Open AccessCritical thinking in college students: evaluation of their beliefs in popular psychological myths
Author(s) -
Gustavo González-Cuevas,
Marcos Alonso Rodriguez,
Valeria Nogales Cuellar
Publication year - 2016
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
DOI - 10.4995/head16.2016.2850
Subject(s) - mythology , psychology , psychological health , social psychology , medical education , clinical psychology , medicine , philosophy , theology
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of acceptance of psychological myths in undergraduate students in Health Sciences. Our results showed that first-year Psychology students believed more myths than did the other first-year Health Sciences students (Medicine, Dentistry, and Optics and Optometry). Third-year Psychology students drastically reduced their beliefs in myths in comparison with first-year Psychology students (Cohen’s d=1.7). Overall, we found a gender effect, being women less gullible than men in believing in myths. Age did not account for differences in myth acceptance. All in all, these results suggest that beginning Psychology students seem to accept more myths than other first-year Health Sciences students regarding psychological misconceptions. However, college exposure in Psychology students may favor critical thinking by diminishing myth beliefs.