From Freud to Speeding Tickets, Dr. Diane Pfahler Makes Psychology Unmissably Practical
Publish Date: Oct. 9, 2025
Walk into Dr. Diane Pfahler’s classroom on day one, and you get her approach fast. Real life comes first, theory follows, and humor keeps everyone awake. She opens by claiming that psychology studies everything you do, think, and feel, then she proves it with irresistible hooks. One favorite example is the late-arrival pop quiz about which color cars are getting the most speeding tickets around town and why that matters. Psychologists do not just theorize. They predict, test, and apply.
“I’m fortunate that I was drawn to a field totally involved in everyday life,” Dr. Pfahler said. “When my students leave me, it’s the applied aspect I want them to take and use.” Concepts matter, but she pushes for the habits underneath. Critical thinking. Analysis. The ability to think abstractly. “That’s the foundation.”
Dr. Pfahler teaches every course in Crafton Hills College’s psychology major. This fall, she is teaching Abnormal Psychology, Introduction to Psychology, Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Research Methods. Over the summer, she wrapped Intro, Stats, and Personal and Social Adjustment. Her classes draw a mix of psychology majors, curious non-majors, students in programs that require psychology such as Developmental Psychology for pre-nursing, and students filling general education requirements for transfer.
Since the room is a blend, she treats the first class like a handshake that has to land. “First impressions are so important,” Dr. Pfahler said. She opens with quick examples to spark buy-in, hints that psychology has learning strategies that can raise a grade by ten points if students actually use them, then runs a short group exercise. Before each team shares, she predicts their decisions and connects the pattern back to Freud from a century ago to show how human behavior still follows familiar lines.
And then there is the sweatshirt. “I promise to be entertaining,” she tells her students with a grin. “On the first day, I wear a humorous sweatshirt that reflects my philosophy. Education can be fun, and I intend for us to have some.” It is not a one-off bit. She wears a different sweatshirt every single class session.
Under the humor sits a steady conviction that education is necessary, beneficial, and personally, socially, and economically rewarding. She wants students to experience psychology as a toolkit they can carry into treatment settings, business, medicine, classrooms, consulting, and any place where people make decisions.
If you want proof it sticks, follow her around town. “This is a running joke among my friends and colleagues,” Dr. Pfahler said. “I rarely go somewhere without being stopped by former students.” Recently, a woman who took her class in 2005 recognized her in a store. That student is now a licensed clinical social worker in a health care facility. The next day, at a restaurant, a pre-COVID student said hello. He became a Registered Nurse and told Dr. Pfahler he is surprised how often he uses class concepts to support patient care.
Her first question never changes. Was I any good? The answers and the updates fuel her. “I love when students approach me, both to hear how they’re doing and to be reminded I’ve touched lives.” She tells current students the same thing every term. Her hope is that when they get where they are going, they will love their work as much as she loves hers. 38 years in, that still holds.
Back in the classroom, those first-day hooks do more than break the ice. They point to a simple rhythm students can use anywhere. Notice what people do, ask why, test the idea, apply it. “Psychology is everywhere,” she said. “If students can see it, they can use it.” That is the win she cares about, learning that sticks long after the final exam.
