Using more than 10% of our brains: Examining belief in science-related myths from an individual differences perspective |
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| Authors: | Viren Swami Stefan Stieger Jakob Pietschnig Ingo W Nader Martin Voracek |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia;2. Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Australia;3. School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology, Australia |
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| Abstract: | There currently exists a dearth of research on the transmission and assimilation of myths. To overcome this limitation, we developed a novel scale that measures belief in science-related myths. A total of 363 participants completed this new scale along with measures of personality (the Big Five factors), anti-scientific attitudes, and New Age orientation. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the items of the belief in myths scale could be reduced to two factors concerning human-related and non-human-related myths. Both factors were internally reliable, were moderately inter-correlated, and were not rated significantly differently by women and men (although human-related myths were rated as significantly more believable than non-human-related myths). Further analysis showed that only human myths were significantly predicted by anti-scientific attitudes and the Big Five factor of Extraversion. These results are discussed in relation to the promotion of scientific literacy. |
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