| Abstract: This study attempted to identify the effects of explicit achievement criteria on the explanation of psychological phenomena after exposure to technical terms or ordinary language. Forty-five psychology students participated, distributed according to the semester they belonged to (15 from the first semesters, 15 from intermediate semesters and 15 from last semesters). Participants from each grade level were assigned randomly to one of three sub-groups: G1, Technical Language Explanations; G2, Ordinary Language Explanations, and G3, Control group, no explanations. During the experimental procedure, participants were exposed to 1) one psychological phenomenon description, 2) an explanation about a phenomenon (in terms according to the group they were assigned to), 3) a task in which they had to paraphrase the explanation, and, 4) a task in which they had to choose, among four options, the best description to a phenomenon. Subsequently, they were provided with the achievement criteria and were again exposed to phases 1, 2, 3 and 4 with different psychological phenomena. Preliminary data shows that students of intermediate and final semesters slightly improve their development after the exposure to the achievement criteria. The importance of mastering the technical language of their discipline for psychology students is discussed. |