It may be harder than we thought, but political diversity will (still) improve social psychological science

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarret T. Crawford ◽  
José L. Duarte ◽  
Jonathan Haidt ◽  
Lee Jussim ◽  
Charlotta Stern ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Do So

AbstractIn our target article, we made four claims: (1) Social psychology is now politically homogeneous; (2) this homogeneity sometimes harms the science; (3) increasing political diversity would reduce this damage; and (4) some portion of the homogeneity is due to a hostile climate and outright discrimination against non-liberals. In this response, we review these claims in light of the arguments made by a diverse group of commentators. We were surprised to find near-universal agreement with our first two claims, and we note that few challenged our fourth claim. Most of the disagreements came in response to our claim that increasing political diversity would be beneficial. We agree with our critics that increasing political diversity may be harder than we had thought, but we explain why we still believe that it is possible and desirable to do so. We conclude with a revised list of 12 recommendations for improving political diversity in social psychology, as well as in other areas of the academy.

Political diversity will improve social psychological science

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
José L. Duarte ◽  
Jarret T. Crawford ◽  
Charlotta Stern ◽  
Jonathan Haidt ◽  
Lee Jussim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Viewpoint Diversity ◽  
Academic Psychology ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPsychologists have demonstrated the value of diversity – particularly diversity of viewpoints – for enhancing creativity, discovery, and problem solving. But one key type of viewpoint diversity is lacking in academic psychology in general and social psychology in particular: political diversity. This article reviews the available evidence and finds support for four claims: (1) Academic psychology once had considerable political diversity, but has lost nearly all of it in the last 50 years. (2) This lack of political diversity can undermine the validity of social psychological science via mechanisms such as the embedding of liberal values into research questions and methods, steering researchers away from important but politically unpalatable research topics, and producing conclusions that mischaracterize liberals and conservatives alike. (3) Increased political diversity would improve social psychological science by reducing the impact of bias mechanisms such as confirmation bias, and by empowering dissenting minorities to improve the quality of the majority's thinking. (4) The underrepresentation of non-liberals in social psychology is most likely due to a combination of self-selection, hostile climate, and discrimination. We close with recommendations for increasing political diversity in social psychology.

A checklist to facilitate objective hypothesis testing in social psychology research

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony N. Washburn ◽  
G. Scott Morgan ◽  
Linda J. Skitka
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Hypothesis Testing ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Psychology Research ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Diverse Area ◽  
Social Psychological Theory

AbstractSocial psychology is not a very politically diverse area of inquiry, something that could negatively affect the objectivity of social psychological theory and research, as Duarte et al. argue in the target article. This commentary offers a number of checks to help researchers uncover possible biases and identify when they are engaging in hypothesis confirmation and advocacy instead of hypothesis testing.

Connecting Psychological Science With Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-277
Author(s):  
Geoffrey D. Munro ◽  
Margaret M. Behlen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Psychology ◽  
Helping Behavior ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Tree Model ◽  
Psychological Barriers ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
The Impact

Students often have little understanding of the role psychological science plays in informing us about the impact of human behavior when addressing climate change. We designed an assignment for a social psychology course based on Frantz and Mayer’s use of the decision tree model of helping behavior to identify the psychological barriers that reduce the likelihood that people will take action against climate change. Students identified one barrier and designed a persuasion or influence attempt to address that barrier. The assignment integrated social psychological topics in several areas (e.g., helping behavior, persuasion). A pretest–posttest design revealed that students’ knowledge of the role of psychological science in understanding climate change increased compared to a control class.

Integrating Experimental and Social Constructivist Social Psychology: Some of Us Are Already Doing It

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicia Pratto
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Experimental Social Psychology ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Social Constructivist ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Do So

I concur with Jost and Kruglanski (this issue) that the rift between social constructivist and experimental social psychology is bigger than it need be. I do so by showing that many social-psychological theories predict why we have the rift that we do. I use this method to point out that self-reflexivity is possible and desirable. This is especially the case when we try to consider how our own political and historical context influences our work. I give examples from my teaching of social psychology, and of contemporary research that has been informed by both social constructivist criticisms and by knowledge of experimental methods.

