Teaching an introductory psychology course that matters

In its traditional form, the introductory psychology course creates special challenges for both students and teachers. Its goals are lofty, its scope so broad that many of its seemingly disjointed topics lie outside the typical instructor's comfort zone and, especially when taught in a single term, allows little more than superficial content coverage. There is also uncertainty about its long-term impact. Introductory students may be learning valuable lessons about psychological science, but low scores on follow-up tests suggest that their new knowledge involves something other than facts, definitions, and vocabulary (e.g., Landrum & Gurung, 2013), and surveys show that the course fails to dislodge common misconceptions about human behavior and mental processes (e.g., Bernstein et al., 2023, 2025). In this article we trace the history of the course, summarize reformulation efforts designed to address its shortcomings, and describe the contours of an introductory course that could lead to more enduring and socially significant outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

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