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Volume 11, Issue1January 1998

About the Observer

Published 6 times per year by the Association for Psychological Science, the Observer educates and informs on matters affecting the research, academic, and applied disciplines of psychology; promotes the scientific values of APS members; reports on issues of international interest to the psychological science community; and provides a vehicle for the dissemination on information about APS.

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    Myths and Misinformation

    How does misinformation spread and how do we combat it? Psychological science sheds light on the mechanisms underlying misinformation and ‘fake news.’

Up Front


  • Border Crossings

    The record of scientific psychology over the past 50 years is one of impressive growth and numerous advances, accompanied by increasing technical and theoretical complexity. This increased complexity almost inevitably leads to more subdisciplinary specialization, as evidenced in the proliferation of specialty journals, sharply focused organizations and conferences, and departmental structures that both reflect and reinforce divergent paths. As an organization, APS has resisted many of the pressures toward specialization. The founders of APS and successive generations of Board Members endorsed an organization that would operate as a whole, rather than as a collection of separate divisions and subdisciplinary units.

APS Spotlight


Practice


  • Self-Knowledge of a Job Well-Done: Reflections on a Teacher’s Self-Appraisal

    Since the time of Socrates, great teachers have held true to their distinctive selves; to know thyself continues as a good rule for the rest of us. Institutional awards for good teaching may yield money in the bank and a quick fix to self-esteem, but over the long haul, self-knowledge of a job well done is the more lasting reward for the career teacher. Self-appraisal, however, can drift into self-deception if not guided by a clear conception of what good teachers do and the ideas that influence their thinking and action. This article is a summary of teaching concepts I’ve emphasized over the years. I hope it confirms to teachers that they have the ability and standards necessary to examine their own interaction with students. About good teaching, opinions differ.

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