3.6
Quality3.2
Difficulty58%
Would Retake114
Reviews58%
Would Retake
114
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
57
4
16
3
6
2
14
1
21
What Students Say
“Lectures were really boring, and he did not make the material the slightest bit interesting”
PS282 - 2.0 rating“Making sure I don't have this professor again”
PS261 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
51%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.92 avg changeRatings by Course
ARB
5.0
(1)PSA
5.0
(5)HE411
5.0
(1)PS100
4.3
(4)PS101
4.1
(54)Difficulty by Course
PS264
4.8
PS280
4.0
PS102
3.9
PS282
3.8
PS261
3.5
Reviews (114)
The most enjoyable professor ever. Knows his stuff and keeps to the material precisely. Text book usage is fair. Marks very fair. Excellent teaching style, even if you hate psychology take it with Murphy because he's so funny. Great guy, very approachable.
Good class. Funny prof and doesn't read off his slides. One of the few profs who teaches better than the text.
Was not the way i would liked to be introduced into Psych, wish i had another prof. I worked my ass off, tried my hardest, and nothing was good enough, never at office hours when you needed help either.
great prof! very clear , verrrry funny! down to earth and explains things very very well. an excellent teacher and beyond intelligent . i would love to have him again. i learnt more in this class than in any other.
Great teacher. I had him for 101 and 102 and I looked forward to each class. He keeps things entertaining and explains things well. I found his exams took a bit of getting used to, but once the difficulty level is expected the exams are straightforward. If I see him teaching another course I will be taking it.
Really funny prof :) refers to textbook so you can read up on it after class. Easy to understand, uses relevant references.
He's dramatic with his explanations. Uses examples from everyday life to apply the concepts learned in class. He's a little 'out there' but overall I liked him as a teacher. His midterms were a bit hard, a lot of application questions.
Great prof. one of best i've have in university. I would definitely take any other course he is teaching.
Teaches very well
His overly dramatic personality often makes it difficult to distinguish what he is trying to explain. Very unapproachable and inflexible with his office hours.
hilarious prof. makes you actually enjoy what you're learning. uses alot of the textbook information, some extremely random information that you would normally think is useless and tests you on it. other than that an amazing prof and everyone should take his classes. he makes it fun
greatest prof i had in first year, really enthusiastic, keeps you engage and entertaintainted, knows whats he is talking about, really helpful, and really funny prof
Very clear and audible; he basically summarized the textbook in lecture for us
Very engaging and entertaining. He uses a lot of examples to help illustrate his points and makes going to class a fun experience. Very helpful and accommodating with office hours. I couldn't imagine a better professor. He teaches well, is very funny, and is a really nice guy to boot. I wish he was teaching 102 as well.
Hilarious, extremely clear in his lectures. Tests are extremely fair.
Great Prof, very engaging. Very open minded and unbias during lectures and keeps things interesting. Definitely recommend getting in his class
In my opinion, Lawrence Murphy is not a helpful professor. He puts on this show that he is a great guy, but if you ever try to contact him for help he acts very rude and pretentious. His lectures are also not consistent with the course outline.
Murphy is by far the best prof I've had, I nearly Failed my first midterm when the class average was 85% had a talk with him about how i should study and beat the class by 15% on the next test and midterm
keeps it interesting, funny guy, uses great clear examples, very fair tests
Greatest prof ever
A hard course if you don't do the readings. He just uses slides from the publisher and the information from them are rarely on the exams. But he makes it very clear that to succeed you have to do the readings. He's a little awkward at office hours but tries to help. He's very quirky and says "yeah?" a lot :P A pretty good prof overall
Funniest prof and awesome when it comes to the actual learning and lecture part of the class but his tests are impossible to do well on, you literally need to memorize the textbook if you want above an 85.
All I can say is that he is a legend and his name is brought up among my friends when we talk about great profs. Strays a little from the topic, but it was the class that I didnt ever want to miss.
Awesome prof. He makes his lectures interesting, and his expectations of you are very clear: the work you put in is the work you get out. Don't take this class expecting an easy grade. He makes it well known that his midterms and exams are written by the textbook publisher, so you need to know the text.
not a fan of him. he is super rude when you email him or go to his office hours. doesn't give hints for the exam or midterms. If you go to class he doesn't give any advantage since it is all textbook but it does help you learn. know every word of the whole textbook and you will be okay. don't take it as a bird course.
