Background: Increasing students' ability to think critically allows them to engage more fully with psychology material. Objective: The current study used a critical thinking assignment called PsychBusters to examine critical thinking and interest in psychology in two sections of introductory psychology designated for first-year psychology majors.…

Background: The study of myths in psychology has conceptual and educational relevance: How to adapt the teaching of psychology to confront myths with grounded knowledge? A first step is to know which myths prevail and its relation to training in psychology. Objective: To explore myth's prevalence among Spanish first-year university students of…

Background: Higher education institutions and universities aim to provide students with a range of transferable skills that enable them to become more thoughtful and effective employees, citizens, and consumers. One of these skills is critical thinking. Objective: The aim of the present research was to examine whether taking a psychology degree is…

Psychological misconceptions are common among students taking psychology courses. In this study, we show an association between student endorsement of misconceptions and two prevalent and well-researched lay beliefs about the human mind, specifically the belief in free will and dualism. This study also revisits and builds upon past research…

Introduction: As higher education continues to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), cognitive/behavioral neuroscience and other physiologically based psychology courses may face challenges incorporating DEI issues into the curriculum relative to other subfields of psychology. Statement of the Problem: Instructors of these courses may…

Background: Psychological misconceptions permeate our culture, with many people endorsing these erroneous beliefs. Objective: The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous findings that reported psychology knowledge and cognitive thinking style predict undergraduates' beliefs in psychological misconceptions. Method: Two hundred…

Background: Critical thinking is an important student learning outcome in all psychology courses and included in the American Psychological Association's (APA's) goals for the undergraduate major. Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of integrating a general model of critical thinking into the instruction,…

Background: We have previously presented two educational interventions aimed to diminish causal illusions and promote critical thinking. In both cases, these interventions reduced causal illusions developed in response to active contingency learning tasks, in which participants were able to decide whether to introduce the potential cause in each…

Belief in psychological misconceptions has potential repercussions for both students and potentially society as a whole. We present a creative and engaging myth refutation assignment that uses an infographic format to promote the refutation of psychological misconceptions. A total of 166 students completed the myth refutation assignment, along…

Reading and critiquing journal articles is a way in which instructors can promote learning and critical thought among students, particularly in the undergraduate research methods course. However, articles that have survived the peer-review process are often lengthy and have only nuanced drawbacks, rendering them less useful for such pedagogical…

Improving student performance on exams is a key issue that many psychology instructors face in their classrooms. One potentially easy to deploy option for improving student performance is an exam wrapper. In this article, I detail two studies that compared exam wrappers to a control condition (a previous semester in Study 1 and a within course…

Goal 2 of the "APA Goals for Undergraduate Major in Psychology," Scientific Inquiry and Critical Thinking, addresses the development of scientific reasoning and problem-solving, including effective research methods, in undergraduate psychology students. These skills serve as the foundation of not only introductory courses but also the…

Multiple studies have demonstrated the efficacy of various psychological critical thinking interventions. The current study tests a novel technique for improving introductory psychology students' ability to identify and evaluate methodological concepts in real-life media by prompting them to analyze secondary source news and blog articles.…

Introduction: Research suggests benefits for incorporating popular press books into courses to encourage critical thinking and student-instructor interactions about concepts. Objective: This article offers a summary and critique of "7 ½ Lessons about the Brain" by Lisa Feldman-Barrett along with pedagogical strategies for integrating the…

In two studies, we demonstrate an engaging classroom activity that facilitates student learning about Kohlberg's theory of moral development by using digital resources to foster active, experiential learning. In addition to hearing a standard lecture about moral development, students watched a video of a morally provocative incident, then worked…