A demonstration of undergraduate students' first impressions and their ratings of pathology.

Full Abstract

An interactive team exercise based in the dual topic areas of social and abnormal psychology is described that employs videotaped case studies to sensitize students to the processes by which they form first impressions of other people, and to various issues regarding assessments of mental disorders. Each of three case studies is presented in two parts:
Part I simulates a "first impression" condition--involving students' ratings of perceived pathology--by briefly showing only a patient (no soundtrack present), and Part 2 constitutes a "further disclosure" condition by giving more exposure-involving therapists' diagnoses and assessments-of the same patient with both sight and soundtrack presented. Data are reported from 12 introductory psychology classes in which students (N=367) rated the three patients on psychopathology as perceived severity of disorder as compared to the actual assessments (also contained on the videotapes) made by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists. The demonstration is useful in eliciting consistent and predictable first impressions from students, in stimulating classroom discussion about the value and accuracy of person perceptions and first impressions, and in alerting students to problems related to the identification of mental disorders.

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Author information

Author/s: Roeckelein, Jon E (JE);

Affiliation: Psychology Department, Mesa Community College, AZ 85202, USA. jroeckelein(-atsign-)mail.mc.maricopa.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Psychological reports (Psychol Rep), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Apr; vol 90 (issue 2) : pp 613-8

Dates: Created 2002/06/13; Completed 2002/07/16; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12061604, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Female
Humans

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