Dr. Murphy was extremely funny and i loved going to lectures. He made class super enjoyable and lots of fun. His midterms were straight forward and his exam was fairly easy. Found him to be very helpful and overall great teacher. would strongly recommend his class. Students not enrolled in his class even showed up to listen to him
I love this man. Hands down my favorite prof thus far. He makes class enjoyable and very interesting. Make sure you take detailed notes from the textbook, and you'll do fine on exams and midterms.
I didn't mind this class but it was textbook heavy, I wouldn't have even bothered going to class if he didn't have 10% worth of iclicker questions. The midterms and final are all multiple choice and all the questions come from the textbook (you know, the automated ones the textbook authors make).
I'll give him this- he explains the material well in his lectures and they are not overly boring. However, he does not care about his students success; he puts down students quite often. He is very unprofessional when it comes to communicating via email, and is the least bit helpful. Making sure I don't have this professor again.
Awesome lecturer - keeps class engaged and helps to clarify everything in the textbook. Made first year psych super easy!
Lectures were really boring, and he did not make the material the slightest bit interesting. He was very rude ad condescending towards students, and basically taught in a negative mood since not a lot of people would show up to his lectures (not fair to the ones who did). Did not help with clarifying anything when asked questions about material...
If it wasn't for csl I would've failed this course. Guidelines are unclear, beings course at tend of textbook? Tests are difficult and consist of short answer questions. Material is very dry and I wish this class was not mandatory
Best prof I have ever had. He cared so much about his students and wouldnt hesitate to help if you need it.
terrible
Inspiring lecturer, very effective in teaching the relevant material, and really gets you to understand what you're being taught. The material itself is no different from most upper year psychology course expectations, so you still need to read the text to do extremely well. But if you're not expecting that at this point, you're delusional.
Took social psych with him, he is very socially aware, open-minded, cares about students learning, he took the 3 lowest multiple choice marks giving you an advantage, really amazing prof, gives you a on-line discussion worth 15% (pass or fail, just need to complete it), super easy marks
Really good, clear lecturer. If you read the textbook, you really don't need to go to class for the most part, but there will be a few questions on the tests that you'll only know the answer to if you attend the lectures. Otherwise, fair evaluations, and highly recommend taking his classes.
Murphy is an amazing lecturer. He's very good at making every topic interesting. He is very caring towards his students and works very hard to cater the course for them. I definitely recommend you take this course! "I like giving out good marks" -Murphy
He was pretty decent. The only downside is that a lot of the exam questions are scenario so just knowing a theory isn't good enough because you must be able to apply it. Also some questions had more than one possible answer so choosing the "best" was relative at "best".
I was lucky enough to have Dr. Murphy for PS101 and 102. He is an amazing professor and really cares about his students, as long as you try and put in the effort. His lectures are simply amazing. He is very clear with what he wants from his students and gives tons of study tips, but you're going to HAVE to read the text to do well. Would recommend.
As a person, very inspirational - encourages you to travel before studying, WOKE, weighs assignment equal to a midterm - fair chance to improve mark. As a professor, let textbook makers to make midterms - resulted in questions very different from lecture material and poor marks (C/D average)
Great, engaging lectures. Had a lot of very interesting conversations during lecture that really immersed you in real-time social psychology, but if you don't like to speak during lecture that was fine too. Read the textbook and you'll get an A on every test. Lots of opportunity to boost your grade with little things that took 0 effort.
Likes to go on the occasionally tangent and use examples that won't be asked on exams. Class is unnecessary considering its about 3 hours long, all exam questions come straight from the textbook database , and Mr. Murphy fails to cover many chapters in detail relative to how exam questions are formatted. Easy A; so long as you keep up with readings
Dr. Murphy is an amazing professor, he knows how to relate to the students! I often find professors to be speaking 'at' the students... Dr. Murphy speaks 'to' the students. He is hilarious and makes the class entertaining. I personally found PS270 difficult, but he was still a very effective professor.
Amazing lecturer, very interesting to listen to. He is great at getting the points across and makes lectures interesting by sharing stories/examples/videos. Midterms are hard and the questions can be kind of random at times (i.e. not very important). He gives bonus quizzes and removes questions that most people got wrong/are weird from the midterm.
VERY BAD PROF! Does not make the tests they literally ALL come from the textbook and the textbook publishers make the test. He doesnt even need to be there. Would of been cheaper to buy the textbook and studied it alone as thats all you need in this class.
One of the best professors I've had so far. Definitely use your textbook! He posts his lectures (after the whole slideshow is done) but midterms and exams have textbook details on them. He is really funny and interesting to listen to! His class can be tough but you will learn a lot from him- he uses great analogies in class to help you understand.
