Eight Things Wrong with Introductory Psychology Courses in America: A Warning to My European Colleagues

Abstract

Introductory Psychology is the first course that must be taken by any students interested in studying psychology in an American university. It is also the only psychology class taken by most other students. The class has problems both resulting from conflicting class goals and poorly designed textbooks. Further, institutional forces within the university, market forces within the publishing industry, and general complacency within the field conspire to entrench these problems. If European psychologists are not vigilant, the pressure to emulate the American university system will results in the same problems.