Psychology Faculty Publications

Professional Human Services Occupation Biases Represented in General Psychology Textbooks

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2009

Journal Title

Journal of Instructional Psychology

Volume

36

Issue

3

First Page

194

Last Page

202

Abstract

We examined the coverage given by General Psychology textbooks, representing 8 major commercial publishers, regarding the professions of psychology, counseling, marriage & family therapy, and social workers. Of the 24 textbooks assessed, we found substantial bias favoring the coverage of psychology. While 25% of the texts mentioned social workers, there was relatively little attention given to professional counselors or marriage & family therapists. A case is made for more parity to be shown for a larger cross-section of professions in these texts-since General Psychology courses tend to hold some measure of gate-keeping exposure for the human service professions.

Keywords

Human services, psychology

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS