Asch’s classic social pressure experiments are discussed in almost all introductory and social psychology textbooks. However, the results of these experiments have been shown to be misrepresented in textbooks. An analysis of textbooks from 1953 to 1984 revealed that although most of the responses on critical trials were independent correct ones, textbooks have increasingly over time emphasized the minority conformity responding and deemphasized the majority independent responding. An analysis of 20 introductory psychology textbooks and 10 introductory social psychology textbooks revealed that this distorted coverage has not only persisted but increased over the past 30 years. Given the entrenchment of such coverage in current texts, a suggestion for how to address this distorted coverage without major text revision is provided.
*Indicates an introductory psychology textbook examined in the main study.
2.
**Indicates an introductory social psychology textbook examined in the follow-up study.
3.
**AronsonE. (2012). The social animal (11th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
4.
**AronsonE.WilsonT. D.AkertR. M. (2013). Social psychology (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
5.
AschS. E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment. In GuetzkowH. (Ed.), Groups, leadership and men (pp. 177–190). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Press.
6.
AschS. E. (1952). Social psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
7.
AschS. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 31–35.
8.
AschS. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: 1. A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs, 70, (Whole No. 416).
**BaumeisterR. F.BushmanB. J. (2014). Social psychology and human nature (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
11.
BernsG. S.ChappelowJ.ZinkC. F.PagnoniG.Martin-SkurskiM. E.RichardsJ. (2005). Neurobiological correlates of social conformity and independence during mental rotation. Biological Psychiatry, 58, 245–253.
12.
*CacioppoJ. T.FrebergL. A. (2012). Discovering psychology: The science of mind. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
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*CarpenterS.HuffmanK. (2013). Visualizing psychology (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
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*CarterK.SeifertC. M. (2013). Learn psychology. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
15.
*CiccarelliS. K.WhiteJ. N. (2015). Psychology (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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*ComerR.GouldE. (2012). Psychology around us (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
17.
*FeistG. J.RosenbergE. L. (2012). Psychology: Perspectives and connections (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
18.
**FranzoiS. (2013). Social psychology (6th ed.). Redding, CA: BVT Publishing.
19.
FriendR.RaffertyY.BramelD. (1990). A puzzling misinterpretation of the Asch ‘conformity’ study. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 29–44.
20.
*GerrigR. J. (2013). Psychology and life (20th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
21.
**GilovichT.KeltnerD.ChenS.NisbettR. E. (2013). Social psychology (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Norton.
22.
*GrayP.BjorklandD. F. (2014). Psychology (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
23.
GriggsR. A. (2014a). Coverage of the Stanford prison experiment in introductory psychology textbooks. Teaching of Psychology, 41, 195–203.
24.
*GriggsR. A. (2014b). Psychology: A concise introduction. New York, NY: Worth
25.
GriggsR. A. (2014c). The continuing saga of Little Albert in introductory psychology textbooks. Teaching of Psychology, 41, 309–317.
26.
GriggsR. A.WhiteheadG. I.III (2014). Coverage of the Stanford Prison Experiment in introductory social psychology textbooks. Teaching of Psychology, 41, 318–324.
27.
*GrisonS.HeathertonT.GazzanigaM. (2015). Psychology in your life. New York, NY: Norton.
28.
HarrisP. R. (1985). Asch’s data and the ‘Asch effect’: A critical note. British Journal of Social Psychology24, 229–230.
29.
*HockenburyD. H.HockenburyS. E. (2013). Psychology (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
30.
HodgesB. H.GeyerA. L. (2006). A nonconformist account of the Asch experiments. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 2–19.
31.
JahodaM. (1959). Conformity and independence. Human Relations, 12, 99–120.
32.
JarrettC. (2008). Foundations of sand?The Psychologist, 21, 756–759.
33.
JettenJ.HornseyM. J. (Eds.). (2011). Rebels in groups: Dissent, deviance, difference and defiance. Chichester, England: Wiley-Blackwell.
34.
JettenJ.HornseyM. J. (2012). Conformity: Revisiting Asch’s line-judgment studies. In SmithJ. R.HaslamS. A. (Eds.), Social psychology: Revisiting the classic studies (pp. 76–90). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
35.
**KassinD. T.FeinS.MarkusH. R. (2013). Social psychology (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
36.
**KenrickD. T.NeubergS. L.CialdiniR. B. (2010). Social psychology: Goals in interaction (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
37.
*KingL. A. (2014). The science of psychology: An appreciative view (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
*KrullD. S. (2013). Introduction to psychology. Charlotte, NC: Kona Publishing.
40.
*LichtD. M.HullM. G.BallantyneC. (2014). Psychology. New York, NY: Worth.
41.
*LilienfeldS. O.LynnS. J.NamyL. L.WoolfN. J. (2014). Psychology: From inquiry to understanding (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
42.
McKeachieW. J. (2002). Teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
43.
MorawskiJ. G. (1992). There is more to our history of giving: The place of introductory psychology textbooks in American psychology. American Psychologist, 47, 161–169.
44.
*MyersD. G. (2013). Psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
45.
**MyersD. G. (2012). Social psychology (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
46.
*NevidJ. S. (2013). Psychology: Concepts and applications (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
47.
*PastorinoE. E.Doyle-PortilloS. M. (2012). What is psychology? (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
48.
*RathusS. A. (2012). Psychology: Concepts and connections (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
49.
**SandersonC. A. (2010). Social psychology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
50.
*SchacterD. L.GilbertD. T.WegnerD. M. (2014). Psychology (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth.
51.
SmythM. M. (2001a). Certainty and uncertainty sciences: Marking the boundaries of psychology in introductory textbooks. Social Studies of Sciences, 11, 389–416.
52.
SmythM. M. (2001b). Fact making in psychology: The voice of the introductory textbook. Theory & Psychology, 11, 609–636.
53.
SmythM. M. (2004). Exploring psychology’s low epistemological profile in psychology’s textbooks: Are stress and stress disorders made within disciplinary boundaries?Theory & Psychology, 14, 527–543.
54.
SteuerF. B.HamK. W.II (2008). Psychology textbooks: Examining their accuracy. Teaching of Psychology, 35, 160–168.
