I have no problem with critiquing primary sources from real academic psychologists and I agree that critiquing the work of scholars in our field should be the primary focus of an education in Psychology. In answer to Stuart's inquiry, it is not a seminar in popularizing psychology. It is a research seminar for which the primary purpose is the development, completion and presentation of an original research project. However, we also use the class as the capstone of our Stats/Research sequence and thus discuss some issues beyond what is possible in lower division stats and research courses and we also use the class to simulate the peer review process in the task of publishing an online journal based on submissions of students in other Psychology classes. We also have some liberal arts goals for the course and when we turn to how to engage larger societal issues with the stats and methodology we have been learning, the sources that impact the cultural conversation are not, in general, those written for an academic audience (except in the rare case when one of these catches the popular imagination). In this one particular assignment I described in my earlier email, I would like for my students to realize the extent to which their knowledge of statistics, research and psychological testing can help them provide a meaningful critique to these popularizations along the lines of what I do whenever my VPAA sends me his review of the latest pop psych or pop business book for my comment (including "Academically Adrift"). I also don't assume that popularization or social policy making is necessarily a bad thing but it does require a true understanding of the underlying issues. I want to demonstrate to my students the cultural relevance of what they may still believe to be entirely academic or irrelevant statistical and methodological concepts to the issues of the day. I could have them read the primary academic sources and make the applications themselves but that is another assignment. The assignment I described is useful to show that tools they have acquired in our curriculum have important uses in critiquing conclusions drawn from the works of the popularizers of the day. I also agree with Rick Stevens' point: they will only be able to fully critique these secondary sources by evaluating the primary sources upon which they were supposed to be based.
Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Box 3519 x7295 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://bit.ly/DrFroman Proverbs 14:15 "A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps." From: Stuart McKelvie [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 10:22 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Pop Psych books that could be useful for research seminar class Dear Tipsters, I know I am not answering the question posed, but I wonder why we might not prefer to critique a book from a real academic psychologist in a senior seminar. For example, Skinner's "About Behaviorism" or Hebb's "Essay on Mind" are titles that pop up for me. My problem with critiquing a popular psychology book such as Gladwell's is that you would have to go back to the original sources to see if he handled them correctly. So, for me, why not just deal with primary sources from the start? Of course, if the seminar is about popularizing psychology, I could see critiquing a popular psychology book. Sincerely, Stuart ___________________________________________________________________________ "Floreat Labore" [cid:[email protected]] "Recti cultus pectora roborant" Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Phone: 819 822 9600 x 2402 Department of Psychology, Fax: 819 822 9661 Bishop's University, 2600 rue College, Sherbrooke, Québec J1M 1Z7, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> (or [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>) Bishop's University Psychology Department Web Page: http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy<blocked::http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy> Floreat Labore" [cid:[email protected]] [cid:[email protected]] ___________________________________________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8a&n=T&l=tips&o=19606 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-19606-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-19606-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=19608 or send a blank email to leave-19608-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
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