Welcome to PSY 700, Critical Thinking, Fall 2009

Course description
PSY 700 is specifically designed for the new student in Media Psychology. Critical thinking and argumentation are essential to competent professional practice, particularly in commenting on the use, misuse and impact of digital technology and social media on individuals and society. Students are expected to demonstrate an understanding and application of critical thinking to well written, research supported professional arguments. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to evaluate claims, evidence, and conclusions and to develop coherent, well-articulated, convincing, formal arguments, particularly as they apply to the impacts of technology and social media.

watch the pumpkin video

Course overview
We all live in the tEcosystem, that secondary ecosystem that people have created that consists of digital technology, connectivity and the communication they facilitate. In many ways we have fused with the tEcosystm and are as dependent upon it as we are on the air we breathe. To be conscious digital citizens and critical thinkers we need to understand the implicit and explicit biases in the technology we adopt and information we consume, in much the same way that we need to understand the characteristics and quality of the air that sustains us.

This course provides a number of activities and exercises designed to challenge and expand your perceptions of media, and at the same time help you develop perceptual tools to help you see more clearly and evaluate more effectively the technology and media that populate your digital landscape.

Materials
Nearly all of the materials needed for this class are found on the Internet. So, there are no books or media that you have to buy.

Books. However, we recommend, but do not require, that you read the following:

• Here Comes Everyone: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, by Clay Shirky
• Taming the Beast: Choice and Control in the Electronic Jungle, by Jason Ohler
• Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics, by Morley Winograd and Michael Hais

DVDs. You will be watching the following Front Line documentaries in this course. I have provided links for you to watch them on the web for free. However, I recommend that you purchase them, or at least rent them, as you will enjoy your viewing experience much more. I own them and watch them at least once/year:

• The Persuaders
  
• Merchants of Cool

If you are going to buy them, do so now so you can watch them for the assignment.

What's due each week? This course lasts eight weeks. Each week requires the following:

1. Input. Watching, reading and/or listening to material. Try to finish this by Wednesday.
   
2. Conversation. Join the weekly Felix forum and responding to a weekly question we provide. Also, you will respond to three comments posted by your colleagues (for a total of at least three conference messages per week). Ideally, you would join in after you have completed your activities. Conversation concludes by Saturday night.
   
3. Output. Updating your blog according to the criteria included with each activity. This needs to be completed by Sunday Evening.
   

Grading. Grades are straightforward:

• Felix forum Discussion: 0-3 for our forum discussion; if you posted three substantial messages, then you get a 3. It goes down from there.
• Blog posting: 0-3 If you have posted 2-3 paragraphs of substantial reflection and critical thinking, then you get 3 points. It goes down from there.
• Final project (2-3 page mission statement). Grading is based on a 0-10 point scale.
  

Can you redo your forum postings to increase your points? No. The discussion comes and goes too quickly to make this possible.

Can you redo your blog posting to increase your points? Yes. I wish you would.

* "man thinking" image from Clipart.com, through a paid subscription

Week #1: Creating a Blogfolio

(Week 1 : Aug 24-30/2009)

Goals, overview. This week is dedicated to getting you started by having you create your personal “blog folio” – that is, a blog that serves as your portfolio during the course. Even if you have a blog now, please create a fresh one just for this course. Also, please turn commenting off for now, as we want just your work to show up on your blogfolio. We will use Felix for student discussions.

You can use any number of blogging or other social media services to do this, from Ning to MySpace. We recommend using Blogger, simply because it is easy. But feel free to use what you are comfortable with.

You have four tasks this week:

1. Create your blog. To create your blog using Blogger, go to www.blogger.com, register if you need to and pick a template. That should be all you need to do. Problems? Email Jason at jasonohler@gmail.com.
   


2. Let us know what your blog address is by posting it on the Forum. We will maintain a list of these so that your colleagues can view your work. They appear in a list on the right hand side of our class blog.
   


