Psychology’s Hidden Figures: Undergraduate Psychology .
logy’s Hidden Figures: Undergraduate PsychologyMajors’ (In)Ability to Recognize Our Diverse PioneersLeslie D. Cramblet Alvarez*, Adams State University; K. Nicole Jones*, ColoradoMesa University; Chelsea Walljasper-Schuyler, Marissa Trujillo, Mikayla A. Weiser,Jerome L. Rodriguez, Rachael L. Ringler, and Jonah L. Leach, Adams State UniversityABSTRACT. Psychology as a science professes adedication to diversity in many forms includingcelebrating diverse perspectives and people.Nevertheless, women and people of color, bothhistorically and currently, face barriers to theiradvancement in the field. Illustrative of one of thechallenges that women and psychologists of colorface, undergraduate students know very little aboutpsychology’s diverse historical roots includingeminent pioneers who are women and people ofcolor. Junior and senior psychology majorscompleted a name recognition task which included42 pioneers in psychology, 21 of who were women,and 9 who were people of color. Participantsrecognized eminent women and people of color atsignificantly lower rates as compared to White, malepioneers (z -12.95, p .001, r -.82; z -10.62,p .001, r -.68, respectively). Having completed aHistory of Psychology course increased participants’ability to recognize pioneers (U 738.00, z -3.79,p .001, r -.38) but primarily benefited White,male pioneers. Because psychology majors,professionals, and practitioners are an increasinglydiverse group, implications for the psychologycurriculum and minoritized students are discussed.Keywords: History of Psychology, Gender, Diversity,Psychology CurriculumFSPECIAL ISSUEPSI CHIJOURNAL OFPSYCHOLOGICALRESEARCH84or psychologists, recognizing and honoringdiversity is a core value. This value is evidentin national and regional organizations’diversity statements, ethical guidelines, handbooks,convening of diversity councils, and through thelearning outcomes for undergraduate psychologymajors (APA, 2013; APA, 2017a, 2017b). Recently,Psi Chi adopted a diversity statement includinglanguage that calls for action, “supporting andOpen Data, Open Materials,and Preregistration badgesearned for transparentresearch practices. Dataand materials are availableat https://osf.io/sy6ue/ andhttps://osf.io/uf36h/,respectively. The threePreregistered hypothesesare available athttps://osf.io/9chk7/.encouraging people of varied racial, ethnic,gender identity, sexual orientation, and social classbackgrounds to both participate in conductingpsychological research, education, practice,training, and service, and to recognize and valuediverse people within these contexts” (Missionand purpose, 2018). These developmentsare encouraging in light of psychology’s welldocumented racist (e.g., Guthrie, 2003; Winston,COPYRIGHT 2019 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 24, NO. 2/ISSN 2325-7342)*Faculty mentor
Alvarez, Jones, Walljasper-Schuyler, Trujillo, Weiser, Rodriguez, Ringler, and Leach Hidden Figures2004) and sexist past (Tiefer, 1991). The disciplineof psychology has come a long way in meeting thelofty goals set by Psi Chi’s written commitments todiversity, which is particularly important becauseeducational literature has suggested that exposureto stories about successful individuals who possess ashared identity to minoritized students has positiveeducational outcomes such as increasing interestin their chosen field (Rosenthal, Levy, London,Lobel, & Bazile, 2013). And, evidence has suggestedthat exposure to diverse faculty members haspositive outcomes on students’ experiences (CGC2;Committee on Women in Psychology, 2017).Despite these benefits, there are limitations inpsychology students’ knowledge of and exposureto diverse psychologists. Further, there are stillsignificant barriers faced by women and people ofcolor in achieving educational and occupationalequity. In this article, we explore what psychologymajors know about our diverse history, in particulartheir ability to recognize pioneers of psychology whoare female and people of color, which illuminatesthe historical and contemporary barriers thatcontinue to prevent women and people of colorfrom attaining the eminence enjoyed by theirWhite, male counterparts.Historical BarriersIn the field of psychology, contributions ofwomen and people of color have been greatlyunderappreciated. This is evidenced even inthe early history of the American PsychologicalAssociation (APA), which began in 1892 as amen’s only organization. Despite the significantcontributions women were already making to thefield, they were prohibited from joining (Furumoto& Scarborough, 1986). Not only were womenabsent, but also people of color; all of the originalmembers of the APA were White men (Guzman,Schiavo, & Puente, 1992). Although gender andracial inequity within psychology continued, manywomen and people of color pursued advanceddegrees. Initially, these pioneers faced barriers inobtaining doctoral degrees, and universities woulddeny them their degree based solely on race and/orgender (Russo & O'Connell, 1980). Many womenof the 19th century were being denied entry intograduate programs explicitly due to their gender,and being denied PhDs despite completing therequirements. Women like Mary Whiton Calkinsin 1895 (who studied at Harvard), ChristineLadd-Franklin in 1882 (Johns Hopkins), and LillienMartin (Gottingen, under Muller) were all deniedtheir