Diversity in the Psychonomic Society: Now More than Ever

This post is a message from Duane Watson with the Psychonomic Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee: Valerie Reyna (Chair), Laura Carlson, Ivy Defoe, Jean Fox Tree, Alejandro Lleras, Janet Metcalfe, and Travis Seymour.

The Psychonomic Society is committed to diversity in all of its forms.  In this post, we focus on one of the diversity challenges that our field faces: a lack of racial, ethnic, gender, economic and international/global diversity in the ranks of experimental psychologists.  This challenge is not one that is limited to our field alone.  It is a challenge faced by all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.  However, as psychologists, we have a leg up on the problem: we know that a complex constellation of factors has led to homogeneity in the ranks of scientists.  Implicit bias and subtle stereotypes can send signals about what types of people study which types of topics and can lead to members of underrepresented groups not pursuing research careers.  Therefore, the Society is committed to not only creating a welcoming environment for all groups, but also to developing and disseminating ideas for increasing diversity in experimental psychology.

One challenge faced by Society members who have found themselves on admissions committees or hiring committees is finding candidates from under-represented groups.  This “pipeline problem” exists at every stage, from graduate admissions to faculty hiring to leadership in the academy (e.g., the glass ceiling), and many of us have had the experience of not knowing what we can do to address this issue.

One of our goals is to help share and disseminate concrete solutions. Many of our colleagues have developed innovative ideas. For example, Bradley Voytek at UCSD has created a diversity and outreach database that helps faculty who visit universities for colloquia to network with local student organizations linked to diversity. With this mechanism, faculty can begin to address the pipeline problem by informing targeted groups about their program, mentoring early-career scholars, and recruiting potential graduate students. Voytek points to a “familiarity gap,” that is, minority students and first generation college students may not consider graduate programs because they do not know how to navigate the academic system. You or your department can join the database here.

Similarly, there has been an increase in the number of internships targeting underrepresented groups over the past year.  For example, the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) at the University of Pittsburgh has developed a summer internship program that aims to create future scientists that better reflect the diversity of the U.S. 

Two relevant examples of such programs in the Netherlands are the “ECHO” program and the former “Mozaïek” program.

By creating opportunities to experience psychological research, the field can actively work towards solving the pipeline problem.  Moving forward, the Society hopes to highlight these experiments in diversity so that good ideas can be shared and replicated across institutions

Finally, our last challenge is one that Society members can help with.  We hope that all Society members can make increasing the diversity of the field a priority.  Although it is tempting to think that just creating a welcoming environment will lead to solving the problem itself, this may be wishful thinking. Increasing the diversity of the field will require dedication and active effort on the part of all of us.

The Psychonomic Society is committed to leading, and not following, in increasing the diversity of research scientists.

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