Classic Articles as Primary Source Reading in Introductory Psychology

Abstract

Given the frequent use of primary source readings by introductory psychology teachers, especially at liberal arts colleges, we compiled the citation frequencies of classic articles in introductory textbooks to help teachers select readings for their courses. Using a random sample of 24 of the most recent introductory texts (copyright dates 2004–2006), we checked for citation of the 40 classic studies that Gorenflo and McConnell (1991) identified as cited in a simple majority of textbooks in the late 1980s. We found that 22 of these articles still met this citation criterion. We discuss the general content of these articles and ways to supplement them to comprise a sufficiently diverse set of possible readings for the introductory course.

Who’s Who in Introductory Psychology Textbooks

“…Because our study used a different size textbook sample than did Griggs and Jackson (2007), we converted the citation frequencies in both studies to percentages so that we could directly compare the findings. Table 1 provides these two sets of citation percentages.…”

“…We identified the 22 articles cited in more than 50% of the textbooks that Griggs and Jackson (2007) examined and alphabetized them by first author’s last name. Next, we tabulated the citation frequency for each of these articles in the reference sections of our text sample.…”

“…Griggs and Jackson (2007) provided citation frequencies for the 40 articles that Gorenflo and McConnell (1991) found to be in a simple majority (greater than 50%) of their textbook sample. However, only 22 of these articles remained in a simple majority of Griggs and Jackson’s text sample.…”

“…Given this currency bias in citation, Griggs and Jackson (2007) examined the citation status of the 40 articles that Gorenflo and McConnell (1991) identified as cited in a simple majority of introductory textbooks from the late 1980s. How many of these articles had already been impacted by this emphasis on citation currency?…”

“…We settled on a sample size of 20. Given this sample, we decided to maximize the value of our study to teachers not only by updating the Griggs and Proctor (2002) index citation study (our main purpose) but also by updating the latest book citation study (Griggs et al, 2004) and article citation study (Griggs & Jackson, 2007). Study 1 is concerned with current article citation, Study 2 with current book citation, and Study 3 with current total page coverage of individual psychologists’ work.…”