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Article
An Example of Using Pop Culture to Teach Undergraduates
Operants (2018)
  • Darlene Crone-Todd, Salem State University
Abstract
During the past 5 years or so, it has become a tradition in my courses to have at least one lecture devoted to a pop culture exploration of the principles, concepts, or processes being covered in the course. I typically create the lecture as a review of sorts, especially prior to an exam. While some students may at first be unsure about the purpose of such a lecture, as evidenced by their looks of surprise (including some eye rolling), I have consistently had nothing but positive comments from students following such lectures. As if this positive praise were not enough, students’ scores on exams following such a review are much higher than in previous years with a “typical” review covering our usual topics in human and animal behavior. Any psychinfo search will reveal that these observations are entirely consistent with the cognitive literature: humor helps us to both “recall” and “retain” information. As behavior analysts, we might suggest that this finding is due to some verbal behavior coming under better control of the relevant verbal stimuli as a result of additional conditioned and generalized reinforcement. 
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter 2018
Citation Information
Darlene Crone-Todd. "An Example of Using Pop Culture to Teach Undergraduates" Operants Iss. 1 (2018) - 34
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/darlene-cronetodd/21/