The overall goal of this course is to explore a variety of provocative, interesting, and fun topics, and in doing so, learn skills necessary to be good research psychologists. The course includes a broad overview of some of the common myths, controversies, and misconceptions that exist in psychology today. While there is some content, the thrust of the course is more research skills-based. As a psychology student, you should be well-versed in reading and evaluating current research. For any particular research paper, you should be able to answer: what’s the research question, did they accomplish their goal, are the conclusions supported by the statistical results, why is this important, and what’s the next step? The topics covered include memory, learning, technologies and ‘mind-reading’, and psychopathology. Specifically, we will discuss issues that range from repressed memories to Baby Einstein materials, and from the belief that ‘fMRI can read your mind’, to the use of inkblots in psychological assessment. These discussions will lead us to consider a current controversial debate in psychology headed by UVA's very own Brian Nosek, the Replication Project and the Open Science Center.