Okay, so I decided to put together a little something I called ‘Psychology Jeopardy’ the other day. It wasn’t for anything official, just thought it’d be a decent way to jog my memory on some psych stuff I hadn’t thought about in a while. Here’s how I went about it.
Getting Started
First thing, I needed topics, right? Like the categories on the actual show. I rummaged through some old notes and textbooks I still had lying around. Didn’t want anything too obscure, just the basics. I settled on a few broad areas:
- Famous Psychologists: You know, Freud, Skinner, Piaget, the usual suspects.
- Basic Concepts: Things like conditioning, cognitive dissonance, stuff like that.
- Disorders: Kept it pretty high-level, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia basics.
- Therapies: CBT, psychoanalysis, humanistic approaches.
- Brain Bits: Simple stuff, like what the amygdala or hippocampus generally does.
Just five categories felt right, manageable. Then I needed point values. I just went with the classic 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 for each one. Simple.
Making the Clues
This part took a bit more time. I had to actually write the ‘answers’ and then frame the ‘questions’. Remember, in Jeopardy, they give you the answer, and you gotta give the question. So, for example, under ‘Famous Psychologists’ for 100, the ‘answer’ might be: He’s known for classical conditioning with dogs. And the ‘question’ would be “Who is Pavlov?”.
I tried to make the lower point values pretty straightforward and the higher ones a bit trickier, needing a bit more specific knowledge. I just wrote these down on index cards, one ‘answer’ per card, and wrote the ‘question’ and the point value on the back. I made sure I had five cards for each of the five categories.
Setting Up the ‘Board’
Didn’t get fancy here. I just cleared some space on my dining table. I laid out the category names at the top using some sticky notes. Then, under each category name, I placed the corresponding index cards face down (so the ‘answer’ side was hidden), arranged by point value from top (100) to bottom (500). Looked kinda like a makeshift Jeopardy board. Good enough for a practice run.
Trying it Out
So, I basically played against myself to test it. Picked a category and point value, flipped the card, read the ‘answer’, and tried to state the ‘question’. It felt a bit silly doing it alone, but it worked! It helped me see which areas I was rusty on. Some clues were maybe too easy, others maybe a bit too tough for the points.
For instance, I had one under ‘Brain Bits’ for 500 that was maybe a little too specific about neurotransmitter pathways. Probably should adjust that if I did it again or with other people. But mostly, it flowed okay.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was a pretty decent way to spend an hour or so. Actually making the game forced me to review the material more actively than just reading notes. Laying it out visually helped too. It wasn’t perfect, some clues need tweaking, but as a personal practice tool, it did the job. Felt like I actually did something with the information, you know? Might even try it with a couple of friends next time, see how it goes with a bit of friendly competition.
