The study was conducted to investigate the effects of an introduction to psychology course on college students' superstitions and beliefs which have some scientific sanction. The test used was selected from H. K. Nixon's 1925 study on answers to psychological questions and considers 30 statements to be marked true or false.
Subjects used for this study were 100 men and 100 women students in a beginning psychology course at Utah State University, Logan, Utah. The first administration of the questionnaire was given during the first week of the class with a follow-up administration given during the final week of class.
The raw scores earned by each student on the questionnaire of beliefs and superstitions were treated with the chi square method of statistical analysis. One statistically significant change occurred at the 1 percent level--the course altered or influenced the belief in the superstition that long slender hands indicate an artistic nature. There appears to be little effect of a beginning psychology course in changing the superstitions and beliefs in beginning psychology students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-6695 |
| Date | 01 May 1969 |
| Creators | Mithcell, Helen D. |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. |
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