1. Psychological literacy: bringing Psychology to life
Dr Julie Hulme
Higher Education Academy, UK

2. Bringing Psychology to life
Psychology is the ‘science of mind and behaviour’. What are some of the key issues facing humanity at the moment? Can Psychology offer solutions? What problems will our grandchildren face? How do we prepare future Psychology graduates to solve them?

3. Why learn about Psychology?
Article by Jane J. Lee, published in National Geographic.
27 February 2013.
Students study Psychology ‘to make a difference’ – Bromnick and Horowitz (2013).

4. Aims
To introduce the concept of psychological literacy and the psychologically literate citizen;
To consider where psychological literacy fits within Psychology education;
To explore and open discussion on current issues and academic practice around psychological literacy.

5. What is psychological literacy?
Skills and knowledge acquired by students studying Psychology (McGovern et al., 2010, p11):
vocabulary and knowledge of the critical subject matter of Psychology;
scientific thinking, disciplined analysis of information to evaluate alternative courses of action;
creative and ‘amiable skeptic’ approach to problem solving;
applying psychological principles to personal, social and organizational issues in work, relationships and the broader community;
acting ethically;
competent in using and evaluating information and technology;
communicating effectively in different modes and with many different audiences;
recognising, understanding and fostering respect for diversity;
insightful and reflective about one’s own and others’ behaviour and mental processes.

6. What is psychological literacy?
Skill and knowledge set acquired from studying Psychology; Ability to see the relevance of Psychology to every day life; Ability to apply Psychology to real-life problems, to solve them. Niki Harré – Psychology for a Better World. Free to download: staff/academic-staff/niki- harre/psychologyforabetterworld.html

7. What is psychologically literate citizenship?
“Today’s students must prepare themselves for a world in which knowledge is accumulating at a rapidly accelerating rate and in which old problems such as poverty, racism, and pollution join new problems such as global terrorism, a health crisis created by alarming increases in obesity, and the growing gap between the poor and the very rich. All of these problems require psychological skills, knowledge and values for their solution.” (Halpern, 2010, p. 162)

8. A personal perspective

9. Developing psychological literacy
“Promoting psychological literacy entails reorienting what and how we teach students in a way that emphasizes Psychology’s relevance”. Dunn et al. (2011, p. 16).

10. How and where?
Analysis of scientific reports in the media (UEL, Sussex);
Independent learning and final year projects;
Internationalisation (Liverpool);
Ethics;
Everyday life examples and applications of theoretical concepts – learning and cognition, metacognition, individual differences, behaviour change (health, environment), social psychology – all of Psychology?

11. Psychological literacy and authentic assessment
Authentic assessment: “Authentic assessment means that: (a) tasks must appropriately reflect the competency that needs to be assessed, (b) the content of an assessment involves authentic tasks that represent real-life problems of the knowledge domain assessed, and (c) the thinking that experts use to solve the problem in real life are also required by the assessment task” (Gulikers et al., 2004, p68).

12. Psychological literacy and authentic assessment
Case study: Watt (2013), University of Stirling. ology/psychological-education-literacy The example of the level crossing!
Image from – Creative Commons.

13. Psychological literacy and employability
Psychology in the workplace (Glasgow Caledonian University, Huddersfield University).
15% Psychology graduates pursue careers in professional Psychology.
Reddy, Lantz & Hulme (2013). Employability in Psychology: A Guide for Departments
Image from - Creative Commons.

14. Psychological literacy and global citizenship
Community Psychology – e.g. University of West London, York St John University.
Akhurst, J. & Mitchell, C. (2012). International Community-Based Work Placements for UK Psychology Undergraduates: An evaluation of three cohorts’ experiences. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 11, 3,
“Students reported having their cultural preconceptions challenged and the deepening of their cross-cultural awareness. The experiences had an emotional impact on them, and many students reported their desires to help others and the influence on their future planning.”

15. Psychology Applied Learning Scenarios
Professor Lin Norton (2004)

16. Bringing Psychology to life…and life to Psychology?
Using Psychology to enhance graduates’ lives, communities, the world… But also, bringing the subject ‘to life’ in the classroom: Hulme and De Wilde (in press) – student transitions are easier if learning is scaffolded and linked to real life. MUSIC model of motivation (Jones, 2009) – engaged students.

17. What are the challenges?
To develop psychological literacy in our students, we need to model it as academics, for example:
Learning and teaching using psychological principles;
Problem solving;
Interactions with students;
Inclusivity.
(McGovern, 2011).

18. The student voice
“They are scientists, but don’t appreciate the knowledge they have that explains my behaviour, and how they can help. A lecturer that specialises in reading, and in dyslexia and reading, doesn’t apply what she teaches when she knows she has students that match the case studies that she presents. It’s very frustrating”. (Craig and Zinckiewicz, 2010). 18

19. Academic psychological literacy
To what extent are academic psychologists ‘fluent’ in their psychological literacy?
How can we develop our own psychological literacy?
What good practice already exists in embedding psychological literacy in the psychology curriculum?
Psychological literacy resources from the HEA: bjects/psychology/psychological-education- literacy.
Opportunity for some discussion here.

20. Conclusions
Psychological literacy and psychologically literate citizenship as ways of:
Enabling students to continue to use Psychology after graduation – even if not working as psychologists;
Bringing about a better world (bringing Psychology to life);
Engaging students in Psychology (bringing life to Psychology).
What more can we do to (a) support our students to become more psychologically literate; and (b) develop our own psychological literacy?