PhDs after completing their studies (Russo &O’Connell, 1980).For women who were able to obtain a doctoraldegree, an additional barrier arose with regard tofinding employment in major university settings:nepotism policies. Antinepotism policies preventedwomen from gaining employment in the sameinstitutions where their husbands worked (Russo& O’Connell, 1980); a prime example of this isMary Cover Jones. In 1929, she was working as aresearch associate at the University of California,Berkeley. However, due to her husband’s affiliationwith the university, she was denied the status of fullprofessor and did not achieve this promotion until1959 at age 63, 30 years later. By the year 1976, onein every four universities still had an antinepotismpolicy in place. This prevented many women fromsecuring paid positions in academia and research(Furumoto & Scarborough, 1986). Althoughwomen and people of color faced significant challenges entering and staying in the academic andresearch fields of psychology, many began to findjobs in applied psychology, developmental psychology, and educational psychology. Women were oftenencouraged in this direction because these fieldswere seen as more fitting for “female skills” such ascare taking and child rearing (Rutherford, 2015).However, many women would continue writing andconducting research with their husbands.Although publishing with a spouse is a creative method to stay in the field, it might havecontributed to a lack of recognition these womenreceived for the research they conducted (Russo& O’Connell, 1980). For example, Mamie PhippsClark conducted research with her husband,Kenneth Clark, that served as evidence in Brown v.Board of Education, the Supreme Court case whichdesegregated American schools. Although somepeople are aware of this research, it is almost alwaysin reference to Kenneth Clark; very few people attribute it to Mamie, who was the primary researcher(Aldridge & Christensen, 2013).Minoritized women experience all of thesebarriers (educational, occupational, genderdiscrimination) with the added effect of racialdiscrimination. In 1863, the first African Americanindividuals earned their college degrees, but thefirst PhD in psychology earned by an AfricanAmerican woman named Inez Beverly Prosserwas not until 1933. In 1977, 44 years later, 6.7% ofpsychology doctorates were awarded to people ofcolor, and only 2.7% went to women of color (Russo& O’Connell, 1980). Being at the complicatedCOPYRIGHT 2019 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 24, NO. 2/ISSN 2325-7342)SPECIAL ISSUEPSI CHIJOURNAL OFPSYCHOLOGICALRESEARCH85
Hidden Figures Alvarez, Jones, Walljasper-Schuyler, Trujillo, Weiser, Rodriguez, Ringler, and Leachjunction of two historically oppressed groups,in this case, being both female and a person ofcolor, is known as intersectionality. First describedby Crenshaw (1989), intersectionality refers tothe compounded marginalization experiencedby someone who identifies with more than oneminoritized or oppressed group. Although theterm had not yet been coined, Mamie Phipps Clark(1983) was keenly aware of this when she noted,although my husband had earlier secureda teaching position at the City Collegeof New York, following my graduation itsoon became apparent to me that a Blackfemale with a PhD in psychology was anunwanted anomaly in New York City in theearly 1940s. (p. 271)For the amount of work that she accomplishedin her lifetime, she had to persist through a numberof barriers before reaching eminence and success.Yet, her name is still not as recognized as that of herhusband’s, even within psychology.SPECIAL ISSUEPSI CHIJOURNAL OFPSYCHOLOGICALRESEARCH86Contemporary BarriersSince the time of these pioneering women, it wouldseem that the discipline is approaching genderand racial equity. However, contemporary movements including worldwide Women’s Marches andorganizations like 500 Women Scientists suggestthat the fight for equity is nuanced and lengthy.Although psychology’s foremothers have pavedimportant pathways, women continue to experience“modern misogyny” in the era of “postfeminism”(Anderson, 2017). According to Anderson (2017),modern misogyny primarily stems from the beliefthat the goals of the feminist movement have beenachieved as evidenced by antidiscrimination lawsand changing norms regarding women in theworkforce. Contemporary women who point outinequity and oppression are met with disbelief.Calls for modern feminist movements are at timesviewed as attempts to gain more rights than menor implicate that women are superior to meninstead of trying to eradicate oppression that stillexists. Although less overt, contemporary barriersto women’s participation in the academy, and thusrecognition as “eminent,” abound.In 1995, The APA introduced a report thatindicated women were beginning to outnumbermen in graduate enrollment and obtaining terminal degrees. This report, and the follow up, theChanging Gender Composition (CGC2; Committeeon Women in Psychology, 2017), demonstratedsteady increases in women’s degree attainmentcompared to men and increases in degree completion by women of color. However, these numericalimprovements have not necessarily resulted inbetter outcomes for women. The Committee onWomen in Psychology (2017) concluded, “debtlevels have risen and . . . women students, particularly older and minority women, emerge from theirtraining programs with