Hi
The attached message discusses the potential of the internet to
enhance people's views of psychology. The authors are more
confident than I would be that the ultimate effect will be
positive!
Best wishes
Jim
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 15:54:45 -0500
From: Ken Pope <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "Psychology Practice Forums & Databases @ PsyUSA Network"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [\|/USA] Cite:> the internet & psychology
The Times Higher Education Supplement
SECTION: OPINION; No.1469; Pg.14
HEADLINE: Why We... Believe The Internet Can Enhance Psychology
BODY:
Richard Wiseman. University of Hertfordshire. Caroline Watt.
University of Edinburgh
In 1948 researchers from Pennsylvania State College found that the
majority of people they surveyed put psychology at the bottom of a
list of careers they would like their children to go into. Forty per
cent believed psychologists were more odd than chemists or engineers.
By the 1970s the situation seems to have improved - psychology was
ranked in the middle of the list, alongside farmers and bankers. And
by the 1980s, one survey showed over 90 per cent of respondents had a
favourable attitude towards the discipline.
However, this dramatic change in attitude has not been accompanied by
an increased understanding of psychological research. A few months
ago we conducted a small-scale survey into the British public's
knowledge of scientific findings within psychology. We asked 100
visitors to a national science museum whether scientific research
supported the existence of various psychological phenomena: 60 per
cent believed that humans only use 10 per cent of their brains; 50
per cent thought handwriting analysis was a highly accurate way of
predicting personality; 90 per cent believed people are strongly
influenced by subliminal advertising. In fact, none of these are
supported by scientific research.
It seems the major challenge facing psychology is to find ways of
communicating methods and results of research to the public.
Traditional ways of reaching the public - via museums, public
lectures and books and magazines - have been complemented by
television and radio.
However, a breakthrough may be at hand, with new technologies, such
as the internet and interactive television, soon offering
psychologists unprecedented opportunities to directly inform and
involve the public in their work.
Huge numbers of people now use the internet as their primary source
of information about science and technology. Many sites, such as that
produced by the British Psychological Society (www.bps.org.uk)
contain a large amount of up-to-date information that would be almost
impossible to disseminate by any other means. However, the internet
also illustrates the dangers of unregulated mass communication. We
typed in "psychology" to a search engine and found sites promoting
concepts that we believe have yet to be validated by research,
including the usual suspects - astrology, rune readings and
graphology - and more esoteric offerings, such as a company giving
seminars in "chocolate therapy". Background on the founders of the
company listed qualifications including a "Dip.Choc".
We are excited and optimistic about how technology can help the
public understand psychology better. But there again, according to
chocolate therapy, we would be classified as "hazelnut whirls" -
apparently, they always look on the bright side.
--
