Attitudes toward the equal rights amendment as a function of knowing what it says

The results of two studies are reported which focus on people's attitude toward, and misconceptions about, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Study 1 found that when people are given the actual text of ERA, but not told what it is, they display more positive attitudes toward it than people who respond to the term “ERA” without being informed of its actual text. Study 2 found that people hold fewer misconceptions about, and more positive attitudes toward, ERA when they are informed of its actual text than when they are not. Strategy for ratification of ERA is discussed, as is the distinction between pro-ERA and anti-ERA misconceptions.     

Misconceptions about Freud's seduction theory: comment on Gleaves and Hernandez (1999)

D. H. Gleaves and E. Hernandez (1999) write in relation to the seduction theory that "recent writers now argue that ... Freud never made discoveries of sexual abuse" (p. 332) and that "the assertion that Freud did not make discoveries of abuse is unwarranted" (p. 324). In this article an outline of the case that Freud had no adequate grounds for his 1896 claims of having uncovered infantile "sexual scenes" is given. Some of the more important misconceptions and erroneous arguments in Gleaves and Hernandez's article are then examined.     

Rectifying Misconceptions: A Comprehensive Response to “Some Concerns About the Psychological Implications of Mindfulness: A Critical Analysis”

The present article attempts to address misconceptions and mischaracterizations of mindfulness-based interventions found in the article “Some Concerns about the Psychological Implications of Mindfulness: A Critical Analysis,” written by Daniel David. The paper, we contended, suffers as a result of its reductive presentation of mindfulness, the relationship of mindfulness to Buddhist thought, the empirical support for mindfulness-based interventions, and the presumed mechanisms of change and clinical utility of those interventions. Such misconceptions and mischaracterizations can unfortunately have a powerful effect on both the literature base, and on those providing direct psychological services. As such, the purpose of this response article is to stimulate a clear and accurate discussion of the concepts and applications of mindfulness, so that practitioners have the information they need to make sound treatment decisions for their clientele.     

Teachers’ Beliefs of Creative Children

Teachers’ beliefs about characteristics of creative children do not always align with how creative children actually behave. Understanding these misaligned beliefs—defined as misconceptions—is important because teachers’ misconceptions can undermine efforts to foster children's creative development. This study aimed to identify teachers’ beliefs about the characteristics of creative children with an emphasis on their misconceptions about characteristics as either indicative or contraindicative of creative children. We analyzed responses of 136 teachers to 29 characteristics, indicating or contraindicating creative children, on Gough's (1979). Creative Personality Scale using the Rating Scale Model. Results revealed that teachers tended to have more misconceptions about characteristics contraindicative of creative children than characteristics indicative of creative children while teachers were able to accurately recognize certain characteristics when compared with explicit theories of creativity. In both the indicative and contraindicative characteristics, misconceptions appeared to increase if characteristics were desirable in the classroom. Teachers’ misconceptions may conceal creative potential in children who do not manage their undesirable characteristics in constructive ways. Findings provide practical implications to aid teachers and teacher educators in correcting misconceptions about the characteristics of creative children.     

Combining Item Response Theory and Diagnostic Classification Models: A Psychometric Model for Scaling Ability and Diagnosing Misconceptions

Traditional testing procedures typically utilize unidimensional item response theory (IRT) models to provide a single, continuous estimate of a student’s overall ability. Advances in psychometrics have focused on measuring multiple dimensions of ability to provide more detailed feedback for students, teachers, and other stakeholders. Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) provide multidimensional feedback by using categorical latent variables that represent distinct skills underlying a test that students may or may not have mastered. The Scaling Individuals and Classifying Misconceptions (SICM) model is presented as a combination of a unidimensional IRT model and a DCM where the categorical latent variables represent misconceptions instead of skills. In addition to an estimate of ability along a latent continuum, the SICM model provides multidimensional, diagnostic feedback in the form of statistical estimates of probabilities that students have certain misconceptions. Through an empirical data analysis, we show how this additional feedback can be used by stakeholders to tailor instruction for students’ needs. We also provide results from a simulation study that demonstrate that the SICM MCMC estimation algorithm yields reasonably accurate estimates under large-scale testing conditions.     

Randomized controlled trial of an intervention to change cardiac misconceptions in myocardial infarction patients

There is converging evidence that changing beliefs about an illness leads to positive recovery outcomes. However, cardiac misconceptions interventions have been investigated mainly in Angina or Coronary Heart Disease patients, and less in patients following Myocardial Infarction (MI). In these patients, cardiac misconceptions may play a role in the adjustment or lifestyle changes. This article reports a randomized controlled trial of an intervention designed to reduce the strength of misconceptions in patients after a first MI. The primary outcome was the degree of change in misconceptions and the secondary outcomes were: exercise, smoking status, return to work and mood (anxiety and depression). Patients in the intervention condition (n = 60) were compared with a control group (n = 67) receiving usual care. Both groups were evaluated at baseline and 4, 8 and 12 months after hospital discharge. There was a significant time-by-group interaction for the total score of cardiac misconceptions. Patients in the intervention group significantly decreased their total score of cardiac misconceptions at 4 months compared with the control group and this difference was sustained over time. Patients in the intervention group were also more likely to exercise at the follow-up period after MI than the control group. This intervention was effective in reducing the strength of cardiac misconceptions in MI patients and had a positive impact on health behaviour outcomes. These results support the importance of misconceptions in health behaviours and the utility of belief change interventions in promoting health in patients with Myocardial Infarction.     

