Misrepresentation, Liberalism, and Heterosexual Bias in Introductory Psychology Textbooks

Abstract

The present study investigated the content of 48 introductory psychology textbooks published over a five-year period (1975-1979) and recommended by publishing companies or psychology professors for use in Canadian universities. The findings indicated that for every one source of relevant information on homosexuality there were five sources of misrepresentative data that reflect a combination of misleading information, liberalism, and heterosexual bias. Textbook editors and authors have: (1) failed to address the rights and needs of gay people; (2) failed to document accurately the social changes associated with being gay; and (3) perpetuated societal stereotypes, thereby appearing to justify the prejudice and discrimination encountered by gay people in their daily lives. Guidelines for the discussion of lesbianism and male homosexuality in introductory psychology textbooks are proposed.

Review: Victoria Clarke and Elizabeth Peel (eds): Out in Psychology: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Perspectives. Chichester: Wiley, 2007, 496 pp. £105.00/E157.50/US$200.00, ISBN 9780470012871 (hbk)

“…Even though the heteronormative model still dominates, Barker's study found an improvement on previous research (McDonald, 1981;Simoni, 2000), in that mention of lesbian and gay lifestyles was less confined to tokenistic boxes and to research on sexual orientation, with more mentions and images of LG individuals in different contexts (e.g. parenting) throughout the lifespan.…”

Heteronormativity and the Exclusion of Bisexuality in Psychology

“…It is clear from my analysis that the coverage of lesbian and gay sexualities in textbooks has improved since the studies of McDonald (1981) and King (1988 Sexual orientation is generally constructed as rooted in biology, unchangeable and dichotomous. Bisexuality is rarely mentioned and, when it is, it is only included sporadically and not theorized in any depth.…”

“…Yanowitz and Weathers (2004) report that they often drive the content and presentation of undergraduate programmes, and that the majority of students see them as the most important sources of information on their courses. Whitbourne and Hulicka (1990) argued that textbooks both reflect and help shape the 'zeitgeist' of the academic discipline (p.1127), and McDonald (1981) stated that it is widely understood that 'textbooks function as agents of socialization by reflecting cultural values, articulating prevailing social norms, and conveying appropriate or socially acceptable standards of behaviour' (p.46).…”

“…The key study on the representation of sexuality in psychology textbooks is McDonald's (1981) content analysis of 48 US and Canadian introductory books. McDonald found that lesbian and gay relevant material was generally included in chapters on sexual 'deviation', 'dysfunction' or 'abnormality'.…”

“…McDonald also found little improvement in content between 1975 and 1979. There appears to be no systematic analysis of the coverage of lesbian and gay male sexualities in psychology textbooks between McDonald's (1981) study and Simoni's (2000) research on books published in the 1990s. However, King (1988) gave a feel for the way lesbian and gay male sexualities were covered in US texts published in the 1980s, reporting that lesbian and gay psychology was still either not mentioned at all, or considered in chapters on abnormal psychology or psychopathology.…”