The Relationships Between Acceptance of Psychological Misconceptions, Metacognitive Judgments, Education, Cognitive Style, and Paranormal Beliefs
Authors
Igor Bajšanski
Sveučilište u Rijeci, Filozofski fakultet, Odsjek za psihologiju, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Valnea Žauhar
Sveučilište u Rijeci, Filozofski fakultet, Odsjek za psihologiju, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Pavle Valerjev
Sveučilište u Zadru, Odjel za psihologiju, Zadar, Hrvatska
Keywords:
psychological misconceptions, paranormal beliefs, actively open-minded thinking, need for cognition, metacognitive judgments
Abstract
Psychological misconceptions are incorrect beliefs about particular aspects of mental life and behaviour, such as the belief that people use only 10% of their brainpower or that people with schizophrenia have multiple personalities. The aim of the study was to examine differences in the acceptance of misconceptions between first-year undergraduate psychology students and graduate psychology students, as well as to investigate the relationships between the acceptance of psychological misconceptions, cognitive style, and paranormal beliefs. A total of 129 undergraduate and 143 graduate psychology students participated in the study. On average, graduate psychology students accepted fewer misconceptions than undergraduate psychology students and demonstrated better monitoring skills. However, substantial differences in acceptance rates between graduate and undergraduate students were found for specific misconceptions. Consistent with the results of previous studies, acceptance of misconceptions was related to cognitive style: actively open-minded thinking and need for cognition were negatively correlated with acceptance of misconceptions. Acceptance of misconceptions was positively related to paranormal beliefs.
