Psychology for non-psychology students: An academic discipline as a quest

Abstract

Students in non-psychological areas of study encounter the study of psychology particularly challenging. On the one hand, students have unrealistically high expectations shaped by the modern media environment which is saturated with nearand pseudo-psychological content. On the other hand, they are not inclined to delve deeply into scientific psychological knowledge. The solution involves orientating students toward an independent synthesis of scientific psychological knowledge and a format of its presentation that is understandable to students of a particular area of study. This article presents an approach that can be applied with students enrolled in media-related programs, which represent a new area of study. For two months, students analyzed openaccess online forums and various social media groups and documented requests posted by ordinary users regarding the most significant problems of the psychology of growing up, mental stability, personal maturation, and difficult life situations. After systematizing these requests and identifying the main thematic blocks, students independently searched for answers in scientific publications, web resources compiled by certified specialists, and information materials of popular bloggers. Analysis of these sources allowed students to independently identify differences in the validity of recommendations, presentation style, terminology, and the metaphors used. The results of the analysis led students to conclusions regarding both the reliability of the studied information and the essence of the psychological phenomena. Based on the knowledge gained, the students independently prepared and conducted their original events on complex issues of interaction with media resources in the field of psychological awareness, targeting various categories of participants, from schoolchildren to senior citizens. We have applied a similar approach in the system of additional education for students receiving a retraining diploma alongside a university degree in another area of study. The students prepared and conducted self-directed activities focusing on the individual topics studied within the discipline. Student teams supervised by teachers studied one of the topics of the discipline in depth in order to prepare an event dedicated to this topic. The nature of the event, its audience and its format were selected by the students in accordance with the specifics of the area of their degree study. Our practical experience demonstrated a positive effect of using such unconventional methods for engaging non-psychology students in the study of psychology as an academic discipline.