Jonathan Lassiter

Why is Psych So W.E.I.R.D.?

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abstract drawing of brain against colorful background

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 …

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Education is for Everyone

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In “Whiteness in the Psychological Imagination” Dr. Jonathan Lassiter, a Psychology professor, wrote about whiteness in academia and its effects on students of color. There were many aspects of this piece that resonated with me, but none so more than when Dr. Lassiter referenced a conversation he had with a Black female classmate named Natasha. This conversation led Natasha to tears after Dr. Lassiter asked her how she was doing, and it was this moment …

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Psychology is for one, but not for all

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Dr. Jonathan Lassiter, a professor at Muhlenberg College, expresses in one of his works “Whiteness in the Psychological Imagination” how the psychological narratives of people of color is left out of most studies, but particularly in psychological research. He addresses how whiteness is so ingrained in society that even when one is asked to imagine a “person”, a white person is what first appears in their mind. He explains how white is synonymous for person …

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The Whitewashing of Psychology

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We all have been exposed and influenced to the whitewashing of psychology, whether we’re a part of the professional academic discourse or not. Psychology theories and practices often times inform political policies to educational interventions that impact everyone in their daily lives. Here at Muhlenberg, psychology students learn about these theories and methods but we also are aware of the current field’s limitations. A significant flaw in the field is lack or representation of people …

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Fostering Racism

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For our final project for Contemporary Racism, we were placed into groups, asked to pick an interesting topic concerning race, do individual research, and record a podcast with our group. My group chose to look at racial disparities in the American foster care system, a subject about which I had no prior knowledge. At first, I was uneasy about choosing a topic that I knew nothing about, feeling as if my unfamiliarity would provide me …

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Psychological Parasites

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The world is full of hierarchies, organized in distinct categories with distinct characteristics. Hierarchies have a sense of superiority and inferiority between the things being ordered, such as movie ratings. Movies can be rated in different categories, but there is a sense of one movie being better than the other movie, and then better than the next. This can also happen with people. Some experts, such as Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow) say that …

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