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Psychology 2301 - Bunch, Jeanette - Psychology Research

Misconception in Psychology Refutation Project

Searching as Strategic Exploration

Misconception in Psychology Refutation Project

(A 70% on this assignment indicates accomplishment of the SLO #5: Students will identify accepted approaches and standards in psychological assessment and evaluation.)

Purpose

Students should be able to use identify accepted approaches and standards in psychological assessment and evaluation.

Skills: The purpose of this assignment is to help you practice the following skills that are essential to your success in this course and in professional life beyond school:

    • Search college databases and locate scholarly research articles.
    • Articulate psychological vocabulary specific to the field of psychology.
    • Synthesize information gained to compare and contrast information from scholarly research articles with information from mainstream media sources.
    • Create a professional and creative presentation.
    • Orally report findings.

Knowledge: This assignment will also help you to become familiar with the following important content knowledge in this discipline:

    • Psychological disorders (symptoms, criteria, prognoses).
    • Pseudo-psychology
    • Treatment Options
    • Awareness of the personal and social impact of views regarding psychological disorders.

Marketable Skills:  Critical Thinking, Communication, and Empirical and Quantitative Skills.


Task: 

  • There are many misconceptions in psychology circulated through the popular press and believed to be true.  The purpose of this assignment is to identify those misconceptions, use scientific evidence to refute the misconception, and create a poster presentation to teach other students about the misconception.
  • All students will be required to complete a refutation-based method of misconception poster.  
  • Posters will be a visual representation of your myth.  Your poster should present the psychological misconception, provide scientific evidence that refutes the claim, and educate your audience on the truth.  The posters should be professional and visually effective in communicating the information.  Your poster will be viewed gallery-style by others in the class, and you will have two minutes to defend your poster to an audience. 
  •  All students will be required to complete a refutation-based method of the misconception research paper.  The paper will be in APA format and include at least FIVE (5) peer-reviewed scholarly articles and at least one piece of popular press article that introduces the misconception.
  • The project grade will be based on a 200-point scale and be worth 20% of your overall grade.  No late posters or papers will be accepted.

Assignment Outline:

Step 1- Identify misconceptions.  Ideas of where to find the misconception:  social media, clickbait, 50 Myths handbook located in the misconception module, or Psyc Files podcast. If the myth is outside of Fifty Myths Handbook, you must let me know what you plan to do before you begin.

Step 2- Research Paper (100 points)- Compare and Contrast peer-reviewed and popular press articles.  All students will be required to complete a refutation-based method of the misconception research paper.  The paper will be in APA format and include at least FIVE (5) peer-reviewed scholarly articles and at least one piece of popular press article that introduces the misconception. Students will write an APA style, 3-4 page, double-spaced, 12-point font paper with APA style citations.  The articles will be listed at the end of the paper in an APA style and formatted reference list. Submit your paper as an attachment to this assignment. Your paper should contain the following sections:

  • Abstract (3-4 sentences)
  • Introduction, which includes:
    • Summary of the popular press article(s) that introduces the misconception
    • Hypotheses (your predictions BEFORE your research)
  • Literature Review:
    • Synthesis  of at least two peer-reviewed journal articles on your topic 
  • The conclusion includes:
    • A summary of your findings 
    • An answer to your hypothesis: was it refuted or confirmed
  • Reference Page (@least 2 PRJAs and popular press article of misconception)

If possible, identify where the misconception originated, thoughts on why the misconception was perpetuated, and identify peer-reviewed articles that give scientific information on the misconception and any other information about the misconception you see fit to include.  For the peer-reviewed articles, you will need to use the databases provided within the SAC Library or Google Scholar.  A minimum of TWO (2) peer-reviewed journal articles will be required to support or refute your argument. 

Step 3- Poster (100 points)- Create a poster that represents your research and discovery in a visual format. Tri-fold posters are preferred, but a regular posterboard may be used.  Be creative. Submit three photos of your project to this assignment.  Ensure you have good lighting when you take the picture. Your poster should:

  • Demonstrate the misconception and how it is present in our society
  • Accurately demonstrates how the misconception has been proved/disproved through scholarly research
  • Be neat and creative

Step 4- Poster Presentation-be prepared to present your poster in 2 minutes or less to your audience. 

