Introductory psychology (Intro Psych) is one of the most popular and frequently taught courses on college campuses, yet educators in psychology have limited knowledge about what is covered in classes around the nation or the extent to which class content reflects the current scope of the discipline. There is no explicit model to guide course content selection for the intro course, which poses substantial challenges for instructors. This article proposes a new model for teaching the intro course that integrates (a) scientific foundations, (b) 5 major domains or pillars of knowledge (biological, cognitive, developmental, social and personality, and mental and physical health), and (c) cross-cutting themes relevant to all domains (cultural and social diversity, ethics, variations in human functioning, and applications; American Psychological Association, 2014). We advocate for national assessment of the course, a similar introductory course for majors and nonmajors, the inclusion of experiential or laboratory components, and additional training resources for instructors of the intro course. Given the exponential growth of psychological knowledge and applications during the past decades, we caution against attempting to provide exhaustive coverage of all topic areas of psychology in a one-semester course. We conclude by discussing the challenges that lie ahead for the discipline of psychology as it launches this new model for Intro Psych.

The debate about delayed memories of child sexual abuse has generated strong emotions and has polarized many psychologists and members of the public. At times, individuals have adopted absolute positions without adequate knowledge of the complex issues involved. This article provides information about the current debate regarding the veracity of delayed memories of child sexual abuse, describes the historical context in which this controversy occurs, discusses the growth and development of psychotherapy for trauma survivors, and reviews the theoretical and empirical literature relevant to abuse memories. The article also outlines recommendations about foundations of knowledge and interventions that will help psychologists engage in competent and ethical practices with clients and generates an initial set of recommendations for future research, training, and social change.

We were concerned with client-counselor matching along the dimension of attitudes toward feminism. We hypothesized that feminist subjects would be more receptive to the radical feminist counselor, whereas nonfeminist subjects would rate the nonsexist and liberal feminist counselor more positively. College women (N = 150) viewed 12 videotaped counseling vignettes that were varied by the feminist orientation of the counselor and the explicitness of the counselor's value statement about her approach in 2 replications. Contrary to our expectation all subjects preferred to see the feminist counselor for career and sexual assault concerns; no significant differences were observed across counselors for personal concerns. Significant differences in favor of the feminist counselor were observed on ratings of counselor expertness and trustworthiness. The implications for future research on feminist counseling and therapy are discussed.

Conflicting findings in the research on women's reactions to feminist counseling and therapy were investigated. Feminist and nonfeminist college women (iV = 211) were exposed to nonsexist/ humanistic, liberal feminist, or radical feminist counseling through a videotaped vignette, the written transcript of the videotape, or an extended written description. Participants' perceptions of the liberal feminist counselor were significantly more positive than perceptions of either the nonsexist or the radical feminist counselor. Few differences were found across modes of information delivery. Feminist participants perceived all counselors more favorably than did nonfeminist participants. In general, the results support the need to distinguish among variants of feminist therapy in counseling research and practice.We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Linda Blier-Wilson and Mary Jan Murphy in the materials development phase of the study; Alison Hubbard, Celine La Valley, and Dory Walker in the data collection phase; and Chris Erickson in the data analysis phase.

In this brief chapter, we summarize the parallel and divergent features of the multicultural and feminist theoretical positions discussed in chapters 2 through 5. It is our hope that this overview, along with the common principles, foundations, and converging themes discussed in chapter 1, will provide the foundation necessary for educators to articulate meaningful pedagogical models. Common to all the multicultural and feminist models discussed in previous chapters is the goal of reenvisioning pedagogy such that the voices of individuals who are marginalized in traditional education are centralized. However, the specific aims and the process by which this goal is achieved are likely to vary depending on one's theoretical entry point or standpoint. Our purpose in this brief chapter is to facilitate integration and synthesis by summarizing common dimensions as well as areas of overlap and difference among the feminist, multicultural education, and multicultural counselor training approaches.