NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1049713
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jan
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0098-6283
EISSN: N/A
Highly Prevalent but Not Always Persistent: Undergraduate and Graduate Student's Misconceptions about Psychology
Hughes, Sean; Lyddy, Fiona; Kaplan, Robin; Nichols, Austin Lee; Miller, Haylie; Saad, Carmel Gabriel; Dukes, Kristin; Lynch, Amy-Jo
Teaching of Psychology, v42 n1 p34-42 Jan 2015
Although past research has documented the prevalence of misconceptions in introductory psychology classes, few studies have assessed how readily upper-level undergraduate and graduate students endorse erroneous beliefs about the discipline. In Study 1, we administered a 30-item misconception test to an international sample of 670 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. Analyses indicated that participants identified and rejected the majority of misconceptions, with doctoral students performing better than their master's or undergraduate peers. In Study 2, we administered a revised version of our questionnaire to a novel sample of 557 students while controlling for number of years spent at university, psychology courses completed, and need for cognition. Once again, we found that graduate students rejected more, affirmed less, and reported lower levels of uncertainty than their undergraduate counterparts. Educational implications and future research directions are discussed.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A