Humanizing psychology education through psychological literacy: (re)connecting the personal and the professional.

The concept of psychological literacy has grown in importance within psychology education at all levels, in the UK and globally, in recent years. Increasingly, psychology educators and policy makers are seeking to emphasise the relevance and usefulness of psychology within everyday life, within the workplace, and as an element of global citizenship.The Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers in Psychology (DART–P), recognising this recent development, hosted a symposium at the British Psychological Society (BPS) Annual Conference 2015, at which the concept of psychological literacy was explored within the context of higher and pre–tertiary psychology education. The aim of the symposium, reflected in this article, was to explore current thinking, developments and practice within contemporary psychology education, with a view to stimulating critical discussion and reflection on psychological literacy and its delivery within both pre–tertiary and higher education contexts. Ultimately, the symposium, and this article, are intended to facilitate exploration of the opportunities provided by psychology education, at all levels, to develop students as psychologically literate citizensThis article summarises the talks and discussions which occurred during the symposium. Firstly, we introduce the concept and literature surrounding psychological literacy and its importance to modern psychology education. This is followed by a case study illustrating one way in which psychological literacy has been embedded into the curriculum within a university undergraduate programme. We move to consider the development of thinking about psychological literacy in a historical context, linking it to societal benefits and Miller’s (1969) concept of ‘giving psychology away’. This raises the question of the extent to which pre-tertiary psychology education can equip students with psychological literacy, and the impact of the growing numbers of people who have studied psychology upon society. In England and Wales, the most popular pre–tertiary psychology qualification is the A level, which has undergone recent revisions, and so we consider the contribution of the new A level psychology specifications to psychological literacy. In conclusion, this paper offers some thoughts about the implications of the growth in emphasis on education for psychological literacy, reflecting the discussions held during the plenary session at the end of the symposium.

Within psychology education, there is a growing focus on undergraduate students’ psychological literacy; enabling students earlier in their psychological training to directly apply their learning to their lives and in addressing contemporary societal challenges. This growing focus was a key driver for the creation of the course “Connecting and Working with Nature”. This course is a fully online, first-year psychology course that explores the human–nature relationship and sought to grow students’ knowledge and skills relating to nature connectedness and well-being while simultaneously supporting the development of their psychological literacy. To evaluate the course in relation to fostering students’ psychological literacy across personal, professional and community domains, we utilised a range of data sources including surveys, work samples, and focus groups. The findings generated through our mixed methods analyses support that our students did indeed foster their psychological literacy and draw connections between the content and their own lives, across all three domains. Courses that explore the human–nature relationship are well suited to the early development of psychological literacy. This course provided learning experiences that were tangible for all students, while also being a “safer” domain within which to ask students to begin applying their newfound psychological knowledge and skills.

Over the past 20 years a number of educational ‘literacies‘ have become recognized as learning outcomes in schools and universities [1]. The term ‘psychological literacy’ relates to an individual’s ability to apply an understanding of psychology to their everyday personal, social and work lives. The greatest development and application of psychological literacy has been within psychology education, however this article proposes that an understanding of psychological literacy is relevant to students across all disciplines. Indeed, many undergraduate courses already include elements of psychology (for example, medical education and teacher-training). It has been proposed [2], that psychology as a discipline has much to offer for the public good, as many of the problems in society today relate to human behavior (e.g. work stress, environmental damage, obesity, addiction). This article reviews examples of ways that psychological literacy can be developed, taught and assessed across disciplines and how psychological literacy can be applied within society. One of the key resources, a compendium of case studies [3], is reviewed to demonstrate practical activities to incorporate psychological literacy into curricula. Further inter-disciplinary discussion is suggested among educators to identify best practice in developing psychological literacy across disciplines and thereby within society.

