Topical Coverage in Introductory Psychology
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Abstract
Because 98% of teachers use textbooks for the introductory psychology course and the majority of introductory teachers do not assign reading beyond the textbook, examining the topical coverage allocation pattern in introductory textbooks versus that in introductory course lectures is important for our understanding of how introductory students are being educated about our discipline. We examined this relationship by comparing chapter topical allocation findings for textbooks with lecture allocation findings based upon analysis of introductory course syllabi. The two patterns of topical allocation were very similar, indicating that, for the most part, teachers teach the text (allocate lecture time to chapter topics in proportion to the space allocated to them in introductory texts). The implications for textbook selection are discussed.