3. Read about “visually differentiated text” (VDT). To do so, go to this web resource. Web writing often requires a more visually crafted approach to writing text than essay writing in order to avoid “the wall of text” effect that often makes web material hard to read. We call this VDT or “visually differentiated text.” It uses the 7 Bs: bullets, breaks, boldface, and others… Go to the web resource referenced above and read about it with the aim of trying to adopt some of the VDT techniques in your blog postings.


4. Post your first blog entry. This will be a brief posting about yourself, your professional and/or academic background, and your professional objectives as a future Media Psychologist. This is your chance to introduce yourself to your fellow student cohort, as well as your faculty. Feel free to add relevant photos, videos or illustrations. Try to use visually differentiated text where it makes sense to you to do so.


5. Lastly, make sure you can access your grade sheet at snapgrades.net. I should have sent each of you your name and password before the first week. The first time you log in you will need to enter the following:
   
• School: FGU
• City: Santa Barbara
• State: California
Thereafter you should only need to enter your name and password.

If you are having any troubles with this, contact Jason at jasonohler@gmail.com.

A word about successful blog management. A blog is often misunderstood to be a website that has to be used to host public interaction. In fact, a blog can be private, invite-only or widely publicized. And it can be used in a variety of ways.

From a functional perspective, a blog is simply a basic Web-page template for non-programmers (though it scales to programmers needs if required) that can serve multiple purposes. Using blogs successfully in your professional practice depends largely on choosing the appropriate metaphor for your application. Will your blog function as a newsletter? A debating venue? A cooperative research project?

The metaphor for your blog in this class is "a portfolio." We focus our conversation in Felix, away from your blog, and reserve your blog just for your work. The question your blog should address is: having read articles, watched media, and discussed the class material with your colleagues, what is your understanding of the topic?

Week #2: What is critical thinking?

(Week 2: August 31-Sept 6/09)

Goals, overview. This course is about “critical thinking,” which Wikipedia defines as “…purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments.” The goal of this activity is to consider critical thinking as a perspective that is essential to the researcher.

Activities. Go to the Wikipedia article about critical thinking and spend an hour or so reading the material and linked materials it provides. Feel free to read any other materials you wish on this topic.

Then visit The Critical Thinking Community website. It is run by Richard Paul, a long time leader in the critical thinking movement. Two provisos about the Paul material:

1. Paul focuses a good deal on education, and teachers who are trying to find ways to infuse instruction with his critical thinking concepts. Thus, he makes a number of references to this focus. However, his principles are widely applicable and translate easily to any profession.


2. Paul is trying to sell his services. You will see advertisements for materials and workshops throughout his material. While this doesn't devalue his contribution, be aware of the fact that you are being pitched a service.
   

I recommend that you spend an hour or so scanning his resources, reading those materials that resonate with you. In particular I like Critical Thinking in Everyday Life: 9 Strategies and Personal and Professional Development.

Felix discussion. Go to the Felix Forum to discuss the following question: What are the two or three most important qualities of critical thinking that you discerned from your activities this week? How will they impact your work as a media psychologist? Respond to this question, as well as at least three other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes Saturday night.

Blog posting. Post on your blog, using the heading “A definition of critical thinking.” In a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs, post a definition of critical thinking that you have cultivated as a result of this activity. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials that were used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Blogs postings must be completed by Sunday evening.

Extra links, materials for your consideration

Professor Dowden's critical thinking materials:

• definition
• specific skills
• terms

Other links:

• Free Inquriy critical thinking and it's relation to science and humanism
• Alamo Colleges guide to critical thinking
  
• A working definition by Michael Scriven and Richard Paul
• The 7 Qualities of a Critical Thinker by Janet Mills, posted on the Economic Opportunity Agency's web site
  

On the lighter side

• Cartoon - Are there any questions?
• Cartoon - Eternal Questions...
• A funny joke about critical thinking

Week #3: What are urban legends?