There is a growing motivation within the higher education sector to ensure that undergraduate programs produce graduates who are employable, and who contribute to society. Within psychology, the developing concept of psychological literacy has been utilized to meet this agenda, and psychology curricula are increasingly focused on teaching students to apply psychology to meet their personal, professional, and societal goals. In this chapter, we introduce the related concepts of psychological literacy and psychologically literate citizenship, and review some of the salient literature. We suggest that teaching for psychological literacy provides the opportunity to enhance students’ scientific literacy, critical thinking, employability, and global citizenship, and we present some practical ways in which educators around the globe have taught their students to become psychologically literate, drawing on case studies as well as published literature. Finally, we explore the lessons we have learned from our review of the relevant literature and of these practices, and offer a critical perspective on the current state of the discipline, in terms of psychology education. In recognizing and valuing the opportunities presented by the framework of psychological literacy, we suggest that we need to reflect upon the nature of psychology and its position as a discipline, and to develop our own psychological literacy. In particular, we must grow our respect for diversity and inclusive practices, and be collegiate in further developing and disseminating our thinking and practices around psychological literacy. We hope that this chapter will provoke a continued discussion of the ways in which psychological literacy can promote students’ “learning for life,” and will serve as a call to action for the psychology education community to further develop our thinking and practices in this field.

The concept of psychological literacy, understood as the ability to apply psychological knowledge, principles, and modes of reasoning in personal, professional, and civic life, has become a central concern in psychology education. At the same time, the global role of English as the lingua franca of science and academia has transformed English language learning into a process with implications extending far beyond communicative competence. This article argues that English language education, particularly when it incorporates psychological content and reflective pedagogical strategies, can serve as a powerful medium for fostering psychological literacy. Organized into two chapters, the article first explores the theoretical intersections between psychological literacy and English language education, with emphasis on epistemological, cognitive, and intercultural dimensions. The second chapter provides practical illustrations, including case studies and curricular applications, to demonstrate how English language teaching can simultaneously enhance linguistic proficiency and the critical, reflective, and ethical capacities central to psychological literacy. The discussion highlights both the opportunities and challenges of this interdisciplinary approach and calls for greater collaboration between language and psychology educators in order to prepare students as psychologically literate citizens capable of navigating the complexities of contemporary global societies.

This book covers two timely and interconnected concepts in psychology pedagogy: psychological literacy and the psychologically literate citizen. Psychological literacy encapsulates the common graduate attributes or capabilities that students should acquire while undertaking a major in psychology, as exemplified by guidelines and lists of student learning outcomes delineated by many national psychology organizations. Although psychology educators internationally have been working toward assisting students to acquire these attributes for at least the past fifty years, only recently have educators explicitly delineated attributes and learning outcomes, and sought to develop appropriate learning, teaching and assessment strategies, including whole-program approaches. Psychological literacy thus becomes the most important outcome of undergraduate education. Psychologically literate citizens use their psychological literacy to problem-solve in an ethical and socially responsible manner in a way that directly benefits their communities. These two key concepts receive further theoretical development in this volume, and a rich variety of international perspectives is given. In addition, practical guidance is given for both the classroom psychology educator as well as the curriculum developer and reviewer. We need to create a paradigm shift in psychology education, utilizing these concepts of psychological literacy and the psychologically literate citizen.

