Introductory psychology (Intro Psych) is one of the most popular and frequently taught courses on college campuses, yet educators in psychology have limited knowledge about what is covered in classes around the nation or the extent to which class content reflects the current scope of the discipline. There is no explicit model to guide course content selection for the intro course, which poses substantial challenges for instructors. This article proposes a new model for teaching the intro course that integrates (a) scientific foundations, (b) 5 major domains or pillars of knowledge (biological, cognitive, developmental, social and personality, and mental and physical health), and (c) cross-cutting themes relevant to all domains (cultural and social diversity, ethics, variations in human functioning, and applications; American Psychological Association, 2014). We advocate for national assessment of the course, a similar introductory course for majors and nonmajors, the inclusion of experiential or laboratory components, and additional training resources for instructors of the intro course. Given the exponential growth of psychological knowledge and applications during the past decades, we caution against attempting to provide exhaustive coverage of all topic areas of psychology in a one-semester course. We conclude by discussing the challenges that lie ahead for the discipline of psychology as it launches this new model for Intro Psych.

Introductory psychology is one of the most popular undergraduate courses and often serves as the gateway to choosing psychology as an academic major. However, little research has examined the typical structure of introductory psychology courses. The current study examined student learning objectives (SLOs) and course content in introductory psychology syllabi (N ¼ 158). SLOs were mapped to the APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major. Content analysis was based on the principles for quality undergraduate education promulgated by the American Psychological Association. Over 50% of the syllabi contained objectives specific to the science and application of psychology (knowledge base, research methods, and application). Analysis of content coverage revealed instructors spent significantly more time on topics related to physiological and cognitive psychology and spent significantly less time on topics related to the history and scope of psychology, research methods, and developmental psychology. The current study also explored the influence of instructor specialty area on content coverage.

The team identification-social psychological health model predicts that sport team identification leads to social connections which, in turn, result in well-being. This pattern of effects was tested in a sample of 380 college students completing measures of sport fandom, identification with their university's men's basketball team, sense of belonging, and meaning in life. Mediation analyses and structural equation modeling indicated that, as expected, belonging mediated the relationship between identification and meaning in life. In addition, belonging also mediated the relationship between fandom and meaning in life. Discussion includes the importance of the well-being consequences of social ties gained through sport fandom, including connections that are more casual in nature.

Individuals with an unrestricted sociosexual orientation (SO) are less committed to their romantic relationships and more likely to engage in infidelity. Furthermore, commitment is negatively associated with tendencies to cheat. However, no previous research has examined the possible mediating role of commitment in the relationship between SO and infidelity. The current study examined whether commitment mediated the relationship between SO and willingness to engage in three types of cheating behaviors (Ambiguous, Deceptive, and Explicit). Results suggested that commitment partially mediated the relationship between SO and infidelity, such that unrestricted individuals had lower commitment, which in turn led to a greater likelihood of cheating. Implications of this association and directions for future research are discussed.

Awe is a complex, cognitive–conceptual emotion associated with transcendence and wonder. Music has the power to create this kind of transcendence. Can music evoke awe? Previous research demonstrates that awe is associated with individual differences in personality such as openness. This study examined whether different kinds of music across a wide variety of genres can evoke awe and whether the experience of awe depends on individual differences. The study further investigated the relationship of awe to patterns of emotional responses to different dimensions of musical genre. Study 1 demonstrated that high need for cognition and low cognitive closure predicted awe for reflective and complex music, that felt happiness predicted awe for all kinds of music, and that perceived happiness and sadness predicted awe only for reflective and complex music. Study 2 replicated the finding that perceived sadness can evoke awe in reflective and complex music and further demonstrated that experienced musical awe correlates with individual differences in the tendency to experience awe more generally. These results are of interest to advertisers interested in evoking awe with music and marketers interested in segmenting to target the appropriate populations for this purpose.

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This study examined the predictive relationship between library use by individual students and their retention status in university settings. The methodology builds on a small number of previous studies to examine library use at the individual level to determine if use of specific library services is predictive of retention for freshmen and sophomores. Binary logistic regression yielded results that indicate a strong positive predictive relationship between library use of any kind with both freshmen and sophomore retention. These results suggest that academic libraries add value to institutional retention efforts. tudent retention is an increasingly critical issue for institutions of higher education, with far-reaching effects on many other areas of life, including the well-being of students and society. Institutions of higher education face greater calls for accountability regarding different performance metrics, among them student retention and completion of degree programs. State legislatures and higher education coordinating agencies increasingly connect state funding with graduation rates.1 Institutions of higher education are often pressured to keep costs contained, while serving more students who lack the skills necessary to succeed in college. Frequent limitations to increases in tuition as a means of offsetting lost state appropriations lead to both enrollment and retention as high-stakes endeavors, not just for university administrators but also for students and society.2 Seidman provided a clear summary of the wide-ranging impact of student dropout:Attrition results in a severe loss of resources by society, by students, and by colleges that spend to provide programs and services to help retain and graduate students. When a student leaves college prematurely, any debt incurred must be repaid, despite the failure to graduate, and the college loses future funding in the form of tuition and fees and auxiliary services (bookstore, food service, and so forth) generated over time. The surrounding college community that supports the college, restaurants, movie theaters, and so on, also suffers an adverse economic impact when students leave. In addition, students may be turned off to the educational system in general, never returning to benefit from educational opportunities that may have helped with job

This study examines faculty views concerning the appropriateness of teaching specific undergraduate psychology courses in an online format. Faculty express concern about teaching methodology and counseling/clinical content courses online, but endorse teaching introductory and nonclinical content courses in either format; faculty report diverse views on the extent to which capstone and integrative experiences in psychology can be facilitated in a virtual format. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the growing demand for online psychology course offerings.