A Cross-National Comparison of Students' Misconceptions about Psychology

Abstract

Two groups of college students were administered the McCutcheon Test of Misconceptions, Version 6, a 65-item, multiple-choice test designed to measure common misconceptions about psychology. One group of 111 students were from a British university and the second of 68 American college students; all had earned GPAs of 2.9 or higher. Both groups were given the test near the beginning of the first term. The over-all difference between British and American students was significant. British students performed significantly better on nine items and American students performed significantly better on one item. Plausible reasons for these differences were discussed