Image of Psychologists and Psychology on People`s Minds and

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Image of Psychologists and Psychology on People’s Minds and
Effects of Media on Turkish Audience Developing These Schemas
Başak DALDA Middle East Technical University 3rd grade student, May 2007
Psychology is a fairly wide area to talk about. It has several branches (social, clinical,
experimental, health, forensic… etc.) and each branch has several different issues to consider.
In this paper the focus is on clinical psychology in general. The main emphasis is on the
perceptions of public and psychology students about psychology and psychologists.
In order to have an opinion about something, one should rely on some sources- either
by experiencing individually or by applying to some external materials. Of course, the
reliability factor of those sources is very important in shaping person’s ideas.
According to “Televizyon İzleme Eğilimleri Araştırması” that was conducted in 14
different cities of Turkey and that included a total of 4606 men and women by Radyo ve
Televizyon Üst Kurulu (March 16, 2006), 74.8% of Turkish people watch new programs,
56.8% of people watch series, and 40.8% of people watch movies (Turkish movies not
included to this ratio) on TV. In the same study it was seen that 56.7% of those who
participated
the
study
trust
television,
34%
of
them
does
not
(http://www.rtuk.org.tr/sayfalar/IcerikGoster.aspx?icerik_id=5aaedb02-0c96-4e8e-899348c0b58a74af).
Given these statistical information, it is not difficult to estimate the power of media on
Turkish audience. People spend time in front of TV and they trust what they see/ hear there.
And although the most preferred programs are reflecting the pure truth (news), a considerable
amount of audience watch the programs which has nothing to do with reality itself (series,
movies…). But they still claim to trust the programs that they watch, including those that are
nothing but fiction.
Therefore the role of producers, scenarists, directors, channel owners (let us say media
in short) is very important in choosing the programs to present to public. The power of media
comes from the desires of the audience. There is a reciprocal relationship between these two.
The more something is spoken among people, the more media brings it to surface in almost
every program. Te more media brings those issues on TV, the more audience talk about it and
watch it. Therefore, as long as the audience continues to trust/believe what they see on TV it
is somewhat easy for media to create the image of anything in the way they want.
In this paper, the effects of media on the image of psychology/psychologists on
people’s minds in Turkey are studied. It is expected that the movies and series on TV have a
considerable effect on shaping schemas.
For this reason 54 college students (M=29, F=25) from different universities in
Ankara (Gazi University, Çankaya University, Middle East Technical University, and Bilkent
University) and İzmir (Ege University) and 3rd grade psychology students ( M=3, F=17) from
Middle East Technical University participated the study.
For 54 college students a single paged questionnaire which consists of 2 open ended
questions and 2 multiple choice questions (Appendix A).
For 20 psychology students a single paged questionnaire which consists of 3 open
ended questions and 1 multiple choice question (Appendix B) was distributed in order to see
the differences between people in the field and those who are not.
Some of the 54 people received the questionnaire via e-mail and returned it in the
same way. Others were distributed face to face. All 20 psychology students were distributed
the questionnaire face to face.
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Results
A comparison was done between psychology students and people who are outside the
field of psychology in terms their ideas about the characteristics of a psychologist. The
similarities and differences between the images of psychologists on the minds of these two
groups were figured out. Table1 shows the answer given to the question “What comes to your
mind when you hear the word ‘psychologist’” by both groups.
Table1. The answers showing the psychologist images on people’s minds
People outside the field
Number of ratings*
FEMALES
İyi dinleyici (Good listener)
Yardımsever (Helpful)
Çözüm üreten (Problem solver)
Yol gösteren (Guide)
Güvenilir (Trustworthy)
Mantıklı (Reasonable)
Sakin (Calm)
Ilımlı (Sober)
Danışman (Consultant)
Sabırlı (Patient)
Zeki (Intelligent)
Zengin (Rich)
7
7
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
MALES
İyi dinleyici (Good listener)
Sabırlı (Patient)
Sakin/ Uysal (Calm/Easygoing)
Çözüm üreten (Problem solver)
Çok bilmiş (Leery)
Rahatlatıcı (Relaxing)
Yardımsever (Helpful)
Sır saklayan (Confidant)
Deli (Crazy)
Uzman (Expert)
Kontrollü (Controlled)
Danışman (Consultant)
Doktor (Doctor)
8
6
5
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
Psychology students
Number of ratings*
Anlayışlı (Understandable)
Sessiz (Quiet)
İyi dinleyici (Good listener)
Güler yüzlü (Cheerful)
Bilgili (Well-informed)
Empati yapan (Empathetic)
Duyarlı (Sensitive)
Konuşkan (Talkative)
Sabırlı (Patient)
İyimser (Optimistic)
Araştırmacı (Researcher)
Yardımsever (Helpful)
Sıkıcı (Boring)
Sorgulayıcı (Questioning)
Huzur veren (Peaceful)
8
8
7
5
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
* The most frequent answers
As can be seen from the table the most frequent characteristic of a psychologist that
comes to the minds of both men and women is being a good listener (28% of females and
27.59% of males).
