Left-brained people are logical and analytical, while right-brained people are intuitive and creative.

Hypnosis can help you retrieve forgotten childhood memories. Most people only use 10% of their brain capacity.

Sugar makes kids hyper. Do these all sound familiar? They are all commonly held beliefs about human

behavior, psychology, and the brain.

But they're all wrong.

One recent study found that even college students who had just finished taking an introductory

psychology class still held many of these mistaken beliefs.

So where do myths like these come from and why are they so widespread?

Should psychology educators be spending more time

trying to debunk them in the classroom? And if so, what are the most effective ways to do so?

What's the best way to correct a misconception for yourself or for others? And how do you get more

accurate information out into the world? Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association

that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life.

I'm Kim Mills.

My guest today is Dr. Aaron Smith, the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Research and a Professor

of Psychology at California Baptist University. She is a developmental psychologist whose research

focuses on the psychology of religion, including how children develop religious beliefs and the

church as a place of social support. She's also interested in the psychology of

teaching and learning and how psychology is taught in introductory college courses. Together with nine

co-authors, she recently published a paper that looked at college students' misconceptions about

psychology, which is what we'll talk about today. Dr. Smith, thank you for joining me. Thank you so much for having me.

So let's start with the research I just mentioned. You and your co-authors surveyed college students

...