Honors Students Make Psychology 'Nerdy' Again

Author: News Bureau
Posted: Monday, November 13, 2017 12:00 AM
Categories: Students | College of Arts and Sciences | Pressroom

Atlanta, GA

L-R are and Honors students Rachel Maddox, Heather Ness, and Kourtney Crumpton at the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference.

Middle Georgia State University instructor Heather Ness and honors students Rachel Maddox and Kourtney Crumpton put the nerd back in Psychology with their recent presentation at the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in Atlanta.

The presentation, “Make psychology nerdy again: Enhancing student education of psychological themes through media of popular culture,” put forth Ness’s Honors Psychology 1101 class as a pedagogical model and showcased the students’ work for the course. Ness said that such themed courses can “pull students out of the boring psychology textbook into a variety of academic essays and research articles. While students can, of course, memorize names and theories in a typical introductory psychology course, learning theories predict that students are more likely to retain information if applied to their personal interests, such as cultural trends and narratives.”

Ness’s Honors Psychology 1101 class, which explores a broad range of psychological topics as applied to video games and superhero media, will be offered again in spring 2018. Interested students can contact Dr. Clay Morton, Honors Program director, at clay.morton@mga.edu for enrollment information.