Ongoing structural reform and evolution in the higher education sector continue to pose complex challenges for educators, including those who teach introductory psychology courses. One such challenge is helping students to overcome the first-year hurdle and develop the core attributes required for success at tertiary level. Psychology educators are uniquely situated to help students develop these life-long learning skills by setting the development of “psychological literacy” as a principal aim of first-year courses. Psychological literacy can achieve this by developing critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, respect for diversity, and self-awareness. In fact, these core skills can provide the foundation for all students—not just psychology students—to achieve success. Because of this, there is potential for introductory psychology courses to become compulsory across all disciplines as a foundation block for commencing students. This would help students transition more seamlessly and have an excellent foundation for academic success, assisting universities to improve retention rates and achieve higher education participation targets set by government. In addition to this, compulsory psychological literacy development moves toward the university goal of creating “global citizens” and even beyond this to becoming a strategy for national agendas such as social inclusion. Pedagogical issues surrounding the appropriate content and methods of delivery required to develop psychological literacy warrant further collaborative discussion. In order to achieve quality learning and teaching within higher education, educators cannot ignore the potential of psychological literacy and psychology educators arguably have a responsibility to advocate its potential within their institution.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify studies measuring psychological literacy and analyse the methodological quality of these studies. We also aimed to determine conceptual consistency of psychological literacy in the included studies.MethodPsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, and Google Scholar were searched for relevant literature. The Joanna Briggs Institute systematic review methodology was then followed to assess methodological quality of identified studies. We then analysed whether psychological literacy research used a consistent conceptualisation, as inconsistency is detrimental for result generalisation and validity.ResultsSix relevant articles met inclusion criteria. Assessment of methodological quality revealed confounds and statistical concerns. Most studies used self‐reported skill development and used one psychological literacy definition to select measures. Measures were diverse, suggesting inconsistent operationalisation.ConclusionLongitudinal studies are needed to avoid confounds of age and skill development prior to university. The definition used in most studies requires interpretation as it contains broad attribute descriptions. psychological literacy needs a more concise definition to standardise assessment. Varied conceptualisation and operationalisation suggest a construct validity assessment is needed. As psychological literacy is understood in diverse ways in the literature, there is a need to know what psychology educators understand about the term and how it is applied in curricula.

A major aim of psychology education is to train students in psychological literacy – the ability to apply psychological knowledge to everyday activities. In this paper we explore how well this has been achieved in recent years. As a result of Covid-19 the focus of teaching in recent months has inevitably been on developing online methods of teaching and attempts to develop psychological literacy have of necessity received less attention. However, we argue that the developments enforced by Covid-19 actually open up a range of new possibilities and that psychological literacy can benefit from these changes. In particular, we suggest that much of the transmission of psychological knowledge can continue to take place online and that universities should become places where the focus is on the application of that knowledge.

Psychological literacy for the 21st century posits both real and virtual resource options for 'applied' psychology at the interface of psychology education and graduate attribute-targeted student learning outcomes. Psychological literacy encapsulates the common graduate attributes or capabilities that students should acquire while undertaking a major in psychology, as exemplfied by guidelines and lists of student learning outcomes (SLOs) delineated by many national psychology organisations. Application involves purposefully applying the basic capabilites to new problems or in new situations, usually in an experiential and active manner. This chapter briefly considers the background to the issue of "applied" psychology in undergraduate education, and then give some concrete examples of how "applied" psychology learning and teaching strategies can be implemented to support the development of psychological literacy (McGovern et al., 2010) in our students.

Psychological literacy has become a key concept for the teaching and learning of psychology in higher education and is a laudable goal of pre-tertiary psychology education. The widely used definition of McGovern and his colleagues enables a subject-specific contribution to liberal education. Nevertheless, this definition also includes general educational goals and is not specific enough for introductory courses on psychology, which provide an overview of the field and familiarise students with various ways of psychological thinking. This practice exchange paper shows how Sternberg’s triarchic model of psychology learning and teaching could be used to elaborate a more subject-specific notion of psychological literacy which would interlink psychological knowledge, psychological thinking skills and reflective psychological attitudes that are necessary to critically reflect common-sense psychology. This more focused and comprehensive understanding of psychological literacy challenges the unquestioned topical approach to the teaching of introductory psychology and requires a rethinking of the basic arrangement of course materials.

Psychological literacy, the ability to apply psychological knowledge to personal, family, occupational, community and societal challenges, is promoted as the primary outcome of an undergraduate education in psychology. As the concept of psychological literacy becomes increasingly adopted as the core business of undergraduate psychology training courses world-wide, there is urgent need for the construct to be accurately measured so that student and institutional level progress can be assessed and monitored. Key to the measurement of psychological literacy is determining the underlying factor-structure of psychological literacy. In this paper we provide a first approximation of the measurement of psychological literacy by identifying and evaluating self-report measures for psychological literacy. Multi-item and single-item self-report measures of each of the proposed nine dimensions of psychological literacy were completed by two samples (N = 218 and N = 381) of undergraduate psychology students at an Australian university. Single and multi-item measures of each dimension were weakly to moderately correlated. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of multi-item measures indicated a higher order three factor solution best represented the construct of psychological literacy. The three factors were reflective processes, generic graduate attributes, and psychology as a helping profession. For the measurement of psychological literacy to progress there is a need to further develop self-report measures and to identify/develop and evaluate objective measures of psychological literacy. Further approximations of the measurement of psychological literacy remain an imperative, given the construct's ties to measuring institutional efficacy in teaching psychology to an undergraduate audience.

