Whitehead Presents Psychology Research  

SALISBURY, MD--Dr. George Whitehead, professor of psychology at Salisbury State University, and his colleague, Dr. Diane Finley from the Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville, recently presented their research on introductory psychology textbooks at the meeting of the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C. They examined whether textbook authors generally agreed on a common core of concepts and theories in the domain of social psychology.

After analyzing the social psychology chapters in 41 introductory psychology textbooks, Whitehead and Finley found only a small common core of concepts. The finding is important for psychology faculty in that students using different introductory textbooks may have different ideas about what constitutes social psychology, and students who take advanced psychology courses may have different knowledge bases when it comes to social psychology.