Misconceptions in Psychology as a Negative Factor in the Formation of Professional Competence of Psychologists

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;">The article analyses the problem of misconceptions, or scientific delusions, in the educational environment in connection with the risks introduced into the learning process. It describes the historical regularity of the paradigm shift of misconceptions in psychology from descriptive to constructive. Examples of research in preparation for a paradigm shift and at the stage of a constructive paradigm are introduced, as well as the latest concepts of psychological misconceptions in science and in the educational psychology. The article discusses the idea of the variety of approaches to the problem of psychological delusions. The review showed that the problem of misconceptions in psychology, despite close attention to it over the years, leaves the impression of being poorly studied. Among many other reasons we can emphasize poorly developed tools for scientific research, in particular, the incompleteness of the list of misconceptions typical for the students under investigation and the imperfection of the dichotomous format of questionnaires aimed at identification of psychological delusions. To date, in addition to the negative impact of psychological myths on the professional training of psychology students, the rigidity of their perception of factual refutations of misconceptions during training and the positive impact of critical thinking on overcoming misconceptions have been reliably revealed. It is necessary to include additional procedures for the evaluation of mythologized ideas about psychological phenomena, including those borrowed from other disciplines in which misconcepts are recorded using computerized assessment, interviews with open-ended types of questions, etc. Their use in other disciplines is recognized as optimal for identifying scientific misconceptions among students.</p>