Be the Facilitator

Be the Facilitator

Develop a 6–8 minute oral presentation on your hot topic in psychology with 6–8 slides for visual support. Consider key points about your topic, its social significance, analysis of research, application to professional behavior, future directions, and questions and answers on your topic from your hypothetical audience.

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Introduction

We now shift from history (and historical systems) to explore some contemporary topics garnering attention in psychology. We will focus on a selection of hot topics that have been ‘making the rounds’ in modern research. Why do you think we have blended a class on history and systems with these more modern topic areas in psychology? What is the utility for your learning? Hint: Remember that the past informs the present, and also that you can be the positive change.

For the third assessment, you will “be the facilitator” by creating training materials related to one of the hot topics: (1) mind and brain, (2) diversity, equity, and inclusion, and (3) technology and media psychology. You'll select one audience and then work towards creating a presentation where you describe your topic, evaluate its social significance, analyze its research, apply that research to professional behavior, and articulate future directions. You'll end via considering what questions such an audience might ask you, and sharing your responses.

Assessment Preparation

Step 1: Select a topic that you are interested in exploring further. Below is a list to help you in making that choice. Pick any of the sub-topics listed via bullet points under the main topics—which one do you want to learn more about?

1. Mind and Brain.
   • Cognitive bias.
   • Predictive brain.
   • Artificial intelligence.
2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
   • WEIRD samples.
   • Cross-cultural and cultural psychology.
   • Liberation psychology.
3. Technology and Media Psychology.
   • Violent behavior.
   • Identity construction online.

Step 2: Select one audience to design training materials for:

• High school teachers-in-training.
• Low-level employees in a specific workplace setting (specify what type of workplace).
• Managers in a specific workplace setting (specify what type of workplace).

Step 3: Locate three peer-reviewed journal articles on your selected topic. Be sure that at least one article represents diversity, equity, and inclusion. To accomplish this goal, find at least one article that either comes from an international journal, uses a non-Western population, or represents clearly the experiences of an underrepresented group in the literature. Note: One article may be from our course readings, but the other two should be from outside of course readings.

Slideshow Instructions

This will be an oral presentation; you’ll want to record your presentation and support your words with a slideshow.

You may use PowerPoint to create this slideshow, or, if you wish, you may use other options. You are responsible for making your presentation work. Use the Capella University Library: PowerPoint Presentations library guide for more information about how to create a PowerPoint presentation.

Design Considerations

Consider the following when creating the presentation:

• Be sure to use the minimum number of words needed. It would be ideal to have no more than six bullet point entries on a slide and no more than 10 words per entry. You can always add more slides to cover any given topic.
• Be sure to use typefaces that are easy to read.
  • Do not use more than two typefaces of different names (such as Helvetica or Times).
  • Do not use different typefaces that are similar in style. However, it is very helpful to use some appropriate contrasts of sizes and weights of type to focus the viewer's attention on the most important content within each slide.
• Consider using pictures and diagrams, in addition to words, to convey relevant information visually. However, minimize the use of decorative elements or effects that distract from meaning.
  • For any visual material within your presentation that you did not create yourself, cite the source.
  • For presentations in a professional context:
    • If you use pictures or diagrams that you did not create yourself, you must seek out, and abide by, applicable copyright restrictions. Use Google Search: Images as a resource for finding free images online.
    • If required by members of your audience, be prepared to make appropriate accommodations.
• Use current APA style citations and list references in slides at the end of the presentation.
  • Refer to Academic Writer for guidance in using proper APA style.

Assessment Instructions

For this assessment, you will be designing training materials for your chosen topic. Select your topic, choose your audience, and then create a PowerPoint presentation with audio overlay to deliver your training. Your final product should be 6-8 minutes in length.

• Describe key points about your topic. What is it? How is it tied to psychology?
• Evaluate the social significance of the topic for psychology.
  • Describe what you hope your audience will get out of completing your training. What real-world knowledge will someone take away, and why is that useful and important for their future?
• Analyze research on this topic (from your three scholarly journal articles). The research should further clarify how this topic looks in the real-world and/or why this training is valuable.
• Apply psychological research to professional behavior. What lessons learned from the research will influence how these employees engage in the workplace?
• Articulate future directions on individual (the employee), community (the workplace), and global scales to promote positive change.
• Generate 2–3 questions your audience might ask and present the answers.

