Top 25 Assignment

On Tuesday, you will get directions for your Top 25 Assignment, which is due on Monday, September 23rd The purpose of the exercise is to get you introduced to some of the "big names" in psychology that you will be learning about over the course of this year. Because of their notoriety, you will be able to find most of what you need to know about these individuals (which, is not much...just a brief summary of their biggest accomplishments) with a quick Google search. But, since Google doesn't always lead a person to credible, scholarly information, below I've provided examples of some links that you may find helpful.

• Alphabetical list of Famous Figures in Psychology.
• This online encyclopedia of psychology has a number of psychologist biographies. 
• Psychology Standard has a reference section with bios of some historically significant psychologists. 
• There are some more at AllPsych Online. 
• This timeline of significant events in the contemporary history of psychology includes many of your Top 25.

Admit that you could not be more stoked to learn about this stylin' crew.

Of course, given that you'll have a lot of time to be reviewing the photographs of this hip crew, we'll also be voting on Most Attractive Top 25 Psychologist on Friday. Choose carefully, as many of them have put a lot of thought into their outfits and accessories. 

Psychology's Top 25

Today in class you received materials and instructions for your Top 25 Assignment, which will be due Monday, September 10. To complete it, you will use your best Googling skills and the links provided below to identify the most significant contribution(s) of the listed psychologists, who are among the most important folks we'll learn about all year. Don't feel the need to summarize EVERYTHING they've done (many of them had long and storied careers); we're just looking for a sentence or two about what the psychologist is most known for.

Links:

• Famous Figures in Psychology
• History of Psychology
• People and History in Psychology (a bunch of sites)
• Psychology Biographies

Perhaps more fun will be Step 2: coming up with your own ranking system for them. After finding out what they did, you'll identify the first most important psychologist, second, third, etc., and number them on the worksheet. NOTE: I do not need a repeat of what OTHER scholars think is the appropriate ranking (as this is easy to find with a quick Web search). I want to know what YOU think, and you'll not be judged against any established list.

Be sure to complete YOUR OWN WORK; honesty is important, and copying another's work (descriptions or rank order) will result in a score of zero.

Also, don't forget to scope out their pictures as you read about these guys. Not only will most of them show up again later this year, but their fashion choices and poses are priceless.

Top 25 Assignment Links

On Friday during class you will be getting directions for your "Top 25 Assignment." You will be provided with a written copy of directions and pictures. You can choose to fill in the paper copy you are given, or you can utlize the Excel Spreadsheet for Top 25 Assignment, which allows for easier sorting of the information when you are done. Just be sure to print your final copy to bring to class on Thursday, Sept. 9.

Note: Be sure to do a "save as" to save the Excel spreadsheet to your own computer.

Use the links provided below (and/or your best Googling skills) to determine the most noteworthy contributions of the “Top 25 Psychologists." A sentence or two per psychologist is plenty. Then, assign each a rank according to YOUR VIEW of which was most important, second most, third most…and so on.

NOTE: I do not need a repeat of what OTHER scholars think is the appropriate ranking. I want to know what YOU think.

Be sure to complete YOUR OWN WORK; plagiarism will result in a score of zero.

Links:

• Famous Figures in Psychology
• History of Psychology
• People and History in Psychology (a bunch of sites)
• Psychology Biographies

Steer clear of Wikipedia, please (and similar publicly-edited pages). While it is good for some things, it's also not trusted by most in higher-level academics, so get used to it being off-limits.

Psychology's Top 100

I had a good time hearing about your rankings of Psychology's Top 25 minds today in class, students.

For anyone who's interested in how those rankings were created, here's link to the published article. It describes how the researchers from Western Kentucky University and Arkansas State University gathered their data and completed the complicated process they used to create the rankings.

Want to know who else is on the list? I only asked you to take a look at the top 25 for your assignment. The list they generated actually ranks the Top 100 ("Most Eminent") Psychologists of the 20th Century. If your favorite didn't make the top 25, maybe he/she still made the top 100.