Psychology and the Media — “Do the media present a distorted image of psychology?”
We see fake psychologists on all kinds of communication channels on TV, podcasts, etc. these people, who do not have psychology training, declare themselves psychologists and mislead the public for the sake of rating with false sensational stereotypes by taking part in programs. How did they get the chance?
According to Benjamin (1986), the number of people who once sought a psychologist was greater than the number of psychologists available. As a result, people with little or no knowledge of this environment acted as psychologists due to high public demand. Although the number of trained psychologists is not insufficient for the public, self-proclaimed experts still pose a problem today. It is not surprising that mostly, the media prefer these self-proclaimed experts (rather than psychologists) who can make sensational statements, since the purpose of the media is often not to provide accurate information, but to reach and attract more people, and get a constant audience. For example, Azra Kohen, who appeared in an episode of “Her Şey Bu Masada” program (Rutkay, D., 2017) as a writer & psychologist, had no relevant psychology training, except that she spent a few hours in an elective course during her doctoral training abroad in a different program. It seems that this person, who is loved and known, is trying to reflect so-called safe and real thing, by relying on her psychologist label. Psychology has many fields such as social, experimental, clinical, cognitive, and so on. However, in media, only clinical psychology is represented as if psychology has only one field. Therefore, people have only one image when they hear the word psychologist: including a room, one (client) to one (psychologist) therapy scene, etc.. People do not have many ideas about other areas of psychology. In connection with this, generally, psychology is shown as a common sense by the media. The clinical psychologists are shown unrealistically and untruthfully by Turkish Tv series. The modern psychological and dramatical series, which have recently adapted from the books of the psychiatrist Gülseren Budayıcıoğlu on every channel, also offer unrealistic prejudices to someone who will see a psychologist for the first time; even though they remove the impression supposing that people who see psychologists are crazy in the eyes of the public (and also show that it is “normal”). For example, the psychologist in the TV series “Kırmızı Oda” (Karcı, C., 2020) shows many unethical behaviors such as crying with her patient, feeling sorry for her, sometimes even hugging her, or having someone come into the room and bring tea or coffee during the session.
Ultimately, psychology which is alteration from philosophy to a scientific study, has not only one subfield, as reflected in the media, and is not something associated only with emotions. To present psychology as a science field that is influenced by many things, including a person’s behavior, brain, expectations, relationships and what they go and do not go through, etc.. That is, in contrast to associating psychology only with emotions, like a single order and stereotyping, it is a fully complex structure. I wish on behalf of the entire psychological community for the proliferation of programs in which the participation of experts is multiplied, and the facts are presented.
References
Benjamin, L.T., (1986) Why they don’t understand us: a history of psychology’s public
image. American Psychological Association, 41. Texas: A&M University.
Karcı, C. (Director). (2020). Kırmızı Oda (TV Show). Turkey.
Rutkay D. (Presenter) (2017). Her Şey Bu Masada (TV Show). Turkey.
