Motivational Influences of Detective Conan on Thai Undergraduate Psychology Students' Intentions to Pursue Advanced Studies in Forensic Psychology

Background and Aim: Popular culture may shape students’ academic engagement and career aspirations. This study examined associations between engagement with Detective Conan and undergraduates’ motivation to pursue advanced study in forensic psychology and criminology. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was completed by 182 psychology undergraduates in Bangkok, Thailand, from 200 invitees (91.0% response rate). Hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward’s method and squared Euclidean distance classified participants into high-, moderate-, and low-engagement groups. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified motivational dimensions, while two-way ANOVA compared factor scores by engagement group and academic year. Ethics approval and informed consent were obtained. Results: 90.34% of participants had read or watched Detective Conan, 72.89% reported applying concepts or skills from the series to psychology studies, and 41.67% retrospectively associated the franchise with their interest in forensic psychology. EFA yielded four factors: intrinsic interest in justice, pop-culture-driven motivation, professional advancement, and academic application. Sampling adequacy was confirmed (KMO = .84), and Bartlett’s test was significant, χ² (66) = 915.42, p < .001. High-engagement students scored higher than other groups in pop-culture-driven motivation and academic application (partial η² = .348 and .178, respectively; Tukey HSD, p < .001). Academic year was associated with professional-advancement motivation (partial η² = .125). Conclusion: Within the constraints of a cross-sectional, self-report design, Detective Conan engagement was associated with academic application and motivation for advanced forensic psychology study among Bangkok psychology undergraduates. However, the retrospective single-item measure, nonexperimental design, and geographically restricted sample preclude causal inference and warrant caution when generalizing the results.