Submission Requirements

• Length: 6–8 minutes audio with 6–8 slides for visual support.
• Written communication: Must be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Oral communication: Must be clearly spoken and paced.
• Resources and citations: Use a minimum of three scholarly sources. One may be a course reading. One must represent diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Format according to current APA guidelines. See Academic Writer.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 2: Evaluate the social significance of contemporary topics in psychology.
  • Describe key points about a contemporary topic in psychology.
  • Evaluate the social significance of the selected contemporary topic in psychology.
• Competency 3: Analyze psychological theory and scholarly literature in history, systems, and contemporary topics.
  • Analyze scholarly literature on a contemporary topic in psychology with at least three scholarly sources.
• Competency 4: Apply psychological theory and research to guide professional behavior.
  • Apply psychological research to professional behavior.
• Competency 5: Articulate future directions on an individual, community, and global scale to promote positive change.
  • Articulate future directions on an individual, community, and global scale to guide social thinking and promote positive change.
• Competency 6: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for professionals in the field of psychology.
  • Deliver presentation appropriate to the audience with clear, organized delivery, including answers to potential audience questions.
  • Use APA style formatting for citations and reference list with only minor errors.
  • Address assessment purpose in a well-organized oral presentation, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.
  • Use the resources linked below to help complete this assessment.Collapse All

    Mind and Brain

    Use your Contemporary Topics - Mind and Brain reading list to learn about the following topics.

    Cognitive Bias

    Human biases guide many of the judgments and decisions that we make. By learning more about these biases inherent to the human mind, we can begin to overcome them. Montibeller and von Winterfeldt's (2015) article reviews some cognitive and motivational biases that influence our decision-making and risk analysis while also considering how we can combat such bias.

    Predictive Brain

    With all that we know today about the human brain, can we predict our future cognition and behavior? That's up for debate. Learn more about successful prediction, mechanisms, and challenges in Bubic et al.'s (2010) article, Prediction, cognition and the brain.

    Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    Cognitive psychologists contribute heavily to artificial intelligence by considering how we can map a mental model onto machine learning. There are keen advantages to an experimental approach in this domain that may help to transform artificial intelligence for the future. Read Taylor and Taylor's (2021) article on artificial cognition to learn more about how cognitive psychologists contribute to technological development in AI.

    DEI and Culture

    Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    We previously introduced the notion that older research and publications in psychology centered the voices of White authors and particularly males. We encouraged you to incorporate a diversity of perspectives into all your work. In your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion reading list, review the history and DEI framework in the previously shared resources.We can deepen that discussion here via considering the extent of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) samples within psychology. Such populations may not be representative when trying to generalize to all humans, but they have been repeatedly called upon for research given their accessibility. There is a call within the behavioral sciences to essentially re-organize how we conduct research - for instance, intentional efforts to recruit more diverse samples. Learn more by reading Henrich et al.'s (2010) article, The weirdest people in the world?
    • Note: The linked file in the library provides discussion from other researchers and authors after the article. The primary article is pages 61-83. You are welcome to review the additional discussion afterwards if you would like.

    Cross-Cultural Psychology and Cultural Psychology

    At different points within psychology's history, there have been calls to better understand the context around human behavior and not be ‘culturally-blind’. In your Cross-Cultural, Cultural, and Liberation Psychology reading list, the Ellis and Stam (2015) article will explore the history of both cross-cultural psychology and cultural psychology - their differences, their overlap, and a path forward. Ultimately, the authors call for additional consideration of culture within our psychological research.

    Liberation Psychology

    Liberation psychology aims to combat oppression in marginalized groups via bringing recognition to the interaction of many factors in producing oppression and suggesting new approaches for the future. It recognizes the flawed past of psychology while also suggesting avenues forward. As an example of one application of liberation psychology, review the article by Cook et al. (2023) in your Cross-Cultural, Cultural, and Liberation Psychology reading list discussing how lessons from liberation psychology can improve equity within the healthcare system.

    Technology and Media Psychology

    Technology and Media Psychology

    Technology is now all around us. Psychologists have focused on different areas highlighting the influence of technology on our lives, elucidating how media and technology both enrich and impede our lives.
    • Media Psychology and Technology reading list.

    Media Psychology

    Technology and media surround us. Even as you sit here reading these words, you are engaging in media use that has the potential to impact you positively, negatively, or somewhere in-between. Media and technology are key to our lives today, and thus it should come as no surprise that recent researchers have been deeply invested in determining the potential implications of technology and media on our growth, development, and human experience. Read Okdie et al.'s (2014) article to learn more about why psychologists must study media in today's world.