In females, it is followed by being helpful (28% of females) and being a sufficient
problem solver (16% of females).
In males however, being a good listener is followed by being patient (20.69% of
males) and being calm/easy going (17.24% of males).
Among psychology students the most frequent answers to this question are: being
understandable (40%), quiet (40%), good listener (35%), genial (25%), and well-informed
(20%)
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Another question was also asked to participants in order to find out the image on their
minds about psychology. The answers to the question “What comes to your mind when you
hear the word ‘psychology’” are summarized in the Table2.
Table2. The answers showing the psychology images on people’s minds
People outside the field
FEMALES
Ruh sağlığı (Mental health)
Ruh hali (State of mind)
Depresyon (Depression)
Ruh (Psyche)
Bunalım (Emotional upset)
Bilinç altı (Subconscious)
Freud
Denge (Balance)
Davranış (Behavior)
MALES
Ruh hali (State of mind)
Psikolog (Psychologist)
Deli (Crazy)
Depresyon (Depression)
Bilim (Science)
Doktor (Doctor)
Ders (Course)
Hasta (Patient)
Düşünce bilimi (Science of
thoughts)
Freud
Beyin (Brain)
Ruh (Psyche)
Number of ratings*
5
4
4
3
2
2
2
2
2
5
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
Psychology students
Number of ratings*
Davranış (Behavior)
İnsan (Human)
Beyin (Brain)
Duygu (Emotion)
Anlayış (Understanding)
Freud
Rahatlama (Relaxation)
Terapi (Therapy)
Biliş (Cognition)
Bilinç altı (Subconscious)
Bilinç (Conscious)
Sorular (Questions)
Deli (Crazy)
Sorun (Problem)
Patoloji (Pathology)
7
5
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
* The most frequent answers
According to these results most of the females (20%) thinks of mental health when
asked about the psychology. They are followed by those who think state of mind (16%) and
depression (16%). Among males, the most frequent answer is state of mind (17.24%) which is
followed by psychologist (13.79%) and crazy, depression, science (each of them 10.34%).
When looking at the answers of psychology students, the most frequent answer is
behavior (35%). It is followed by human (25%) and brain (20%), emotion (20%)
Media
After finding out people’s opinions about how a psychologist is or how he/she should
be, it is investigated where they acquire these ideas from. The main purpose was to
understand the extent to which media effects people’s judgments about psychology and
psychologists. In order to have that information, participants were asked “Where do you get
information about psychology and psychologists?” Table3 summarizes the answers given to
this question.
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Table3. The Distribution of answers given to the 4th question
Subject
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
x
x
8
9
10
11
12
x
x
13
14
15
16
17
18
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
34
35
36
Item*
1
x
x
x
2
x
3
4
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
5
6
x
x
x
Subject
19
20
21
x
x
22
x
23
24
25
x
x
x
x
x
x
26
27
28
x
x
29
30
x
31
32
33
Item*
1
x
x
2
x
x
3
x
x
4
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
53
54
x
x
5
6
x
x
Subject
37
38
39
40
41
1
x
x
x
x
x
2
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
42
43
44
45
x
x
49
50
51
52
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
46
47
48
Item*
x
x
x
x
4
x
x
5
x
3
6
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
* Items are:
1-Real psychologists that I see on TV
2-Actors playing a psychologist role on TV/cinema
3-Things ı have heard from people that I know (relatives, friends, neighbors… etc)
4-Psychologists that I know personally (relatives, friends, neighbors.. etc)
5-Psychologists that I have gone personally for some reason
6-Psychologists of whom I have read a book, article or writing
All items were totally checked 126 times by participants. The target item ( item 2:
actors playing a psychologist role on TV/cinema) was checked 29 times (23.02% of all
checked items).Which means that 23.02% of participants form their ideas about psychologists
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and psychology by watching some movies and series on TV and at cinema which includes
actors who play a psychologist role.
But as seen from the table, the majority of participants form their ideas by watching
real psychologists on TV (24.60%) which shows how much power media has on people’s
thoughts.
Conclusion
As seen in Table1 everybody has somewhat information about what a psychologist is.
It is important to note that, all the adjectives that were used to express a psychologist image
were related to a “clinical psychologist” whose job is to accept patients in order to listen to
them and help them solve their conflicts, depressions… etc. None of the participants gave an
answer indicating knowledge about other branches of psychology. For instance, nobody said
“a psychologist is someone who examines animal behaviors” or “a psychologist is someone
who works for companies and makes job analysis”. This is most probably they do not see
these examples on any means of mass communication like TV.
This indicates that the media does not only have a power to manipulate the
information but also responsibility to give the true ones. If media use realistic examples on
their programs about psychology and psychologists, people will acquire true information
about the field. This, in turn, will be beneficial for both people who want to consult a
psychologist but hesitate to do so because of the negative image on their minds created by
media and also for psychologists who want to reach a wider amount of people for helping
them.
