Psychology is constantly evolving, however that being said, it still has its flaws. Have you noticed that psychological research is biased? Early psychology is surrounded in white culture and unfortunately, it has led to current psychology remaining the same. The reason that psychology is grounded in whiteness, is due to the fact that white supremacy still exists and the lasting effects of it.
The lack of diversity within psychological research is alarming. WEIRD stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The acronym, WEIRD, was created to bring awareness of the fact that research in psychology is extremely westernized and biased because of its groundness in whiteness. White supremacy is the false belief that white Americans are the dominant race, hence should become the societal norm. Because of this hateful way of thinking, it creates unnecessary racial hierarchies, inequalities, and privileges in society. As a white, cisgender woman living in the United States, I understand there is a privileged way of living – however this norm is at the expense of others. An example of psychology being grounded in whiteness is when conducting studies, researchers would set white people as the “default”. This ties right back into the acronym WEIRD as this demonstrates the westernized side of psychological research. An article written by Johnathan Lassiter brings up important details about the presence of whiteness in psychology. In the article, Lassiter mentions a study was conducted in the 1800s where researchers would compare racial differences between individuals. The study observed various different characteristics within each person, however the one that stuck out to me was peoples’ intellectual skills. The study concluded that a white persons’ intellectual skills should be valued more than the others (of which they were of a different racial identity). It is extremely disturbing that researchers believed this to be true – white people were clearly placed higher and seen as the “standard” within psychological research.
We must eliminate bias and the visibly, clear white presence within psychological research. In order to make a difference, we need to take the first steps in ending it. That being said, what are some steps society can take in order to reduce the WEIRD spaces within psychology?
I very much appreciate your input into the “WEIRD” side of psychological research, it often goes unmentioned in discussing which populations we choose to sample from. I also like how you mentioned the aspect of white supremacy in the United States, since the meaning of the “W” in the “WEIRD” acronym is typically interchangeable with “Western” and “White”. In terms of what I think we can do to eliminate the constant usage of WEIRD participants, I believe actively sampling from more diverse populations could be the main solution.