Getting Psyched About Memes in the Psychology Classroom

Authors

Lisa M. Kath
Gordon B. Schmidt
Sayeedul Islam
William P. Jimenez, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Jessica L. Hartnett

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-4-2022

DOI

10.1177/00986283221085908

Publication Title

Teaching of Psychology

Volume

51

Issue

3

Pages

345-351

Abstract

Introduction: Internet memes are a ubiquitous part of internet culture and a common communication tool among students. Because they are a good medium for expressing ideas and concepts in a concise and fun manner, memes are a potentially valuable tool for teaching and engaging students.

Statement of the Problem: Instructors may not know how to use memes in classroom assignments or activities to support learning objectives.

Literature Review: Students finding or creating their own class-related content is an empirically-supported way to enhance learning. Instructors can enhance learning by using multimedia approaches (pictures/videos in addition to words), which is a good fit for the use of memes. We include examples of ways that memes have already been used in psychology classrooms.

Teaching Implications: Incorporating meme assignments or activities in the classroom could be beneficial.

Conclusion: We describe how students can explain or generate memes that illustrate concepts related to course material. Instructions and supporting information and resources, as well as calls for research into the effectiveness of the use of memes in the classroom, are included.

Rights

This is the author's accepted version and was published in Teaching of Psychology at https://doi.org/10.1177/00986283221085908. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

© The Author(s) 2022.

The final version was published as: Kath, L. M., Schmidt, G. B., Islam, S., Jimenez, W. P., & Hartnett, J. L. (2024). Getting psyched about memes in the psychology classroom. Teaching of Psychology, 51(3), 345-351. https://doi.org/10.1177/00986283221085908

Original Publication Citation

Kath, L. M., Schmidt, G. B., Islam, S., Jimenez, W. P., & Hartnett, J. L. (2022). Getting psyched about memes in the psychology classroom. Teaching of Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00986283221085908

ORCID

0000-0003-1141-4631 (Jimenez)

Repository Citation

Kath, Lisa M.; Schmidt, Gordon B.; Islam, Sayeedul; Jimenez, William P.; and Hartnett, Jessica L., "Getting Psyched About Memes in the Psychology Classroom" (2022). Psychology Faculty Publications. 131.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_fac_pubs/131