To determine how topical coverage in introductory textbooks may have changed from the 1980s to the present, the author examined topic coverage in full-length and brief introductory textbooks from this time period. Because 98% of the teachers use textbooks for the introductory course and the majority do not assign reading beyond the textbook, the…

Study showed that undergraduate psychology teachers are actively involved in fashioning the discipline by selecting that which is taught. Teacher and institutional characteristics play an important part in determining the selection factors which affect what constitutes conceptual tradition in the field. (RM)