We examined first-year psychology majors' (N ¼ 195) beliefs about the relevance of two types of university assignments (individual essay and group wiki) and their connection to the development of career-related skills. Students reported that assignments were only somewhat relevant to their career goals, and relevance ratings were typically justified by referring to assignment features (content and type) rather than skill development. Our results suggest that it is important for faculty to be explicit with students-particularly those in the early stages of their degree-about the career-related skills that their coursebased activities are intended to foster.

Canadian university students tend to endorse employment-related reasons for attending university ahead of other reasons such as personal satisfaction or intellectual growth. In the present study, first- and fourth-year students from a mid-sized Canadian university reported on the benefits they expected to receive from their degree and rated their relative importance. These open-ended responses suggested that both groups of students placed a greater emphasis on benefits related to career preparation and economic advancement than those associated with learning and self-improvement. However, when asked to evaluate the importance of a comprehensive list of degree-related benefits both groups of students endorsed the value of many of them, including those related to learning and self-improvement. Our results suggest the importance of methodology in gathering data about this issue, and we consider them in light of current concerns with helping students to understand the full value of their degree. Les étudiants des universités canadiennes ont tendance à accepter les raisons qui se rapportent à l’emploi pour justifier les études universitaires avant d’autres raisons telles que la satisfaction personnelle ou la croissance intellectuelle. Dans la présente étude, des étudiants de première année et de quatrième année d’une université canadienne de taille moyenne ont indiqué les avantages qu’ils s’attendaient à obtenir avec leur diplôme et les ont classés par ordre d’importance. Ces réponses ouvertes suggèrent que les deux groupes d’étudiants ont attribué une plus grande importance aux avantages liés à la préparation de leur carrière et à l’avancement économique qu’à ceux liés à l’apprentissage et à l’amélioration personnelle. Toutefois, quand on leur a demandé d’évaluer l’importance d’une liste complète d’avantages liés à l’obtention d’un diplôme, les deux groupes d’étudiants ont reconnu la valeur de plusieurs d’entre eux, y compris ceux qui se rapportent à l’apprentissage et à l’amélioration personnelle. Nos résultats suggèrent que la méthodologie employée pour recueillir les données sur cette question est importante et nous les prenons en considération à la lumière des préoccupations actuelles pour aider les étudiants à comprendre la valeur globale de leur diplôme.

When one individual commits a transgression or aggressive act against another, third parties often have expectations about how the victim should respond, even when they do not have any personal involvement in the event. When their justice expectations are violated, such as when a victim forgives the offender for an act that third parties deem too heinous to forgive, third parties may react in a way that is critical of the victim. This research examines how third-party observers react when victims forgive seemingly ‘unforgivable’ offences. Study 1, a scenario-based experiment, showed that although third parties were not directly critical of a forgiving victim, they did not agree with the decision to forgive. Study 2 replicated these findings and explored in more depth third parties’ justice-related feelings about the transgression and the victim, using both quantitative and qualitative data. Results suggest that although third parties are reluctant to directly criticize ‘extreme’ forgivers, they are not supportive of their decision to forgive. This could have implications for victims, who may interpret this disagreement with their choice as a lack of support.