Meehan - PSY 380

Seminar 2005.doc

Seminar Oral Presentation

Topic: Psychological Science in the Public Interest

The American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society recently placed an emphasis on applying psychology to public policy issues and problems through such initiatives as Psychological Science Agenda and Psychological Science in the Workplace. Their websites, as well as psychology publications available from me, are good sources of information. Some potential topics are listed below, although your choice is not limited to the following:

Creating more effective public service announcements

Coping with trauma or major disasters

Reducing prejudice and discrimination

Making better medical or financial decisions

Creating better standardized tests (IQ, SAT) for use in educational & clinical settings

Promoting conflict resolution

Training more effective leaders and managers

Making better judicial policy related to juvenile or adult offenders

Evaluating and designing quality day care or elder care programs

Improving police and judicial procedures related to eyewitness and/or expert testimony

Identifying true vs. false memories in children or adults

Designing user-friendly computer applications

Increasing job productivity and satisfaction of workers

Promoting more effective parenting skills

Motivating athletes or employees

Improving memory or study skills

Dealing with anger more effectively

Improving the effectiveness of groups

Controlling or minimizing chronic pain

Obedience training for animals

Designing equipment for the military or industry

Teaching material more effectively

Helping people to quit smoking

Getting patients to comply with “doctors’ orders”

Persuading people to buy products (or to vote for politicians)

Reducing test anxiety or math anxiety

Evaluating claims about effective clinical or educational interventions

Evaluating claims about psychics or parapsychological phenomena

For specific examples of the type of seminar content I am expecting, you can see:

Steinberg, L. & Scott. E. S. (2003). Less guilty by reason of adolescence: Developmental immaturity,

diminished responsibility, and the juvenile death penalty. American Psychologist, 58, 1009-1018.

Antonuccio, D. O. & Danton, W. G. (2203) Psychology in the prescription era: Building a firewall

between marketing and science. American Psychologist, 58, 1028-1043.

Requirements for your 30-35 minute Oral Seminar

Start by identifying the applied question. What is the practical real-world issue being addressed?

Main Body: How does basic research in psychology shed light on your applied question? Provide research background and terminology by summarizing the content of at least 3 related empirical research studies.

Apply theories, principles, concepts, or research findings from at least three different fields of psychology. See the poster requirements for elaboration of what I mean.

Include one or more relevant graphs, tables, or charts.

Include two or more pictures that illustrate the topic.

Provide a conclusion slide. Indicate future directions and questions that need to be studied.

Provide a slide with APA-style references.

Include class participation (questions for discussion, quiz, activity, video, demonstration, etc.).

Use 8 or more PowerPoint slides.

Click here to go back to Topics.

Tips for Effective Oral Presentations

Overview

Do not read your presentation. Make an outline of notes to follow.

Avoid talking too quickly. Practice ahead of time until you are comfortable and only need to look at your notes or other visual aids occasionally.

Define special terms or jargon. Use pauses and repetition of critical information.

Speak loudly enough to be heard. If you are answering someone’s question, repeat it, but only if the entire audience would not have heard the question.

Ask questions that require discussion rather than simple “Yes” or “No” answers.

Consider planning an activity or exercise to involve the class.

Prepare effective visual aids. This takes more time and planning than you think!

PowerPoint Slides

See the PowerPoint tutorial on the course website.

Be sure the font is easy to read (e.g., sans-Serif fonts like Helvetica and Arial).

Use a font size that is big enough. 22-30 works for most Old Main classrooms.

Test out your presentation in advance.

Put only a few points on each slide. Use simple, concise text. Organize with bullets or lists or diagrams. Don’t type out every word you plan to say.

Do not overdose the audience with slides. Plan your content carefully, saving slides for presenting an outline of the seminar, summaries of key points, graphs of data, tables, images, diagrams, or flow charts.

Resist the impulse to show the slide and then advance it before the audience can absorb the content!

Explain the slide if it is a graph or table. Point to parts to draw attention as you discuss that item.

Do not block the view of the audience!