As we enter a new school semester, thousands of students will once again face the exorbitant prices of college textbooks. I’ve read a number of introductory psychology textbooks and while I love textbooks and have a deep appreciation for the amount of work that goes in to them, the truth is that doing this caused me to wonder what purpose textbooks really serve. They are certainly great resources, but are they serving the needs of introductory students?
I decided to take a look at 10 popular introductory psychology textbooks on Amazon this morning. Here’s what I found:
Price
Let’s begin by considering the price of these texts. As you can see, the average introductory psychology book here costs $196.65. You might notice that although the oldest edition here (Weitan Themes & Variations – 2012) is out-of-date for the DSM-5 (released in 2013), it remains the most expensive book on the list, with a price of $252.27. The sales ranking suggests that it is still being purchased, which indicates that it is likely being assigned as the primary text for some courses. I have no problem with a teacher using a slightly out-of-date text and supplementing when needed, but this is usually to save students money not encourage them to purchase an out-of-date text that is one of the most expensive on the market.
But no matter which textbook we look at on this list, we should agree that prices are high, especially when we consider that students are likely taking several classes each semester. We can easily see why the College Board has estimated that the yearly cost of books and supplies for students is $1,298.
With prices this high, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that some students are opting out, with reports of 65% of students having skipped purchasing a textbook at some point (and of course, this figure doesn’t include the number of students who purchase a text but barely open it all semester). It seems that publishers are creating products that students don’t really want, but they’re mostly able to get away with this because students are “captive consumers” with little choice over which text they purchase. I don’t have a problem with teachers requiring students to read certain texts, but unfortunately this creates a situation publishers can take advantage of. And they certainly have been taking advantage, as textbook prices have risen dramatically in the past few decades, with NBC news reporting an increase of 1,041% from 1977 to 2015, evoking comparisons with increases in prescription drug costs (another set of “captive consumers”).
It’s a bit ironic that we’re living in a time in which content has never been easier to access (you can find Wikipedia pages for nearly all of the concepts in an introductory psychology course for free) and yet textbooks are more expensive than ever. If content is more readily available than ever before, why are students being asked to pay so much for it?
Pages
It’s not just costs that have spun out of control. Part of the reason costs have risen is that publishers have realized they can force students to buy more information than they need. A bigger book can help to justify a bigger price, even if all those pages aren’t really necessary. Publishers have learned that filling pages helps to empty wallets.
Books supposedly intended to provide an introduction to the subject have become bloated beyond belief, with the average page count for the books above at 815 pages. Is it any surprise that students struggle when confronted with an 800+ page book for what is usually a single semester class? I also find it a bit strange that the textbook marketed as being for the youngest students (Myers for AP) is also the longest at 944 pages. I would expect a text geared toward high-schoolers to be simplified rather than expanded, but I suppose that would make it harder for Worth Publishers representatives to justify the cost to a school’s budget.
Introductory textbooks now typically involve teams of writers as well as editors, graphic designers, art directors, marketing managers, draft reviewers and other contributors (spare no expense, students will pick up the tab) creating works that are as impressive as they are inflated. The approach is essentially to create much more content than students need, ensure they pay for all of it, then let the teacher figure out how much will actually make its way into the course.
Some publishers are beginning to recognize that students want more concise versions of textbooks. I discovered that Cengage Learning offers a “briefer version” of Weiten’s Themes and Variations book. This version has been shortened to 768 pages (down from 928) but for some reason this reduction comes at a cost, raising the price to $263.95.
Purpose
I’d like to suggest that we do something that publishers seem to have forgotten to do; consider the purpose an introductory textbook is meant to serve. It seems to me that textbooks should be teaching students the fundamental principles of a subject and preparing them to interact with real research and scholarship in a particular field. A textbook shouldn’t attempt to cover everything in the field, and should it try, as many now do, this is an effort destined to fail.
This is equivalent to thinking that a foreign language textbook must teach every single word, idiom, and grammatical construction in a language. Instead, a language textbook should prepare students to interact with the language in real-life settings (conversations, books, films, etc.) where they will continue learning more. Once you can begin learning from real sources of the language, a textbook is no longer necessary. Similarly, as soon as students have a grasp of the concepts and techniques of psychological research, they should move to studying and analyzing actual research. The purpose of an introductory textbook should be to get students to this point as quickly and easily as possible.
