, proactive approach to nurturing holistic development. We are honored to share our transformative journey in fostering wellbeing, as we continue to learn and grow alongside our staff and students. Our hope is to inspire educators and communities worldwide to prioritize wellbeing and create nurturing environments for the next generation.

The spread of misinformation has underscored the importance of cultivating citizens' competency to critically evaluate popular accounts of scientific evidence. Extending the prevailing emphasis on evidence in the natural sciences, we argue for fostering students' understanding of psychological evidence and its communication in the media. In this study, we illustrate how this goal can be advanced in undergraduate psychology instruction by actively engaging students in evidence evaluation and design. We employed the Grasp of Evidence framework to document students' evidence evaluation ideals and processes and how these changed over a course in which students engaged in a series of collaborative evidence evaluation and design tasks. Prior to instruction, students exhibited a mechanistic understanding of scientific methods, coupled with substantial reliance on personal experience. Following instruction, students demonstrated three key shifts in grasp of evidence: a shift in perception of the sources of psychological knowledge, a shift in views of scientific objectivity, and a shift in definitions of psychological phenomena. Analysis of students' collaborative discourse highlighted three design principles that supported increasingly complex understandings of psychological evidence: collaborative critique and redesign of flawed studies, engagement with diverse sources of popular evidence, and confronting elusive conceptual constructs.

Choosing a field of study (study major) is challenging for prospective students. However, little research has examined factors measured prior to enrollment to predict motivation and well-being in a specific study major. Based on literature on affective forecasting and person-environment fit, prospective students' well-being forecast could be such a factor. However, affective forecasts are often biased by individuals' inaccurate theories about what makes them happy and their misconstrual of future situations. Thus, we hypothesize that subjective and objective interest-major fit forecasts improve predictions as these factors are based on a well-founded theory (person-environment fit theory) and objective interest-major fit forecasts are additionally based on a more accurate construal of the future situation (expert estimates of a study major). We tested these hypotheses in a longitudinal field study. Over 2 years, more than 4000 prospective students were asked for their well-being forecast and subjective interest-major fit forecast before using an online-self-assessment to assess their objective interest-major fit forecast. Of these prospective students, 234 subsequently entered the psychology major and took part in a survey about their motivation and well-being in their study major. As hypothesized, higher well-being forecasts predicted higher motivation, more positive affect, and higher satisfaction in the respective major. Beyond that, higher subjective interest-major fit forecasts predicted higher motivation, less negative affect, and higher satisfaction, while objective interest-major fit forecasts incrementally predicted higher motivation, more positive affect, and higher satisfaction. We discuss theoretical implications for affective forecasting and person-environment fit theory and practical implications for study orientation and guidance.

Many have suggested that performance grading may be a factor in the increasing number of students reporting having mental health issues, including feelings of stress. Gradeless learning has been shown to ease the pressure on students because it encourages a focus on learning rather than performance. Indeed, gradeless learning has been documented to benefit well-being, stress reduction, motivation, and learning approach, but its influence on academic performance requires more investigation. Drawing on a quantitative analysis, we empirically examine the effect of gradeless learning on a broad set of outcomes including well-being and stress, but focus specifically on students' later academic performance as measured by grades. Our findings reveal that gradeless learning can increase motivation and reduce surface learning but has no significant effect on students' later academic achievements. The study concludes that gradeless learning can provide a relevant alternative to grades if carefully designed.

Despite evidence for the academic and psychological benefits of racial/ethnic minority (REM) students enrolling in minority-serving institutions, REM college students' graduation rates have been consistently lower for White students across institutions. The current study examined REM graduation rates and associated risk factors in a campus with no-racial/ethnic majority (NRM). The findings indicated that (1) the graduation rates of REM (Black and Latinx) students were higher at the NRM institution than national averages, with little disparity in NRM graduation rates among racial/ethnic groups, (2) REM female students graduated at higher rates than Asian and White male students, and (3) self-reported stress and registration status predicted college completion. Moreover, traditional predictors, such as household income, gender, and parental education, were not associated with college completion. A separate analysis of graduation rates at colleges high versus low in racial/ethnic diversity also revealed little graduation disparity among racial/ethnic groups when diversity is relatively high. The results support the hypothesis that REM students thrive academically in educational settings where no single racial majority exists.

