Researchers are using technology to communicate psychological science to a wider audience

[This article is part of the 2023 Trends Report]

Communicating psychological science to the public is vital, and an increasing number of psychologists are reaching beyond their patient base, academic circles, research labs, and other traditional workplaces to broaden their impact. Psychologists are hungry for this immediacy—to deliver psychology and psychological research to the public on their own and often during their personal time.

Some workplaces or professions may encourage this, while others have yet to understand the value of supporting staff in using psychology to immediately improve people’s lives.

“It’s very unlikely that people beyond those who publish their work in a scientific journal will read psychology research,” said psychologist Jonathan Wai, PhD, who studies educational policy through the lens of psychology at the University of Arkansas and is a science communicator. “It’s crucial, therefore, to write about this academic work in an easy-to-understand way.”

In recent years, increasing numbers of psychologists have pushed for more science communication training, support, and permission within the field of psychology (Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 16, No. 6, 2021opens in new window). This includes psychologists taking to social media to share their clinical advice and scientific findings with a broader audience. There has also been an uptick in psychology podcasts, with hosts finding new and innovative ways to pull listeners in and provide them with new and valuable information.

With social media platforms—from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok—there are more ways than ever to communicate with the public. As of 2021, 72% of U.S. adults use social media. That’s an increase from half of all adultsopens in new window who used social media in 2011, according to the Pew Research Center.

Scientists are also embracing more social media in their professional lives. During the pandemic, especially, many scientists quickly discovered that information could be disseminated more efficiently and to a far broader audienceopens in new window than it could in scientific journals. Part of this push to use social media may come from the significant and startling gap between citizens’ and scientists’ opinions on key scientific topics, as was highlighted in another Pew Research Center surveyopens in new window.

“One of the gifts of social media is that it can help us access hard-to-reach audiences,” said Regina Koepp, PhD, a clinical psychologist based in Atlanta, Georgia, who specializes in working with aging adults and their families and uses social media platforms like LinkedIn to share her work. “It helps to break down access barriers to mental health care. It helps to improve equity in care so that the public mental health information can be shared through a cultural lens, not only through a white ivory tower research lens.”

However, not all psychologists have been taught how to communicate with the public in a direct or absorbing way. Inger Mewburn, PhD, director of research training at Australian National University, wrote in a blog post titled “Why academic writing sucks (and how we can fix it)opens in new window” that “academic writing, as a genre, is ritualised, peculiar, archaic and does almost as much to hide knowledge as it does to share it.”

This type of writing strangles public engagement with the material. “If we’re not clear and engaging, then editors and the general public simply won’t read us,” Wai and David Miller, PhD, a psychologist and senior researcher at the American Institutes for Research, wrote in an article for The Conversationopens in new window. “The first step in improving academic writing is to learn to reduce the jargon academics use and express concepts clearly. And this has forced us to distill our thinking to its absolute core.”

Luckily, Koepp has noticed an increasing number of psychologists participating in this work (see Social media is increasing impact in the January 2021 issue of the Monitor). “Many psychologists are actually more and more curious about this now,” she said. “I’ve even been invited to do some talks on things like social media ethics and talks on how to ensure as psychologists that we balance our responsibility in the field and to our clients.”

This includes clinical psychologists like Julie Smith, PhD, who specializes in anxiety and depression and has taken to TikTok to reach a broader audience. “Depression is not always obvious,” she said in a TikTok videoopens in new window. “Sometimes it’s invisible. Even if people can’t see your pain, and they can’t understand it, that pain is still real.”

Jaclyn A. Siegel, PhD, a social psychologist at San Diego State University who researches eating disorders (ED), body image, and social attitudes, has more than 45,000 followers on Twitter. Through this platform, she can share valuable insights into her scientific work and personal experiences. “My experience in treatment for anorexia is the driving force behind my research. Many friends from treatment are still in the ‘revolving door of ED treatment,’ and some have died,” she wrote in a tweet. “We must take these conditions seriously and help to improve treatment options for those suffering.”

More and more psychologists have also noticed that communicating with the public through social media is crucial in breaking down stereotypes about what “typical” psychologists look like. Many people still think of psychologists as older White men with beards, and this needs to change, Koepp said.

“In a world where the majority of people are using social media and accessing health and mental health information through the internet and social media, I might invite psychologists to think about what our role is,” said Koepp. “Are we as psychologists going to be a part of that conversation, or are we going to keep ourselves out of it? Is our absence in these spaces helpful? I don’t think it is.”

Social media isn’t the only way psychologists are reaching a wider audience. Podcasts are also emerging as a popular way to disseminate scientific and clinical information—and more and more people nationwide are tuning in. In fact, back in 2006, only 22% of the adult population in the United States was aware of podcasts, according to Statista. By 2021, 78% of adults listened to podcasts, and it’s estimated that podcast listeners will surpass 160 million in 2023opens in new window.

Podcasts that discuss topics related to science seem to scratch a particular itch for listeners. Researchers found that from 2010 to 2018, the number of science podcasts available on topics like biology, chemistry, and physics grew exponentially, with 65% of these series hosted by a scientist and 77% targeted to public audiences (MacKenzie, L. E., Royal Society Open Science, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2019opens in new window).

This work is also being done by clinical psychologists. Jason Luoma, PhD, hosts the Research Matters Podcastopens in new window in which he interviews leading researchers in psychology and other social sciences to understand what they do that makes them productive. Psychotherapist Esther Perel, PhD, started a podcast called Where Should We Begin?opens in new window that attracts tens of thousands of listeners. In each episode, Perel counsels real couples as they reveal intimate and personal details.

This will definitely get listeners to tune in, but there are plenty of psychologists who are creating podcasts that aren’t so stirring and action packed but are still reaching wide audiences. Koepp, for example, has a podcast called Psychology of Agingopens in new window that shares insights every other week on mental health and aging, dementia, caregiving, and end of life. This work became very pertinent during the pandemic because older adults are more likely to get sick from Covid-19 and require hospitalization and intensive care. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 200,000 residents and staff in long-term care facilities have died from the virusopens in new window, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation article.

“Long-term care communities were really struggling, and families with loved ones in these facilities were really struggling,” said Koepp.

Another example of someone doing this work is Joy Harden Bradford, PhD, a psychologist in Atlanta who created Therapy for Black Girlsopens in new window, an online space dedicated to encouraging the mental wellness of Black women and girls. In addition to a Twitter account with a following of more than 40,500 people and a blog, Bradford hosts a popular mental health podcastopens in new window that focuses on making mental health topics more relevant and accessible for Black women.

Each week, Bradford focuses on a new mental health topic, from Black women in academia to myths about sex. She introduces each episode as a “weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves.”

Making a podcast—or engaging with the public through social media—takes a significant amount of time and often must be done between busy research, teaching, or clinical schedules. But more and more psychologists seem to be discovering the benefit of this work, said Koepp.

Wai hopes to see even more psychologists engaging in this work in the years to come. “There is still some hesitancy when it comes to writing or talking about science to the public,” he said. “But psychology as a field has a long history of encouraging researchers to disseminate their findings. This work will continue to greatly benefit the broader public and psychologists and scientists themselves.”