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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.
Class-Specific Teaching Resource
Research Methods and Statistics
Science means we don’t think - we find out. How do we collect data and find patterns without bias?
Lots of Psychology students dread methods & stats, and wonder what’s the point of such rigidity? To me, we're dancing.
Swing dancing is among my passions! As a follow (traditional woman’s role, but anybody can do any role), I feel vibrantly alive and expressive while my mind drifts into another space. But only when I dance with a strong lead (traditional man’s role). I need him to provide a firm container around our dance with a stable rhythm. He chooses boundaries of what we do next; I add flourish. When your lead is weak, your dance isn’t beautiful, it’s chaotic unless, you give up your creativity and back lead.
To me, methods & stats are a strong lead. They’re the scientific method - a firm container setting rules, minimizing my biases, and guiding me through hypotheses, study design, and analysis. I can confidently free myself to be creative as a scientist because I know I’m bound by the rules.
Swing dancing is among my passions! As a follow (traditional woman’s role, but anybody can do any role), I feel vibrantly alive and expressive while my mind drifts into another space. But only when I dance with a strong lead (traditional man’s role). I need him to provide a firm container around our dance with a stable rhythm. He chooses boundaries of what we do next; I add flourish. When your lead is weak, your dance isn’t beautiful, it’s chaotic unless, you give up your creativity and back lead.
To me, methods & stats are a strong lead. They’re the scientific method - a firm container setting rules, minimizing my biases, and guiding me through hypotheses, study design, and analysis. I can confidently free myself to be creative as a scientist because I know I’m bound by the rules.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
dancing in the 1938 movie Carefree
“
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.’ ‘That’s not true,’ I objected. ‘Look at you, Miss Jewsbury. You know the value of pearls, of dogs, you can guess what people are like just by looking at their hats.’ ‘The world is made up of facts, not things, ... Fiction and fact: only madmen and magistrates cannot discriminate between them.’
Category within Class
Perplexing Questions Lab
Our Psychology lab at CSUMB explores our creativity, moments of insight, struggles with morality, & the power of teaching & parenting to transform our lives. Lab members get involved in every aspect of our studies.
Sona Participant Pool for Psychological Research
How To Guide I for conducting research using Sona's internal survey system, including helpful tips for less obvious things (e.g., use color, embed images) and help so you have well-organized useful data files for your analysis. Guides for instructors and participants too. 📖
Normative Bias in Psychology
Examining normative bias in Psychology with vivid examples such as intelligence tests, morality, neurodivergence and gender & sexuality. By recognizing a measuring stick is not object, we can appreciate ourselves and others more. 📖
Humor about Methods & Stats
Psychology Humor & Ethics Boards (IRB)
Ethics reviews are profoundly important to stop harm in the name of science, but scientists get frustrated by the bureaucracy, resulting in IRB jokes. 🤣
Academic Manuscripts & Journal Articles
Do you really want a career reading obtuse jargon-filled journal articles? Or worse, the peer-review process trying to get our own findings published. A humorous look. 🤣
Correlation does not Imply Causation
Humor about how correlation does not imply causation by scientists. Rebuttal to religious conservative opinion of God's view of LGBTQ+ persons with empirical evidence. What if polls decided science? 🤣
Being a Grad Student and Professor
I absolutely love being a professor. And maybe it's worth recognizing the absurdity of our idealistic choice pursuing a life of the mind. 🤣
Legend for Teachers,:
I hope you find something helpful for your classes! ~ Katie
self-reflection online activities
📈 individual differences:
🎨 demonstrate concept in action
💙 sensitive
engaging classroom experiences
🏔️ individual hands-on learning.
💬 class-wide discussion:
🧩 breakout groups:
🤔 engaging lecture (e.g., vivid examples)
pedagogical research & essays.
🍎research
✒️ personal essay reflections about teaching
📖 reference documents (e.g., handouts, how to guides)
self-reflection online activities
📈 individual differences:
🎨 demonstrate concept in action
💙 sensitive
engaging classroom experiences
🏔️ individual hands-on learning.
💬 class-wide discussion:
🧩 breakout groups:
🤔 engaging lecture (e.g., vivid examples)
pedagogical research & essays.
🍎research
✒️ personal essay reflections about teaching
📖 reference documents (e.g., handouts, how to guides)