Overall I enjoyed this class, even though there were some complicated and boring lectures. This was partially my fault because I didn’t read the textbook for most of the course, so I was confused and that made things more boring. Seriously, READ THE TEXTBOOK. Not only does it make everything make sense, it’s also interesting and kinda funny. Also THE TESTS HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT MATERIAL THAT WAS ONLY COVERED IN THE TEXTBOOK. There are three tests and a final, and he drops your lowest test grade (excluding your grade on the final). He doesn’t have questions that are like “A and C” or “all of the above” because he says they stress students, which is greatly appreciated. He has a complicated grading system with z scores and no matter how many times he explains it I don’t understand it. Willingham is funny and a good lecturer. If you take this class in-person, record lectures (even though he has a no phone policy he still lets you record).

I'm a computer science major and took this class as an integrative elective. I loved this class both from a psychology and computer science standpoint! Professor Willingham does a great job with explaining the principles of cognitive psychology and how they relate to computer science in a very interesting way. The lectures were engaging and captivating, though if you left the textbook reading to the last minute it piled up quick. Willingham wrote the textbook and once said he hoped it would be like his students bible for the semester in that they would read a little everyday. If you stick with that mantra, the reading is interesting and manageable. This class is not an easy A, but if you study you can get a good grade and learn a lot about how your mind works and how to better your study habits.

The course is awesome! I love the way Willingham taught the course, as he knew how to get us to understand the content. Also, the course only has reading assignment as assignment and the final grade depends completely on midterms and finals, which sounds great. One suppose to read on average 100 pages per week, which could be a little bit overwhelming if you did not finish them on time and rush to read them before the exam.

Professor Willingham is a really great professor, and he really cares about what he teaches! He was also super helpful with the transition to online classes this semester, so that made the class much more enjoyable!

I honestly don't really understand the hype around this professor. He's nice and everything, but I honestly found his lectures to be confusing. I don't think he was the best at explaining things and his powerpoints were very bare. People rave about the textbook but I thought it was annoying to read. He wrote the textbook to read like a novel which is cool, but not what I want in a textbook. It made it hard to figure out what you actually needed to know. He also does grading weirdly which he claims is always supported by students every semester, but I found it hard to figure out what my grade was going into finals and what I needed on the final. He gives you a grade based on your z-score + 10, so if you have an 11/22 (why 22 I don't know, somehow the final grade was then out of 15???) you have an A somehow and if you have like a 10.5 you have an A-, etc. It was super confusing, I just wanted to be able to take my average scores and figure out what I needed to get on the final from there. Overall, the course was somewhat challenging, but doable. He did do a good job switching to online. I would take the course again, I just thought the way he did things was a little strange.

I absolutely loved this class. Professor Willingham was an amazing professor and his lectures were super interesting and engaging. He wrote the textbook we used, and I actually found it pretty enjoyable and entertaining to read. It also matched up super well with the content of the lectures. The reading is manageable and the only assignment outside of lecture. Your grade is made up of three midterms (lowest is dropped) and a final. The exams are multiple choice and he purposely makes them difficult, but there is a forgiving curve at the end of the semester. The TAs also hold a review session every week. Overall, I would highly recommend this course with Willingham!

Professor Willingham is kind of a well-known academic in the area of cognitive psychology, although I didn't know that going in. When he lectures, it's evident that he cares a lot about the content and knows a *ton* about the subject. There's a lot of content, but the textbook is very well-written and if you're at all able to keep up with the reading, I'd highly recommend that you do. He wrote the textbook, so it matches up extremely well with the lectures and usually offers the same content as the lectures, but in a different format. A fair warning: sometimes, the midterms will ask questions that are only discussed in the textbook. These aren't super common, but expect 1-2 questions per exam that will require that you have done your reading. Willingham did a great job getting me excited about cognitive psychology, and I learned so much about not just the field but about how psychology and science is conducted in general. You'll be introduced to a bunch of different and widely applicable concepts, and you'll find yourself thinking about them in everyday life. Highly recommend this class for anyone!!!

Willingham is a great lecturer. This class will give you a new perspective on psychology. Prof basically spent the first half of the semester disproving everything we "know" about psychology. You learn about many different models for the same concept, and he explains how each model came to be and how they can be proven/disproven. This course deals with a lot of abstract concepts, and sometimes I left lecture feeling like the main idea was "we know nothing about how ___ works but here is what seems most likely." Attendance is not mandatory for this course, but I highly recommend going to lecture. The only "homework" for this class is to do readings which are always assigned after we go over the concept in class. Readings are usually very long, but imo they will help you do well in this class. While this course is difficult and challenges what you may have learned in previous courses, it is definitely worth taking.

Willingham is super interesting to hear lecture, even though his tests can be tricky. Definitely recommend taking this class if you're interested in the topic, but if you're not then you're not going to do very well and your grade will suffer. Four exams, he drops the lowest and the class is curved at the end.

First off, I should say that I love this class and Mr. Willingham. He gives a lot of character to the class and makes every lecture slide much more approachable. The information presented in this class is applicable in so many facets of life outside of a psychology major. At the least, you should sit in on 2nd day's lecture as he goes over scientifically supported study methods along with associated research. After this class I quite literally felt bigger brained. On the downside, this class is very hard. Willingham expects that you have a thorough understanding of the topics presented in class since his test questions can either be very specific or they push your understanding of the concepts to the limit. I tried as hard as I could for a B and honestly I'm happy with it, but of course I'm sure if I understood the concepts in more detail and asked myself more questions like "what happens if I change this thing in the system" or "how do these concepts relate to what was taught previously?"