Background: One common method of teaching students about diversity, equity, and inclusion is educating them about implicit bias--stereotypes and prejudices that are relatively automatic or unconscious. Research reveals positive impacts of implicit bias education but is limited to organizations and social psychology classrooms. Objective: The…

Background: Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are used to assess faculty performance, but prior research has identified sources of bias in the completion and interpretation of SETs. Objective: We investigated how SET ratings and comments about quizzes are interpreted by faculty and undergraduates. Method: Participants made judgments about…

Goal 3 of the "APA Goals for Undergraduate Major in Psychology" specifies three dimensions of character development deemed central to the major. The purpose of this article is to review the current state of practice that addresses how we measure student learning in ethical reasoning, interpersonal relationship-building, and…

Deception detection is a topic covered in many psychology and communication courses. We designed and implemented an engaging class activity to facilitate the students' learning of several key concepts related to sender and receiver variability in lie detection. The pedagogical effectiveness of the activity was measured. In line with previous…

Social psychology instructors from five distinct state universities in California examined the effect of incorporating the implicit association test (IAT) in a teaching module on students' perceived knowledge of implicit biases and motivation to control prejudice. Students (N = 258) completed a knowledge survey on prejudice, stereotypes, and…

People are reluctant to admit they harbor implicit biases. Students (N = 68) from four social psychology courses completed an assignment designed to raise awareness about implicit biases. After completing an Implicit Association Test (IAT), students answered six essay questions, read two articles on the IAT, and answered five additional essay…

This study assessed the relationships among the accuracy of grade predictions, actual grades, self-enhancement bias, and attributions about academic performance. As a group, students anticipated higher grades than were earned. Individual differences in self-enhancement bias were measured using the discrepancy between anticipated and attained…

Previous research demonstrates that psychology courses have the potential to reduce students' biases (e.g., biases against women). In the current research, we hypothesized that taking a seminar-style course on the self (as compared to a research methods course) could reduce students' typically biased views of the self (i.e., unrealistically…

Experts have advocated anonymous grading as a means of eliminating actual or perceived evaluator bias in subjective student assessment. The utility of anonymity in assessment rests on whether information derived from student identity can unduly influence evaluation. The halo effect provides a conceptual background for why a bias might occur. In…

We examined whether a role-playing exercise, similar to that developed by Plous (2000), increases students' ability to generate effective responses to prejudiced comments. We assessed social psychology students' (n = 23) ability to respond to prejudiced comments before and after the exercise, and compared their performance to that of 2 other…

This article details a multi-modal active learning experience to help students understand elements of social categorization. Each student in a group dynamics course observed two groups in conflict and identified examples of in-group bias, double-standard thinking, out-group homogeneity bias, law of small numbers, group attribution error, ultimate…

Incidents of bias still occur in college classrooms, but no research has specifically explored this topic. To address this gap in the literature, professors (N = 333) completed anonymous surveys assessing types of bias they perceived in their classroom, their responses to the bias, and the perceived success of their responses. Results indicated…

Student evaluations provide important information about teaching effectiveness. Research has shown that student evaluations can be mediated by unintended aspects of a course. In this study, we examined whether an event unrelated to a course would increase student evaluations. Six discussion sections completed course evaluations administered by an…

Describes the "small talk" activity used in a course on the psychology of stereotyping and prejudice that helps students gain a comprehensive overview of course material and encourages them to apply course content to situations outside the classroom. Offers variations on the activity and descriptive statistics concerning the activity's usefulness.…

Describes a classroom exercise which reveals a bias toward reporting positive attributes when students engage in self descriptions. Recommends using the exercise to generate discussion of motivational and cognitive processes in attribution. Reports positive student response to the exercise. Directs reader to other sources of similar exercises. (KO)