Peer Review

CinemaPsych Podcast

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Aug 27, 2024 by Psychology

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

CinemaPsych Podcast analyzes popular films in relation to concepts, theories and research in psychology. Specifically, the podcast considers whether and to what extent the portrayals of human life in flim exemplify and are or are not consistent with research and theories in the field of psychology. To do this, host Alex B. Swan, Ph.D. of Eureka College is joined by psychologists whose work is relevant to the focus of each episode.

As of 2024, the podcast is five years old, and episodes have been released one or more times per month since 2019. Episodes are often focused on a particular film and the psychological concepts discussed are those that are relevant therein. Audio clips from the films are interspersed throughout the episodes.

Type of Material:

Presentation (podcast)

Recommended Uses:

The best use of this material would be to assign an episode as homework. Students could listen to the podcast after they have watched the film that the episode covers and after they have been introduced to the relevant psychological concepts in class.

Technical Requirements:

Users will need a digital device with audio capability and a web browser or podcast streaming platform.
The individual podcast episodes can be listened to with any web browser, and users also can subscribe through multiple apps including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Podbean.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The podcast serves to familiarize and deepen listeners' knowledge of concepts and research in psychology as these are relevant to popular films. Listeners will come to understand what current knowledge from psychology suggests about the accuracy of cinematic portrayals, and they will hear examples of how to apply concepts from the field in the context of specific human interactions.

Target Student Population:

College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

While no prerequisite skills or knowledge are needed, podcast episodes appear to be directed at an audience with some preexisting familiarity with the films and psychological concepts covered in each episode. In other words, deriving maximum learning benefit from the podcast episodes is dependent upon knowledge of the film(s) and knowledge of the covered psychology concepts.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

This is a very well-produced podcast that represents a very significant effort on behalf of its creator. Listeners to the podcast are introduced to a variety of current working psychologists, and they get to hear them discuss ideas from the field in a casual setting. Listeners familiar with the films covered and interested in the concepts discussed would find the episodes highly interesting and quite informative. Because the guests featured on the podcast are professors and speak about topics in which they have a background, the quality of the content is likely to be consistently high. Finally, many of the early episodes have been transcribed, and are therefore more accessible (and searchable).
It is interesting to add that the podcast episodes reference classic as well as more current films and cover a broad range of topics in psychology.

Concerns:

While episodes of this podcast have clear potential to be used as educational materials, there are several limitations pertaining to their usefulness for both instructors and students. First, the podcast format is relatively slow, and students eager to 'get to the point' may be frustrated at the fact that episodes often begin with approximately 10-minute introductions that include information on guests and the podcast (including solicitations for donations). Second, the more recent episodes are not transcribed, and as a result there is no way to tell exactly what information is covered without listening to entire episodes; however, transcription is an ongoing process, and all episodes are ultimately backfilled with transcripts.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The podcast episodes offer a creative and contemporary approach to promoting and deepening conceptual understanding by identifying concrete examples of psychological concepts and phenomena within films. Podcasts are a very popular medium with today’s students, and the podcast format may be particularly effective for students who are disengaged by the dry formality of theoretical concepts as presented in traditional textbooks, but who are nonetheless interested in the ideas within the more engaging narrative context of a film. (Note: while some of the films covered are documentaries explicitly focused on psychological topics, most are not).
The prominent presence of a guest on each episode (a specific psychologist with a specific career trajectory and interests) may be more engaging to students than the generic, depersonalized presentation of ideas in textbooks.
Finally, the audio podcast format provides a convenient and contemporary way for students to engage with a course in situations (e.g., riding the bus, exercising) not conducive to reading.

Concerns:

The podcasts are lengthy – generally more than one (1) hour.
Closed captioning would enhance accessibility.
The episodes of this podcast are directed at an audience who is familiar with the films that are covered. To achieve pedagogical benefit, faculty who use the podcast to augment or illustrate course material will want to design an activity or assignment such that students listen to the episodes after watching the films and learning about the relevant psychology concepts (since the latter are often not introduced/clearly defined in the podcast).

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The website hosting the podcast is well-organized and easy to use. The layout of the site is consistent with the basic structure of a blog, with an index of episodes/posts along one side of the page.
Podcast visitors can listen online or on one of several apps and systems.

Concerns:

Podcasts are organized by date and can be searched via a single search box. A Boolean option would allow for faster searches of particular films or topics.
The audio player on the website has limited features (e.g., it does not keep the listeners' place if they have to reload the page, and there is no option to increase playback speed). However, if episodes are accessed through a podcast client (Apple Podcasts, Spotify), these options are available. Perhaps the biggest issue is that the episodes are presented as single hour-long files, with no breaks or sections identified.

Other Issues and Comments:: Overall, this is a very well-conceived and produced podcast. For audiences familiar with the films covered and with some background and interest in psychology, the episodes are very likely to be illuminating and thought-provoking. From a pedagogical perspective -- and where faculty assign the analyzed films for students to watch ahead of time -- this podcast can serve as a highly relevant and engaging educational resource.
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