The primary interest of the thesis is the general public's awareness about the characteristics of the psychologists’ profession. The introduction presents the development of psychology as a theoretical and applied science as represented and regulated in the (western) world today. For situating public perceptions and gaining insight about the public’s level of knowledge about the psychological profession, a conceptional frame of attitude is provided. Misconceptions about psychology as a science, or competences held by psychologists, and various psychological services are spread in modern culture also in computer-mediated communication. The research is divided into two methodologically different sections: the first examines the attitudes towards the profession of psychologists expressed in tweets, forum posts, user comments on news portals and blog posts, together with user comments; the second approaches the view of psychologists in practice by way of interviews. By surveying the views, both on social networks and in practicing psychologists we aim to provide atypical insights into the attitudes of the lay population towards psychology and the psychologists. Most of them were of a qualitative nature, as they are based on interpretative paradigms with an emphasis on word processing in the analysis of the material. The study finds that overall knowledge of psychological profession is relatively low. In the pursuit of the long-term development of the psychological profession, which depends on economic, social and political goals, the broadest possible public participation is also crucial. There is much room for more effectively informing the public about the work of psychologists.
|