Culture and Personality Studies, 1918–1960: Myth and History

The field known as "culture and personality studies" in the middle decades of the 20th century was a precursor of contemporary cross-cultural research on personality. Its rejection by anthropologists and sociologists after 1950 was accompanied by stereotypes that have hardened into myth and obscured its character and relevance for contemporary investigators. This article dispels some prevalent misconceptions (concerning its chronology, its theoretical unity, its positions on individual differences and its relationship to Freudian psychoanalysis) and proposes a tentative explanation of its decline.     

People with more misconceptions about automated vehicles might be more positive toward them

Automated vehicle (AV) technology is likely to influence transportation, mobility, and society dramatically. The year 2020 was a horizon year for the AV, as manufacturers expected commercial AVs to be available to the general market. However, we experienced one cycle of hyperbole for these “self-driving” cars, which are still unavailable to consumers. Meanwhile, many persistent beliefs about this technology are factual or arguable misconceptions. However, the public attitude literature rarely examines public misconceptions of AVs. Thus, we explored the prevalence of three misconceptions: “AVs are already available in the market,” “AVs do not need to be driven manually at all,” and “Mature business models for AVs have been established.” We investigated these misconceptions’ correlations with several cognitive (i.e., benefit and risk perceptions), affective (i.e., positive and negative affect), and behavioral components (i.e., behavioral intention and willingness to pay) of attitudes and trust in AVs. Our online survey in China (N = 1,026) indicated that more than 70% of participants hold one or more of the three misconceptions, with one-third believing that AVs are already available in the market. Furthermore, participants believing one or more of the three misconceptions were more positive regarding specific attitudinal factors (e.g., those who believed that AVs are already available reported greater behavioral intention to use and willingness to pay for AVs than those who rejected this misbelief). This finding indicates that people who are more wrong about AVs might be more positive toward AVs. We need effective and accurate public communication to dispel public misconceptions about AVs and build rational expectations.     

What can we learn from Plausible Values?

In this paper, we show that the marginal distribution of plausible values is a consistent estimator of the true latent variable distribution, and, furthermore, that convergence is monotone in an embedding in which the number of items tends to infinity. We use this result to clarify some of the misconceptions that exist about plausible values, and also show how they can be used in the analyses of educational surveys.     

Liangzhi and the Interpretative Obfuscation Regarding Knowledge

This article aims to argue that interpreting liangzhi良知 as innate,original,or cognitive knowledge is likely to fall into "interpretative obfuscation regarding knowledge." First,for Wang,what is inherent in mankind is moral agency rather than innate or original knowledge.Therefore,the focus ofzhizhi 知 and gewu格物 is instead on moral practice and actualization of virtue rather than on either "the extension of knowledge" or "the investigation of things."Apart from that,drawing support from cognitive knowledge to explicate liangzhi also leads to three related but distinct misconceptions:liangzhi as perfect knowledge,the identity of knowledge and action,and liangzhi as recognition or acknowledgement.By clarifying the above misinterpretations,the meaning and implication of liangzhi will,in turn,also become clearer.     

概念改变的本体类别研究

概念改变是科学学习和教学的重要问题。研究表明有些错误概念难于转变,本文从本体类别的观点出发,阐释了错误概念难于改变的原因,进而细致地分析了力的概念,以支持本体类别的观点,最后提出跨本体类别间概念改变的教学对策。     

Enhancing the credibility of complainants in child sexual assault trials: the effect of expert evidence and judicial directions

This study investigated the knowledge and misconceptions of jury‐eligible citizens about children's reliability as witnesses and responses to child sexual assault (CSA), and examined the influence of expert evidence and judicial directions in challenging common misconceptions. Community volunteers (N = 130) read one of five versions of a simulated jury trial, and completed a pre‐ and post‐trial questionnaire to provide measures of their knowledge of children's responses to sexual abuse, perceptions of victim credibility, and verdict. Results revealed that endorsement of CSA misconceptions negatively impacted ratings of complainant credibility and verdicts. Judicial directions provided before the child complainant testified enhanced complainant credibility, which in turn predicted guilty verdicts. Comparisons of the effectiveness of two procedural legal mechanisms to manage juror misconceptions and improve knowledge about CSA provide guidance for future researchers investigating ways to increase fairness in cases of CSA. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Authorship: Few Myths and Misconceptions

This article seeks to address and dispel some of the popular myths and misconceptions surrounding authorship of a scientific publication as this is often misconstrued by beginners in academia especially those in the developing world. While ethical issues in publishing related to authorship have been increasingly discussed, not much has been written about the myths and misconceptions of who might be an author. Dispelling these myths and misconceptions would go a long way in shaping the thoughts and plans of students, junior faculty and researchers in academia especially in the developing world.     

