Principles of Social Psychology
I compared "Introduction to Social Psychology" openstax college TM to three exemplar textbooks that I had previously taught from. Those texts were: Robert S. Feldman (2001), Social Psychology 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall New Jersey ISBN: 0 – 13 - 027479 - 8 Alcock, J.E., Carment, D.W. & Sadava, S.W., (2005), A Textbook of Social Psychology, 6th Edition, Pearson Canada Inc., Toronto, ISBN 0 - 13 – 121741 - 0 Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., Fehr, B. & Akert, R.M., (2013), Social Psychology, 5th Canadian Edition, Pearson Canada Inc., ISBN 978 - 0- 13 - 216539 - 6 In the 11 commentaries, I have compared the current textbook to the 3 exemplars. It is upon these comparisons that I base my comments. Chris Montoya BC Open Textbooks Review Criteria for the Saylor Textbook: Introduction to Social Psychology. Of some interest is the fact that the creator's name was withheld on request. 1. Comprehensiveness - The text covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately and provides an effective index and/or glossary. Compared to the other three textbooks on social psychology that I used as templates I have concluded that the Saylor textbook covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately. However, and disturbingly, there is no real chapter index, author index with page numbers, or glossary of terms. As an educator I find this most distracting. In my younger days as a student I would run to a chapter table of contents, author index, or glossary of terms at the end of the book. It was always most helpful when the terms were associated with an exact definition, and appropriate page numbers. Often times in the text certain terms are not defined in all areas. Having a glossary really helps. Not having an excellent Subject Index in a textbook or an adequate Chapter Index (Table of Contents) I feel is a great hindrance and deficiency in the current text that I am reviewing. All three of the other exemplar texts have excellent subject indexes. As an instructor I would not use a text that lacked these essential features. I realize that this is an open online text and students can type in words they are unfamiliar with, however, it is the very fact that they are unfamiliar with these terms that concerns me. Whereas I have no problem navigating the nomological pitfalls I feel that the author is assuming a basic level of understanding that the majority of second and third year university students do not have.
2. Content Accuracy – Content, including diagrams and other supplementary material, is accurate, error-free and unbiased. The content is accurate and compelling. The author writes in an unbiased, objective, and persuasive scientific manner. The diagrams, however, are simplistic, flat, and lack color. In the exemplar texts there were an average of three colors per page. In the current text there were two. In addition, the earth tones used made the reading of what should have been interesting material bland. I find it interesting that in a social psychology textbook there are no actual photographs of people interacting. These types of actual color photographs add dimension, depth, and engage the hearts of the students. In the three other textbooks there are photographs of people interacting in all manner of social, political, emotional, and business etc. environments. By not having actual photographs of people I find that the book comes across as less interesting than its content would otherwise suggest. In addition, the author uses italicized words to highlight I find the addition of bold words embedded in the paragraphs or color words in the margins (as in the other three texts) really highlights important concepts. In general, having taught face-to-face, blended, synchronous, asynchronous, print, web, and online courses, I find that certain excellent features in standard Hard Copy Textbooks also NEED to be incorporated in online copies.
3. Relevance/Longevity – Content is up-to-date, but not in a way that will quickly make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The text is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement. I am assuming that the text has a publication date of 2013. The three other exemplar texts had references dating to within two years of their publication dates. In addition, all texts had discussed papers that were currently in press. Therefore the contents of the textbook are current and up-to-date. The text is also written in a style that will last. We see further because we stand on the shoulders of giants. This well-known quote applies to all well-written textbooks. As such, for the current textbook, necessary updates will be easy and straightforward to implement.
4. Clarity - The text is written in lucid, accessible prose, and provides adequate context for any jargon/technical terminology used. The current text is easy to follow, easy to comprehend, and is not overly burdened with jargon or dry statistics. The text, therefore, is clear, and what profs call in the area an easy read. One point: The author seems to write in an older style for instance the definition of self-concept on page 167: "The self-concept is a knowledge representation that contains knowledge about us, including our beliefs about our personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles as well as the knowledge that we exist as individuals." Compared to the 2013 Social Psychology Comparison Text definition: "The contents of the self; that is, our knowledge about who we are." This simple definition appears to the side of the prose in the textbook page 124 highlighted in Bold Large Print Orange & also appears in a most excellent glossary of terms page 498. The text in the rest of the page fleshes out further meaning.
Yes
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8. Interface – The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader. I don't want to go into too much detail, however, and for example there are minor irritations in the text that concern me. For example in a finished text subheadings should not appear at the bottom of the page with no text below them. On page 66, the subheading: How Schemas Maintain Themselves... is so positioned. In addition, on page 67 under the heading research focus concerning confirmation bias, the author refers to a figure without stating the figure number. He's talking about figure 2.1 but simply says you can see in the following figure. When writing textbooks, or book chapters, or international peer-reviewed journal articles, the interface between what is written and the graphs provided is indeed critical. This pattern of not referring to graphs, charts, and tables continues throughout the textbook.
9. Grammatical Errors – The text contains no grammatical errors. None that I found, although I do not tend to spend too much time looking for grammar errors. I speed read and scan, when I did start looking … On page 629 Theblack Sheep Effect … The and black were run together… again I am sure that you have grammar editors for such mundane tasks.
10. Cultural Relevance – The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. It should make use of examples that are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. I am not sure… In Canada we tend not to use the terms Whites and Blacks on page 94 the author uses the following sentence: White, Black, and Hispanic or Mexican-American… The author continues using the White and Black references on the following pages, 614 616 622 628 629.., and more... In addition, we tend not to use the word Indian in Canadian literature but prefer First Nations. Starting on page 315 there are five references to "Indian" that I found. Other than these two questionable areas I found the text to be well rounded and non-offensive.
11. Are there any other comments you would like to make about this book, for example, its appropriateness in a Canadian context or specific updates you think need to be made? ... personal preference bonobo monkeys... I refer to these in my lecturers because they make love not war. The 2013 Social Psychology comparison text makes mention : )the current text does not. I find this text appropriate for 4th year University Students although I would not use it for the above listed reasons. I hope this review is useful to your work.
This review originated in the BC Open Textbook Collection and is licensed under CC BY-ND.