Carolynn Kohn
Post Doctoral Fellow, University of California San Francisco, 2003
PhD, Hahnemann University, 2000
MA, Hahnemann University, 1996
BA, University of California Santa Barbara, 1991
I aspire to be the professor who is "popular" among students not because I am "easy" but because students find my courses challenging as well as interesting, enjoyable, and valuable. Rather than lower my standards, I make myself available to students and assist them with the course material by providing study suggestions and different ways of examining the material to facilitate their learning.
My father is an excellent role model for me. He is a lifelong secondary mathematics teacher who never taught the same class the same way. He constantly updated, rejuvenated, and modernized his courses so that they remained timely and interesting, and neither he nor his students were ever "bored" by the material-even after 40 years! He always retained what worked, and tried out new things to replace what appeared not to work. He has had numerous students write or tell him that math was their least favorite subject-until they took his class, after which they found they actually enjoyed learning math and felt they understood it for the first time. I combine this style with the scientist-practitioner model, believing that teaching informed by current research enhances the overall learning experience. To achieve this, I frequently either forgo or supplement textbook materials with recent scientific articles, news articles, film clips and other timely material. Finally, I emphasize critical thinking and skepticism throughout my courses, hoping to encourage students to become informed, lifelong learners, both in and out of the classroom.
My research interests are in the broad area of behavioral psychology. My current research has two primary foci: (1) alcohol and college students and (2) methodological issues, including replication and extension of research in the areas of developmental psychology and ethical decision-making.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Strickland, M., & Kohn, C. S. (2022). Behavioral skills training to teach free-pours of standard servings of alcohol to college students. Behavioral interventions. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.1873
Wirantana, V., Stocco, C. S., & Kohn, C. S. (2020). The implementation and adoptability of behavioral skills training in a University Career Center. Behavioral Interventions, 35, 84-98. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.1692
Cruz-Khalili, A., Bettencourt, K., Kohn, C. S., Normand, M. P., & Schlinger, H. D. (2019). Use of repeated within-subject measures to assess infants’ preference for similar others. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02239
Hankla, M. E., Kohn, C. S., Normand, M. P. (2018). Teaching college students to pour accurately: Effects of behavioral skills training and peer modeling. Behavioral Interventions, 33(2), 136-149. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.1509
Kohn, C. S., Schultz, N. R., & Bettencourt, K., & Dunn Carlton, H. (2017). Poor convergence: College students’ definitions and free-poured volumes of standard alcohol servings. Journal of Drug Education: Substance Abuse Research and Prevention, 47(1-2), 36-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047237917744329
Nighbor, T. D., Kohn, C. S., Normand, M. P., & Schlinger, H. D. (2017). Stability of infants’ preference for prosocial others: Implications for research based on single-choice paradigms. PLoS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178818
Schultz, N. R., Kohn, C. S., Schmerbauch, M., & Correia, C. J. (2017). A systematic review of the free-pour assessment: Implications for research, assessment and intervention. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 25, 125-140. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000120
Metz., E. R., Kohn, C. S., Schultz, N. R., & Bettencourt, K. (2017). Evaluation of pour training procedures for college students. Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, 17(1), 18-32. https://doi.org/10.1037/bar0000038