(Week 3: Sept 7-13/2009)

Goals, overview. There is a good deal of storytelling going on in the media. Some is deliberate, some is inadvertent and some happens just because information exchanges hands so many times that error and embellishment become part of the public narrative. The goal of this activity is to look at the tension that exists between the proliferation of what are often referred to as “urban legends” and those who seek to distinguish fact from fiction.

Activities. First let's lay a critical thinking foundation for considering what we read on the Internet - and elsewhere - in general terms. To do so, watch Alan Shermer's Baloney Detection kit, posted on Infosavvy's blog. Alan is director of the Skeptics Society.

Back to the issue of Urban legends - or suspected urban legends. They abound. Here are just a few:

• The $600 hammer. Remember hearing about the military’s $600 hammer? We tended to believe the story was true because we have a bias about believing that government wastes money. But, it wasn’t true – or at least one source says it wasn’t. Read all about it.


• Sarah Palin's SAT scores. Here’s another example of a possible urban legend that rippled through the web. During the era of Sarah Palin’s notoriety, a very convincing image of her rather low SAT scores began circulating on the web. However, at least one reader was convinced that he was seeing digital forgery. Read all about it.

Now it's your turn. Go to Snopes or another debunking site, perhaps factcheck.org, and spend an hour or so reading material and linked material until you find something that challenges a previously held opinion or “truth assumption” you had subscribed to.

Felix discussion. Go to our Felix forum and respond to the following question: Based on your activities this week, what do you think causes the wide discrepancies in "the truth" that proliferate throughout the web? Respond to this question, as well as at least three other posts from colleagues. Also, respond to two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes Saturday night.

Blog posting. Post on your blog, using the heading “Urban legends.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs about what you discovered about the nature of authenticity on the web. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Blog updates need to be completed by Sunday evening.

Extra links and materials

• Snopes
• Urban Legends
• Museum of Hoaxes
• Selective Exposure, Perception, Retention (Klapper, et al), on Wikipedia
  
• Truemors
• Article about Guy Kawasakis, creator of Truemors
• How Urban Legends Work, from How Stuff Works
  
• The Psychology of Rumors and Urban Legends, from BulletProof Blog
  
• What Fuels Urban Legends, from Psychology Today
• Urban Legends, The Psychology of Fear, by ELI KOORIS from the Austin Chronicle
  
• Richard Dawkins and Meme
• Aaron Lynch and Thought Contagion

* picture of man and large cat taken from Urban Legends

Week #4 at NSO: Gate keeping, the psychology of music, and unplugging from the tEcosytem

(Week 4: (Sept 14 - 20/2009)

Goals, overview. This week will begin with a “live” session during NSO in Santa Barbara. Drs. Dill, Ohler and Isbouts will each take you through a theme in critical thinking that is close to their area of interest. Each is described below.

No Felix discussion this week. There will be no Felix discussion this week, as we will be able to hold our discussions in person.

A. Dr. Karen Dill: Gate keeping and concepts of self in media.
Gate keeping is a term in wide use to describe the deliberate or unintentional efforts by people, organizations or structures to control the flow of information, thus limiting what the rest of us can know by virtue of the decisions they make about what we are allowed to experience. The goal of this activity is to better understand how media gate keepers operate, particularly as their activities relate to the kinds of perceptions they encourage consumers to cultivate about themselves. We will look at the 3Bs of targeted advertising - body, beauty, and belonging - and how a combination of gatekeeping and the presentation of deliberately skewed perceptions of self converge to infuse consumer society with forward momentum.

Blog posting. By sunday evening, provide a posting of 2-3 paragraphs about your "take aways" from this presentation.

B. Dr. Jean-Pierre Isbouts: The Persuasive Role of Music
Television, film and other media forms are unthinkable without music. Music presents the emotional framework in which the visual information should be seen and interpreted. It also offers vital cues about the narrative arc of a story. But music can also manipulate, particularly because we are not always aware of its presence. Music easily escapes our judgmental mind, slipping below our conscious radar, skewing how we feel about what we experience.

Blog posting. By sunday evening, provide a posting of 2-3 paragraphs about your "take aways" from this presentation.

