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For this assignment, you’ll take a good long walk in your new expert shoes. In doing so, you’ll prove to yourself that you have rightfully earned your place as a knowledgeable scholar of psychology. No longer a student, but a self-assured graduate who remains curious, humble, and open to learning, but also knows what they are talking about when it comes to human behavior.
One of the ways we come face to face with our know-how is when we can take a critical, informed view of something most people take at face value. Consider this scenario: You are serving on a jury and the expert medical witness says, “there is a 1 in 7 million chance a mother would have two babies experience crib death and therefore this is more likely a case of homicide.” Without a background in the psychological sciences, you might fall in line, believing this to be an open and shut case. Of course, it’s homicide…right? 1:7 million? However, given what you have learned about statistical methods, our brain’s inability to fully understand the nuances of statistical data, and how this misunderstanding has led to false convictions in the past (and having been exposed to Donnelly’s TED Talk!), you-as-psychology-graduate would see the reasonable doubt.
But we aren’t on a jury right now, so we need something else to hold up a mirror to your skillset. The mirrors we will use for this assignment are podcasts – common mediums for the dissemination of information to large swaths of the population. From entertainment to news, from fictional stories to education, from sports to music, podcasts infiltrate our ears and our minds and can shift our perspective in meaningful ways. And, because psychology (and human behavior, thought, and emotion) permeates so many topics, just about any podcast out there can be called a “psychology podcast;” giving us a rich and varied source of content to critically evaluate.
To engage in this activity…
STEP 1: Choose 3 (THREE) podcast episodes. They can all three be from the same podcast series, or they can be from different series. Which three you choose is up to you. You can choose episodes from a podcast or podcasts that you already follow/are a fan of. If you aren’t a big podcast consumer, that’s okay. Here is a list of podcasts that should be interesting to a student of psychology and give you plenty of grist for the mill for completing this assignment. You do not have to choose one from the list below – this is just to help those for whom this is a new medium. All of these are available on both Apple and Google Podcasts. You can also access many of them for free via Spotify and Pandora. You can also listen to episodes on the websites of these podcast series.
Most podcasts are ad supported, so they are free to the public. Some podcasters have a “paid tier” (episodes behind a paywall), but there are so, so many available for free, you should not need to purchase anything to do this assignment. Many podcasters also offer their shows as Youtube videos, which you may use, as long as the video is also packaged in podcast form as well. If a verbatim transcript of a podcast episode is available in written form on the web, you may use that. NPR has many of its podcasts transcribed on the web.
- You’re Wrong About
- This American Life
- Hidden Brain
- TED Radio Hour
- Many Minds
- Fresh Air (NPR)
- Ear Biscuits
- This is Actually Happening
- Ten Percent Happier
- Ear Hustle
- Precedent
- Revisionist History
- Work Life with Adam Grant
- Make Me Smart
If you often listen in the car and you have young ones with you, consider these child-appropriate podcasts both of you can listen to:
- Brains On!
- But Why?
The only stipulation on what podcast you choose is that your instructor must be able to access it – it must exist somewhere on the web or on a phone/tablet app, for free, right now. Your instructor will be sampling these as part of their evaluation process.
STEP 2: Listen and take notes. First, listen to (or watch, if you found your podcast on YouTube) one of the three episodes you chose, remembering to do so through the eyes of a psychology graduate. Even if you’ve listened to them before, listen again carefully through this lens. Choose and identify at least 1 (ONE) psychological theme, concept, principle, hypothesis, construct, or perspective implied within each episode. This can be anything you learned about in your time as a psychology major – the possibilities are almost endless. The idea here is for you to use your trained mind to identify these themes on your own. For inspiration, you might look at the example assignment that accompanies this exercise.
Special Note about True Crime Podcasts
The true crime podcast genre is a very popular one. And certainly, it is appropriate to choose those type of podcasts for this assignment; there are so many psychological concepts to explore in these stories! However, when it comes to choosing psychological concepts from episodes in this genre, branch out from personality disorder issues at play (particularly in the perpetrator). Having that be the focus of one of your choices is fine, just diversify your thinking a bit when it comes to the other two.