50 Myths:

1 BRAIN POWER
Myth #1 Most People Use Only 10% of Their Brain Power
Myth #2 Some People Are Left-Brained, Others Are Right-Brained
Myth #3 Extrasensory Perception (ESP) Is a Well-Established Scientific Phenomenon
Myth #4 Visual Perceptions Are Accompanied by Tiny Emissions from the Eyes
Myth #5 Subliminal Messages Can Persuade People to Purchase Products

2 FROM WOMB TO TOMB
Myth #6 Playing Mozart’s Music to Infants Boosts Their Intelligence
Myth #7 Adolescence Is Inevitably a Time of Psychological Turmoil
Myth #8 Most People Experience a Midlife Crisis in | 8 Their 40s or Early 50s
Myth #9 Old Age Is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility
Myth #10 When Dying, People Pass through a Universal Series of Psychological Stages

3 A REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST
Myth #11 Human Memory Works like a Tape Recorder or Video Camera, and Accurate Events We’ve Experienced
Myth #12 Hypnosis Is Useful for Retrieving Memories of Forgotten Events
Myth #13 Individuals Commonly Repress the Memories of Traumatic Experiences
Myth #14 Most People with Amnesia Forget All Details of Their Earlier Lives

4 TEACHING OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS
Myth #15 Intelligence (IQ) Tests Are Biased against Certain Groups of People
Myth #16 If You’re Unsure of Your Answer When Taking a Test, It’s Best to Stick with Your Initial Hunch
Myth #17 The Defining Feature of Dyslexia Is Reversing Letters
Myth #18 Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles Are Matched to Their Learning Styles

5 ALTERED STATES
Myth #19 Hypnosis Is a Unique “Trance” State that Differs in Kind from Wakefulness
Myth #20 Researchers Have Demonstrated that Dreams Possess Symbolic Meaning
Myth #21 People Can Learn Information, like New Languages, while Asleep
Myth #22 During “Out-of-Body” Experiences, People’s Consciousness Leaves Their Bodies

6 I’VE GOT A FEELING
Myth #23 The Polygraph (“Lie Detector”) Test Is an Accurate Means of Detecting Dishonesty
Myth #24 Happiness Is Determined Mostly by Our External Circumstances
Myth #25 Ulcers Are Caused Primarily or Entirely by Stress
Myth #26 A Positive Attitude Can Stave off Cancer

7 THE SOCIAL ANIMAL
Myth 27 Opposites Attract: We Are Most Romantically Attracted to People Who Differ from Us
Myth #28 There’s Safety in Numbers: The More People Present at an Emergency, the Greater the Chance that Someone Will Intervene
Myth #29 Men and Women Communicate in Completely Different Ways
Myth #30 It’s Better to Express Anger to Others than to Hold It in

8 KNOW THYSELF
Myth #31 Raising Children Similarly Leads to Similarities in Their Adult Personalities
Myth #32 The Fact that a Trait Is Heritable Means We can’t change it
Myth #33 Low Self-Esteem Is a Major Cause of Psychological Problems
Myth #34 Most People Who Were Sexually Abused in Childhood Develop Severe Personality Disturbances in Adulthood
Myth #35 People’s Responses to Inkblots Tell Us a Great Deal about Their Personalities
Myth #36 Our Handwriting Reveals Our Personality Traits

9 SAD, MAD, AND BAD
Myth #37 Psychiatric Labels Cause Harm by Stigmatizing People
Myth #38 Only Deeply Depressed People Commit Suicide
Myth #39 People with Schizophrenia Have Multiple Personalities
Myth #40 Adult Children of Alcoholics Display a Distinctive Profile of Symptoms
Myth #41 There’s Recently Been a Massive Epidemic of Infantile Autism
Myth #42 Psychiatric Hospital Admissions and Crimes Increase during Full Moons

10 DISORDER IN THE COURT
Myth #43 Most Mentally Ill People Are Violent
Myth #44 Criminal Profiling Is Helpful in Solving Cases
Myth #45 A Large Proportion of Criminals Successfully Use the Insanity Defense
Myth #46 Virtually All People Who Confess to a Crime Are Guilty of It

11 SKILLS AND PILLS
Myth #47 Expert Judgment and Intuition Are the Best Means of Making Clinical Decisions
Myth #48 Abstinence Is the Only Realistic Treatment Goal for Alcoholics
Myth #49 All Effective Psychotherapies Force People to Confront the “Root” Causes of Their Problems in Childhood
Myth #50 Electroconvulsive (“Shock”) Therapy Is a Physically Dangerous and Brutal Treatment

Search Examples from Tools

Discovery Image

Screenshot of Library Discovery

Tool: Gale Virtual Reference Library

Here's some good background info on bullies and bullying from a children's health encyclopedia.

GVRL entry on Bullies

Tool: Gale Virtual Reference Library

Analysis of how media affects kid behavior.

GVRL media influence on kids

Off-campus access

Library databases require a login from off-campus!

  • ACES username is required for login
  • ACES password is your password for login

What does the login page look like?

 

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