Is Mainstream Psychological Research "Womanless" and "Raceless"? An Updated Analysis
Abstract
In the late 20th century, mainstream psychological research was accused of being "womanless" and "raceless" by excluding women and members of racial-ethnic minority groups and by interpreting their experiences as deviant from White male norms. The present article provides an updated analysis of the state of psychological research by examining research published in 2007 in eight prominent journals across four subdisciplines (N = 255). Two types of data were examined: (1) gender and racial-ethnic representation at the levels of editor, senior author, and participant, and (2) the presence of biased assumptions in reporting tendencies. Representation was interpreted in relation to relevant baselines drawn from U. S. data. Women and members of racial-ethnic minority groups do not appear to be underrepresented as editors in mainstream psychology. However, women continue to be underrepresented as senior authors, and members of racial-ethnic minority groups continue to be underrepresented as research participants. Furthermore, studies using predominately male or White samples (vs. female or racial-ethnic minority samples) were less likely to indicate participant gender or race-ethnicity in the title and marginally less likely to provide a rationale for including participants of only one social group, consistent with the notion that reporting tendencies within mainstream psychological research continue to reflect assumptions that men and Whites are more typical members of the category "human" than are women and racial-ethnic minorities. These findings indicate that mainstream psychology has not yet reached social equity and that efforts to increase diversity and decrease subtle biases should continue to be supported and funded.
Recommended Citation
Cundiff, J. L. (2012). Is Mainstream Psychological Research "Womanless" and "Raceless"? An Updated Analysis. Sex Roles, 67(3-4), pp. 158-173. Springer New York.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-012-0141-7
Department(s)
Psychological Science
Keywords and Phrases
Androcentrism; Ethnicity; Ethnocentrism; Gender; Race
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0360-0025
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2012 Springer New York, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2012
