Measuring elements of psychological literacy in students : comparing gender, educational level and discipline

The term 'psychological literacy' relates to an individual's ability to apply an understanding of psychology to their everyday personal, social and work lives. An understanding of psychology can be useful for students across all disciplines, however there is little research comparing levels of psychological literacy across students from other disciplines. We aimed to explore the levels of psychological literacy across discipline, gender and education. Data was collected from a wide range of students and the sample comprised 128 females and 59 males, aged between 17 to 52 years (mean 23 years) studying pre-degree, undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Students came from five disciplines: Business, Health, IT, Law and Psychology. Statistical tests compared students across five dimensions of psychological literacy. There were many unexpected findings, for example there was a significant gender difference, such that females scored significantly lower psychological literacy than males. Regarding perceived knowledge of basic concepts and principles in psychology, Business students showed significantly higher levels, rather than psychology students. Although the results are surprising the sample was skewed with the majority female, at undergraduate level, and studying psychology. In the next stage of research, further data is being collected from the under-represented demographic groups so that we can ascertain whether these findings are consistent.