Whose myth? Ph.D.'s, of course!

The following article was sent around among the York faculty this week:

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/02/2008020101c/careers.html

This article makes three points about science and teaching:

1. Perspective

Us folks (professors, Ph.D.s, Psychologists) forget that we have a unique perspective about being human and being a college student: we were destined for Ph.D.s. That is, when we subjectively think about our experiences of being a plain old human or our experiences in college, they are being experienced by people who have the special traits which motivate and allow them to go on and excel intellectually.

We forget that we -- like everyone else -- are stuck in their own perspective.

The false consensus effect describes how everyone assumes a false consensus -- if I do x, most people do x. Saying, "teaching this say really had an effect on me in college, so therefore I should teach this way so my students will get the same benefit" is the false consensus effect!

2. Hypotheses

Ok 330 and 332 students: Is this (Clydesdale's work) empirical? Yes, he collects data systematically. Is it experimental? No. He creates no control conditions or other procedures to control for extraneous variables.

Students are often confused about sociology (Clydesdale's area) and social psychology. Both study normal people in social situations. The difference is in the level of study and methodology. Social Psychologists study individuals (i.e. psychology) while sociologists study groups. What attitudes do this social group hold? is a sociology question; how do people come to hold any attitude (the psychological process of attitude formation) is a social psychology question. Social Psychologists, as most psychologists, are experimental. We are more concerned about extraneous variables than realism. Sociologists are more concerned with realism (what is this real group thinking) than defending ourselves from extraneous variables.

3. Teaching

Clydesdale's conclusion is that classroom activities need to focus more on activities than lectures. Just wanted to mention that; my students are often uncomfortable with my teaching methods - for example, this week in Social Psych I won't lecture; I will do activities to teach basic psych skills.