Making TV Commercials as a Teaching Aid for Cognitive Psychology

Abstract

Many students approach psychology in general, and cognitive psychology in particular, with serious misconceptions about the scientific nature of the discipline. In order to address this problem and bring laboratory findings in cognitive psychology into a real world context, we asked students in an introductory cognitive course to make TV commercials using principles learned in class. The success of the approach became evident from analysis of course evaluation forms and the generally high quality of students' productions.