Media Review Paper

Popular entertainment media (e.g., magazines, newspapers, tabloids, TV shows, and movies) are the general public's primary sources of information of what psychology is (and is not). These reports are largely responsible for the negative view of psychology as "not a real science."

Recently, science has been increasingly portrayed as useless for understanding our modern world or for solving real-world problems. To make matters worse, skepticism regarding paranormal claims, an important part of critical (i.e., scientific) thinking, is often portrayed as a disadvantage (i.e., a handicap). In some TV shows, for example, the paranormal is portrayed as normal, and fantastic events (e.g., alien abductions, spontaneous combustion) are frequent occurrences. Movies have long portrayed scientists as mad, bad, or dangerous.

For example, consider the following. Habitual viewers of entertainment television (about one-third of U.S. adults watch more than four hours of TV daily) are more likely than infrequent viewers to believe that science is dangerous, that scientists are odd and peculiar people, and that a career in science as undesirable. After all, on prime time TV, being a scientist is extremely risky (because ten percent of scientists on such shows get killed), and being near a scientist is dangerous (because five percent of scientists kill someone). "Mad" scientists account for a higher percentage of horror movie antagonists than zombies, werevolves, and mummies combined.

It should come as no surprise that a negative correlation has been observed between watching entertainment television and people's critical thinking about scientific matters. As the amount of entertainment TV viewing increases, acceptance of pseudoscience increases. In addition, habitual viewers are more likely than infrequent viewers to believe that astrology is scientific. Of course, this correlational evidence does not permit us to conclude that watching entertainment TV causes anti-science or pro-pseudoscience attitudes. On the other hand, entertainment TV pro-vides a context within which such attitudes are encouraged and can be developed.

It is important for you, as a student of psychology, to view these kinds of reports with a healthy skepticism, guided by your developing knowledge of what real psychology is and is not.

The primary intent of the assignment is to develop your ability to evaluate one small part of the steady diet of negative portrayals of science and skepticism. That "small part" will involve popular misunderstandings and/or misgivings about psychological science. This assignment provides an opportunity to apply psychological theory and research in the exploration of a book, a film, a television show, or a newspaper, magazine, or tabloid article.

For this assignment, choose a book, a film, a TV show, or an article from a newspaper, magazine or tabloid with content that can be meaningfully explored through application of psycho-logical theory and research. Your main objective should be to clearly present your analysis of how well (i.e., how accurately) the book, film, TV show, or article represents both:

- science, in general

- psychological science, in particular

PSYC 100 - Introductory Psychology University of Maryland University College

In your paper, you should clearly identify the source (i.e., the specific book, film, TV show, or article) and write a beautifully organized (and well written) discussion that critically evaluates the assertion, the evidence, and the explanation (i.e., the presumed controlling mechanism),

including reasoned consideration of the reliability, validity, and exceptions of the purported findings contained in the report. You can look at some of the later chapters in the Stangor text that deal with memory, emotion, motivation, the development of the individual over the life

span, and health and stress, in order to have a more complete idea of different concepts that might apply.

Students: Remember that this is a research-based paper; the article, film, book, or TV show provides only the backdrop for research on a psychological topic. For full credit, you should use at least one peer-reviewed psychological reference in addition to your textbook.

Your paper should be 1,200 to 1,500 words, (i.e., about 5 double-spaced pages). This assignment is worth 10 percent of your total points for the course. Grading Rubric

Media Review Paper

5 4 3 2 1 0

CONTENT

1. All topics were discussed in clear detail

2. Assertions supported correctly

3. Ideas were interrelated coherently and logically

4. Author creatively enhances the topic

ORGANIZATION

5. An introduction previews main points of reflection

6. Body of paper develops and elaborates main ideas

7. A conclusion summarizes main points

WRITING MECHANICS and STYLE

8. Paper free of mechanical errors (e.g., misspellings, typos, etc.)

9. Paper grammatically sound (proper sentence structure)

10. Citations and references in proper APA style

PSYC 100 - Introductory Psychology University of Maryland University College

Points to be awarded:

Behaviors demonstrated:5

paper contains no errors in this area4

paper contains limited errors in this area; however, the overall presentation of the material is readable and appropriate3

paper contains limited errors in this area; however, the overall presentation of the material is difficult to read2

paper contains a number of errors in this area; however, the overall presentation is acceptable1

paper contains a number of errors in this area, and the overall presentation is difficult to read0

paper contains numerous errors in this area, which detracts from the overall presentation

Additional Criteria for Grading Your Paper

1. Accuracy. Are your facts or ideas correct?

2. Clarity. Are your answers clear and easy to follow? It helps to read your answer aloud to yourself. Using this method, you can catch incomplete sentences or lapses in your thought.

3. Depth. Are the issues and implications thought out and explored?

4. Originality. Are your own views present and well-articulated? Use your own words. Do not copy material directly from your text or other sources. If you want to use the author's exact words, put them in quotation marks and cite the page number from your text or other source material. But don't forget to express your own opinion or interpretation.

5. Supporting Evidence. Support your ideas with empirical evidence. This is a crucial part of any well-written research essay. You may support your answer with statistical information, case studies, or research you encounter from the text, readings, or other references. You may also use your personal experience as supporting evidence when appropriate.

6. References. Did you use appropriate references to support the main points of your paper? You may look in the textbook and find references listed in the bibliography that might support your writing. Be sure you have these references-the complete articles-on hand if you use them. Make sure your references relate to the point you are making, or support your inferences.

7. Form, composition, spelling, etc. Try to make your paper neat and error free. It helps to run your spell checker before submitting your work, or have a colleague or friend read over your paper.

8. APA Style. We will follow the formatting rules of the American Psychological Association. The UMUC Guide to Writing and Research will provide you with some basic APA guidelines, and you can access this information by visiting UMUC's library web page.

9. DUE date. Please pay very careful attention to the date/time your Media Review Paper is due, Friday, October 9, 2015 (11:59 PM). That is just two (2) days prior to the date the course ends, after which absolutely no work can be accepted (i.e., the course is "over").