considerably higher debtthan do their male, White, younger counterparts”(p. 46) and that “the salaries of women lag behindmen’s salaries in psychology more than in any otherfield” (p. 73). Thus, although more women areentering the field, it is with more debt and lowersalaries.As the CGC2 illustrates, as time has passed,the gender and ethnic composition of psychologyhas changed dramatically, yet women and peopleof color still experience disadvantages in theprofession. For example, women made up 59.3%of doctorate recipients between 1975–2007, butas of 2007, only 49% of tenure-track psychologyprofessors were women (Cundiff, 2012). It isimportant to point out that tenure is a lengthyprocess and not all female PhD recipients choosea career in academia. Meanwhile, those whodo must also contend with the “leaky pipeline”in which women are less represented at higherlevels of the academic career (González Ramos,Navarette Cortés, & Cabrera Moreno, 2015). Thisphenomenon, primarily examined in science,technology, engineering, and mathematics fieldsincluding psychology, begins as early as highschool and undergraduate programs, with women“leaking” at higher rates than men (Blickenstaff,2005). Moreover, in the academy, women are lessrepresented in administration, engage in moreinstitutional “housekeeping” (committee work),and receive inequitable teaching distributions,which detracts from research productivity andultimately, tenure (Gasser & Shaffer, 2014). Thus,although there have been strides toward equitablerepresentation in the higher education, includingexperimental research indicating that hypotheticalfemale applicants are preferred at a 2:1 ratio overmale applicants (Williams & Ceci, 2015), the roadto equity is a long one.For women of color, representation is evenmore concerning because only 14% of tenuretrack psychology professors were women of colorin 2007 (Turner, 2013). Pipeline trends alsoapply to researchers who are people of color as awhole; the proportion of doctoral recipients whoCOPYRIGHT 2019 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 24, NO. 2/ISSN 2325-7342)
Alvarez, Jones, Walljasper-Schuyler, Trujillo, Weiser, Rodriguez, Ringler, and Leach Hidden Figuresidentified as a racial-ethnic minority between theyears 1975 and 2007 was only 12.3% (APA Centerfor Workforce Studies, 2010). Minoritized womenhave found that attaining tenure-track positionsdoes not necessarily grant them access to the worldof feminist support their female, White peersmay experience. Furthermore, women of colorare expected to take on a myriad of other dutiesincluding advising students of color, representinga minoritized group as a committee member, andbeing a general support system for students of color.These responsibilities are on top of the course loadand other duties already assigned to them, takingtime away from scholarly productivity (Turner,González, & Lau, 2011). Although these faculty areoverburdened with such responsibilities, researchhas emphasized the need for faculty of color to be amodel for minoritized students. In fact, minoritizedstudents report feeling more supported and satisfaction overall when mentored by individuals with asimilar identity (CGC2; Committee on Women inPsychology, 2017). Additional workload, pressureto be a representative of one’s identity, and lack ofsupport exemplify systemic barriers, often referredto as institutional sexism (or racism, as the casemay be), which combine to create a seeminglyinescapable system of inequity not just betweenwomen and men, but between White women andwomen of color.Taken together, it is clear both historically andin modern times that women and people of colorface significant obstacles to entry and acceptancein the academy. It is here where contributions tothe field in the form of scholarly productivity aremost likely to occur. And, it is worth rememberingthat an extended program of research is consideredone of the features that makes one “eminent” as apsychologist (Sternberg, 2016). Thus, obstacles toentry into the academy and scholarly productivitywhile there may account for the contributionsof women and people of color being underappreciated historically. This may also explain whyundergraduate psychology students are consistentlyless able to recognize and name accomplishmentsof psychologists who are women and people of color(Woody, Viney, & Johns, 2002).The Current StudyRegardless of the fact that many of these eminentresearchers conducted seminal studies such asMamie Phipps Clark, many students are unawareof psychology’s diverse roots. This suggests that theaccomplishments of women and people of colorwithin the field may be underrepresented in psychology coursework. Woody et al. (2002) assertedthat students will better understand the applicationsof psychology if they are first taught the history ofpsychology. In addition, if undergraduate majorsare not familiar with the significance of psychologists who are women and people of color, they willnot be able to thoroughly grasp the importance ofpsychology’s diverse historical context.In an ever-changing multicultural climate,it is important that psychology majors possessthis foundational knowledge. Moreover, we havean explicit commitment to “Ethical and SocialResponsibility in a Diverse World” as a one of thefive goals outlined in the APA (2013) Guidelinesfor the Undergraduate Psychology Major. Theauthors of which further