Linda Brannon, Dena Matzenbacher, and Lester Lefton

In the 21st century, psychology has become more diverse than it was in the 20th century, both in terms of the individuals who are psychologists and in terms of the topics of interest to them. One important trend that has influenced psychology has been the increase in the numbers of women and members of various ethnic groups who have become psychologists (American Psychological Association, 2018). Until the 1970s, psychology was a profession made up primarily of men, mostly White men. That situation has changed, and women and people of color have become a prominent part of the face of contemporary psychology.

Women in Psychology

Between 1920 and 1975, women received only 22.7% of all doctoral degrees in psychology (Keita, Cameron, & Burrwell, 2003). The first women in psychology received training similar to that of their male colleagues but were much less likely to achieve equivalent professional status (Task Force on Women in Academe, 2000). Women such as Mary Whiton Calkins and Margaret Floyd Washburn were leaders during the early years of psychology; indeed, both were elected to the office of president of the American Psychological Association. William James, one of the first American psychologists, praised Calkins in 1895 for one of the best PhD examinations that he had ever seen. Leta Stetter Hollingworth was an eminent psychologist who made important contributions to the psychology of women, clinical psychology, and educational psychology (particularly the psychology of the highly gifted). Discrimination against women in academia made it difficult for these female psychologists to obtain faculty appointments and to establish careers in the field (Brannon, 2017). Thus, the achievements of these women are footnotes rather than headlines in the history of psychology.

The bias against women extended to research as well as employment. For nearly the first 75 years of the history of psychology, most research participants were younger versions of psychologists—18-year-old, male, first-year college students, primarily with European American backgrounds. Researchers assumed that the differences between this sample and all other people were not important. Of course, this thinking was quite biased: Women do not respond in the same way as men do in some circumstances, and older adults and children don’t respond in the same ways that 18-year-olds do. Also, members of various ethnic groups bring different perspectives and reactions to research situations. Eventually realizing that male European American college freshmen were not representative, psychologists sought to decrease the gender, age, and ethnic biases that characterized their research.

The many biases in psychology have decreased. Psychology now attracts, trains, and retains more women than men. In 2003 women began to outnumber men as APA members (Center for Psychology Workforce Analysis and Research, 2007); in 2016, women earned 71% of doctoral degrees in psychology (National Science Foundation, 2018). That number is consistent with another statistic: In 2016, women made up 65% of the psychology workforce, which represented an increase from a decade earlier (American Psychological Association [APA], 2018). About 47% of faculty members in psychology departments in the United States are women (American Psychological Association Committee on Women in Psychology, 2017). However, women are more common in some fields of psychology than others. For example, teaching is a more common primary work activity for female (17%) than male (16%) psychologists, as is providing professional services such as clinical and counseling psychologists (49 vs. 44%). However, male psychologists are more common in management and research (17%) than female psychologists (9%). In psychology, as in other fields, women are more likely than men to be employed on a part-time basis, which has a negative impact on their career advancement.

Today, research by and about women is prominent in psychology. Rather than assuming that women respond the same way as men, researchers often evaluate the differences between responses of female and male participants. You will hear the voices of many female researchers throughout this text. Some of the more prominent ones are Judith Wallerstein and Mavis Hetherington, who have studied the impact of divorce on children; Elizabeth Loftus, who has studied inaccuracies in eyewitnesses’ memory; Carol Dweck, who studies motivation and how people’s conceptualizations of intelligence may promote or limit their achievement; Edna Foa, who researches anxiety disorders; Elizabeth Spelke, who studies infants’ thought processes; Susan Fiske, who studies stereotyping and prejudice; Patricia Goldman-Rakic, who studies the neural basis of learning; and Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, who studies the relationships among stress, immune system function, and health. Women are presidents of national, regional, and local psychological organizations, and their work is prominent in psychological journals.

Ethnic Diversity in Psychology

Although people use the term race, there are no genetic characteristics possessed by all African Americans or by all Whites. Indeed, biologists have failed to find a genetic basis for race (Bamshad & Olson, 2003). Thus, psychologists prefer the term ethnicity, which refers to common experiences and allegiances shared by a group of people. These experiences are often culture, religion, or language based. Although ethnic groups may be based on physical traits such as skin color, ethnicity is learned from family, friends, and experiences. Ethnicity is a variable factor that affects behavior in fundamental ways.

Ethnic minorities’ representation has increased in psychology, almost doubling between 2007 and 2016 (American Psychological Association, 2018). These increases occurred through more ethnic minority students receiving degrees and entering the psychology workforce. However, the current the percentages do not yet match those in the general U.S. population. Whites comprised 84% of the psychology workforce in 2016, with only 5% Hispanic, 4% African American, and another 4% Asian. Very few psychologists are Native American or come from other ethnicities, which reflects the barriers that individuals from these groups have experienced in becoming psychologists.

