Are you falling for psychology’s biggest myths? Here are 10 ways to know

From folklore and old wives’ tales to proverbs and superstitions, there are numerous areas of our lives where the road between fact and fiction becomes blurred. Often these trivia and sayings have little to no truth or utility, but they continue to be widespread and widely believed. Psychology also falls victim to this vagueness.

Misconceptions concerning the mind, its workings, and human behavior often appear in popular culture, media portrayals, and even in conversations with well-intentioned but misinformed people. However, research shows the importance of distinguishing between what’s empirically supported and what’s merely a product of psychological mythology—and has offered us a approach to measure the depth of our misconceptions.

How does psychological mythology spread?

Psychological myths – misconceptions surrounding the human mind and behavior – are believed to be spread from various sources. However, in line with Research from the diary Psychological learning and teachingexposure to inaccurate information within the media, oversimplified teachings in textbooks, and private experiences appear to contribute most to its spread.

In their research report, the authors noted that even those that study psychology fall victim to psychological misunderstandings. These scholars attributed their misconceptions to varied sources; However, a major proportion attributed their misconceptions to media (20%), personal experiences (19%), reading (16%) and classroom teaching (15%). Surprisingly, a significant slice (38%) directly linked their misconceptions to psychology courses or instructors.

The authors also suggest that cognitive biases—equivalent to confirmation bias, illusory correlations, post hoc reasoning, and causal inferences from correlations—play a task in belief in psychological mythology. It also argues that these misunderstandings are based on a core set of explanatory concepts – so-called “folk psychology” – that folks often use to grasp, predict and influence behavior.

Where does psychological mythology come from?

Just because the spread and spread of psychological mythology is believed to be as a consequence of various sources, the identical is true for the origin of those misconceptions.

According to the above authors, the origin of those myths might be roughly divided into two groups:

1. Firstly, they exist factual misunderstandings, which arise from encountering false or incomplete information within the media, within the classroom, or in on a regular basis environments. Certain myths equivalent to “Some people are left-brained, others are right-brained” and “Humans can only use 10% of their brain” often come from external sources reasonably than personal experience.
2. Secondly, they exist ontological misunderstandings, which reflect naive or commonsense theories about thought, feelings, and behavior. Take, for instance, the emission theory of vision – the bizarre belief that folks see by emitting rays from their eyes that reflect off objects. This misconception, embraced by young children and students alike, has its origins in ancient Greece and continues to influence cultural practices worldwide.

Although these misconceptions are definitely influenced by social context, they might arise from a group of ontological assumptions, explanatory concepts, and causal mechanisms that together form intuitive theories about psychology—that differ drastically from modern theory and research.

How to measure your belief in psychological mythology

Puzzled by the origin and spread of psychological mythology, Research from the magazine of Teaching psychology developed a questionnaire that measures the extent to which individuals hold misinformed beliefs. To test how far an individual has fallen into the trap of misconceptions, users rate their level of agreement with various psychological myths. Consider these ten common myths, taken from a broader set of myths identified by the researchers:

1. People predominantly use either the left or right side of their brain.
2. Humans only use 10% of their brain’s total processing capability.
3. The overwhelming majority of autistic people have savant abilities (i.e., a number of isolated pockets of notable mental abilities).
4. An individual’s handwriting is a legitimate and reliable indicator of their personality traits.
5. Thinking positive thoughts reduces the event of cancer.
6. A defining characteristic of an individual with schizophrenia is that they’ve multiple personalities.
7. Most people experience a midlife crisis between the ages of 40 and 60.
8. Memory works like a tape recorder or video camera, accurately recording the events we experience.
9. Playing classical music (e.g. Mozart) in infants and youngsters sustainably increases their intelligence.
10. Children who grow up in gay or lesbian families almost all the time grow up gay or lesbian themselves.

Accordingly Research out of Current directions in psychology, The implications of psychological misunderstandings go far beyond mild misinformation. The worrying reality is that these myths can have a serious impact on the best way we interact with, view and understand the people around us – and in addition on how we understand the human mind.

These false beliefs not only create barriers inside psychology, but in addition pose immense challenges to people in lots of other areas of society. Laypeople, policymakers, journalists, lawyers, and anyone else who relies on psychological information in on a regular basis life are all vulnerable to the pitfalls of mythological belief. Additionally, the authors explain how these misunderstandings can have tangible real-world consequences—ones that could cause irreversible harm.

Consider the impact in a courtroom where jurors, influenced by the false notion that memory functions like an error-free VCR, uncritically accept dubious eyewitness testimony, resulting in an unfair result. In such scenarios, actions based on misinformation could lead on to lack of friendships, a foul status, and even a ruined future.

Making mistakes is a component of being human. We forget to examine the facts, we accept information at face value, and naively trust all authority figures to guide us. But just as we bear the burden of data, we also bear the burden of misinformation. For this reason, education requires not only the pursuit of data, but in addition the courage to discard things that not serve us. To truly serve others and improve ourselves, we must embrace the strategy of unlearning. It’s a humbling journey, but one which guides is guaranteed to bring us closer to clarity.

Want to compete with the complete list of psychological myths? Use the whole test here: Questionnaire on psychological misunderstandings