Challenging the Status Quo

Abstract

Student beliefs in common psychological misperceptions were assessed at the beginning of an introductory psychology course, the end of the course, and again 1 year later. At the end of the course, students’ previously held misperceptions of psychological phenomena shifted toward more accurate perceptions, and 1 year later, students reported that they had not reverted to the original misconceptions for the majority of the myths evaluated. Results of this study suggest that the introductory psychology course can be effective in correcting common misperceptions of psychological phenomena.