Student Presentations of the Life and Work of Prominent Social Psychologists

Abstract

In this article I describe a social psychology class assignment in which groups of students delivered a 15- to 20-min presentation on the life and work of a prominent social psychologist. This assignment is designed to foster a richer understanding of—and better memory for—concepts, theories, and experiments in social psychology. Students read primary literature in social psychology, become more familiar with the shapers of the field, and gain insight into the development and progress of research ideas and programs. Students responded favorably to this assignment and found value both in listening to other presentations as well as working on their presentations.