Psychology on the box…week beginning 11th October

This week is quiet for psychology related programmes. However, there are some gems on catch up worth taking a look at....

The one programme I would highlight this week as being a potential resource for you is on Wednesday. It is called ‘Girls Behind Bars: Stacey Dooley in the USA ( BBC3, 10pm). The programme for the 15^th October focuses on the ‘Shock’ Boot camp prison in the USA which offenders attend to reduce their sentences and which has a strict regime of punishment. The content clearly relates directly to the Forensic topic on both the current AQA B spec and the new AQA spec, but it also has its uses for teaching the fundamental principles of operant conditioning. You could show a clip and ask students to apply positive and negative reinforcement to the situation. It also lets students see behaviourism in action, so they can see practical applications to the theories they learn.

Looking through the various catch up channels there are some gems worth looking at.

4 OD has Derren Brown’s Trick or Treat available. This is great to get students thinking about memory or as a more general introduction to cognitive psychology.

BBC iplayer has many documentaries available but the one most worthy of note is the Horizon programme which asks the question ‘Is your brain male or female?’ This has uses for brain localisation on the new specification and of course, for the Gender topic. It’s well presented and compiled. As you would expect!

If you see anything on TV that could be used for lessons let us know. We will spread the word!