Douglas Murdoch
Psychological literacy: proceed with caution, construction ahead
Mount Royal University
psychological literacy ethical application psychological skills knowledgethis could benefit individuals personal occupational civic lives subsequently benefit society wholewe know psychology wideranging impact societythe potential benefits psychologically literate citizenry improved parenting better business practices enlightened legislation many areas make desirable goalit proposed become primary goal undergraduate psychology education benefit majority go graduate school even take psychology coursesthis idea significant merit warrants investigation developmenthowever major concerns need addressedfirst uniquely psychological skills knowledgemany skills psychology undergraduates acquire generic university specific psychologysecond psychology harmful misapplied beneficial ethically appliedthird psychology departments need address pragmatic well ethical issues including issues competency boundaries accountability confidentialityfourth available empirical evidence direct efforts primarily anecdotal case example pilot study stagessignificant improvements needed measuring psychological literacy choice outcome measures research methodologies advantages realized empirically supported mannercurrently best practices undergraduate curriculum mindful purposeful design courses experiential opportunitiesit proposed psychological literacy best conceptualized metaliteracy become goal psychology undergraduate education necessarily goal