Week 4) Psychological literacy Flashcards
About ……% of psychology graduates go on to further education or professional training in psychology
25%
What is psychological literacy
seeing world in different light knowing you have
learnt about psychology.
What does Yorke (2006) argue about the role of higher education institutions
Yorke (2006) argues that the role of higher education institutions is to produce “graduates prepared, in both senses of the word, to learn what the employer wants, and to perform accordingly”
4 reasons why a capstone unit like this is good
- Make students aware of graduate capabilities they have developed (e.g placement makes you realise how much you know).
- Consolidate and synthesise discipline specific knowledge and skills learned in different units in psychology (integration, thinking of person as a whole)
- Reflect on how undergraduate learning might be used to explain everyday behaviour
- Use 1 - 3 above to facilitate employability (actually get you a job through your skills).
What are the top 4 things that employers want in their employees?
1) interpersonal skills
2) cultural alignment/values fit
3) emotional intelligence (self-awareness, motivation etc)
4) reasoning and problem solving skills
What is the thing employers dont want in their employees?
1) Arrogance.
2) poor oral communication
3) poor communication skills
4) poor cultural fit
What is SCIENTIFIC literacy
(lots of things here, just see how you go.
• Identify scientific issues underlying national
and local decisions and express positions that
scientifically and technologically informed
• Evaluate the quality of scientific information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it (ie. check its peer reviewed. A good academic journal.
Check where it comes from is the first thing.
Check methodology: having a good control group, a representative sample)
- The capacity to pose and evaluate arguments.
- IMP ONE: The capacity to apply your skills to everyday life and the workplace.
- Knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for:
- Personal decision making
- Participation in civic and cultural affairs
- Economic productivity
• Ability to describe, explain and predict
natural phenomena
• Read with understanding articles about
science
• Engage in social conversation about the
validity of conclusions
Does psychological literacy end after your 9-5 work day in the clinic?
No. you take it everywhere you go. your whole life.
What characteristics does a psychologically literate person have?
- Understanding the basic concepts and principles of psychology
- Understanding scientific research practices
- Having problem solving skills
- Applying psychological principles to personal, social or organisational problems
- Acting ethically
- Thinking critically
- Communicating well in different contexts
- Having cultural competence and respecting diversity –Having self-awareness: being insightful and reflective about your own behaviour and that of others (reflection time so imp).
What would the psychologically literate person say about the dress colour blue or white etc?
they look different because their backgrounds
makes you perceive colour differently.
Day time some people see it as white, night time people see it as blue.
In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake? _____ days.
Intuitive answer is 24 days. Wrong.
psychologically literate person: part of this is understanding that we take cognitive shortcuts. To think that the first answer i get is not necessarily right.
Your local council is going to put a community home for adults with developmental delays in your street/ a needle exchange venue at the local shopping centre. Neighbours are concerned that crime rates will rise and property values will fall.
well lets look at the ethics of this. Also show me the evidence there will be more crime. Psych lit person looks for the evidence, doesn’t take it at face value.
PSYCH LIT ALWAYS turns to research and evidence first.
other examples e.g. thats gender stereotyping.
A friend tells you she is going to start listening to jazz because a recent survey showed that people who listen to jazz reported having sex more often than those who listen to classical, rock, hip hop, country, muzak, indie or pop music.
psych tells us the study probs has lots of confounding variables, cos there are many variables that lead to more sex.
Research design: based on correlational study, doesnt establish causality. Jazz doesnt necessarily
cause sex.
When should someone do a research degree?
If you…
like to write (the thesis itself, applications for funding and journal manuscripts)
like to read (journal articles, applications for funding, journal articles)
like to solve problems and figure out the best way to answer research questions
like working individually and in a team
want to enhance your employability
want a career in research or just about anywhere want to work in a university as an academic or research administrator
Why is psychological literacy a desirable attribute?
- The world has many problems (e.g., problems with the distribution of available food leading to hunger, pollution of water, war, crime, extinction of non-human species because of habitat loss, societal and individual consequences of consumption of legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, societal and individual consequences of consumption of illegal drugs) as a consequence of human behaviour
- The psychologically literate citizen can apply psychological principles to change maladaptive human behaviour at a personal, social or organisational level
- Having problem solving skills and being able to communicate well in different contexts are two of top three attributes employers seek