Other People's Struggles

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Owen
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
British History ◽  
Original Theory ◽  
The Past ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Do So

Other People’s Struggles is the first attempt in over forty years to explain the place of “conscience constituents” in social movements. Conscience constituents are people who participate in a movement but do not stand to benefit if it succeeds. Why do such people participate when they do not stand to benefit? Why are they sometimes present and sometimes absent in social movements? Why and when is their participation welcome to those who do stand to benefit, and why and when is it not? The work proposes an original theory to answer these questions, crossing discipline boundaries to draw on the findings of social psychology, philosophy, and normative political theory, in search of explanations of why people act altruistically and what it means to others when they do so. The theory is illustrated by examples from British history, including the antislavery movement, the women’s suffrage and liberation movements, labor and socialist movements, anticolonial movements, antipoverty movements, and movements for global justice. Other People’s Struggles also contributes to new debates concerning the rights and wrongs of “speaking for others.” Debates concerning the limits of solidarity—who can be an “ally” and on what terms—have become very topical in contemporary politics, especially in identity politics and in the new “populist” movements. The book provides a theoretical and empirical account of how these questions have been addressed in the past and how they might be framed today.

Individual and Societal Well-Being

2018 ◽  
pp. 698-722
Author(s):  
Shigehiro Oishi ◽  
Samantha J. Heintzleman
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Genetic Origins

This chapter highlights the contributions that have been made by personality and social psychology, respectively and together, to the science of well-being. Since its humble beginning in the 1930s, the science of well-being has grown to become one of the most vibrant research topics in psychological science today. The personality tradition of well-being research has shown that it is possible to measure well-being reliably, that self-reported well-being predicts important life outcomes, and that well-being has nontrivial genetic origins. The social psychology tradition has illuminated that there are various cultural meanings of well-being, that responses to well-being questions involve multiple cognitive processes, that happiness is experienced often in relationship contexts, and that it is possible to improve one’s well-being. Finally, there are recent methodological integrations of the personality and social psychology perspectives that delineate person–situation interactions.

Language—AND—Social Psychology: Epilogue

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-178
Author(s):  
Jake Harwood ◽  
Karen Tracy
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Psychology Research ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
40Th Anniversary ◽  
Key Terms

This Epilogue discusses the papers in the Special Issue ( JLSP 40th Anniversary) in terms of the broader field of language and social psychology. It reflects on the key terms (“language” and “social psychology”) in terms of how they intersect and the relative emphasis on each in work published in JLSP. We also present an argument for increasing the consideration of context in language and social psychology research, and we distinguish between a desire to generalize versus universalize our knowledge about language and social psychological processes.

“If you want to understand something, try to change it”: Social-psychological interventions to cultivate resilience

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddie Brummelman ◽  
Gregory M. Walton
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Positive Change ◽  
Psychological Interventions ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Resilience Mechanisms ◽  
Exciting Development ◽  
Unique Potential

AbstractWe argue that social psychology has unique potential for advancing understanding of resilience. An exciting development that illustrates this is the emergence of social-psychological interventions – brief, stealthy, and psychologically precise interventions – that can yield broad and lasting benefits by targeting key resilience mechanisms. Such interventions provide a causal test of resilience mechanisms and bring about positive change in people's lives.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: A GRIM Conceptual Replication

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Child Behavior Problems ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Mathematical Technique ◽  
Evidence Based Treatment ◽  
Parent Child Interaction Therapy ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Child Interaction ◽  
Parent Child Interaction ◽  
Parent Child

Brown and Heathers (2017) introduced a mathematical technique to detect statistical irregularities in reported statistics in scientific articles, which they named Granularity-Related Inconsistency of Means (GRIM). Focusing mostly on social psychology, the technique revealed nearly a third of published manuscripts in respected journals contained statistical anomalies. To this point, there has been no survey using the GRIM technique in clinical psychology. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based treatment for child behavior problems with a long record of research with many impressive findings. PCIT presents a new context within which to further test the GRIM technique and to better understand how widespread statistical irregularities occur throughout psychological science. Of the PCIT manuscripts that I evaluated (N = 24), over half (N = 17; 70.83%) contained at least one statistical anomaly. From these 17 manuscripts, only 4 (23.53%) of corresponding authors who were contacted responded to an inquiry about that anomaly. These results slightly differ from the original GRIM paper, with a higher percentage of PCIT manuscripts containing GRIM inconsistencies and with a lower rate of sharing data.

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