For example, consider factors like jury decision making, the role of groupthink in crimes where multiple perpetrators were involved, the social psychological motivations of folks who had information about the crime but didn’t report it, issues of gender, confirmation bias, racism, family dynamics, the role of memory and its limitations, etc. In other words, if you dive into the true crime genre, you’ll find all sorts of psychological concepts to explore that are perfect for this assignment; let’s just not over-focus on the sociopathic tendencies inherent in the perpetrators themselves.
STEP 3: Compare and Contrast. Once you’ve identified the theme consider the point of view the podcaster is taking. Then, compare/contrast that point of view with what you know from your academic journey. How does the show’s perspective hold up under your scrutiny? Perhaps you end up agreeing 100% – the point of view espoused in the episode or by someone in the episode resonates completely with what you now know. Maybe your points-of-view kind of align, but if you were in the room, you’d have a follow up thought or two to share…what would those thoughts be? Or perhaps you disagree completely!
STEP 4: Repeat. Repeat Steps 2 & 3 twice more, for two more podcast episodes.
STEP 5: Review and orient. Review the rubric for this assignment and the example assignment to orient your thinking prior to jumping into the writing portion of this activity.
STEP 6: Write your paper. Construct an 1800-word paper where you present your analysis in the following format (note: going a little over the word count is fine):
INTRODUCTION: (150+ words)Introduce the assignment concisely, explaining your objective – which is to showcase your knowledge of psychology in a real-world context (through your analysis of podcast episodes). You might also refer to why you chose these three episodes and how it served your goals with this assignment. Conclude with a clear definition of your paper’s purpose.
BODY: (Three Sections, 500+ words each for a total of 1500+ words)
Episode 1: Name of Podcast – Episode # and Episode Title
Begin with a summary of the episode’s content, highlighting its “plot” or theme.
Identify at least one key psychological concept at play in the episode (see above instructions or example paper for inspiration)
Discuss the podcaster’s perspective on this concept as presented in the episode. How do they frame or interpret these concepts, and do they provide relevant information or context?
Offer your critical analysis of the point-of-view offered episode. Do you agree with the podcast’s interpretation, or do you – a scholar of psychology – have a different perspective? Support your critique or your agreement (or your “little of both” perspective) with information from your psychology coursework and other credible sources – at least one. Be sure to cite your sources properly.
Repeat the above for Episode 2 and Episode 3.
CONCLUSION: 150+ words
In your conclusion, reflect on the experience of this assignment. What did you learn about yourself? After having completed this activity, how confident are you in your ability to analyze and evaluate psychological elements in various real-world contexts? Consider how this assignment has helped you develop a more informed perspective as a consumer of information. What areas for further study did you identify after having done this assignment? Anything you wish you’d learned more about in your time at UMGC? How will you go about learning that information moving forward?
Paper Writing Guidelines:
- Paper should be written in APA style; this includes title page, heading, citations, reference page, and paper formatting (1-inch margins, double-spaced, 12-point font, etc.). An abstract is not required.
- Apply sound writing mechanics: write with clarity and pay attention to spelling/grammar
- Submit completed document by assigned due date.
- Your final paper should be 1800+ words (excluding title page and reference page):
- Title page (does not count page towards length requirement)
- Reference page (does not count page towards length requirement)
Appropriate use of ChatGPT/Generative AI
Generative AI programs like ChatGPT can produce content that, on the surface, looks like a good effort on this assignment. However, because this assignment requires you to listen to auditory content, make interpretations, and pit your knowledge against it, AI databanks do not have the insights necessary to provide the attention to nuance, critical thinking, and authentic point-of-view needed to do well on this assignment. It will offer vague connections and overgeneralized commentary, but not the level of specificity and authenticity we are looking for here. So, in this instance, over-reliance on AI generative tools will not satisfy this assignment.
You can use ChatGPT and other generative AI software to refresh your memory of what you have learned in specific psychology courses (this is not a requirement, but constitutes an acceptable use of this technology), but in your writing, you must speak from the point of view of the scholar of psychology that you are and bring in points that authentically represent your psychology education and the skills you’ve developed at supporting your points with research. The written, submitted text must be exclusively your own.
