American Psychological Association eBooks· 2015· Book chapter
The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American.
- 193citations
- 2015year
Short summary
American psychology journals predominantly feature American samples and contributors, despite Americans being less than 5% of the global population, leading to an incomplete understanding of human psychology.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Less than 5% of the world's population is American, yet American samples dominate psychology research.
- APA journals show a predominant focus on American contributors and editorial leadership.
- The majority of the world lives in conditions vastly different from those in America.
- A philosophy of science that de-emphasizes cultural context contributes to the narrowness of research.
- Suggestions are offered to expand the scope of American psychological research.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article proposes that psychological research published in APA journals focuses too narrowly on Americans, who comprise less than 5% of the world's population.The result is an understanding of psychology that is incomplete and does not adequately represent humanity.First, an analysis of articles published in six premier APA journals is presented, showing that the contributors, samples, and editorial leadership of the journals are predominantly American.Then, a demographic profile of the human population is presented to show that the majority of the world's population lives in conditions vastly different from the conditions of Americans, underlining doubts of how well American psychological research can be said to represent humanity.The reasons for the narrowness of American psychological research are examined, with a focus on a philosophy of science that emphasizes fundamental processes and ignores or strips away cultural context.Finally, several suggestions for broadening the scope of American psychology are offered.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. American Psychological Association eBooks, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: General Psychology
General PsychologyPsychology