Another problem with the attempt to cover everything in a single text is that this can lead to inaccuracies which are overlooked. As texts have become more and more unwieldy, it’s harder for authors to investigate each concept on an individual basis and so they may pass on flawed or biased information. You may have seen some press articles describing a recently published study which rated 24 introductory psychology texts for their inclusion of inaccurate information and bias in describing certain potentially controversial topics. If authors don’t have enough time to think deeply about all the content they put into their books, can we really expect this of students?
Adding to this problem is the time-lag of publication. It’s essentially impossible to have an 800 page volume be up to date when illustrations, graphics, cartoons, and captions need to be added on nearly every page, in addition to the time needed to prepare all the supplementary materials which are now expected to be included (teacher’s editions, student workbooks, test banks, etc.). No matter how well researched and written, some aspects of a textbook will be out-of-date by the time it reaches a student’s hands. The bulk of these gargantuan tomes means they just can’t move as quickly.
This isn’t a case of ambitious authors attempting to be on the cutting edge of research (which would be the place where an author is most likely to get cut). Newer research is generally kept out of textbooks until it has been tested by time, but sometimes new research overturns older ideas that have already made their way into textbooks. The so-called “replication crisis” in psychology demonstrates that even theories and ideas that appear established may be resting on unstable foundations and may topple at any moment.
This in itself is not a big deal; it’s how intellectual progress occurs. It’s also why the goal of an introductory class should be to teach students how to think, not teach them a list of facts. They should develop the flexibility and the humility to accept changing ideas and interpretations, seeing these as exciting new ways of thinking rather than threats to one’s existing knowledge.
So what does this have to do with textbooks? The issue here is the waste of resources that comes from stuffing so much content and so many graphics, captions, and cartoons into textbooks for ideas that may eventually be discarded anyway. Are these things really helping students to analyze ideas, or are they providing a false sense of “factual” legitimacy to ideas which should still be questioned? If we consider the goal of a textbook is to teach the fundamental approaches and analytical skills that aren’t so easily overturned, we might realize it shouldn’t take 800 pages to accomplish this.
I will admit that there is a potential danger of oversimplifying content when shortening it, but I think a greater danger lies in overwhelming students with more content than they can possibly learn. Simplifications at the introductory level can be overcome with later detailed study, but a loss of confidence, interest, or motivation can cause a student to abandon the field entirely.
Prospects
Despite all of the problems above, I’m upbeat rather than angry. I believe that students are beginning to have more choice and greater control over their education. I have no doubt that new avenues will open to serve their needs and the ready availability of online content means it’s easier for educators to get information to students without being reliant on expensive textbooks.
Publishers are making changes that can make textbooks more affordable. Of course, rather than working to offer shorter, cheaper texts that better meet student needs, most publishers are working to lower costs in ways that allow them to maintain control and profit margins, such as renting out books on a semester basis (allowing them to control the used book supply and profit from reselling the same book over and over) and offering slightly-less-expensive (but still pricey) ebooks for rental or purchase. Many students have complained about rental policies due to difficulties with shipping, high late fees, and the fact that failure to return a book can result in being charged the new purchase price, even though the rented copy was already used when received. Nevertheless, options are expanding and these have the potential to lower costs for students.
Open textbooks provide another alternative to traditional textbooks. I’ve looked over several open psychology textbooks including the OpenStax text available here, the Boundless text here, and the NOBA text available here. To be honest, I don’t see these as ideal solutions yet and I haven’t found any that are particularly engaging reads (I’d love to hear from you if you have) but they do provide a structured way to begin exploring psychology for an introductory learner.
The approach that I’ve chosen to confront these problems is one that I believe has great promise. Independent publishing is easier than it has ever been and this means that educators can create customized resources that they believe in and then make these available to learners at a fraction of the cost of traditional textbooks. I’d love to see a future in which more customized content is available to meet the needs of learners and I hope that other educators will join me in making this happen.
Whether you’re an educator or a student, I’d love for you to share your thoughts on how to improve education in psychology and what role textbooks should play in the process.
