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From Bill Shankly to the Huffington Post: How to Increase Critical Thinking in Experimental Psychology Course?

ABSTRACT: Although critical thinking and source checking are basic prerequisites to become a psychologist, or a scientist, it is usually difficult to have students interested in experimental methods courses. Most first year students are tempted not to attend these courses. Such behaviors are reinforced by arguments that "everybody is different" and "people are not numbers." Consequently, students have difficulties to develop source and evidence checking skills, and may be more prone to believe in any supposed expert. This paper presents two ways to involve students during lectures and seminars. The first method consists in presenting, during the initial lecture of the year, a fake scientific concept which students will believe as true. This phenomenon is called the "Bill Shankly syndrome" and it only exists if someone believes that the information is given by a serious lecturer, presenting oneself as a world-class researcher. The second method consists in training students to become reviewers using evidence checking of a mainstream media article which promises scientifically proven ways to be happy. The use of these methods may stimulate students' interest in research methods and its practical applications from week one.

SUBMITTER: Lacot E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4835719 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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From Bill Shankly to the Huffington Post: How to Increase Critical Thinking in Experimental Psychology Course?

Lacot Emilie E Blondelle Geoffrey G Hainselin Mathieu M

Frontiers in psychology 20160419

Although critical thinking and source checking are basic prerequisites to become a psychologist, or a scientist, it is usually difficult to have students interested in experimental methods courses. Most first year students are tempted not to attend these courses. Such behaviors are reinforced by arguments that "everybody is different" and "people are not numbers." Consequently, students have difficulties to develop source and evidence checking skills, and may be more prone to believe in any supp ...[more]

PMID: 27148145

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Project description:The need to establish a research field within psychology didactics at secondary level has recently been voiced by several researchers internationally. An analysis of a Swedish case coming out of secondary level education in psychology presented here provides an illustration that complexity thinking-derived from complexity theory-is uniquely placed to consider and indicate possible solutions to challenges, described by researchers as central to the foundation of a new field. Subject matter didactics is defined for the purpose of this paper as a combination of general didactics and subject matter content, and considering the international nature of research traditions coming out of psychology, the implications of the results presented here cannot be regarded as limited solely to national concerns. An online survey was sent to secondary schools in Sweden. Discussions and lectures along with teaching to the book-alternatively used as inspiration-emerged as central from the thematic analysis of the results, providing the first mapping of teaching practices secondary level psychology in Sweden. An analysis, founded on complexity thinking-combined with a model enabling a delimitation of the scope of study-focused on time use and the importance placed on self-knowledge, along with the transformation of theory into practice. The former pointed to a teacher-centered nested subsystem (e.g., asymmetric relations between teachers and students), whereas the latter pointed to student-centered nested subsystems coming out of embodied knowledge (e.g., students as node) where psychological perspectives are learnt through self-reflection, case studies, and everyday life experiences (turning theory to practice), implying a holistic approach. The analysis applied to the Swedish case provides an illustration of how complexity theory has the potential to address challenges at the micro and the macro levels to the establishment of a new research field in psychology didactics and to indicate possible solutions (drawing among other things upon teaching experiences coming out of the Swedish case study). Psychology's high relevance to everyday life, multi-causality, perspective pluralism, dynamic systems character, and scientific character make complexity thinking a relevant approach in the consideration of challenges to the establishment of a research field in didactics of psychology.

Project description:BackgroundAnxiety and depression have been increasing among Chinese medical students. The psychological well-being of Chinese medical students has become a critical focus of attention for the medical education community. Increasing evidence shows that positive psychology interventions can be effective in the enhancement of psychological well-being, and may help to prevent depressive symptoms in university students. In the present study, we aimed to explore the potential effect of positive psychology education on improving the mental health of Chinese medical students.MethodsAn 8-week classroom-based positive psychology intervention workshop, which was established as an elective course embedded in the regular school curriculum, was conducted at the School of Medicine, South China University of Technology (SCUT), China. Undergraduate medical students of the institute in year-2 or year-3 of academic study participated in this training course voluntarily. The participants' self-reported data on the hope scale, life satisfaction scale, subjective happiness scale, and depression and anxiety scale were collected and analyzed at pre-course (n = 61) and post-course (n = 49) times. The investigation was also validated with an independent cohort of students who enrolled in the course in the year following the preliminary study.ResultsThe analyses showed that the psychological well-being of the participants were improved after the intervention. Their mean scores on the hope scale, life satisfaction scale and subjective happiness scale were significantly improved (P < 0.05), while their symptom levels of depression and anxiety were significantly reduced (P < 0.01). A similar trend was observed in the validation cohort.ConclusionsThese preliminary findings suggest that positive psychology education holds promise for improving psychological well-being among Chinese medical students. Further investigations with larger and well-controlled sample cohorts may yield more convincing and reliable results.

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From Bill Shankly to the Huffington Post: How to Increase Critical Thinking in Experimental Psychology Course?

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From Bill Shankly to the Huffington Post: How to Increase Critical Thinking in Experimental Psychology Course?

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