PSYC02H3 Lecture 8: LEC 08
Document Summary
Lec 09 mental health and the media. Scientific communication of psychology research in the press. Challe(cid:374)ges of (cid:862)t(cid:396)a(cid:374)slati(cid:374)g(cid:863) s(cid:272)ie(cid:374)tific information into popular press material: challenging for researchers, challenging for reporters. Guide to spotting bad science: sensationalized headlines, misinterpreted results, conflict of interests, correlation and causation, speculative language, sample size too small, unrepresentative samples, no control group used, no blind testing used, cherry picked results, unreplicable results. Psychology is a discipline rated by the public as among the most interesting topic areas. Despite the years of rigorous training as scientists and professionals, most psychologists receive no formal media training. The general public, by and large, is not science literate. Pu(cid:271)li(cid:272)"s (cid:396)ete(cid:374)tio(cid:374) of spe(cid:272)ifi(cid:272) s(cid:272)ie(cid:374)tifi(cid:272) i(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)atio(cid:374) is (cid:396)elati(cid:448)ely sho(cid:396)t. Science can be intimidating for the average person. Ge(cid:374)e(cid:396)al pu(cid:271)li(cid:272) (cid:373)ay (cid:374)ot (cid:271)e i(cid:374)te(cid:396)ested i(cid:374) (cid:862)s(cid:272)ie(cid:374)tifi(cid:272) fa(cid:272)t(cid:863) i(cid:374) psy(cid:272)hology. Many science stories are presented in such a manner that the average person does not relate to them.