Undergraduate psychology education has also faced the fact that two-thirds of its graduates immediately apply for jobs in the private or public sector rather than pursuing master's studies (Norcross et al.,2016). In this context, faculty members of psychology departments deliberated at an American Psychological Association (APA) conference in2008 about the prospects of undergraduate education and recommended a core curriculum introductory psychology that encourages a better integration of students' knowledge and experience as well as allowing them to apply psychological knowledge in their own fields (Dunnetal., 2009). Sometime later, a working group of the APA Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) provided recommendations for strengthening the common core of introductory psychology. In this article, the authors propose a different kind of integration which gives special prominence to the structure of the subject matter: the mental-behavioral system.

Background: Statistics courses are a necessary component of undergraduate education, but psychology majors often have negative associations with statistics. One way to promote learning within classrooms is to promote classroom connectedness, but few studies have examined classroom connectedness using a social network paradigm. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the degree of connectivity within the lab component of a statistics course, and test if the networks were associated with psychological constructs related to academic success, specifically, grit and resilience. Method: Using descriptive network analysis and exponential random graph models (ERGMs), we examined the level of connectedness in statistics labs and whether or not students were likely to connect with each other based on sharing similar levels of grit and resilience. Results: Results suggested an overall low degree of connectivity within each lab. However, in the most well-connected lab, students were more likely to connect with other students who had a dissimilar level of grit, but a similar level of resilience. Conclusion: There is high variability between different student networks, although all networks were sparse. Future research could further examine the connection between student connectedness, grit and/or resilience, and how these could connect to student outcomes.

Background: Teachers' perception of psychology is of importance because they get in contact with psychology as a scientific discipline and should apply (educational) psychological findings. This requires a generally positive attitude toward corresponding findings, which should be fostered during teacher education. Objective: The goal of this study was to examine preservice teachers' perception of findings from psychology in general and educational psychology in particular, thereby differentiating between confidence in and valuing of the same. Method: Two subsamples of n = 937 German preservice teachers and n = 310 psychology majors participated in an online survey. Results: Compared with natural science disciplines or another "harder" psychological subdiscipline, preservice teachers perceived psychology as less scientific, and judged findings from psychology and educational psychology to be less credible but more valuable. While both confidence in and valuing of findings from psychology were higher among psychology majors than among preservice teachers, the opposite was true for educational psychology. However, all differences were rather small. Conclusion: We conclude that preservice teachers' perception of (educational) psychology is not alarmingly poor.

Background: Psychology has seen a recent explosion in the use of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) to understand cognition. The prevalence of techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in published research has grown immensely in the past decade; however, there has been little effort to incorporate these techniques into the undergraduate curriculum through course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Objective: To demonstrate the feasibility of creating a CURE focused on tDCS and to offer practical advice on how to create one at other institutions. Method: I present a novel undergraduate CURE focused on tDCS, as well as practical advice on how to teach about and safely implement student-driven tDCS experiments. Results: Undergraduate students learned about and engaged first-hand in their own non-invasive brain stimulation research in an upper-level psychology laboratory course. Conclusion: An undergraduate laboratory course that focuses on non-invasive brain stimulation has a range of potential benefits for students and instructors alike. Furthermore, it allows undergraduates to gain experience using a rapidly growing neuroscientific methodology. Teaching Implications: Given that tDCS is a safe and relatively inexpensive method of modulating brain function, the present course demonstrates the ease, and potential advantages, of incorporating NIBS into the undergraduate psychology curriculum.

Background: Furnham and Hughes (2014) previously reported that a sample of adults was only able to recognize 37% of 249 myths based on those presented in Lilienfeld et al.'s (2009) Great Myths of Popular Psychology. Objective: We sought to replicate these findings and to investigate predictors (e.g., education, cognitive ability, and personality) of beliefs in these myths in both lower- and upper-division courses. Method: Over 150 psychology students completed a test of psychomythological beliefs, demographics, tests of cognitive ability, and measures of personality. Results: Our sample identified a similar, but slightly higher percentage of the myths than those recognized by Furnham and Hughes' sample. Myth acceptance was high among both introductory- and senior-level psychology students, but seniors believed significantly fewer myths, and the number of psychology courses taken was negatively related to false beliefs in the full sample. A larger general knowledge base and high intellectual openness predicted myth rejection; group membership did not moderate these effects. Conclusion: Education and some individual differences variables likely play a role in psychomythological beliefs. Teaching Implications: Psychology faculty should continue working to dispel psychological myths, and also redouble their efforts to enhance students' core knowledge base, critical thinking, and intellectual curiosity.