The Structure and Direction of Emotion in Elite Sport: Deconstructing Unhealthy Paradigms and Distorted Norms for the Body

Research shows a connection between negative perceptions of emotion, emotional suppression, and athletes’ subsequent disregard for their health (Lee Sinden in J Relig Health 2010, J Clin Sport Psychol 4:241–256, 2012). In light of recent research, the following paper explores the structure and direction of emotion in order to break down historical misconceptions in elite sport. This paper also discusses emotional control, as a direction that can lead to suppression and health problems, and gives suggestions for emotion education and further directions.     

Naive misconceptions of Cooke and Breedin’s research: response to Ranney

In this paper, we respond to Ranney's (1994) comment on our paper on naive physics (Cooke & Breedin, 1994). In his comment, Ranney criticizes our methods and analyses, as well as our claims of theoretical inconsistency. In response to Ranney, we show that mast of his criticisms can be traced to several misconceptions. Some of these misconceptions seem to stem from his drawing of inappropriate similarities between his own research and ours. Specifically, ftanney seems to hall faun' misconceptions about our research: (1) the belief that trajectory responses in our study were relevant to our claims about theoretical consistency, (2) tie belief that aggregation of theoretical variations weakens claims of inconsistency, (3) the belief that the method of written reports is inferior to the method of structured interviews, and (4) the belief that our proposal of on-the-fly theorizing is at odds with temporal consistency and nonimpetus beliefs.     

Fictions and facts about evolutionary approaches to human behavior: comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt (2003)

Six misconceptions about evolutionary approaches to human behavior are exposed. Evidence is adduced to support the assertions that evolutionary approaches do not (a) adopt a reductionistic "gene-centered" level of analysis, (b) assume that natural selection is the only process that creates and designs ontogenetic processes and phenotypic outcomes, (c) assume that genes are the only agents responsible for the transgenerational inheritance of phenotypic traits and characteristics, (d) assume that genes are self-contained and impervious to extragenetic influences, (e) posit a strong form of genetic determinism, or (f) pay lip service to the role of the environment. Building straw men and knocking them down is an inherently destructive enterprise; integrating different approaches is a more constructive way of contributing to the growth of knowledge.     

Procedural misconceptions and informed consent: insights from empirical research on the clinical trials industry

This paper provides a simultaneously reflexive and analytical framework to think about obstacles to truly informed consent in social science and biomedical research. To do so, it argues that informed consent often goes awry due to procedural misconceptions built into the research context. The concept of procedural misconception is introduced to describe how individuals respond to what is familiar in research settings and overlook what is different. In the context of biomedical research, procedural misconceptions can be seen to function as root causes of therapeutic misconceptions.     

Investigating the Effects of Repeated Miranda Warnings: Do They Perform a Curative Function on Common Miranda Misconceptions?

In Miranda v. Arizona (1966), the Supreme Court of the United States required that custodial suspects be apprised of their Constitutional rights against self‐incrimination. The Court could not have anticipated the rampant popularization of Miranda warnings in subsequent movies and television dramas. Influenced by public media, many arrestees assume that they already “know” their rights, with no awareness of their misconceptions. The current investigation examines whether repeated exposures to Miranda warnings performs any “curative” function (i.e., dispelling common Miranda misconceptions held by pretrial defendants). The accumulative effects of five different Miranda warnings were tested over a several‐hour period on 260 detainees. For the nearly half (113 or 43.5%) with three or more misconceptions, improvement (i.e., ≥2 fewer misconceptions) occurred for only 35 defendants. Predictably, this improved group also tended to display a better understanding of Miranda‐relevant vocabulary words and a better recall of the administered Miranda warnings than their unimproved counterparts. On average, the improved group also performed better on general measures of intelligence, and listening and reading comprehension, while still evidencing substantial cognitive deficits. The curative function of Miranda advisements is considered in light of these findings. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The unknown Fechner

Summary Despite Fechner's universal fame as the founder of psychophysics, his work is not very well known among contemporary psycholgists. To correct this situation, the present issue of Psychological Research contains some excerpts from previously untranslated works of Fechner. By way of introduction to the translations, some popular misconceptions about Fechner's outer psychophysics are corrected, and a brief introduction to his inner psychophysics is given.     

Erroneous Perceptions in Generating Sequences of Random Events1

This paper reports the results of 2 studies that examine the perceptions of individuals attempting to generate random sequences. It was hypothesized that erroneous perceptions dominate probability judgment. The first study demonstrated that subjects verbalized significantly more erroneous than accurate perceptions when generating sequences of random binary events. The second study was designed both to replicate these data and to assess the role of motivation on the frequency of misconceptions. Results showed that the total number of erroneous perceptions again outnumbered accurate perceptions but, motivation did not increase the number of misconceptions. A basic error concerned subjects' inability to consider events as being independent of each other. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed in relation to the psychology of gambling.