A Classroom Demonstration of How Individual Interpretations Shape Recollections of Past Events: It's Not Just a Game

Abstract Courses in a wide variety of disciplines emphasize that what we think important, and are therefore likely to remember, is not the result of the objective situation but rather the result of our individual biases and interpretations. This article presents a classroom exercise that aids students in grasping the interpretive nature of historical accounts. Students in a history of psychology class and an Introduction to Human Services class (the control group) completed a questionnaire measuring the degree to which they view history as an interpretive enterprise versus a static one. In the psychology class, students then participated in an exercise that compared collective memories of a classroom event to emphasize the interpretive nature of personal history. Students in both classes completed the questionnaire a second time. Those students that completed the exercise scored higher on the follow-up questionnaire than did those in the control class. We discuss this exercise as a technique to aid students in grasping the importance of understanding the impact of individual perceptions of events. Keywords: active learningsmall group activitieshistory of psychologyhistory as interpretation Notes *Scoring was reversed before computing total score