C. Jason Ohler: How Plugged In Are You?
As the ancient adage goes, fish don’t see the water. To McLuhan we are the fish and the tEcosystem - the technological ecosystem we have created out of technology, connectivity and communication - is the water. That is, we are so immersed in our technological landscape that we simply don’t notice it, until some part of it breaks, assaults our privacy, or otherwise becomes, to use McLuhan terminology, figure rather than ground. In fact, it isn’t until we notice it that we can ask questions about it. And probably one of the most important questions we can ask is: Are we so plugged in that we simply can’t unplug? And if we can’t unplug, who are we becoming as people, friends, citizens?

Recall that technology connects and disconnects. The goal of this discussion is to see more clearly the tension that exists between those two qualities as it relates to trying to balance the benefits and risks of being plugged into the tEcosystem’s all pervasive network.

Blog posting. By sunday evening, provide a posting of 2-3 paragraphs about your "take aways" from this presentation.

Resources and links for the psychology of music

• Emotions Evoked by Music are Universal, from Web MD, March 2009
• Television News Music, from wikipedia
• How to Use Background Music, from eHow
• The Psychology of Music, by Jennifer Copely
• Music and Emotional Responses in the Brain, by Antonia J

Books

• This is Your Brain on Music, by Dan Levitin
  
• The Social Psychology of Music, by Hargreaves and North

Resources and links for gate keeping and concepts of self in media

• Overview from the University of Twente's Media, Culture and Society web site.
• The Photoshop Effect, which features an interview with a professional photographer who talks about the prevalence of digital photo retouching in his profession and offers examples of his craft.
  
• Girl Power, which deconstructs a digitally retouched photo. Be sure to click on the picture until you get the menu of photo changes. Then, step through the changes to see how the picture was retouched.
  
• Dove's Evolution of Beauty, which shows a time lapse series of a woman's face being prepared for billboard publication.
  
• A 'beauty function' for a better look. This article examines software that can "automatically make you look 'better.
• Who decides who sees what on the web? by Don Dodge (1/23/06)
• No gatekeepers - just a bunch of turnstiles by Mathew Ingram (1/20/06)
• Bloggers push past the old media's gatekeepers by Tom Fiedler (Nieman Reports, Summer 2008)
• This Film Is Not Yet Rated. A documentary about the film rating industry in the U.S. There are few ways to see this: 1) Buy it from Amazon, 2) watch it through Google Video or, 3) read an interview with the film producers that explains the movie and what they discovered (a direct transcript of the movie does not appear to be available); you might also want to read Steve Carlson's review of the movie.
  

Porn and strong language alert. This documentary looks at film rating in the U.S., and thus shows examples of the kinds of things that are blocked. I tell you just in case you were thinking of watching it with your kids.

Resources and links about plugging in, unplugging and plugging along

• Bezos BBC interview clip about the Kindle about the symbiotic, transactional nature of the human-tool relationship
• Am I Still Here? (Doerr, Orion Magazine, 2009)
• The End of Alone (Swidely, Boston Globe, 2008)
• Meet the Life Hackers (Thompson, NY Times, 2005)
• Personal confessions on Tyra Banks
  

* Aristotle quote from Barker's 1948 translation of Politics (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1948), as cited in A Brief History of Citizenship, by Derek Heater (New York University Press, 2004).

Week #5: How do we determine bias on the web?

(Week 5: Sept 21-27/2009)

Goals, overview. When bias is obvious, we can snicker and turn away. But what happens when it isn’t, and we keep reading or watching something because it seems reasonable in its presentation? We need special radar and special skills to deal with this situation. The goal of this activity is to consider the bias of web materials by becoming better able to understand who owns them and what bias they might bring to their presentation. In particular, you will look at the Martin Luther King site martinlutherking.org.

Activities. In the age of "infowhelm and mythinformation" (Jukes, 2009) we are all vulnerable to information scams. To better understand how to navigate in such a world, revisit Alan Shermer's Baloney Detection kit, which we looked at earlier in this course. It is posted on Infosavvy's blog.

