My interest for my last three blogs was based around the idea of new age research and its applications in the world of psychology as well as outside of it. I feel like the new research areas that are being looked into can help apply to many areas of our everyday lives. An old cliché saying that is very relevant to new age research is “Knowledge is power”. This saying is extremely important because it holds an extreme amount of truth. The more that people know about a topic, the easier it will be to apply it to areas of our lives such as education among the other things that I have discussed in my blogs. I am extremely optimistic for the future because the more we can learn about other people, the more we can apply to our everyday lives to help us an individuals and as a collective humanity for the betterment of everyone’s lives. We will be able to make reforms to the education systems in order to teach people how to learn and critical think instead of what to learn. Also, our governments will be able to make more informed decisions when it comes to creating new laws in relation to science instead of what we think is common sense. The future definitely loos bright when it comes to New Age Research. As the researchers and psychologists of tomorrow, we need to embrace this new research today in order to make for a better tomorrow.
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I completely agree that research is crucial in creating a better society. Not only do legitimate findings shock people out of their ignorance but they help governments to create laws and programs that can actually be successful. As we discussed in class the research into first nations population in southern Alberta may not seem substantial in the research community, but it may help to broaden awareness of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and increase empathy towards the homeless population. However many people will continue to ignore research I do believe that if the right information gets out there, some minds will be changed.
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Hi Koleton!
I really, really enjoyed reading your blogs on new-age research. I think every point or topic you discussed over the last month or so is extremely relevant to research and its growing use and importance today. Without advancements in technology and research techniques, we wouldn’t know everything we currently do on mental diseases, sport psychology, personality, ethics, etc. one of the things I think you did a really great job on and really got your point across about was how all of this current research isn’t always applied as properly, purposefully, or usefully as it could be. For example, in one of your blogs you discussed the lack of involvement of psychology research in government policy making. You really made me think hard about this; there’s so much great research out there that could be put to good use in policy making. Like all of the mental health research out there, it’s booming. And yet we still have old health policies, and lack of health care for some people.
People with Alzheimer’s, for example, have a ton of complications, and so do their families in regards to helping and coping with their loved ones affected by the disease. Health care policies could be made/revised to give these people the help or support they need (and there are a million ways these people could use support or benefit from the support of appropriate policies).
Switching gears, you also discussed the rising usage of online surveys and questionnaires. I thought this was an interesting topic to bring into your ‘new-age research’ discussion, simply because I never really thought of this method of experimental study as ‘new’. I’ve done paper surveys/questionnaires, and also done tons of online ones and I never realized at what point these methods became a ‘new’ way of testing people. So I guess for me, a lot of your blogs shed light on things I was a bit oblivious to!
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Hi Koleton!
Just as the commenters above have expressed, I found your blogs to be very informative on how new age research can create new and improved policies on existing ones. I found that your blogs resonated with a class that I am taking now on sexuality and reproduction, and the policies behind it. On your last blog I talked about how the Sayana Press birth control method on Depo-Provera has made HIV education almost eliminated from the medical policies. This is extremely problematic for people in sub-Saharan Africa, as they are the targets for such social policies. Your blogs have made me understand where scientific research can have its place, in order to help eliminate the negative repercussions of existing policies, which are “meant” to help people. That example was a little off your topic, but I think that the lack of psychology research in government policy-making is a huge issue. I’m definitely not discrediting social policies, because they do benefit people in so many great ways, but I think that social policies have a tendency to negatively impact certain groups of people that it did not intend to. Like for the example of Depo-Provera, the policy implemented to keep women safe from unwanted pregnancies, and to provide cheap contraception also limits their knowledge about HIV, since they no longer needed to go to clinics to have the drug administered to them. I feel like implementing a policy about the education of the seriousness of HIV and how it is transmitted may help to alleviate the prevalence of HIV in this area. Policies that are empirically-based have a huge importance on individual health and safety. I very much enjoyed how your blogs touched on the different aspects of new age research, as I have been thinking about this in ways that I haven’t before!
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