Perceived Student Benefits of an Undergraduate Physiological Psychology Laboratory Course

Undergraduate research (UR) is a high-impact practice associated with many positive student outcomes. However, extending UR opportunities to all students is not practical for all psychology programs. Classroom-based UR experiences (CUREs) provide a scalable solution to this problem, but there is a paucity of empirically validated, authentic CUREs across all programs and all areas of the undergraduate psychology curriculum. A quasi-experimental design involving a semester-long CURE in an upper-level physiological psychology laboratory course was conducted. Students participating in the lecture and the CURE reported significant perceived benefits across many key domains, more positive attitudes toward science, and favorable changes in postgraduation plans, especially toward graduate school and careers in science, when compared to students in the lecture-only group. The results support the call for UR in the psychology curriculum, demonstrate the effectiveness of an authentic CURE to meet this goal for all students, and provide a model for CURE dissemination in a physiological psychology laboratory course