Our world gets more complex and technical with each passing day. Not only is there more information and more complex information, but information is increasingly more accessible. There are numerous benefits to the ease with which we can obtain information, but people today need to be savvy navigators of the information superhighway in order to avoid the pitfalls and pratfalls associated with determining whether information is credible or not and how to apply what they have learned in diverse situations. The set of skills and the disposition required to obtain desirable outcomes in a variety of contexts is generally known as critical thinking (Halpern, 1998; 2004). These skills are required to make informed decisions, solve problems, formulate inferences, and calculate likelihoods. Critical thinking is goal-directed and purposeful thinking. There is strong evidence to suggest that critical thinking can and should be taught as part of an education in psychology, but it is also a vital component of psychological literacy. A psychologically literacy citizen is a person who is knowledgeable of the content matter in psychology, utilizes critical thinking skills, has a critical thinking disposition, and uses scientific reasoning (a subset of all three components). This chapter discusses the conceptual underpinnings and overlap between psychological literacy and critical thinking, and suggests ways to assess them.

Undergraduate psychology is among the most popular fields of study in the United States, and globally as well (e.g., Australia, China, European Union). Scholar-teachers of psychology are among the most published about disciplinary learning outcomes and pedagogical strategies. An increasing number of studies and best practices recommendations from 1990 to 2010 have been stimulated by three national conferences (St. Mary's, Psychology Partnerships Project, Puget Sound) and their subsequent task force reports. We evaluated this plethora of resources around two historical themes. The first, Constructing a Paradigm, includes our review of the curriculum, learning outcomes, students, faculty roles, teaching strategies, and the role of a community of scientist-educators of psychology. We conclude this section by evaluating the contemporary use of rubrics and benchmarks to measure change and to catalyze improvements. In the second section, Composing a Narrative, we widen our perspective beyond the analysis of one American discipline to the history of liberal learning and major fields of study, 21st century transdisciplinary outcomes, and global trends in higher education in general and psychology in particular. We conclude this section by considering the future of disciplinary paradigms and the tensions between liberal arts versus accreditation models for undergraduate education. Finally, to prepare psychologically literate global citizens, we propose that psychology has become a hub program in every baccalaureate degree, and that programmatic pluralism continue to be an essential element in a vibrant future. Keywords: undergraduate education; psychological literacy; global citizens

The need for nurses to understand human behaviour in the context of effective caring has long been established; however, there is no consensus over the teaching and learning of psychology. Recent reported failures in compassionate care have prompted academics and clinicians to revisit this discussion and examine the challenges this poses to education. The author therefore recognises the need to take stock to see if we are any closer to answering the critical question of how to help students use psychology to understand themselves and the people they will be caring for. A literature review was conducted to examine current research and texts that address the teaching of psychology to undergraduate adult nursing students. The aim was to frame recent discussion in the context of current pre-registration education, rather than revisit the historic argument. Three common themes emerged from the review: the content of psychology taught; the methods of teaching psychology to nurses; and the application of psychological theory to nursing practice. These themes became the focus of further content analysis. A consensus is emerging from the traditionally opposed skills and theory camps that psychological literacy is essential to caring. Psychological content must not be diluted, neglected or eroded, and the essentials of this need to be defined and taught in a manner that is simple to understand and can be applied to real people. In undergraduate education, there is an increasing emphasis on structured reflection, which is used to forge links between student cognition, emotion and behaviour to reinforce theoretical psychological concepts. The similarities between models of reflection and cognitive behavioural psychological conceptualisation are a possible area for future investigation.