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COLLEGE STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE AS A FUNCTION OF PSYCHOLOGY

COURSE ENROLLMENT

T erry F. P ettijo h n II Coastal Carolina University

T erry F. P ettijo hn The Ohio State University-Marion

M ir a n d a M . B ren n em a n Coastal Carolina University

J a m ie N. G lass Coastal Carolina University

G a b r iela R. B rito Coastal Carolina University

A n d r e w M . T erranova Coastal Carolina University

J o n g H an K im Coastal Carolina University

C.A. M ey er s b u r g Coastal Carolina University

J o a n P ir o c h Coastal Carolina University

Abstract College students (N = 297) completed a perceptions o f psychology as a science survey before and after completion o f psychology courses. Psychology as a science scores increased significantly from the begin­ ning to the end o f the research methods courses, but scores in intro­ ductory psychology courses did not change and scores for students in communications psychology courses decreased. Implications for pro­ gram development are discussed.

Keywords: college student, psychology, science, attitudes

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Many psychologists consider themselves scientists and use the scientific method to conduct experiments o f human behavior. However, sometimes convincing scientists in the ‘hard’ sciences such as biology, chem­ istry, and physics o f the scientific merit of psychological research has been a challenge. Recently, there has been a trend for university departments to change their names and course titles from Psychology to Psychological Sci­ ence, or other variations which highlight the term science. In 2006, the American Psycho­ logical Society voted to change its name to the Association for Psychological Science, thus emphasizing its scientific mission. But what do students think about the scientific nature o f the field o f psychology? And what factors influence these perceptions?

Perceptions of psychology as a science (PAS) differ world-wide. A study utilizing the PAS Scale (Friedrich, 1996) was designed to investigate a sample o f undergraduates from four universities in Brazil. Fifly-four percent o f students strongly agreed that psychology is a science, and 26% strongly agreed that psychological research is necessary and that training in methodology is important (Mo­ rales, Abramson, Nain, Nelson, & Bartoszeck, 2005). In an Australian sample, students per­ ceived psychology as a science within a few weeks o f program commencement and their academic development influenced their per­ ceptions of psychology as a science (Provost et al., 2011). In the U.S., non-majors, including natural science and education majors, perceive psychology as a soft-science or helping pro­ fession. However, psychology majors perceive the major to be a hard-science (Bartels, Hinds, Glass, & Ryan, 2009; Gervasio, Wendorf, & Yoder, 2010). Previous research supports the idea that completion o f psychological statis­ tical courses and research method courses is associated with an increase in scientific think­ ing (Amsel, Baird, & Ashley, 2011; Holmes & Beins, 2009; Friedrich & Camac, 2003).

The current investigation was designed to examine how student perceptions o f psy­ chology as a science (Friedrich, 1996) would change upon completion o f introductory and research methods psychology courses. We predicted that students would report an in­ crease in PAS scores from the beginning to the end o f all psychology courses, but a larger increase would be reported in research meth­ ods courses which emphasize and/or require research experiences.

Method Participants

College students (N = 297) enrolled in 12 psychology courses over three semesters from two universities participated in our study. The majority o f students were en­ rolled in a medium size public university in the Southeastern United States (84.2%), with the remaining attending a branch campus o f a large public university in the Midwest­ ern United States. The average participant age was 21.13 years (SD = 3.41). Students were enrolled in introductory psychology (INTRO; n = 47), scientific communication in psychology (COMM; n = 116), research methods (RM; n = 59), and a senior thesis course (ST; n = 75). Consistent with the composition o f the major, the majority o f students were women (81.1%). While a variety o f majors were represented, approx­ imately 80% o f the sample was psychology majors. There were 12.8% freshmen, 17.5% sophomores, 31.3% juniors, 36.3% seniors, and 2.1% “other.” The racial distribution o f the sample included 67.7% Caucasian, 22.5% African-American, 5.7% Hispanic/ Latino, 1.3% Asian, .3% Native American, and 2.5% “other.” Participants earned a minimal amount o f extra credit for study participation.

