Lynn E. McCutcheon

A New Test of Misconceptions about Psychology

Some of the problems surrounding the use of true-false tests of psychological misconceptions are discussed. The development of a new 62-item, multiple-choice test of misconceptions designed to reduce these problems is outlined. The test was given to 79 students in introductory psychology. Reliability, validity, and normative data are provided. A comparison of the interest level of each items topic allows psychology professors a reasonable criterion for deciding which misconceptions to discuss in class.

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PSYCHOLOGY '

Two groups of 60 students each were selected from introductory college psychology classes. One consisted of high academic achievers, the other of average achievers. They were given the McCutcheon Test of Misconceptions, a 65-item, multiple-choice test designed to measure common misconceptions about psychology. Subsequently, they were also given the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. Both groups made many errors on the McCutcheon test, but high academic achievers made significantly fewer errors on both the McCutcheon test and the Watson-Glaser than average achievers. A stepwise multiple regression consisting of Watson-Glaser subscales 1 (the ability to draw valid inferences) and 4 (ability to weigh and interpret evidence) and GPA successfully predicted McCutcheon test scores (R = .43). This suggests that even beginning students with high grades and good critical thinking skills are likely to harbor many misconceptions about psychology.

A Cross-National Comparison of Students' Misconceptions about Psychology:

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

Causes of Student Absenteeism in Community College Classes.

In an era of declining college enrollments it is vital to identify potential causes of absenteeism and implement strategies for reducing it. To accomplish this two open‐ended approaches were used t...

ABSENTEEISM IN A SINGLE CLASS AS A PREDICTOR OF FUTURE COLLEGE PERFORMANCE

In the fall of 1985 the total number of absences from a single community college class was obtained as part of a study of 402 subjects. The present study, conducted three years later, examined the relationship between absenteeism and four measures of academic performance for a subsample of 187. Absenteeism was negatively related to both cumulative GPA and the ratio of courses passed to courses attempted since 1985. Absenteeism was negatively but weakly related to the tendency to graduate, but not significantly related to the tendency to withdraw from courses. The author suggested that absenteeism may be viewed as a stable trait that has reasonably good, long‐term, predictive power. Suggestions for future research were offered.

DUMBER BY THE DOZEN? NOT NECESSARILY!

Little support for the confluence model as an explanation of effects of birth order was found in a study of 152 male and 139 female college students, given Factor B of the 16 PF as a measure of ability. The model may have limited application.

PREDICTION OF ABSENTEEISM IN COLLEGE STUDENTS USING SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Rotters social learning theory served as a basis for developing some brief new scales and employing some existing ones for the purpose of predicting absenteeism in college social science classrooms. Near the beginning the term one hundred thirty‐two community college student filled out a questionnaire containing these scales. At the end of the term they were asked to estimate the number of times they had been absent. Results showed that no combination of variables successfully predicted total absenteeism, but two predictor variables produced a statistically significant £ value in predicting avoidable absences. Suggestions for future research were offered.

Three Experimental Attempts to Reduce Absenteeism from College Classes.

Absenteeism is becoming a major problem on the post‐secondary level as some colleges struggle against declining enrollments. Three experiments designed to reduce absenteeism were carried out. In th...

A Re-Examination of the Link between Stress and Performance

Previous studies have shown that increased stress, as measured by life-change scales, is associated with poor performance. The present study examined the effects of stress on the performance of 86 adult male runners in a half marathon. Subjects responded to a questionnaire from which several independent variables were derived. These variables were entered in a stepwise multiple regression to predict race times. The combination of age, weekly mileage, and number of races previously entered yielded a significant multiple R. However, stress was not significantly related to race times, and subsequent statistical analyses were carried out to explain this lack of significance. It was suggested that the effects of stress on athletic performance may be reduced by physical and psychological variables associated with exercise or that race performance is too well determined by physical variables to be affected by life changes.

Sex Roles and Interpersonal Attraction for Opposite-Sex Persons

The present study sought to determine if similarity or complementarity was the better explanation for opposite-sex interpersonal attraction based on sex roles. College students filled out the BSRI in class and were categorized as sex-typed or androgynous. Weeks later they read a protocol contrived to be either masculine, feminine, or androgynous, and rated their liking for that target person on two scales, one in which the target person was described as a friend and the other in which the target was described as a potential romantic interest. Results lent support to a “loose” version of the similarity explanation for females. For males neither similarity nor complementarity could explain the results.