New for 2014: The ToPIX SOAR Library

Posted on behalf of Carrie Lloyd, ToPIX Assistant Editor

ToPIX SOAR Library (Student Online Academic Research Library)

New to ToPIX is the SOAR Library (Student Online Academic Research Library) -- a page where college students can post their own empirical research studies. 

I have taught undergraduate research classes for several years and am now teaching a graduate-level research course, and although students get experience conducting their own studies with our student population, it obviously limits them by only having access to one 'type' of participant. Most instructors are, undoubtedly, in this same dilemma. Even with extremely well-conducted research and written products, our students are limited in their chance to get published. My hope is that with this tool, students will be able to increase their ‘N’, and have access to a more representative sample. With this more representative sample, their conclusions will be more generalizable, and thus can increase their chances of getting their work published. On this ToPIX page, students can solicit others to be subjects in their own primary studies.

We also hope that instructors will help promote this site by referring their students to this page as participants. Instructors can give extra credit for participation in addition to requiring students to post their study. Either way, this is a great experience for all the students involved. (What student doesn’t need more research experience??)

Please see the new ToPIX page for more details and instructions on how to get your students’ research posted. SOAR inclusion criteria can be found here.

Thank you!

~Dr. Carrie A. Lloyd

New ToPIX Content: 12/26/13

This update includes additions to the Development in the Classroom, Gender & Sexuality in the Classroom, Development Video, Statistics Video, Perception Video, I/O Video, Careers Video, Psychological Disorders in the News, Psychology Humor pages.

Will you be teaching Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development? If so, check out the Development in the Classroom page. Michael Britt posted a link to an episode of the The Psych Files podcast with a number of effective mnemonics to help students memorize the order and key ideas in each of Kohlberg's Stages.

A tip of the hat goes to Christie Cathey (via STP Facebook Group 11/19/13) for reminding us of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. Assignment ideas, instructor resources, and an online version of the ASI available were posted here on ToPIX. Visit the Gender & Sexuality in the Classroom page for more.

Big thanks go to Michael Britt for the following posts to video pages. First, if you need some mnemonic imagery to memorize Freud’s stages of psychosexual development, check out the Development Video page. Two new videos for Statistics and Research Methods instructors were posted to the Statistics Video page. See the videos on experiments and factorial design. If you are teaching depth perception in Intro or Sensation & Perception, check out the Perception video page for a 12 minute podcast. Lastly, Michael shared an podcast that could be used in Intro, I/O Psych, or an Intro to the Psych Major course. The podcast helps dispel myths about what I/O psychologists do. Check it out on the I/O Videos page.

Continuing with the career theme is Kit Nast’s post to the Career Videos page. There you will find interviews with people of various occupations: Case Manager, Clinical Psychologist, School Psychologist, and University Professor. You may even see some familiar faces!

Jessica Hartnett posted links to an NPR story on the problems faced by dishonorably discharged veterans when they attempt to seek health care (including mental health care) following dishonorable discharge from the military. Read more on the Psychological Disorders in the News page.

And the last update of 2013 is a new page, Psychology Humor. If you are looking for a repository of psychology memes and humor, bookmark this link to a Pinterest Board. Some of the cartoons, memes, and the like could be great for presentations. Hat tip to Carol Furchner via the STP Facebook Group.  

Thanks again to Michael, Christie, Kit, Jessica, and Carol for their contributions to ToPIX!

If you have found that ToPIX has helped your teaching, please consider contributing! You are welcome to update the wiki yourself or just send me an email with suggestions: (TOPIX@TeachPsych.org). 

New ToPIX Content: 11/28/13

This update includes additions to the I/O Psychology in the News, Neuroscience Video, Development Video, Therapy Video, and Gender & Sexuality pages.

Jessica Hartnett posted links to the news story on the Miami Dolphins' Richie Incognito and his harassment of fellow player Jonathan Martin. Coverage of the story touches on workplace harassment and culture. Read more on the I/O Psychology in the News page.

Check out the Neuroscience Video page for a podcast on H.M.'s Brain and the History of Memory (courtesy of Erica Kleinknecht O'Shea via the STP Facebook Group 11/25/13), and video “How Memory Works” (courtesy of Alicia Briganti Causey via the STP Facebook Group 11/25/13). 

If you are teaching Developmental Psychology, see the Development Video page for Howard Gardner’s talk, “The App Generation: Identity, Intimacy, and Imagination in the Digital Era” (Courtesy of Rena Blackwood via the STP Facebook Group 11/20/13).

See the Therapy Video page for a TED Talk on the nature of abnormality, "Strange answers to the psychopath test" (Courtesy of KitKat Harper via the STP Facebook Group 10/31/13). 

Roger Bingham’s video “The Sexual Brain” was posted to the Gender & Sexuality Video page (Courtesy of Ami Rezec Wegenek via the STP Facebook Group 10/23/13). 

Thanks again to Jessica, Erica, Alicia, Rena, KitKat, and Ami for their contributions to ToPIX!

If you have found that ToPIX has helped your teaching, please consider contributing! You are welcome to update the wiki yourself or just send me an email with suggestions: (TOPIX@TeachPsych.org). 

New ToPIX Content: 10/17/13

New ToPIX Content: 10/17/13

This update includes additions to the Grading Rubrics page, Human Factors in the News, Psychological Disorders Video, Social Video, and Cognitive Video pages.