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Materials & Procedure Students completed the PAS scale (Frie­

drich, 1996) at the beginning (pre PAS) and end o f the semester (post PAS). The PAS mea­ sure includes 20 questions, including five dis- tractor items, with 7-point Likert agreement response scales. In addition to anticipated course grade, participants also reported their course effort and enjoyment o f the course on 10-point Likert scales. Participant age, sex, class rank, and major were collected from demographic questionnaires.

Results The pre PAS scores among all courses were

similar, F (3, 293) = 1.05, p = .37, while the post PAS scores among all courses were sig­ nificantly different, F (3,293) = 8.1 \ , p < .001. The post PAS scores for ST were significantly

higher than the INTRO course (p = .002) and the COMM course (p < .001). The post PAS scores for RM were higher than the INTRO course (p = .09) and significantly higher than the COMM course (p = .04). See Figure.

Difference scores were calculated to examine student PAS changes from the be­ ginning to the end of the course. There were significant changes between pre and post PAS scores by course, F (3, 293) = 7.21, p < .001. The PAS change scores increased more for the ST course (M = .259) compared to the INTRO course (M = -.042)(p = .03) and the COMM course (M = -.115)(/? < .001), but not the RM course (M = .086) (p = .46). PAS change scores were not significantly different for students expecting As ( M = .055), Bs (M = .003), or Cs (M = .081) in the courses, F (2, 291) = .46,/) = .63.

Figure. Mean pre and post PAS scores by course. Higher scores indicate greater perceptions of psychology as a science.

Introductory Scientific Communication Research Methods Psychology (INTRO) in Psychology (COMM) in Psychology (RM)

Senior Thesis in Psychology (ST)

■ Pre □ P ost

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Overall, there were no significant gender differences in PAS score changes, F (1, 294) = 2.53, p = .11, although men (M = .142) re­ ported more positive changes than women (M = .005). Within INTRO only, men ( M= -.042) and women (M = -.043) reported similar PAS score changes, F (1, 45) = 0.0,/? = .99.

Although confounded by course, psychol­ ogy majors ( M = .067) reported a greater in­ crease in PAS change scores than non-majors ( M= -.115), F (1, 295) = 4.77, p = .03.

Overall, there were positive relationships between PAS change scores and participant age, r (295) = .12, p = .03, course effort, r (295) = .16, p = .005, and enjoyment o f course, r (295) = .21,/? < .001.

No significant differences in PAS scores were found between different professors teaching the same course.

Discussion Despite students initially having very

strong opinions that psychology is a science (over 5.0 on a 7-point scale), we found in­ creases in PAS scores at the end o f Senior The­ sis (ST) and Research Methods (RM) courses, minimal changes in Introductory Psychology (INTRO), and decreases in Scientific Com­ munication in Psychology (COMM) courses. The RM and ST outcomes were expected, but the COMM findings were not. The COMM course focused on writing and communicat­ ing, which may have made the course seem less research and science oriented.

Previous researchers have reported that psychology student perceptions o f PAS in­ crease as students complete more psychology courses (i.e., Bartels et al., 2009). However, our results did not reveal significant differ­ ences between pre PAS scores among the dif­ ferent level courses, suggesting that number of courses completed is not the only factor that influences PAS beliefs. However, the pre PAS scores were slightly higher for all o f the advanced courses. Students can further

strengthen their perceptions o f psychology as a science through courses which emphasize research methodology and/or require students to complete a research project.

One-on-one interaction between faculty and students (Bjomsen, 2000), especially working on research as in Senior Thesis, may be especially important to strengthen psychol­ ogy’s scientific status. Faculty mentors likely convey the importance o f research, and the need for careful scientific methodology to stu­ dents working with them. Individual research projects likely emphasize conducting hands- on scientific research rather than the theo­ retical and additional content material also covered in other courses. By the time students are engaged in research activities as a senior, they hopefully have become motivated to contribute to scientific knowledge in the field.

