Current instructor

Paula Niedenthal

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 21 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

PSYCH 508
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
Likes to "show off" who she has worked with. Seems a little insecure. It's almost like she spent more time trying to explain why her field was relevant/important, instead of actually teaching material. Uses a few studies I thought were bogus to justify the scientific method/relevance. It made me have less respect for emotional psych. repetitive.
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PSYCH 508
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Niedenthal was by far my favorite professor that I have had at UW Madison! She is very good at teaching and most of the information is from studies she has personally conducted.
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PSYCH 508
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
I loved this class and Niedenthal. Extremely interesting content and lectures. She is so clearly passionate about the subject and presents a lot of her own research within the course. Comes across as a little intimidating at first but in a way that makes you do well. Couldn't recommend this class enough!!!!
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PSYCH 508
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Assignments are super easy. Most of the work you will do in this class is reading the textbook chapters each week and studying for the exams. Exams are a good chunk of your grade and sometimes she tries to trick you with the "which is the best answer" but if you know the information you will be fine. Experienced researcher and interesting lectures.
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PSYCH 508
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
I really enjoyed this class! Unlike many other psych classes, there are a few short writing assignments outside of just exams and papers, which I appreciated. Prof. Niedenthal is super knowledgable, caring, and fun. Her lectures can be unengaging at times, but mostly good. Textbook is a bit dense at times but did help me understand things better.
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P508 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Niedenthal comes across as very knowledgable on course material and is also really engaging, which is rare to find in a professor. She seems to genuinely care about her students, and I highly recommend Psych 508 to anyone wanting to learn about the psychology of emotions.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Paula Niedenthal

Mentored Research and Seminar involves developing an understanding of primary research and participating in designing and conducting research to extend current understanding.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=17 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Undergraduate thesis course involving research and completion of a senior honors project, recommended for students intending to pursue graduate work in psychology.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

No recorded grade history

Undergraduate thesis course involving research, critical evaluation of psychological studies, and completion of a professional senior honors report.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=1 letter grades).

No recorded grade history

A proseminar discussing current social psychology topics through graduate and faculty research and recent journal articles.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2015: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=13 letter grades); Spring 2020: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2020: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=11 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2025 · limited sample
PSYCH 990

Research

1–12 credits

Research course involving independent experimental, observational, or statistical investigation under staff supervision.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Spring 2027PSYCH 681Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027PSYCH 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027PSYCH 691Undergraduate Thesis
Spring 2027PSYCH 692Undergraduate Thesis
Spring 2027PSYCH 703Proseminar in Social Psychology
Spring 2027PSYCH 990Research
Fall 2026PSYCH 508Psychology of Human Emotions: From Biology to Culture
Fall 2026PSYCH 621Mentored Research and Seminar
Fall 2026PSYCH 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026PSYCH 691Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2026PSYCH 692Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2026PSYCH 703Proseminar in Social Psychology
Fall 2026PSYCH 990Research

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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