Benevolence in the Teaching of Psychology

Abstract

Although discussions have taken place concerning the possible sources of textbook distortions of experiments and other material, researchers have not investigated the possible effects of these distortions on students’ responses. The present study considered this issue. Students were presented with three different versions of two topics commonly discussed in introductory psychology textbooks. The three versions varied in complexity and completeness. Analyses of test responses indicated that students presented with oversimplified versions did not respond at a chance level of correctness but actually went beyond the information given and made incorrect inferences. Complex presentations, however, did not adversely affect the students’ test responses. These results argue against presentation styles that use oversimplified treatments of topics. Further implications of these results are discussed.