The Evaluation of Significant Figures in the History of Social Psychology: A Class Exercise in the Teaching of Introductory Social Psychology

Abstract

In teaching social psychology, the process of identifying a particular theorist can lead to an enhanced understanding of the theories associated with that individual. Employing this process into a summative assessment, this article outlines an exercise that facilitated the teaching of introductory social psychology to 147 undergraduate students. The students completed an exercise in the critical evaluation and ranking of the contributions of several significant figures in the history of social psychology. Evaluations of the exercise revealed that the most popular triad included various combinations of Festinger, Asch, and Milgram. Additional analyses highlighted no differences in choice of triad between genders, nor were there differences in assessment grade for the chosen triad. Student choices of the exemplars suggested that decisions were guided by selected principles, and that systematic selection of the exemplars in further iterations of the exercise will enable the exploration of the links students make between the theorists and their collective work.