Podcast Analysis

Instructions

You are inching closer and closer to the end of your undergraduate journey. While there is always more to learn and new skills to develop, at this point you know more about human behavior than most people on the planet. You are, to put it simply, an expert. A bourgeoning expert, to be sure, and if you pursue graduate school, youll develop competency as a practitioner and diagnostician, but right now you should have some measure of confidence in your hard-earned psychology expertise.

For this assignment, youll take a good long walk in your new expert shoes. In doing so, youll 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 brains 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 Donnellys TED Talk!), you-as-psychology-graduate would see the reasonable doubt.

But we arent 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 arent a big podcast consumer, thats 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.

• Speakeasy
• The Pivot Podcast
• The Arena

these are the 3 podcast I want to use

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 youve 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 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 didnt 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, youll find all sorts of psychological concepts to explore that are perfect for this assignment; lets just not over-focus on the sociopathic tendencies inherent in the perpetrators themselves.

STEP 3: Compare and Contrast. Once youve 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 shows 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, youd 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 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 papers 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 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 podcasts 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 youd 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)

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