Copernican Revolution . org
Transforming Our Lives through Self Reflection and Psychology
A psychology professor's collection of lessons fostering self-discovery through online activities, hands-on classroom experiences, engaging lectures, and effective discussion prompts.
Katie Hope Grobman
Perplexing Questions Psychology Lab
Science means we don’t think - we find out. But how do we study creativity, moments of insight, and deep conceptual change?
Lots of us are drawn to Psychology to understand ourselves and help people - a wonderful drive inside us and aspiration for our futures.
But then Introductory Psychology tells us we're a science. Students dread their methods and stats classes. So why would anyone join a research lab?
Because doing science isn't being a robot following rigid rules.
To me, the scientific method is our strong lead while swing dancing - a firm container setting rules, minimizing our biases, and guiding us through hypotheses, study design, and analysis. I can confidently be totally free, intuitive, and creative as a scientist because we know we're bound by the framework.
But then Introductory Psychology tells us we're a science. Students dread their methods and stats classes. So why would anyone join a research lab?
Because doing science isn't being a robot following rigid rules.
To me, the scientific method is our strong lead while swing dancing - a firm container setting rules, minimizing our biases, and guiding us through hypotheses, study design, and analysis. I can confidently be totally free, intuitive, and creative as a scientist because we know we're bound by the framework.
Abigail Grobman
who makes me a better version of myself, sharing a quote with me when we left her art class
“
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Perplexing Questions Lab
Our lab explores our creativity, moments of insight, struggles with morality, & the power of teaching & parenting to transform our lives.
Our lab members get to be involved in every aspect of our studies: literature reviews, designing tasks, creating stimuli, being an experimenter with participants, coding & entering data, and statistical analysis. We learn ways we do psychological science, like large-scale surveys, experimental designs, and reliably coding qualitative experiences.
Our lab members get to be involved in every aspect of our studies: literature reviews, designing tasks, creating stimuli, being an experimenter with participants, coding & entering data, and statistical analysis. We learn ways we do psychological science, like large-scale surveys, experimental designs, and reliably coding qualitative experiences.
What Lab Members Do
Our lab members are genuine partners in research! I would like to know your thoughts, hypotheses, and even criticisms of methodology and statistical choices we make. To me, answering your questions does not only help you learn but helps me insure our lab's research well thought out.
When starting a new study, we have small group lab meetings and discuss literature reviews you're starting with PsychINFO. We hone our hypotheses and I love when our intuitions differ, because sciences means we don't just think, we find out.
During our design phase, we get to be creative. How do we designs tasks and measures to tap the psychology we're interested in. Sometimes it's as simple as finding high quality existing measures. But sometimes we brainstorm items and need to create stimuli - a perfect time for you to explore your artistic and other abilities (like computer programming).
Running in-person studies is probably the most fun thing we do! Being an experimenter with our lab is pretty challenging because you have a lot to do and you need to monitor how you interact with participants. Our in-person studies are usually about creativity, pedagogy, and both. So as an experimenter, you're often introducing creative tasks and playing the role of "teacher," often in different ways randomly for different participants. It's a perfect chance to develop our soft "people" skills.
While it can be tedious sometimes, we enter all our data into spreadsheets for analysis. We often have qualitative data and we need to code it - find a reliable way to turn rich experiences into sometime we can analyze.
We analyze data together. You don't need to feel confident with statistics, and even if you do, you'll find it an thought-provoking experience when it's not obvious what to do like datasets in stats class.
Being part of our lab is about learning - helping you find your career path and developing soft and hard skills to bring to any path you choose.
When starting a new study, we have small group lab meetings and discuss literature reviews you're starting with PsychINFO. We hone our hypotheses and I love when our intuitions differ, because sciences means we don't just think, we find out.
During our design phase, we get to be creative. How do we designs tasks and measures to tap the psychology we're interested in. Sometimes it's as simple as finding high quality existing measures. But sometimes we brainstorm items and need to create stimuli - a perfect time for you to explore your artistic and other abilities (like computer programming).
Running in-person studies is probably the most fun thing we do! Being an experimenter with our lab is pretty challenging because you have a lot to do and you need to monitor how you interact with participants. Our in-person studies are usually about creativity, pedagogy, and both. So as an experimenter, you're often introducing creative tasks and playing the role of "teacher," often in different ways randomly for different participants. It's a perfect chance to develop our soft "people" skills.
While it can be tedious sometimes, we enter all our data into spreadsheets for analysis. We often have qualitative data and we need to code it - find a reliable way to turn rich experiences into sometime we can analyze.
We analyze data together. You don't need to feel confident with statistics, and even if you do, you'll find it an thought-provoking experience when it's not obvious what to do like datasets in stats class.
