What do we want our students to learn? Are we asking the wrong questions?

For my books, my wife reads every chapter I write before I send it to my editor. We’ve been together for over 25 years. I’ve had occasion to mention a little something every so often about psychology. Let’s just say that she has learned a lot of psychology. Occasionally, she will ask me some version of this: “What’s that thing called where [perfect description of that thing]?” And then I’ll name the thing, e.g., counterfactual thinking, variable ratio schedule of reinforcement, source amnesia. However, sometimes I struggle to come up with the term. I know that I know it. I’ve taught the dang concept for 30 years, of course, I know it, but I can’t, in the moment, get the right neurons to fire. My nonconscious brain keeps working on it while I move on to other tasks, like sleeping. At 3 am, my brain spits it out. Thanks. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful for my brain’s work, it’s just that 12 hours earlier would have been a bit better.

Psychology instructors love our vocabulary. We love it so much that often the bulk of our multiple-choice exams is about vocabulary. Here’s a definition; which term does it match? Here’s an example; which term does it match?

I first started wrestling with this as I watched my students design perfectly good experiments while answering an essay question, but then mix up the naming of the independent variable and dependent variable.

Since about 95% of our Intro Psych students are not going to major in psychology, which is more important? Their ability to design a good experiment—and recognize a good (and bad!) experiment when they see one—or their ability to accurately name the variables?

Even for our psychology majors, how important is it that they understand the variables in their Intro to Psychology course? I bet they’ll be in Research Methods shortly, where the names of the variables will be hammered into their heads by brute force. If your psych BA program is one of those that does not require Research Methods, I’d love to have a conversation with you about why you’ve dropped it as a requirement. I have some guesses. I also have some stories about how graduates from such programs have fared in grad school. It’s not good.

In any case, I bet students can miss questions about the independent variable and dependent variable on your Intro Psych exam and still pass the course with flying colors. I’m not entirely sure that I had them straight after taking Intro. I am certain I did after Research Methods, though!

What might it look like if we zoomed our testing lens out just a bit so that we have less focus on terminology and greater focus on the concepts themselves? Here are a few examples.

Let’s start with an experimental design question that does not focus on terminology. This first example is based on this blog post.

A psychological scientist wants to test this hypothesis: The quality of a person’s microphone during an interview affects the likelihood of the person being hired. Which would be the best design for the experiment?

Ask one volunteer to listen to an interview that was recorded with a high-quality mic and then listen to the same interview recorded with a low-quality mic. Ask the volunteer which person they would prefer to hire.
Ask 50 volunteers to listen to an interview that was recorded with a high-quality mic and then listen to the same interview recorded with a low-quality mic. Ask each volunteer which person they would prefer to hire.
Ask one volunteer to listen to an interview that was recorded with a high-quality mic, and ask a second volunteer to listen to the same interview recorded with a low-quality mic. Ask each volunteer which person they would prefer to hire.
Ask 25 volunteers to listen to an interview that was recorded with a high-quality mic. Ask a different set of 25 volunteers to listen to the same interview recorded with a low-quality mic. Ask all 50 volunteers to rate how likely they would be to hire the interviewee.

Instead of focusing on the term egocentrism, the following question zooms out to the importance of a caregiver knowing that their toddler cannot see the world through someone else’s eyes.

A 3-year-old shoves another child out of the way and takes their cookie.

This behavior is expected of young children because they cannot take the perspective of another person.
This child is intentionally bullying another child.
We expect that this child will grow up to be a narcissist.
Both B and C.

Instead of focusing on the term availability heuristic, the following question zooms out to a social media user knowing that how often they hear about something can influence their perception of how often that thing occurs.

On social media, our friend has just watched at least five videos where people were cooking chicken with Nyquil (a very dangerous practice!). Our friend says, “This is great! We must try this! Everyone is doing it!”

Our friend is overestimating how often an event occurs based on how available it is in their memory.
While it’s unlikely that everyone is doing it, based on our friend’s sample, it is likely that most people are doing it.
If we show our friend evidence that this is a dangerous activity, our friend will undoubtedly change their beliefs to ours.
Both B and C

Instead of focusing on the term sensorineural hearing loss, the following question zooms out to a music listener knowing that playing their music through headphones at maximum volume can cause permanent damage and why.

Playing music through headphones or earbuds at maximum volume…

Will not cause hearing loss
Will cause hearing loss because of damage to the auditory nerve
Will cause hearing loss because the loud sound waves damage the cilia in the cochlea
May cause ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
Both C and D

Instead of focusing on the terms systematic desensitization and extinction, the following question zooms out to a person’s understanding of how to lessen a fear.

Our friend has a fear of needles that is so bad that they refuse any treatment that requires getting a shot. Based on what is known about classical conditioning, what is the most effective way for our friend to reduce their fear?

Our friend should continue to avoid needles.
Our friend should get a lollipop after every shot.
Our friend should have gradual exposure to needles.
We should punch our friend in the arm every time they show a fear of needles.

In conclusion, I’m not suggesting that we stop talking about terminology. Giving something a name turns it into a meaningful thing. However, as I consider what my neighbor needs to know about psychology, I’m more interested in the concept and its application rather than what we call it. If these kinds of questions were on a final exam, I wonder how our students would perform and how they would perform if they took that same exam again four years later.