Personality's Top 40: An Assignment to Motivate Students to Apply Personality Concepts to Their Favorite Songs. (April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wesselmann, Eric D.; P. Kassner, Matthew; Graziano, William G.
• Is Part Of: Teaching of psychology. Volume 43:Number 2(2016:Apr.)
• Page Start: 159
• Page End: 163
• Publication Date: 2016-04
• Subjects: personality -- music; Psychology -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Periodicals; 150.711
• DOI: 10.1177/0098628316636296
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0098-6283

Abstract

We created an activity in an upper-level personality psychology course in which interested students created an "entry" for a contest in which they chose a popular song that illustrated a course concept. The class evaluated these entries and voted on their favorites in a tournament-style bracket system; winners received extra credit. Students enjoyed the activity regardless of whether they created an entry or simply voted for their favorite entry. For example, they indicated the activity helped clarify course concepts, encouraged them to think about the concepts in novel ways, and increased their appreciation for psychology. We created final exam items that assessed knowledge relevant to each entry. Students were more likely to answer these items correctly than a randomly selected subset of items unrelated to the entries. This activity could be adapted for other courses both within and outside of psychology.