Measuring Psychological “Knowledge” by Means of Instructors' Test Manuals

Abstract

American social psychology textbooks often provide instructors' manuals that include Multiple Choice Quizzes (MCQ's) used by researchers examining the extent to which “lay people” could predict the outcomes of psychological research and theories. This study examined the extent to which students could choose a correct answer from social psychology instructors' manuals without having attended a related course. Three different manuals were used to look at tests of 57, 46, and 36 items, chosen to avoid technical jargon, real names, and experimental details, as well as to cover the broad range of social psychology. Subjects in Study 1 (n = 98 life sciences students) and Study 3 (n = 100 new students) got over 50% of the answers correct (53% and 52%, respectively), while in Study 2 (n = 139 student applicants) they got 48% correct. Scores were unrelated to gender and age, and there was no clear relationship between knowledge and particular areas of social psychology (i.e., social influone, prosocial behavior, attitude change). In the first study, prior knowledge of psychology did not relate to total score, while in the second sample, students who attended lectures did score higher than those who did not. In the third study, subjects who reported reading books, or who had how on social psychology courses, did score marginally higher. Implications of these findings are discussed.