    Violent Behavior

    One example of a hot topic in this field has been whether or not engagement with violent media relates to violent tendencies or behaviors. Whenever you hear about violent actions on the news, there is often the question of whether they played too many violent video games or watched too many slasher films on TV. Is there actually a connection? The research might surprise you. As you review Ferguson's (2015) meta-analysis, also consider what lessons we learn here about how we draw conclusions from research - why must we bring a critical eye to our reading? The response article by Markey (2015) nicely summarizes some basic rules for researchers to follow within any debate.

    Identity Development

    Another example of a hot topic in this field is how we construct ourselves in the real versus online worlds as well as how this connects to identity development. We engage in something called ‘selective self-presentation’ online - we essentially leave different pieces of our identity in different spots and cater to particular platforms. For instance, what you show of yourself on Facebook might be different from what you show of yourself on TikTok. How does this process affect our identity development over time? How can we use the internet as a safe haven for identity exploration? These are some of the critical questions being asked and explored in the last two articles that round out your reading list. Yang et al. (2017) explore identity development alongside social media and the college transition while Gray (2018) specifically reviews Black lesbian identity development in the context of Xbox Live.

    DEI and Writing Resources

    Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    Using your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion reading list, complete the following readings:When looking at the history of psychology as a field, one critique is that perspectives were historically limited. In particular, older research and publications centered the voices of White authors and particularly males. Systematic inequality existed within research. Learn more by reviewing the article by Roberts et al. (2020), Racial inequality in psychological research: Trends of the past and recommendations for the future.To encourage systemic change in our approach to psychological science, we will be asking you to incorporate resources in your work that represent an eye towards diversity, equity, and inclusion. Learn more about how these terms are defined by reviewing the APA's framework and resources in your reading list. Henrich et al.'s (2010) article will further introduce you to why psychology samples, historically, have often been referred to as ‘WEIRD’.
    • Note - The linked Henrich et al. file in the library provides discussion from other researchers and authors after the article. The primary article is pages 61-83. You are welcome to review the additional discussion afterwards if you would like.
    The resources you select to support your assessments should reflect a diversity of perspectives and give voice and bring visibility to traditionally underrepresented groups in the field (e.g., BIPOC, women, LGBTQIA+, etc.). Your goal will be to find at least one peer-reviewed journal article for each assessment that either comes from an international journal, uses a non-Western population, or represents clearly the experiences of an underrepresented group in the literature.

    Writing Skill: Synthesis

    With so many perspectives on any topic, learning how to synthesize those perspectives together in your writing is an important skill. As you collect information on a topic and evidence to support various points in your writing, consider how you will weave these different pieces together in a way that makes sense and reads smoothly. This will require you to incorporate multiple of the other writing skills you've already learned about, including writing with purpose, summarizing, and organizing. Learn more about Developing Synthesis and then dig deeper into when synthesis is used and related examples and approaches by checking out the Writing Center's resource, The Meaning of Synthesis. You'll want to synthesize in any piece of writing when combining multiple sources together to make your arguments or support your key points - be sure to use this skill when working on your assessments in this course.

    APA Style: Paper Formatting

    Just like APA style has particular guidelines for citations and references, so too does it have particular guidelines for how you format your overall paper. This formatting includes a dedicated title page, page headings and numbers, set margins, paragraph indentation, and recommended font selections. As you work on your papers in this course (and other psychology courses), review the APA style guidelines here and apply the formatting details to your work. Use your APA Style Paper Formatting reading list for guidelines on these elements.

    Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

    As you recruit sources for your assessments, you'll be asked to find peer-reviewed journal articles to support your work. Peer-reviewed journal articles are a particular type of scholarly publication that serve as firsthand evidence and thereby add credibility to your writing. An article being peer-reviewed means that it is not just edited for typos or the like before publication, but it is reviewed by (usually) multiple experts in the field who often require a number of revisions before publication and help validate the credibility of the source before it ever reaches the physical page. Watch the video, What are Peer Reviewed Articles and then jump over to How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles? to explore where to find peer-reviewed journal articles using our Capella library.

    Critical Thinking: Implications and Consequences

    Researchers take their knowledge, old and new, and harness it to impact positive change. If you've been reading the Discussion section of peer-reviewed journal articles, you've seen how psychologists mention this in their own research. They discuss the implications (what follows logically from their claims) and consequences (what follows from their actions) of their work, and suggest future directions for both research and the ‘real world’. When you work on your assessments, you'll be considering how you can help make positive change. To learn more about implications and consequences, review the section on ‘Implications & Consequences’ on the Analytic Stage of Thinking page on Campus.