Definitely one of the most interesting profs you'll ever get. Unfortunate if you don't get the chance to have an in-class course with him, his lectures are truly inspiring and he has a great outlook on many topics. You learn a lot of lessons from his class that aren't just academic related. All in all great guy with an interesting sense of humor.
I really liked him in PS270, but that all changed. As soon as he is directly responsible for marking anything, he becomes so mean! I had a horrible experience this semester, he failed the entire class on an assignment just because he felt like it. Take his class if you know it's test-heavy and not project-based so he doesn't have marking control.
Gives zero feedback, fails the entire class for the fun of it, and then tells the entire class we are cheating. Just an all around terrible professor. I pray for you if you have him. Or the TA megan.
Possibly the worst grading scheme from a professor I have ever seen. He is not clear in identifying grading criteria and believes it is acceptable to fail the whole class and then blame it on the students for not understanding what is asked. As well, he threatened students with who inquired about their marks. Overall, not a great prof at all.
Dr. Murphy's enthusiastic and open-minded approach to teaching makes lectures enjoyable to watch. He is very respectful when speaking to students and gives great examples that make content stick. Yes, you will have to read the textbook, but I encourage everyone to take any of his classes if you can!
Poor grading scheme. One project was marked out of 20. Sent out an email saying a 15/20 was a great mark, and students shouldn't expect a 20 unless they go way above and beyond and include things beyond the rubric. Gave out 25 question long quizzes w/ 15 minute time limits. Students complained. Stated it should only take 30 secs to read and answer.
Gives unclear and contradicting information - "don't need the textbook" but midterm is mostly textbook. Does not provide rubrics before hand to arbitrarily accuse academic misconduct for your (false) plagiarism. Then will not want to meet with you until students notify the dean... Avoid if necessary
Frequently goes off on long inane tangents and is more eager to share his opinions than cover relevant material during lecture. All test questions come from textbook manufacturers and there is some really insignificant minutia from the text on the tests so make sure you read everything. If you read/study all of all of the chapters you'll do fine.
Very passive-aggressive in emails. No point in going to lectures because he talks less about what you need to know. No clear explanations. Says he'll raise marks but doesn't for anyone. 2 midterms, 1 final, no room to make up marks. Doesn't narrow down sections for tests, puts the tiniest detail on the test that many don't notice in the textbook
Mandatory classes, they are genuinely interesting. Talks a lot about examples and explains in ways that make it easier to understand. Definitely read the textbook. The tests are all produced from the textbook. Has great tips on how to think about MC and how the textbook company will give the tests. These tips actually helped me in other courses too
Terrible professor. Doesn't know what he's talking about. Doesn't have a Phd, and it's very clear. A true clown. Would never take a course by him again. Ever. Run away....... and don't look back, because he SUCKS.
Dr. Murphy, is extremely passive-aggressive. He always believes his students are at fault. Questions are not welcome until the END of his lecture, even then, they will be met with snide comments. His lectures are 60% off topic. His pwr points are useful, but all of the test material comes from the textbook. This class is an easy A, but hard prof.
Mandatory attendance doesn't like questions. Be prepared to teach yourself if you miss a class and he will test you on the smallest details that were never mentioned in class. Overall would not recommend.
I'd avoid this teacher at all costs. He uses lectures to talk about what he wants(usually regarding his wife and kids) instead of teaching course content. Tests are not made by him solely based on the textbook. Don't bother showing up to class just read the entire textbook. Very passive-aggressive to students over email and during class.
Easy class and interesting content, but he rants for too long about irrelevant things and is disrespectful to students, will often reply with snide remarks in front of the whole class.
He talks a lot about drugs. Memorize the textbook and your good. No need to go to his lectures.
I love this guy! I don't get all the negative ratings. He is so caring and funny! And he really knows his stuff because he is a well-practiced therapist.
Had Murphy for PS101 online (zoom due to COVID) and did not enjoy the course however, having Murphy in person for PS270 was such a great experience. He keeps lectures entertaining and articulates his ideas in a way that resonates with outside knowledge we may have in order to build better understanding
Dr. Murphy is a great professor! very engaging and shares interesting stories about his life experiences that relate to the material. The lecture material itself is straight from the textbook, he takes key points from the readings that can be a bit confusing and he elaborates on them to make us understand the material in simpler terms. love him.
super rude ironic that he is a psych teacher
Murphy my favorite professor out of all the ones I've had so far, tells great and funny stories during class that keep you engaged. If you read the textbook his class is not hard, all of the material is from a database in the textbook. Class is mandatory because there's participation marks from iclickers but he gives opportunities for bonus marks.