Next we look at Alan November's work. Alan has developed a presentation and Youtube video that explain how to use website sleuthing to understand some of the hidden biases of web material, focusing on the martinlutherking.org site as an example. Go to Alan’s materials. Read through them and follow the directions. Then watch Alan’s explanation on Youtube.

Next, go to these two sites site, and spend an hour or so reading through them:

• Teaching Legal Professionals How To Do Research
• Evaluating Information Found on the Internet

Felix discussion. Go to our Felix forum to discuss the following question: Based on your activities this week, what kinds of things will you be looking for when you read or scan web materials? Respond to this question, as well as at least three other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes by Saturday night.

Blog posting. Post on your blog, using the heading “Web bias.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs about what you discovered about understanding the nature of bias and authenticity on the web. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Blogs needs to be updated by sunday night.

* image from clipart.com, a paid subscription service

Week #6: How do marketers view the psychology of consumers?

(Week 6: Sep 28-Oct 4/2009)

Goals, overview. Marketers tend to see us in very simple terms. The book The New Positioning by Jack Trout is a good case in point. His book is widely considered to be an influential consumer psychology reference manual for marketers. In it, Trout says there are six rules about the consumer mind:

1. Minds can’t cope
2. Minds are limited
3. Minds hate confusion
4. Minds are insecure
5. Minds don’t change
6. Minds can lose focus

Are we that basic? Many advertisers certainly think so. The goal of this activity is to understand how master marketers view the psychology of the consumer, and how companies use that understanding to market their products.

Activities. We will hear about consumer psychology from two of the most successful marketing consultants in the business: Clotaire Rapaille and Frank Luntz. We will then listen to a “cool hunter” talk about her work trying to find and market “the next cool thing.”

The material for this activity is drawn from two PBS Frontline episodes. I have found sources to watch them online for free, as well as links to their transcripts. However, I recommend you either buy or rent them, as your experience of watching them will be much more enjoyable than watching them on the web. I actually own these Frontline episodes and have watched them many times over the years. The two Front Line episodes you will be watching are:

The Persuaders

• Purchase it
  
• Watch it online
  
• Read the transcript

Merchants of Cool

• Purchase it
• Watch it on Youtube
• Read the transcript

What parts to watch, focus on

The Persuaders. Watch the entire episode, but focus on the following:

• The interview with Clotaire Rapaille (approximately 42:45 to minute 51)
• The interview with Frank Luntz (starts approx. 59 minutes, ends approx. 108:20).

Merchants of Cool. Watch the entire episode, but focus on the following:

• The section on “cool hunting,” which begins approximately 6 minutes into the episode, and ends at approx. 10 minutes.

If you want to understand more about cool hunting and the deliberate creation of marketable culture, go to the Cool Hunting site and sign up for updates.

Web resources

The following resources provide insight into particular topics in this area of inquiry:

• Propaganda techniques by Cuesta College.
• This Is Your Brain- This Is Your Brain On Brands by Joe Mandese. He explores how biology and advertising interact. (Media Daily News, 11/28/06)
• How to Control a Herd of Humans, by David Robson. He explores the psychology of group think. (New Scientist, 2/4/09)
• Crack this code by Danielle Sacks, about Rapaille "taking on India" (12/19/07)
• Instructions for the Rapaille & Luntz Method, a PowerPoint presentation by Jay Robinson
• Cool hunting site - I recommend you sign up.

Felix discussion. Go to our Felix forum to discuss the following question: Based on your activities this week, how do you think advertisers view consumers? Provide a response about why you think so. Also, respond to three other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes by Saturday night.

Blog posting. Post on your blog, using the heading “Consumer psychology.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs that summarize how you view consumer psychology as a result of this activity. Include references to the material that you watched. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials that were used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Remember: blog posts are due by Sunday evening.

* "people behind packages" image from Clipart.com, a paid subscription service