Thanks for your patience and contributions today. We seem to cover a lot of ground, particularly unplanned topics. Great fun!

Here's Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs' pyramid ... ​

Maslow's  humanistic theory is applicable in many areas.

If you're interested in applying Maslow's humanistic theories to Covid 19 ...

1. 'Understanding the Paradoxes of COVID-19 through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs' https://siopa.org.au/understanding-the-paradoxes-of-covid-19-through-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs/
2. 'COVID-19 and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: How Is Our Motivation Changing?'  https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/covid19-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-how-is-our-motivation-changing-0420204

Bill mentioned Organisation/Management and Maslow. Here's an article.

1. 'How the Theory of Maslow Can Be Applied to Organizational Development'. https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/theory-maslow-can-applied-organizational-development-20811.html

See you on Wednesday 2 December at 10am. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/72159430694?pwd=WkVwUXI3ckJvWlc3dW1ZZm5mZzRhUT09

Meeting ID: 721 5943 0694
Passcode: 4MysKx


Stay cool.

Jane

This first part of the message is for those who joined in the last discussion group about the Psychology of Religion.  

I said I'd send you "homework tasks" - the links to a couple of Youtube videos with the invitation to look at these before next Friday's "meeting". 

(Pretend you're 13yo as you read this next bit ... ) There's no homework .. :):). The videos were not as good as I'd first thought.

You can, however, draw upon the slide show above to review what we covered and also to preview some of what we will be covering next session.  

For Everyone .... Hope to see you next Friday 1:00pm -2:45 pm.

Use this link to join the discussion:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77011313324?pwd=eU5FUWNxQjNoQUhranJFNEQxSlFndz09
Meeting ID: 770 1131 3324
Passcode: 6Fq8Ce

Hope you've all been able to stretch your wings this past couple of weeks. I'm finding I don't get as excited about "going out for lunch" as much as I used to. Maybe painting the inside of my house has grabbed my attention. Time will tell.

Cheers Everyone
Jane

​Thanks again to Deb and Bev for guiding us through impromptu and interesting discussions last month about the topics of the Trump brand, and similarities between Trump and cults. (See Cult criteria at http://cultresearch.org/help/characteristics-associated-with-cults/).

In February 2020 BC (Before Corona), we looked at links between Psychology and many other fields, for example, politics, law, and education. The link with politics has been very evident as we investigated the psychology of the President and voter behaviour.

So, it almost seemed the natural order of things to look at one of the most frequently cited presidential “facts” (after “great again”) - Fake News.

Here is what we chatted about.  

President Donald Trump regularly warns against Fake News and will not cooperate with journalists he believes are peddlers of such news. At the same time, he uses social media to promote his views (facts) in a way that no previous President ever has. He likely would not see himself as a peddler of fake news.

“Fake News” is not new. In the era when newspapers and radio were primary sources of information it was generally understood that the views of the owners of these enterprises influenced the angle of the “facts”. Fast forward to 2020 and internet’s almost instant access to a myriad of information and sources (most purporting to be reliable, scouts honor), then add Trumps focus on social media, and voila “Fake News”.

Fake News is untrue information presented as news. The aim of fake news is to  damage the reputation of a person or entity or make money through advertising revenue.

Fake News is not viewed as good news. “Fake news poisons the atmosphere that we all operate in. Because fake news exists, audiences are now doubtful about all news. It has really damaged the relationship between audience members and the media.” (Verashni Pillay, Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post, South Africa. The UNESCO Courier, 2017)

To tease out the notion of Fake News we looked at:

1. Three types of Fake News
2. Media literacy amongst Australian Children.
3. Sources of news for Australians aged 14+years
4. How to tell fake news from real news
5. Examples of the influence fake news:

• 2016 US Elections where fake news articles outperformed real news
• On-line dating
  

Checking the veracity of news is complex. Parents, teachers, and the wider community have a daunting task ahead as children/grandchildren learn to filter fake from reliable amongst a huge swathe of information - which is available at the touch of a button at any hour of the day.

As always, if your interest has been piqued, there are references on the website and in the PowerPoints.

Nearing the end of the year has stirred my reflection on the phenomenon called “2020” and the zillion unexpected opportunities that have arisen. I’d like to give a  huge shout out to everyone who has ever joined in this experimental class format, suggested discussion topics in the absence of a content plan, and who have helped us iron out crinkles as we mastered Zoom (relative to previous experience).  Who would have thought?
​
Jane