Love this guy. So funny, super helpful for first years, and gives great advice in lectures. Obviously very passionate about his field.
The worst instructor of psychology course. you need to read all the details and small points of the book and still can not answer some questions in the exam because he used old version of testbank.
Great professor, he is very fun and makes lectures enjoyable. Textbook and WileyPlus subscription is necessary. For my semester, a subscription for iClicker was also required to be able to participate in lecture. Lecture provided a brief review of textbook chapters. If you read the textbook, you can do well in the course.
unfairly difficult and nonsense in detail question from textbook. If you want to regret taking this course take it with him.
Murphy was easily my favourite professor. I have nothing but good things to say. I would take all his classes if I could. The class might not be for you if you don't test well like myself but even then it wasn't to bad. Pay attention in class and skim the textbook and you should be fine
horrible exams and impossible to get good grade from exams
I LOVE Dr. Murphy! He is the funniest proffesor I have ever had, and hes always such an advocate for a students well being. He is good at teaching, but also very passionate on his subjects. If you can take it, DO IT. Read the textbook and go to class, you will be good. It is worth it to have him as your proffessor.
Absolutely amazing and extremely engaging. Probably the best professor I have had currently! He manages to make the material extremely engaging and even helps with potential term memorization tips.
Super funny guy as he makes his lectures engaging and typically interesting. The only thing I dislike about him is that he uses the textbook for exams, meaning that you have to take notes from the textbook and not just his lectures.
Keeps lectures entertaining and is very interesting to listen to because he's so passionate about the lectures.
Not a great prof. Took him first year and he would actively yell at students while swearing. Someone walked in during a midterm and he swore at them, very awkward and made me anxious. Hard exams, if you want to do well in this class you have to show up for the lectures and do lots of extra studying.
grading difficult
I absolutely loved this course and felt honoured to have Dr. Murphy as my professor, I greatly appreciated his learning style and he made every lecture engaging. I looked forward to every lecture.
Professor Murphy is awesome! He is so engaging in class and makes it enjoyable for students. The midterm is multiple choice, but pulls from the textbook so if you take this class be prepared to have to read. There is also mandatory iClickers that are worth 5% so attendance is kind of mandatory. Overall this class was amazing and I would take again!
An unreasonable instructor includes irrelevant questions from all over the textbook, even absurd ones like asking how long a person stranded on an island without food or water would survive: 3 days, 11 days, 40 days, or 90 days.
I enjoyed Professor Murphy's lectures since he is hilarious, understandable, and energetic. Iclickers are required for this course and he does post his slideshows. There is a lot of textbook reading to do, since he states that we must know every word from the textbook for midterms.
test questions are made by the texbook so literally everything in it is testable so only good if you have a great memory.
Really good lectures and there's no surprises on the tests
Lectures are very interesting and entertaining. The professor is very passionate and knowledgeable in the subject. The exams being based entirely on the textbook makes the course unnecessarily difficult. Do not take it as a bird course.
He is horrendous. he emails the textbook publisher with questions for the exams. He teaches 1% of the content in class and then says anything in the textbook is fair game. So, if you take this class with this amazing 10/10 professor, don't go to lectures since there is no point and only read the textbook.
Murphy is fairly easy if you do the work. He gets all his questions for midterms and finals from the textbook, he doesnt word any of them - he asks the textbooks database for them. If you read the textbook, you will get good grades on the tests. They are very similar to the online quizzes. His lectures make it easier to understand the content.
this prof really cares about students and wants to make sure they understand what they learn. He makes it fun. His tests are based on the textbooks but his lectures are helpful to understand concepts. Everything was multiple choice. He is really kind and fun, would definitely be my preferred prof!
He honestly made psychology so fun and interesting. However, you do have to read the textbook to do well on midterms and exams. Overall, he's an excellent prof who makes the content worth listening too!!!
Awful teaching style, barely any of the content taught in lecture was reflected in the midterms. You need to rely completely on the textbook to be successful, he gets all his questions from the textbook providers (he doesn't create his own test questions!). Attendance is necessary as he does Iclickers, which can be a grade booster. PREP helps too.
He randomly does iClickers which are worth grades but overall one of the best profs I've had this semester. All of the exam questions come from the textbook but I found that when I went to his lectures I would understand the concepts much more. Very funny prof and I enjoyed the class!