Being part of our lab is about learning - helping you find your career path and developing soft and hard skills to bring to any path you choose.
Capstone Projects
I love when students have their own ideas and would like helping you make the most of your Capstone projects. I'm open to helping with projects outside our lab's focus. It's fun for me! And I especially like when part of your project helps us create a new online activity to share with the world through my Copernican Revolution project (this website).
Working with our lab means you have supportive and dynamic research community, where you can learn from each other and develop collaborative skills.
It's okay to talk with me about a vague idea or a niche passion you have without any idea how it could be a study. I love learning new areas of Psychology and we can work together to find a hypothesis and method. We have our entire lab to help with the creative aspects too.
Working with our lab means you have supportive and dynamic research community, where you can learn from each other and develop collaborative skills.
It's okay to talk with me about a vague idea or a niche passion you have without any idea how it could be a study. I love learning new areas of Psychology and we can work together to find a hypothesis and method. We have our entire lab to help with the creative aspects too.
Sample Studies with Students
I love the process of doing research and learning with you about topics we're passionate about. I'm very happy working with students even if we can't turn it into a publishable study. Even so, it's a concrete goal and often helpful for graduate school applications. If publication is especially your goal, please try to meet with me by the beginning of your junior year because it takes longer than you may realize. Here are some peer reviewed publications and presentations with my students:
Grobman, K. H. & Szestowicki, Z. (2024, February). What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger: But Does it Foster or Hinder Learning? Paper presented at the annual California State University Symposium on University Teaching, San Bernardino, CA.
Grobman, K. H. & Amarlou, N. K. (2023). Counting sheep and counting consequences of sleep loss: Personal reflection on how losing sleep harms your competence. In A Beyer & J. Ceiniak (Ed.) A Psychology Toolbox: Creative Class Activities that Support Students’ Growth and Development, (pp. 132-138), Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Society for the Teaching of Psychology
Grobman, K. H. & Ichien, T. (2022, February) Does “Emotional Intelligence” Capture Our Insight into Emotions We Experience? Poster presented at the annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Francisco, CA.
Grobman, K. H. & Barnett, J. A. (2021). Inside the Minds of Infants. In R. W. Summers (Ed.) Developmental Psychology: How the Mind Grows and Changes over a Lifetime, Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.
Velasquez, S & Grobman, K. H. (2019, April). Practically a genius: Is practical intelligence a good predictor of student success in college? Poster presented at the annual convention of the Western Psychological Association, Sacramento, CA.
Barnett, J. A. & Grobman, K. H. (2018, March). Sex without sin: The impact of sexual education and sexual morality on sexual self-concept. Poster presented at the Annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
Grobman, K. H., Bond, J. B., and Doise, C. N. (2011, April). Inquiry-learning, direct-Instruction, & the science fair. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, Canada.
Grobman, K. H. & Bond, J. B., and Snyder, C. M. (2009, April). Conceptual understanding & inquiry learning: Operational definitions from Piagetian theory and information processing models. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver CO.
Grobman, K. H. & Szestowicki, Z. (2024, February). What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger: But Does it Foster or Hinder Learning? Paper presented at the annual California State University Symposium on University Teaching, San Bernardino, CA.
Grobman, K. H. & Amarlou, N. K. (2023). Counting sheep and counting consequences of sleep loss: Personal reflection on how losing sleep harms your competence. In A Beyer & J. Ceiniak (Ed.) A Psychology Toolbox: Creative Class Activities that Support Students’ Growth and Development, (pp. 132-138), Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Society for the Teaching of Psychology
Grobman, K. H. & Ichien, T. (2022, February) Does “Emotional Intelligence” Capture Our Insight into Emotions We Experience? Poster presented at the annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Francisco, CA.
Grobman, K. H. & Barnett, J. A. (2021). Inside the Minds of Infants. In R. W. Summers (Ed.) Developmental Psychology: How the Mind Grows and Changes over a Lifetime, Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.
Velasquez, S & Grobman, K. H. (2019, April). Practically a genius: Is practical intelligence a good predictor of student success in college? Poster presented at the annual convention of the Western Psychological Association, Sacramento, CA.
Barnett, J. A. & Grobman, K. H. (2018, March). Sex without sin: The impact of sexual education and sexual morality on sexual self-concept. Poster presented at the Annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.
Grobman, K. H., Bond, J. B., and Doise, C. N. (2011, April). Inquiry-learning, direct-Instruction, & the science fair. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, Canada.
Grobman, K. H. & Bond, J. B., and Snyder, C. M. (2009, April). Conceptual understanding & inquiry learning: Operational definitions from Piagetian theory and information processing models. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver CO.
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