Scientific literacy: It's not just the textbooks. Psychology students score higher, too

Why introductory psychology?

“…Scientific literacy is not about knowing scientific facts but about being able to distinguish between evidence and belief, understand the role of theory, and appreciate the value of controlled research methods. Macias (2019) found that introductory psychology students scored higher in a test of scientific literacy than students who had taken other science courses and students who had not taken any science courses. Introductory psychology textbooks devote considerable space to scientific methods (Macias & Macias, 2018), and analysis of teachers' learning goals for introductory psychology indicates that they also emphasize the scientific basis of psychology (Homa et al, 2013;Miller & Gentile, 1998).…”