Past research has also revealed that per­ ceptions o f psychology as a science differ due to personality differences across genders (Harton & Lyons, 2003). There were no over­ all significant gender differences in PAS score changes in the current study. In the Introduc­ tory Psychology course, men and women exhibited nearly identical changes in PAS scores throughout the course. Men showed slightly higher positive changes overall, but the changes were not significantly differ­ ent from those o f women. With the trend of more women majoring in psychology and the STEM sciences, it appears gender differences have largely disappeared.

We did not specifically look at personality, but it is possible that personality variables could impact attitudes and perceptions o f psy­ chology as a science. There were no signifi­ cant differences in scores o f students expect­ ing different grades in their course, suggesting grade motivation was not a major influence on psychology as a science attitudes. It is interesting that participant age, course effort, and enjoyment o f course were all positively related to PAS change scores. Older students

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probably are more advanced students who have enjoyed psychology courses and selected psychology as a major. They also could have learned that greater effort pays o ff with higher grades and greater enjoyment. Older students might also be more likely to be more realistic about the application o f psychology to their career aspirations. Future research could con­ sider these variables and other influences.

There were no significant differences in PAS scores found among different professors teaching the same course. This suggests a unified positive attitude o f PAS among in­ structors in this study. Future research might investigate faculty members for their PAS attitudes.

Psychology departments may find the PAS to be a useful tool to assess student attitudes about psychology and to better emphasize psychology as a science in their respective programs. PAS information might help de­ partments build student research opportuni­ ties into their programs, and could be used to help faculty convey the importance o f scien­ tific critical thinking in their courses.

References Amsel, E., Baird, T., &Ashlct, A. (2011). Misconceptions

and conceptual change in undergraduate students’ understanding o f psychology as a science. Psychol­ ogy Learning & Teaching, 70(1), 3-10. http://dx.doi. org/10.2304/plat.2011.10.1.3

Bartels, J. M., Hinds, R. M., Glass, L. A., & Ryan, J. J. (2009). Perceptions of psychology as a science among university students: The influence o f psychology courses and major of study. Psychological Reports, 105(2), 383-388. doi:10.2466/pr0.105.2.383-388

Bjomsen, C. A. (2000). Undergraduate student percep­ tions o f the impact o f faculty activities on education. Teaching o f Psychology, 27(3), 205-208.

Friedrich, J., & Camac, M. K. (2003). Psychologist as scientist or intuitive judge? Assessing student per­ ceptions and associated reasoning strategies. Repre­ sentative Research in Social Psychology, 27, 1-10.

Friedrich, J. (1996). Assessing students’ perceptions of psychology as a science: Validation o f a self-re­ port measure. Teaching o f Psychology, 23, 6-13. doi: 10.1207/sl 5328023top2301 1

Gervasio, A. H., Wendorf, C. A., & Yoder, N. F. (2010). Validating a psychology as a helping profession scale. Teaching o f Psychology, 37(2), 107-113. doi: 10.1080/00986281003609199

Harton, H. C., & Lyons P. C. (2003). Gender, empathy, and the choice o f the psychology major. Teach­ ing o f Psychology, 30(1), 19-24. doi:10.1207/ S15328023TOP3001 03

Holmes, J. D., & Beins, B. C. (2009). Psycholo­ gy is a science: At least some students think so. Teaching o f Psychology, 36(1), 5-11. doi: 10.1080/00986280802529350

Morales, B. L., Abramson, C. I., Nain, S., Nelson, A. S. Jr., & Bartoszcck, A. B. (2005). Status o f psycholo­ gy as a science in Northeast Brazil: Undergraduate students’ perceptions. Psychological Reports, 96(1), 109-114. doi: 10.2466/pr0.96.1.109-114

Provost, S. C., Martin, F. H., Hobart, T.A.S., Peacock, A., Lipp, O. V., Brisbane, Q., ... & Hannan, G. (2011). University students’ views on the nature of science and psychology. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 10(2), 128-145. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/ plat.2011.10.2.128

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