Bill Altman posted a Human Development Portfolio Rubric from Nicole Kras to the Grading Rubrics page. Check out the page here or go directly to the rubric here.

Jessica Hartnett posted a link to an NPR story about human factors issues as they relate to subway map preferences in Boston. Read more on the Human Factors in the News page. 

Doug Maynard posted a link to the “This American Life” radio show, Episode 507: Confessions. Excerpts of the show could be used for topics spanning the areas of Psychological Disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorder), Social Psychology (social influence), or Cognition (as it relates to confirmation bias).

Thanks again to Bill, Jessica, and Doug for their contributions to ToPIX!

If you have found ToPIX useful, please consider contributing your suggestions for content! You are welcome to update the wiki yourself or simply shoot me an email: (TOPIX@TeachPsych.org). 

New ToPIX Content: 9/19/13

This update includes additions to the Song List, Cognition in the Classroom, Learning in the Classroom, Neuroscience in the Classroom, Operant Conditioning in the Classroom, Perception in the Classroom, Social in the Classroom, Classical Conditioning Demos, Taste Demos, Vision Demos, Learning Video, Neuroscience Video, and Statistics Video pages.

Remember the Electric Slide? Julie Carpenter takes us back to 1989 with her contribution to the Song List. Use the Electric Slide for a Neuroscience unit. Check out the YouTube video and lyrics here. 

Demonstrations of the serial position curve, schemas, and priming were posted to the Cognition in the Classroom page. A classical conditioning demo was posted to the Learning in the Classroom page. Both page updates were courtesy of Joseph Swope via the PSYCHTEACHER listserv.

A link to the G2C Brain, the BrainView app, an action potential animation, and the speed of neural impulse demonstration were all posted to the Neuroscience in the Classroom page. A big thanks goes out to Jaclyn Spivey and Martha Boenau (via the STP Facebook Group), and Joseph Swope (via the PSYCHTEACHER listserv).

Operant conditioning can be discussed after a demonstration of a token economy. Ideas for a demonstration are courtesy of Joseph Swope (via the PSYCHTEACHER listserv) and available here. 

Joseph Swope also provided an echo location demonstration for the Perception in the classroom page, and his conformity demonstration was posted to the Social in the Classroom page. Thanks again, Joseph!

Jeff Stowell posted a classic demonstration of Classical Conditioning to the Classical Conditioning demos page.

More demonstrations by Joseph Swope were added to the Taste Demos page, and Vision Demos page.

Cookie Monster learns a lesson from Tom Hiddleston in a YouTube video that was posted to the Learning Video page. Thanks again, Jeff!

A TED Talk on chemical reactions and neural impulses was posted to the Neuroscience Video page. This find is courtesy of Steve Jones via the STP Facebook Group.

Lastly, Andy Field explains the Central Limit Theorem through an example that includes a population of 100,000 zombies and a discussion of how many blows to the head will kill a zombie. Check out the Statistics video page if this approach may resonate with your students. A hat tip goes to Jessica Hartnett for this video (via the STP Facebook Group).

New ToPIX Content: 8/22/13

This update includes additions to the Statistics in the News, Statistics Video, History Video, Learning Video, and Plagiarism in the Classroom pages. 


Need to sell the importance of statistics to your Stats or Methods students? Statisticians are being called in to determine whether public policy is ethical. Check out this update to the Statistics in the News page about PA's Voter ID Law. This update was posted by Assistant Editor, Jessica Hartnett, (Not Awful and Boring.Blogspot).

Also see the Statistics Video page (courtesy of Assistant Editor, Jessica Hartnett, via Not Awful and Boring.Blogspot) for problems that arise when the media misinterpret research findings. Gerd Gigernezer argues that these practices are unethical. 

A student-produced video on Phineas Gage was posted to the History Video page (courtesy of Amanda O'Bryan via the STP Facebook Group). 

Two videos that illustrate classical and operant conditioning (the viral Classical Conditioning at BGSU, and the Real Salsa Dancing Dog) were posted to the Learning Video page. Thanks Maya Sen and Sharon Richards, respectively, for contributing via the STP Facebook Group.

A new ToPIX page, Plagiarism in the Classroom, was created to accommodate Sue O'Donnell's recommendation of online plagiarism tutorials (via the STP Facebook Group).

Thanks Jessica, Amanda, Maya, Sharon, and Sue for your contributions to ToPIX!

If you have any ideas or resources to share with colleagues, please send them to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.

New ToPIX Content: 8/8/13

This update includes additions to the Statistics in the News, I/O in the Classroom, Memory Video, and Neuroscience Video

Topics such as the link between suicide and coffee, health and where you live, and vaccines and autism can be used to spice up Stats and Methods lessons. These materials for lessons on the nature of correlational research can be found on the Statistics in the News page (courtesy of Sue Frantz via Twitter). 

Another look at the Hawthorne Effect was added to the I/O in the Classroom page (also courtesy of Sue Frantz via Twitter).

A TED Talk, "Feats of Memory Anyone Can Do" by Joshua Foer was posted to the Memory Video page (courtesy of Jaclyn Spivey via the STP Facebook Group). 

Video links were updated, and a teaching guide for "Pieces of Mind: The Man with Two Brains" was added to the Neuroscience Video page. 

Thanks Sue, and Jaclyn for your contributions to ToPIX!

If you have any ideas or resources to share with colleagues before the Fall, please send them to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.