Rodney Schmaltz Associate Professor, Psychology PhD (Alberta) 6-370, City Centre Campus10700 – 104 AvenueEdmonton, AB780-633-3674 Biography Rodney Schmaltz's research focuses on pseudoscientific thinking, with an emphasis on strategies to promote and teach scientific skepticism. Correcting belief in pseudoscience is a challenge. Regardless of academic success or training in science, many people continue to hold ideas that are not supported by empirical evidence. Basically, he wants to better understand why people believe in strange things like ghosts, aliens or psychic powers and find strategies to help combat these beliefs. Dr. Schmaltz’s research extends to workplace productivity and self-control, with a focus on evidence-based approaches to improve performance and reduce common workplace and student stressors. His research in this area explores strategies to maximize productivity, reduce procrastination and improve overall time management skills. Dr. Schmaltz is the past chair of the Research Ethics Board at MacEwan University and he continues to work with government agencies on topics such as ethics review in emergency situations (e.g., during infectious disease outbreaks) and the role of lay representatives in government organizations, such as funding agencies and ethics review boards. Available to supervise honours or individual study students. Expertise Teaching and Research Interests Courses Taught
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Selected Publications / Presentations / Conference Papers Schmaltz, R. M., Jansen, E., & Wenckowski, N. (2017). Redefining critical thinking: Teaching students to think like scientists. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 459. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00459 Enström, R., & Schmaltz, R. (2017). A walk on the wild side: The impact of music on risk-taking likelihood. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 759. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00759 Lilienfeld, S., Lynn, S., Namy, S., Woolf, N., Cramer, K., & Schmaltz, R. (2017). Psychology: From inquiry to understanding (3rd Canadian Edition). Toronto, ON: Pearson Education Canada. Schmaltz, R. M. (2016). Bang your head: Using heavy metal music to promote scientific thinking in the classroom. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 146. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00146 Schmaltz, R. M., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2014). Hauntings, homeopathy, and the Hopkinsville Goblins: Using pseudoscience to teach scientific thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 336. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00336 Awards / Grants / Fellowships
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