INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY TEACHING PRIMER Early Career ...

ACTIVITIES & TECHNIQUES
(In Class)
Watch the Gloria videos, which depict three founders of respective theoretical approaches (Carl
Rogers-Humanistic therapy, Albert Ellis-Cognitive therapy, and Fritz Perls-Gestault therapy)
conducting therapy with the same woman. This activity highlights the differences between
therapeutic approaches, which is hard for students to understand simply from descriptions of the
schools. Rogers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m30jsZx_Ngs&NR=1 Ellis:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-
7965308202224028422&ei=ojGESuTVD4zblQfKm5imDg&q=gloria+therapy+ellis&hl=en
Perls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kae5RK3JQCs (LO 4.2b)
Present a case and have students conceptualize the problem from two different theoretical
perspectives (such as psychoanalysis vs. behavior therapy). Again, this activity helps clarify the
difference for the students (LO 4.2b)
RELEVANT TOP ARTICLES
(Annotated Bibliography)
Banyard, V. L., & Fernald, P. S. (2002). Simulated family therapy: A classroom demonstration.
Teaching of Psychology, 29, 223-226.
This article offers a demonstration of family therapy through a simulated interaction among
student confederates. Explicit training instructions are offered for the confederates as well as
discussion questions for the class.
Lawson, T. J., & Reardon, M. (1997). A humorous demonstration of in vivo systematic
desensitization: The case of eraser phobia. Teaching of Psychology, 24, 270-271.
This paper provides a demonstration of systematic desensitization by having a confederate
student work through the steps of the treatment in class.
Viken, R. J. (1992). Therapy evaluation: Using an absurd pseudotreatment to demonstrate
research issues. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 108-110.
Treatment evaluation methods are often difficult to understand and popular media is full of
supposed treatments that claim miraculous results. This demonstration highlights the need for
appropriate controls in treatment studies, hopefully increasing students’ critical thinking skills.
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