Save the best for last? Social psychology taught in introductory psychology courses

The purpose of the current study was to explore social psychology as it is taught within introductory psychology courses. Sixty syllabi from various educational institutions were randomly selected. Several variables such as the duration and placement of social psychology within introductory psychology courses were examined. Results indicated that social psychology is typically taught in the second half of an introductory psychology course (90.7%) and most lectures occur in the last quarter (51.2%). Results also show that 75% of the syllabi dedicated no more than 3 sessions to social psychology and over half of the courses spend no more than 3 hours teaching social psychology (65%). An argument for covering social psychology earlier in the course is made.