An Historical Analysis of the Content of Educational Psychology Textbooks 1954-1983

A description of the content of educational psychology textbooks from 1954-83 was carried out by determining the number of pages devoted to each of 38 content categories. The data were analyzed in three time periods: 1954-64, 1965-75, 1976-83. Topics like emotional-social development, mental health, personality theories, and personality all received less coverage over the time periods. Topics that seemed to center on the pragmatic concerns of teachers increased. Some central topics to educational psychology, such as intelligence, memory and forgetting, and statistics and research design were at their peak in the 1965-75 period but have dwindled since then. A clear trend away from theory toward classroom practice was observed and discussed.