Many early African American psychologists faced harsh discrimination when they sought admittance to training programs and tried to pursue careers in psychology. Still, some overcame the odds; they earned doctoral degrees, published scientific research, and made lasting contributions to the field (Guthrie, 2004). Gilbert Haven Jones was the first African American holder of a PhD to teach psychology in the United States. Jones received his training in Germany and taught psychology at several universities in the United States. Albert S. Beckham was a clinician who, in the 1930s, published studies of socioeconomic status and adolescence among ethnic minority groups. Inez Prosser and Howard H. Long are also among the distinguished African American psychologists who published in the 1930s.

Francis C. Sumner, who chaired the psychology department at Howard University, is considered the father of African American psychology. Beginning in the 1920s, Sumner built a program that trained African American psychologists during times when many universities refused to admit African Americans. One of Sumner’s students, Kenneth Clark, went on to get a doctorate at Columbia University. Clark became the first African American to serve as president of the APA, achieved national prominence for his work on the harmful effects of segregation, and influenced the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn laws that allowed segregation in schools (Tomes, 2002). The works of Mamie Phipps Clark on self-esteem and racial identification (with her husband, Kenneth Clark) have become classics.

Ethnic bias has also been a problem in psychology research. Like other individuals, psychologists have been subject to ethnocentrism, a tendency of individuals to believe that their own ethnic or cultural group is the standard, the reference point against which other people and groups should be judged. Uncritically accepting the values of their culture, needless to say, affected earlier psychologists’ views of child development, social relationships, and psychological abnormalities. Today, psychologists must be especially sensitive to ethnocentric biases and work to develop an awareness and understanding of ethnic and other forms of diversity. The increasing number of psychologists from a variety of ethnic groups has and will continue to decrease ethnocentric bias in psychology.

Today, African American Gail Elizabeth Wyatt conducts research in the United States and Jamaica and has been recognized for her distinguished contributions to research, scholarship, and writing in the areas of ethnicity and culture, especially her accounts of female sexuality among African Americans. Carl L. Hart is a professor and researcher who specializes in the effects of psychoactive drugs, with the goal of finding more effective treatments for problem drug use. Hope Landrine is also a prominent researcher who focuses on health-related behaviors and the impact on the health of African Americans. Jessica Henderson Daniel served as president of the American Psychological Association in 2017, the first African American woman to hold that office.

Individuals of Latino/Latina origin have also and continue to contribute to advances in psychology. Martha Bernal (1932–2002) was the first Latina to earn a PhD in psychology in the United States. She received her degree from Indiana University in 1962. Despite the discrimination she faced in finding a faculty appointment (Vasquez & Lopez, 2002), she established a research laboratory and turned part of her attention to researching and fighting against racism and sexism. Like Bernal, many other Latino/Latina psychologists have focused on issues relevant to the social situations of people of color. Manuel Barrera has done important work in community psychology, especially on social support systems. John Garcia’s research focused on learning, which led him to discover conditioned taste aversion, which is known as the Garcia effect. Jorge Sanchez conducted exemplary research on the role of education in the achievements of members of different ethnic minority groups and on bias in intelligence testing. Counseling psychologist Melba J. T. Vasquez has been an activist and educator; she was elected president of the American Psychological Association in 2011, the first Latina to be elected to that office. Salvador Minuchin, along with his collaborator Jorge Colapinto, has a highly successful family therapy training program that emphasizes hands-on experience, online supervision, and the use of videotapes.

The movement toward greater diversity has included not only gender and ethnicity but also a variety of other factors that are changing the face of psychology.

References

American Psychological Association. (2018). Demographics of the U.S. psychology workforce: Findings from the 2007–16 American Community Survey. Washington, DC: Author.

American Psychological Association Committee on Women in Psychology. (2017). The changing gender composition of psychology: Update and expansion of the 1995 task force report. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/women/ programs/gender-composition

Bamshad, M. J., & Olson, S. E. (2003). Does race exist? Scientific American, 289(6), 78–85.

Brannon, L. (2017). Gender: Psychological perspectives (7th ed.). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.

Center for Psychology Workforce Analysis and Research. (2007). Gender of APA members by year. Retrieved from http://research.apa.org/members.html

Guthrie, R. V. (2004). Even the rat was white: A historical view of psychology (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Keita, G. P., Cameron, L., & Burrwell, T. (2003). Women in the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: Women’s Program Office, American Psychological Association.

National Science Foundation. (2018). 2016 doctorate recipients from U.S. universities. Retrieved from https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsf18304/static/report/nsf18304-report.pdf

Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Task Force on Women in Academe. (2000). Women in academe: Two steps forward, one step back. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Tomes, H. (2002, December). Recognizing Kenneth B. Clark’s legacy. Monitor on Psychology, 33(11), 56.

Vasquez, M. J. T., & Lopez, S. (2002). Martha E. Bernal (1931–2001). American Psychologist, 57(5), 362–363.