Gathered around a large table, 20 students appeared to be participating in a typical seminar, as their professors answered questions by lecturing and citing studies. But the Introduction to Psychology students and professors enjoyed a much more relaxed atmosphere, munching grapes and chatting during a special "coffee hour" Friday. The students ate doughnuts, bagels and fruit provided by the Psychology Department as they participated in the informal discussion, a voluntary addition to their normal class time. "It's called a coffee hour, but we don't have any coffee," Psychology Professor Michael Kelly said as he opened the discussion. "Maybe in the future we'll actually have some." Eventually, 30 cups of steaming coffee arrived. But students did not come expressly for the purpose of complimentary food. They hoped to further class discussion and explore issues that are not a part of the curriculum, several explained. "I came because I enjoy the class. In class, people ask interesting question," said Engineering freshman Sushmitha Kurapati. "That's what I think the coffee hour is about." Students said they enjoyed the discussion and planned to attend future sessions. "It was just a place where you can go to ask question to people who are knowledgeable on their subjects," College freshman Nick Cloke said. "I wanted to see what [the professors] liked most about psychology because a lot of the time the things you learn in class aren't the interesting parts." The coffee hour had an unstructured format where students asked questions about various subjects including dreams, memory manipulation and gender differences. "We're trying it without an agenda to let students ask things informally," Kelly said. "It's more about current issues in psychology." Regarding future sessions, Psychology Professor Robert DeRubeis, said he hopes to find a newspaper article to spark discussion during the next coffee hour. DeRubeis suggested discussing depression at future meetings. The idea for informal coffee hours began with Psychology Professor Henry Gleitman in the 1960s, according to Psychology Professor Lori Flanagan-Cato. After Gleitman's success, other psychology professors decided to invite their students to a similar discussion. The structure of the popular Introduction to Psychology course has changed this semester. Kelly, DeRubeis and Flanagan-Cato are teaching the course together. The curriculum is divided into cognitive, clinical and biological sections respectively. "It's like an experiment. [Psychology is] a gigantic topic," Flanagan-Cato said. "Each of us focus on one topic and show what we know." Since the course involves large lectures, the coffee hours allow students who are very interested in the subject to talk about psychology in greater detail, on a more informal level.
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