Background: Prior research suggests that the teaching of abstract concepts can be enhanced by the use of concrete examples, but there are few controlled studies. Objective: To replicate key findings from experiment one from Rawson et al. (2015). Method: Experiment participants studied definitions of abstract concepts from psychology, either with or without concrete examples. The replication differed from Rawson et al. by using a paid online participant pool, of non-psychology students, and a trimmed methodology focused on the key outcome. Results: Concrete examples enhanced learning of abstract concepts. The critical finding was enhanced recognition of previously unseen examples matched to learned definitions, thus replicating the results of Rawson et al., with an effect size d = 0.30. Conclusion: The use of concrete examples was found to enhance learning of abstract concepts when teaching concepts from psychology to non-psychology students using an online paid participant pool. Teaching Implications: The teaching of abstract concepts in psychology could be helped by frequent use of concrete, real-world examples.

Background: Psychology coursework may include opportunities to reduce mental illness stigma attitudes among college students. However, some strategies are known to backfire, and little is known about how these attitudes evolve during psychology coursework. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether psychology students' mental illness stigma attitudes change over the course of a semester. Method: This research examined changes in mental illness stigma across four undergraduate psychology courses: "Introductory Psychology," "Abnormal Psychology," "Basic Helping Skills," and "Internship." Students (N = 400) completed two mental illness stigma measures at the beginning and end of the semester. Results: Regardless of course, students showed slightly decreased anxiety-related stigma regarding individuals with mental illness and lower social distancing attitudes toward individuals with schizophrenia, as well as increased perceptions of the treatability of mental illness, over the course of the semester. Conclusion: The findings suggest limited stigma reduction through the psychology curriculum. Teaching Implications: Greater emphasis on systematic efforts for stigma reduction across the psychology curriculum is warranted and instructors may want to consider developing gender-related stigma reduction methods.

Introduction: Loneliness is an epidemic in the modern world, putting millions of people at risk of serious mental and physical health problems. Statement of the Problem: Despite its relevance to many domains within psychology, the topic of loneliness receives little to no coverage in most psychology textbooks. Also, many students struggle with loneliness and may benefit from teachers prioritizing social connection in their classrooms. Literature Review: I briefly review the research on loneliness. I also provide a quick overview of the research on students' sense of connection and its relationship to academic motivation and performance. Teaching Implications: I discuss ways to incorporate the topic of loneliness into psychology courses and explain how teachers can promote social connection in their classrooms. Conclusion: Psychology teachers should consider educating students about the topic of loneliness (as it relates to the courses they teach) and designing their courses with students' fundamental social needs in mind.

Background: Limited research exists on the prevalence of undergraduate research participant pools (URPs) in psychology departments or guidelines surrounding their use. Objective: The aim of the current study was to replicate older studies on the prevalence of URPs in the United States and the procedures and guidelines related to those requirements. Method: Psychology department chairs in the U.S. were recruited by email and via the Association of Heads of Departments of Psychology listserv. A total of 604 department chairs participated in the online study by completing a series of assessments related to URP use in their department. Results: Most 4-year institutions (67.7%), but few 2-year institutions (6.3%) had a URP. Of the 4-year institutions with a URP, 83.7% had a research requirement for students enrolled in their introduction to psychology courses. Most departments (84.0%) did not assess the educational value of research participation. Conclusion: Most psychology departments have a URP, but few examined the educational value of research participation. Teaching Implications: Psychology departments should identify learning objectives for research participation, assess outcomes, and identify practices that optimize achieving those objectives. Research requirements should be consistent with ethical principles and empirical evidence of learning.

Background: American Psychological Association Guidelines for Undergraduate Education (2013) encourage workforce preparation among undergraduate students, and the field of psychology has implemented this recommendation in various ways. Objective: The present study investigated what sources undergraduate psychology students use to find information about and experiences they seek in preparation for their future careers, and what characteristics are associated with this process. Method: Undergraduate participants (N = 354) described the number and type of sources from which they sought information and experiences on careers, and also provided demographic information (e.g., academic achievement). Results: Participants primarily used the Internet, advice from friends/family, and a career orientation course to find information, with higher academic achievement predicting the use of more sources. They sought a variety of experiences to enhance career opportunities (e.g., volunteering), with academic achievement and class standing as positive predictors of seeking more of such experiences. Conclusion: To maximize students' success, psychology departments should show students everything that the department and university have to offer by way of career information and preparation. Implications: Departments should encourage students to use resources within the psychology department, include career information in orientation courses, in addition to regularly encouraging familiarity with on campus career centers.

