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Psychology and the Media

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Psychology and the Media
In my opinion the media today dilutes down the science of psychology to a simple word used to sell an item or idea, the media also exaggerates the use of psychology to do so. I searched the internet for news on psychology, I chose the internet because it is the easiest news source to access and probably the most popular. What I found was a few scholarly sources, but mostly articles on sex and how to get rich/skinny/beautiful quick, with of course the use of psychology. The internet not only distorts the image of psychology but provides a poor education on the topic. When portrayed in the media, psychology is presented more as common knowledge and less as an actual science. In many articles online there is no evidence supporting the facts and statistics presented. For example, an article on dailymail.co.uk titled Redheads 'have more sex than blondes or brunettes ' the author raves about how redheads have more sex with more partners more often, its psychology! The article though, neglected to provide evidence to such statements. In the end of the article an actual psychologist named Christine Baumanns stated that this may not be the case. Articles like these make psychology look like a simple idea, an idea that doesn’t need to be studied, or verified. I noticed that in most of the articles I discovered online, there were very few actual psychologists and if there was a credible source, they were just in there making a quick note to the subject. In a few articles I read the topic was sex, and in those articles sex was mentioned more than enough. I think this dumbed-down the article and made it more readable to common people, in some cases this could be good but I don’t think it helps save the name of psychology. In this particular article (Why British women go off sex (unlike the French and Germans)) only one psychologist is noted, Dr Petra Boynton. Unfortunately she is only mentioned at the very end of the story, which is where most people usually stop reading,


Cited: Dobson, Roger. "Why British women go off sex (unlike the French and Germans) - Health News, Health & Families - The Independent." The Independent | News | UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper. 18 Feb. 2010. 10 Oct. 2010 . Malin, H. Martin, Berlin, and Fred S. "Abstracts: Media distortion of the public 's perception of recidivism and psychiatric rehabilitation. Assessing symptom change in Southeast Asian refugee survivors of mass violence and torture - Psychology and mental health." Internet FAQ Archives - Online Education - faqs.org. 1991. 10 Oct. 2010 . "Redheads 'have more sex than blondes or brunettes ' | Mail Online." Home | Mail Online. 15 Aug. 2006. 10 Oct. 2010 . Ruquet, Mark E. "Psychology Major Factor In Risk Preparedness - Agent/Broker - Property and Casualty Insurance News." National Underwriter Property & Casualty - P&C Insurance News. 8 Oct. 2010. 10 Oct. 2010 .
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