suggested, “diversity issuesneed to be recognized as an essential feature andcommitment of each of the five domains” (2013,p.12). Therefore, we believe it is important toexplore undergraduate students’ knowledge ofpioneers of psychology, particularly women andpeople of color.HypothesesBased on the review of relevant literature, threepreregistered hypotheses (https://osf.io/9chk7/)were tested in this study. The first was that femalepioneers of psychology would be recognized atlower rates (have an overall lower recognitionscore) than male pioneers of psychology. Oursecond hypothesis was that pioneers of psychologywho are people of color would be recognized atlower rates (have an overall lower recognitionscore) compared to pioneers of psychology who areWhite. Lastly, our third hypothesis is that psychology students who have had a history of psychologycourse would recognize pioneers of psychology athigher rates (higher recognition scores) comparedto students who have not had a history of psychology course when controlling for GPA.MethodParticipantsJunior and senior psychology majors were recruitedfrom eight colleges and universities across theUnited States. A total of 397 participants accessedthe survey. Upon data clean-up, the sample becamemuch smaller, with 26 respondents removed fromthe sample for not completing the survey; sixparticipants were removed who identified as majorsother than psychology; five graduate students wereremoved; 112 first-year students and sophomoresCOPYRIGHT 2019 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 24, NO. 2/ISSN 2325-7342)SPECIAL ISSUEPSI CHIJOURNAL OFPSYCHOLOGICALRESEARCH87
Hidden Figures Alvarez, Jones, Walljasper-Schuyler, Trujillo, Weiser, Rodriguez, Ringler, and Leachwere removed; 56 participants were removed fornot providing demographic information; and uponexploratory data analysis, one outlier was removeddue to response bias. Our final sample consisted of247 participants (197 women, 49 men, 1 indicated“other”, median age 22, age range: 19–60) whopredominantly identified as White/Non-Hispanic(71.3%). Other ethnic groups represented wereHispanic/Latin American (13.8%), Black/AfricanAmerican (6.9%), Asian American (4%), and Other(4%). The class standings of participants consistedof undergraduate juniors and seniors (90 juniors,157 seniors).MeasuresWe created a survey to measure junior and seniorpsychology majors’ ability to recognize eminentmale and female pioneers in the field. Our surveywas modeled after the name recognition taskdeveloped by Woody et al. (2002), being that it wasthe only previous survey of its kind. Their measurefeatured the names of 51 eminent psychologists,but only eight of them were women. Our finalsurvey retained 20 of the 51 psychologists includedin their task. We attempted to address the gendergap by asking students to rate their recognitionof 21 male pioneers and 21 female pioneers (allpioneers are listed in Table 1 and https://osf.io/uf36h/ ). A total of nine pioneers included in thefinal measure were people of color including fivewomen of color (Phipps Clark, Prosser, Bernal,Whitehurst) and four men of color (Clark, White,Williams II, Sumner).To generate names, a general Google search forTABLE 1Median and Mean Recognition Scores for Each PioneerMedianRecognition RatingMean RecognitionRating (SD)Karen Horney0.001.02 (1.19)Mary Ainsworth0.00Elizabeth Loftus0.00Carol GilliganMedianRecognition RatingMean RecognitionRating (SD)Sigmund Freud3.002.90 (0.39)0.97 (1.02)B.F. Skinner3.002.68 (0.62)0.68 (0.98)Ivan Pavlov3.002.72 (0.66)0.000.40 (0.71)Jean Piaget3.002.49 (0.80)Anna Freud2.001.46 (1.07)Carl Rogers2.001.87 (
better outcomes for women. The Committee on Women in Psychology (2017) concluded, “debt levels have risen and . . . women students, particu-larly older and minority women, emerge from their training programs with considerably higher debt than do their male, White, younger counterparts” (p. 46) and that “the salaries of women lag behind
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1999-2005 Assistant Professor of Psychology Berry College Responsible for teaching several undergraduate courses including Introduction to Women’s Studies, Introduction to Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Advanced Abnormal Psychology, Psychology of Women, Orientation to Psychology, Health Psychology, and Women’s Studies Seminar. Other
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The List of Figures is mandatory only if there are 5 or more figures found in the document. However, you can choose to have a List of Figures if there are 4 or less figures in the document. Regardless of whether you are required to have a List of Figures or if you chose
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psychology department are: School Psychology, Social Work, Human Resources and Labor Relations, Counseling, Sport Psychology, Student Affairs, Public Policy . Membership in PSI CHI, the National Honor Society in Psychology, is by invitation. Check the showcase outside Room 100 Psychology Building for information. Contact Dr.
Using Film to Teach Psychology. Films for Psychology Students. Resources for Teaching Research and Statistics in Psychology. TEACHING MATERIALS AND OTHER RESOURCES FOR PSYCHOLOGY 12.11.15 Compiled by Alida Quick, PhD Psychology 5 Developmental Psychology Teaching Resources .
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