Your entire grade is made up of 3 exams with the questions being generated from textbook. He doesn't teach since he spends the entire lecture going on tangents instead of explaing what you are supposed to be learning about.
he is all over the place during lectures and will get caught talking about things that do not need to be in the class, which means he gets behind in the things he needs to teach and then rushes them in the end. all the midterms and the final are made by the textbook company so reading over the textbook material is all you need to do to do well.
fun as a prof, great lectures, kinda snarky BUT, all exams questions are just randomly picked from a pool made by the textbook's publishers and could include any little detail so a lot of reading is needed to do well in this class
you don't really have to go to lectures. the lectures are basically just based off the textbook, so if you read the textbook you'll be fine. midterms and exams weren't that hard, i didn't go to class often and still got good grades. going to class is helpful to rem the content he explains, and i like his energy, but not necessary.
Amazing prof made me actually enjoy attending his lectures, BUT, the midterms and final are from the textbook and can contain anything so know your stuff. Other than that he was great
He's alright, not much differs between him and the textbook. I'd say as long as you read the textbook you'll be fine, I didn't really attend classes and did well. I gave him a lower rating because his attitude is pretty snarky and "know-it-all". Nothing about him is stand out enough to make me attend his lectures, much less take his class again.
rude when you ask questions, rude all the time, lots and lots of textbook reading, self righteous
Like murphy as a prof, but all the work is not even created by him. Sort of frustrating in that sense. You really have to read every inch of the testbook chapters in order to succeed. Quizzes practically every week too. Mid terms were okay if you study hard. Overall he's great, but the class is a bit difficult!
Textbook is very important to succeed in the course. I read the course text, never used the slides and got an A in the course. Trust me it works
I love this professor. Hands down my favourite prof in all of laurier. I applaud.
His lectures are good and clearly explain everything but he talks kind of fast and moves his slides faster so it is a little hard to keep up, even if he posts them after the end of every chapter, because by then I likely won't go back to look at what I missed especially when I can cover about 80-90% of it.
Goattttttt
VERY TEXTBOOK HEAVY. When studying for exams/midterms don't focus your attention on the lectures cuz they basically don't matter. Read textbook and make note of any key terms (+ ones he doesn't mention in lectures). He generates questions from the text for midterms. Annoying cuz some questions don't make sense. Read the stupid story blurbs too.
I took PS472 with him and he is my GOATTT. Love him with all my heart. I have taken all of his classes and I would do it all again. clear grading criteria, clear feedback, useful office hours and question answers. If you don't like him you must not be doing well or reading instructions, everything is laid out clearly. His 400 level classes = bomb!
honestly out of all the profs I've had he is the most like a high school teacher (a good thing). you can tell her rlly cares and engages with the material and it was like high school, as he made it easy to learn and retain and was super engaged with the lessons. I really don't see how you could do bad in the class. 100% would take him again!
Very passionate teacher, he's great when it comes to understanding content, and you can tell he truely cares about his course. I highly recommend that you don't skip his classes, as the stuff he teaches in person is very helpful in understanding exam content. Overall workload is fair, and if you understand the chapter's key terms, you'll survive
He is genuinely the hardest exam maker. the class average on the first exam was a 67% and the next dropped to a 60% and thats AFTER curving the grades by like 6 marks. I did really well on them because I was studying a practice non-stop (m1 87%, m2 92%). He's a nice guy tho!!! make sure to know the textbook well becuase his class will humble you.
Do not take this class as a bird course. Trust me you will be studying a lot for this class, his exams and midterms are hard. He puts like some confusing long paragraph type of questions which are hard to read.for multiple choice questions alot. Overall he is a very engaging prof, actually walks around, makes eye contact , drops some funny jokes.
He is a very passionate teacher and makes lectures interesting. Very textbook heavy, make sure to read because all the exams are based from the textbook.
Lawrence is hilarious. You'll have a fantastic time in his course. I would take another class with him in a heartbeat. Full transparency: his course is based on chapter quizzes, two tests, participation, and the final. Read the textbook for the quizzes and tests. His lectures cover most of the content, but not all of it. Overall, a great guy.
He's really rude, don't bother trying to ask him stuff or go to his office hours.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
51%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.92 avg changeRatings by Course
ARB
5.0
(1)PSA
5.0
(5)HE411
5.0
(1)PS100
4.3
(4)PS101
4.1
(54)Difficulty by Course
PS264
4.8
PS280
4.0
PS102
3.9
PS282
3.8
PS261
3.5