But the strange thing is that, psychology students did not give any of these kinds of
answers, either. Their answers are also including only a clinical psychologist and with very
similar adjectives to those given by other people. What does this indicate? There are two
options. First one is that the question was unintentionally leading people to think only of
clinical psychology. The second explanation is that learning all the branches of an area is not
enough to erase the schemas that people have had for all the previous years of their lives.
Psychology students were exposed to the image that the media created about psychologists for
many years and the first thing that comes to their minds is from their old knowledge rather
than recently learned information. The reason is not known for sure.
Another point that should be considered about this study is that all participants were
college students in Ankara with some degree of intellectual capacity. The real distribution of
Turkish people’s thoughts cannot be represented with this sample. The number of sample, the
areas to cover and the quality should be enlarged to have a more reliable idea about the
Turkish people’s schemas about psychology/ psychologists and the sources that they use in
forming those ideas in further studies.
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APPENDIX A: Questionnaire for people who are not from the field of psychology
Bu anket, kişilerin psikoloji alanı ile ilgili düşüncelerini araştırmak amacıyla, Orta
Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi psikoloji 3. sınıf öğrencisi Başak DALDA tarafından
hazırlanmıştır. Ankette, demografik bilgilerinizin yanı sıra, iki adet açık uçlu ve iki adet
çoktan seçmeli soru bulunmaktadır. Sizden hiçbir kişisel bilgi istenmemektedir. İstediğiniz
noktada cevaplamayı bırakabilirsiniz.
Katılımınız için teşekkür ederim.
Başak DALDA: [email protected]
Ankete katılmayı kabul ediyorum.
Tarih:____________
İmza: ____________
Yaşınız:
Cinsiyetiniz: E__
Öğrenim durumunuz:
Mesleğiniz:
K__
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Aşağıdaki sorular, sizin düşüncelerinizi öğrenmek amacıyla sorulmuştur. Soruların
doğru- yanlış cevapları yoktur. Her birini dikkatlice okuyup cevap veriniz.
1- “Psikoloji” denildiği zaman aklınıza ilk gelen kelimeleri yazınız ( İstediğiniz sayıda kelime
yazabilirsiniz).
2- “Psikolog” denildiği zaman aklınıza gelen sıfatları yazınız ( İstediğiniz sayıda sıfat
yazabilirsiniz).
3- Daha önce herhangi bir sebepten psikoloğa başvurdunuz mu? ( X işareti koyunuz)
Evet _____
Hayır ______
4- İlk iki soruyu cevaplarken, aşağıdaki kaynaklardan hangilerini göz önünde bulundurdunuz?
( X işareti koyunuz. Birden fazla seçeneği işaretleyebilirsiniz)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Televizyonda gördüğüm gerçek psikologlar ______
Televizyonda/ sinemada izlediğim, psikolog rolü yapan kişiler ______
Yakınlarımdan (akraba, arkadaş, komşu… vb) duyduklarım ______
Tanıdığım ( akraba, arkadaş, komşu … vb) psikolog(lar) _____
Bir sebepten dolayı bizzat başvurduğum psikolog(lar) _____
Kitabını/ makalesini/ bir yazısını okuduğum psikolog(lar) _____
Diğer (belirtiniz) _______________________________________________
Göz önünde bulundurduğum hiçbir kaynak yok ______
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APPENDIX B: Questionnaire for psychology students
Bu anket, psikoloji öğrencilerinin bu bölüme yönelik düşüncelerini araştırmak
amacıyla, Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi psikoloji 3. sınıf öğrencisi Başak DALDA
tarafından hazırlanmıştır. Ankette, demografik bilgilerinizin yanı sıra, üç adet açık uçlu ve bir
adet çoktan seçmeli soru bulunmaktadır. Sizden hiçbir kişisel bilgi istenmemektedir.
İstediğiniz noktada cevaplamayı bırakabilirsiniz.
Katılımınız için teşekkür ederim.
Başak DALDA: [email protected]
Ankete katılmayı kabul ediyorum.
Tarih:____________
İmza: ____________
Yaşınız:
Cinsiyetiniz: E____
Bölüm/ Sınıf:
Okul:
K____
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Aşağıdaki sorular, sizin düşüncelerinizi öğrenmek amacıyla sorulmuştur. Soruların
doğru- yanlış cevapları yoktur. Her birini dikkatlice okuyup cevap veriniz.
1- “Psikoloji” denildiği zaman aklınıza ilk gelen kelimeleri yazınız ( İstediğiniz sayıda kelime
yazabilirsiniz).
2- “Psikolog” denildiği zaman aklınıza gelen sıfatları yazınız ( İstediğiniz sayıda sıfat
yazabilirsiniz).
3- Psikoloji bölümünde okumayı seçme nedenleriniz nelerdi? Cümle halinde yazınız
(İstediğiniz sayıda cümle yazabilirsiniz).
4- İleride psikolojinin hangi alanında çalışmak istiyorsunuz? ( X işareti koyunuz)
Klinik Psikoloji ____
Sosyal Psikoloji ____
Endüstriyel & Örgütsel Psikoloji ____
Sağlık Psikolojisi ____
Diğer (Belirtiniz) _______________________