Kristin Ritchey, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair of Psychological Science
“This is the age of cognitive science. Had we been born earlier, we might be exploring new continents. Born later, we might be gallivanting through the stars. But right now, at this time in our history, the vast, tantalizing expanse that begs to be discovered is the human mind.”
Contact Info
- Department of Psychological Science
- North Quad 104
- Ball State University
- Muncie, IN 47306
- karitchey@bsu.edu
- Phone: 765-285-1690
- Fax: 765-285-1702
Research Interests
-
Cognitive Psychology
- Adult reading comprehension
- Drawing of inferences while reading expository text
- Text factors (e.g., graphics, headings) that affect text comprehension and memory
-
Teaching of Psychology
- Best practices for teaching psychology classes
- Students’ learning from textbooks and other written materials
Selected Papers and Presentations
- Davis, S. R. & Ritchey, K. A. (in press). Helping college students read: An investigation of the SOAR strategy. College Teaching.
- Ritchey, K. A., Jackson, C., & Davis, S. (2023). The role of text genre in the construction of generalisation inferences. Journal of Research in Reading.
- Ritchey, K.A. & List, A. (2021). Task oriented reading: A framework for improving college students' reading compliance and comprehension. College Teaching, 1-16.
- Cole, Z. & Ritchey, K.A. (2020). Show me the meaning! The contextual relevance of images influences recall and understanding of multimedia RSVP paragraphs. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 32, 146-160.
- Ritchey, K.A., & Smith, S. (2019). Developing a training course for undergraduate teaching assistants. College Teaching, 67, 50-57.
- Ritchey, K. A., & Olson, K. (2017). The construction and maintenance of generalization inferences. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Miller, R., Rosenthal, L., Brihl, D., Hartmann, Q., & Ritchey, K. (2016). Cracking the senior capstone code. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, Decatur, GA.
- Ritchey, K.A., & Suryanarayan, A. (2015). Using a deductive reasoning task to facilitate generalization inference construction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Minneapolis, MN.
- Ritchey, K. A. (2011). How generalization inferences are constructed in expository text comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36, 280-288.
- Ritchey, K. A., & Bott, J. P. (2010). Exploring interdisciplinary themes in introductory psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 37, 262-266.
- Ritchey, K., Schuster, J., & Allen, J. (2008). How the relationship between text and headings influence readers’ memory. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33, 859-874.
Courses Regularly Taught
- PSYS 100 (Introduction to Psychological Sciene)
- PSYS 363 (Cognitive Psychology)
- PSYS 364 (Psychology of Learning)
- PSYS 477 (Teaching Assistantship Seminar)
- PSYS 492 (Research Seminar)
- PSYS 497 (Supervised Empirical Research)
- PSYS 498 (Independent Empirical Research)
- PSYS 499 (Supervision of Honors Thesis)
- PSYS 616 (Perception and Cognition)
- PSYS 618 (Advanced Cognitive Processes)
Advising: Psychology Majors
Advisees are welcome to visit during office hours or make an appointment. Topics we can discuss include career planning, departmental and university opportunities (e.g., joining Psi Chi, scholarships, research and teaching assistantships) and career planning (e.g., applying to graduate school).
Advising: Secondary Education
Students earning their Psychology teaching concentration are also welcome to visit during office hours or to make an appointment.