RESEARCH PAPER
A Comparison of Probabilistic Reasoning in Psychology Undergraduates in Italy and Spain: Seeking Cross-national Evidence
 
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1
Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy - Faculty of Humanistic Studies, University of Cagliari, ITALY
 
2
Department of Social and Quantitative Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, SPAIN
 
3
Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, ITALY
 
 
Online publication date: 2019-04-23
 
 
Publication date: 2019-04-23
 
 
Corresponding author
Mirian Agus   

University of Cagliari - Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy - Faculty of Humanistic Studies
 
 
EURASIA J. Math., Sci Tech. Ed 2019;15(10):em1752
 
KEYWORDS
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ABSTRACT
A cross-national comparison between Italy and Spain was conducted on probabilistic reasoning performance presented in verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial formats. This study investigated the similarities and differences in Psychology undergraduates in these two countries (Italy n=290; Spain n=130) and attempted to identify aspects that might enhance the probability of a student belonging to one country. The findings underscored that Spanish students had higher levels of visuospatial abilities, more positive attitudes toward statistics, lower statistical anxiety, and higher confidence in the correctness of their responses. Additionally, they gave a higher number of correct responses to problems presented in a verbal-numerical format. These data suggest interesting insights and highlight the interactions among multiple layers of variables at the collective, contextual, and individual levels.
 
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