Psychologists in front of the mirror: the intuitive epistemologies of psychology students

Abstract

This study examined the intuitive epistemologies of undergraduate students of Psychology about their own study subject. We analyzed how 111 Psychology undergraduates from different courses conceive the nature of psychological knowledge and its learning by means of a Likert-type questionnaire that included statements about certainty, epistemological criteria and acquisition of psychological knowledge. The students were also asked to answer an open question in order to justify their choices. The answers were analyzed according to their degree of agreement with objectivist, relativist or constructivist positions. The results showed differences between selection and justification tasks related to task demands. A signifi cant effect of the level of instruction was appreciated, as the more instructed undergraduate students showed the more sophisticated epistemologies. Nevertheless, in general, the participants rejected the simplest conceptions of knowledge acquisition. We conclude discussing the implications of these results for the epistemological instruction in undergraduate course