Introductory topics in Psychology common mistakes

Common mistakes

• Confusing compliance with internalisation

  Students often describe both as simply ‘changing behaviour’ without noting the difference in motivation.

  Fix itEmphasise that compliance is externally motivated, while internalisation is internally motivated; use examples that highlight the source of motivation.

• Confusing informational and normative influence

  Students often describe both types of influence as simply ‘group pressure’ without distinguishing the underlying motives.

  Fix itClarify that informational influence is about accuracy and normative influence is about social approval; use distinct examples for each.

• Confusing agentic state with obedience

  Assuming the agentic state is the same as obedience, rather than a psychological mechanism that facilitates obedience.

  Fix itClarify that the agentic state is a process that reduces personal responsibility, thereby increasing the likelihood of obedience.

• Confusing social support with social identity

  Students often think that belonging to a group automatically provides social support.

  Fix itSocial support refers to the help and reassurance received from others, whereas social identity is the sense of belonging to a group. While they can overlap, they are distinct concepts.

• Overlooking the role of flexibility

  Assuming minority influence is only about group size and consistency.

  Fix itExplain how flexibility of minority members can affect influence, such as by adapting to the majority’s concerns to increase persuasiveness.

• Confusing STM with Working Memory

  Students often describe working memory as a separate system rather than an elaborated view of short‑term memory.

  Fix itClarify that working memory is an extension of the STM concept, emphasising active manipulation of information, but the multi‑store model traditionally refers to STM as a passive store.

• Confusing short‑term and long‑term capacity

  Students often state that both short‑term and long‑term memory have limited capacity.

  Fix itClarify that short‑term memory has a limited capacity (~7±2 items) whereas long‑term memory is essentially unlimited.

• Misidentifying Working Memory Components

  Confusing the phonological loop with the visuo‑spatial sketchpad, or treating the episodic buffer as a separate storage system rather than an integrative one.

  Fix itClarify that the phonological loop handles verbal material, the visuo‑spatial sketchpad handles visual/spatial material, and the episodic buffer binds these with long‑term memory into a coherent episode.

• Confusing proactive and retroactive interference

  Assuming proactive interference always leads to forgetting of new information, and retroactive interference always leads to forgetting of old information.

  Fix itProactive interference refers to old information interfering with new learning, whereas retroactive interference refers to new information interfering with the recall of old information. Both can cause forgetting, but in opposite directions.

• Assuming anxiety improves eyewitness accuracy

  Many students think that being anxious makes a witness more alert and therefore more accurate.

  Fix itAnxiety can actually impair encoding and retrieval, reducing accuracy.