The Importance and Interest of Introductory Psychology Textbook Topics

Abstract

Introductory psychology students at a technical college, 2-year community college, and a regional university rated how important textbook chapters or topics were to them now and in the future and how interesting they were. Importance and interest ratings were highly correlated, and the whole course was rated of greater importance and interest than was any individual topic. Most topics were ranked between important and quite important both currently and for the future, and university students typically rated both topic importance and interest higher. Males rated statistics of greater interest than did females; females rated importance of developmental now and in the future higher than did males. Women also rated current and future importance and interest in abnormal psychology and the future importance of therapy higher. Implications for introductory psychology instructors, departments, and advisors are discussed.

Studying for Introductory Psychology: Differences Across Technical College, 2-, and 4-Year Institutions

“…Overall, these results are consistent with prior work that found differences among students at different types of institutions (McCann et al, 2016;McCann et al, 2013). Future work might further explore the perceived differences in helpfulness of textbook and lecture notes/activities/importance between U and CC students and the TC students to better understand what drives these differences, differences that should be important information for psychology instructors at the various types of institutions.…”

“…Moreover, prior research has focused on studying habits in general rather than on how students study for IP. Because students at these different types of institutions have been found to differ on characteristics such as grade expectations (McCann, Immel, Kadah-Ammeter, & Priniski, 2013) and the importance and interest of IP textbook topics (McCann, Immel, Kadah-Ammeter, & Adelson, 2016), they may also use different approaches to studying for the IP course.…”

Topical coverage in teaching introductory psychology: A national survey of instructors.

“…Research on student interest in various subfields of psychology has produced variable findings and may reflect changes in either student interests over time or instructor enthusiasm for particular areas. The most consistent findings in recent studies showed stronger student interest in more applied areas of psychology, such as clinical psychology and health psychology, and lesser interest in more basic content areas such as physiological psychology and history of psychology (McCann et al, 2016;McCann & Kadah-Ammeter, 2011;Stalder & Stec, 2007;Zanich & Grover, 1989).…”