Rethinking food labels

One thing I am always on the lookout for is an idea that fits into many different areas of psychology. In issues like these, we can ask students to draw in several different content areas in novel ways, but perhaps even more importantly, they are fresh and new. It's hard for students to plagiarize from one year to the next if your assignment incorporates ideas that weren't even around last year.

This is one of them. Rethink the Food Label is a project by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism’s News21 program and Good Magazine. They asked the public to revise the current food label with better labels that "make it easier to read and more useful to people who want to consume healthier, more nutritious and wholesome food." In the space below you'll see more examples, but I hope that you can think of some ways to incorporate this in your class: human factors, heuristics, framing, hunger motivation, and persuasion techniques come to my mind. How else can you use this? And what other areas could you apply this to besides food labeling?
-- posted by Steve

 

Quackwatch and Snopes

Quackwatch?  What the heck is that, a bird-watching group that focuses on Mallards?  No, it is a web site that is devoted to exposing those who are engaged in health fraud.  Dr. Stephen Barrett, a psychiatrist, takes skepticism to a higher level than most of us practice.  For that, he's encountered some critics and controversy.  Does that make his conclusions wrong?  A good debate to be sure.  He exposes some very popular methods of healing as scams or ineffective.  Some "cherished beliefs are challenged."  Personally, I like anything that takes us out of our cognitive comfort zone.  

As teachers of psychology and science, we've undoubtedly encountered students who share with us experiences that family members have had with healing magnets, crystals, homeopathy, special vitamins, colon cleansing, etc.  When I hear of these, I will go to Quackwatch.org to see what they and the research has to say.

I will also do this with Snopes.com when I hear things that sound like Urban Legends.  For those unfamiliar, urban legends are stories that are told and retold as fact even though there is often no basis for the story--they are modern myths.  From Wikipedia, "Like all folklore, contemporary legends are not necessarily false, but they are often distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time."  While they make for great entertainment and even as cautionary tales, they are not true and often reflect fears, biases and prejudices of the tellers.  Anyone who recalls the "Birther Conspiracy" or the lady with the cat caught in the rain who microwaved it to dry it out faster will recognize the power of these stories.  Often, it has happened to a FOAF (friend of a friend)--but it's REAL!!!!!  according to the teller. 

Both sites deal with our individual cognition as well as social cognition on top of research methods.  They would fit nicely within any of those units.

Intelligence? Definitely Problem-solving

In keeping with Kent's theme of intelligence, I found a great video podcast a while back about a street magician whose primary focus is critical thinking and skepticism. Brian Brushwood's podcast is called, Scam School and is part of Revision 3's hosting services.

The episode entitled, House of Nails, is about being able to balance about 10 nails on top of one vertically mounted nail of the same type. I've been aware of this "trick" for almost 15 years thanks to Charlie Blair-Broeker back at an institute at Nebraska Wesleyan.

You can show the videos in class or learn them yourself (he shows the viewer how every trick is done) and amaze and astound your students. Because he does his work on the street or in a bar, you may want to learn the tricks yourself depending upon your district and judgment. Do at least check them out and enjoy trying to figure out--they are great puzzlers for those of us who need to do brain exercises. :-)