Results of the content analysis of 60 introductory psychology textbooks published or revised between 1969 and 1975 were compared with another analysis of 52 texts published or revised between 1980 and 1989. Recent texts were found to be not only more voluminous and more comprehensive but also more readable than their predecessors. However, within the set of newer texts, book length was negatively correlated with readability scores. Examination of the most frequently and least frequently used terms revealed some interesting trends in the contents of introductory psychology textbooks since 1975.
Physical attractiveness, age, and sex were manipulated to determine their effect on the evaluation of 54 (18 per job) hypothetical applicants' resumes for 3 different jobs (tax manager of an industrial firm, postmaster, and vice principal of a high school) by 60 MBA students (20 MBA student-raters per job), evenly divided between the 2 sexes and among 3 age levels, who voluntarily participated in the 3 experiments. As hypothesized, physical attractiveness favorably influenced (p < .01) the suitability ratings for all jobs; raters' sex was not significant but applicants' sex significantly (p < .03) affected ratings for the job of tax manager; and applicants' age as a main effect was significant (p < .05) for 1 job (vice principal) but the raters' age was not significant for any. A number of interactions, some of which were hypothesized, emerged as significant (p < .05), which indicated that age and sex biases operate in a subtle and complex fashion and are moderated by a number of social and personal attributes of the raters and the ratees.
A factor analysis of terms in texts and data on readability of texts highlights the predicament of the instructor in selecting a book for his students.
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