Based on career construction theory, this study explored the relationship and mediating mechanisms between career adaptability and secondary school students' academic engagement. Four hundred and eight secondary school students from three Chinese secondary schools were surveyed using a three-wave time-lag design. The study found that career adaptability positively predicted academic engagement. Parental support and career hope mediated the relationship between career adaptability and academic engagement. Additionally, parental support and career hope also played a series of mediating roles between career adaptability and academic engagement. The results of this study contribute to the fields of positive psychology and occupational psychology research, extend the application of career construction theory to secondary students, and provide practical insights into increasing academic engagement and interventions for secondary students. The implications of these findings for practice and future research are discussed.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper, intended primarily for practitioners, is to demonstrate how features of psychological capital (PsyCap) may be combined with manager efforts to collaborate with an employee on an action learning project. In reciprocal action learning, manager and employee create a partnership to learn, achieve work-focused goals and advance their relationship. Initiatives aimed at positively stimulating employee assets and psychological or behavioral attributes can overlay the action learning process. Design/methodology/approach: A narrative synthesis was used to examine three sources of empirical research from organizational psychology and human resource management--reciprocity, action learning and PsyCap. Information was integrated to create a guide, a model for managers for use in considering options about how to structure employee and self-learning, as well as options for use in stimulating employee assets and PsyCap. Findings: The approach presented may serve as a practical guide for manager consideration. Research identifies several types of behaviors and activities intended to positively stimulate and reinforce the learning of both participants. The literature on PsyCap offers many initiatives for a manager to consider in assisting an employee to develop talent and positive attitudes. Such efforts have to be carefully tailored to the individual employee, the tasks at hand and the manager's own learning needs. Originality/value: The value of action learning is supported by a relatively large research base. The significance of PsyCap also has substantial support. Innovatively, this paper offers guidance to a manager in consideration of combining the attributes of both concepts to maximize positive effects on learning, personal growth, skill development and work achievement.

College students' learning experiences were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the move to emergency remote teaching during March 2020. With the present availability of vaccines, many colleges and universities are now transitioning back to in-person learning. Students will need pedagogical support during this transition, but research identifying specific areas of support is currently absent. The present study sought to address this gap. Students (N = 143) were surveyed about their pandemic learning experiences and perceptions of the transition back to in-person learning. Several pandemic learning challenges and concerns about returning to in-person learning were reported, along with course policies and instructor behaviors students would like to see continued during the transition. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for pedagogical practices and instructor behaviors that will facilitate the transition to in-person teaching and learning, as well as for transition periods beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health and Physical Education (HPE) has been an important learning area in the "New Zealand Curriculum" (NZC) since the two learning areas were integrated in the 1990s. HPE in the NZC proposed a multi-dimensional education vision, principles and values for students' holistic development founded upon theoretical perspectives such as critical theory, humanism and socio-cultural theory. However, it is unclear whether physical education (as opposed to HPE) is still considered relevant to students' holistic learning experience espoused by academics. Using the theoretical assumption of phenomenology, this research is a qualitative case study designed to investigate primary school classroom teachers' perceived value of physical education in New Zealand. Four primary schools and eight classroom teachers were purposively recruited. Data were from individual semi-structured interviews, documents, observation and email. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and the constant comparative method. The findings identified six subthemes under the postulated value of physical education (physical, psychological and cognitive development): (1) 'it has benefits for physical well-being and health'; (2) 'students learn a lot of social skills'; (3) shaping good character and self-efficacy; (4) physical education is for fun; (5) good character and self-efficacy can bring into classroom learning; and (6) physical education as 'a reset button'. The teachers' perspectives indicate their understanding of the contribution physical education has to the primary school curriculum in terms of facilitating students' holistic development in physical well-being, social skills and supporting other learning areas. We strongly suggest that teachers need to concentrate on students' learning experiences rather than the learning outcomes.