Racial Inequality in Psychological Research: Trends of the Past and Recommendations for the Future

Race plays an important role in how people think, develop, and behave. In the current article, we queried more than 26,000 empirical articles published between 1974 and 2018 in top-tier cognitive, developmental, and social psychology journals to document how often psychological research acknowledges...

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Published in:Perspectives on psychological science Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 1295 - 1309
Main Authors: Roberts, Steven O., Bareket-Shavit, Carmelle, Dollins, Forrest A., Goldie, Peter D., Mortenson, Elizabeth
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2020
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Cognition
Cognitive psychology
Developmental psychology
Editing
Psychological research
Psychological Studies
Psychology
Race
Racial inequality
Racism
Scholarship
Social psychology
race
systemic inequality
review
metascience
ISSN:1745-6916, 1745-6924, 1745-6924
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Race plays an important role in how people think, develop, and behave. In the current article, we queried more than 26,000 empirical articles published between 1974 and 2018 in top-tier cognitive, developmental, and social psychology journals to document how often psychological research acknowledges this reality and to examine whether people who edit, write, and participate in the research are systematically connected. We note several findings. First, across the past five decades, psychological publications that highlight race have been rare, and although they have increased in developmental and social psychology, they have remained virtually nonexistent in cognitive psychology. Second, most publications have been edited by White editors, under which there have been significantly fewer publications that highlight race. Third, many of the publications that highlight race have been written by White authors who employed significantly fewer participants of color. In many cases, we document variation as a function of area and decade. We argue that systemic inequality exists within psychological research and that systemic changes are needed to ensure that psychological research benefits from diversity in editing, writing, and participation. To this end, and in the spirit of the field’s recent emphasis on metascience, we offer recommendations for journals and authors.
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ISSN:1745-6916
1745-6924
1745-6924
DOI:10.1177/1745691620927709