Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: The benefits of diversity in education and business have been touted for decades pointing to improved problem-solving, creativity, and educational and business outcomes (Curşeu & Pluut, 2013;Montalvo & Reynal-Querol, 2014).Some research also points to perils of diversity such as increased conflict (Ross, 2014).But what exactly is diversity?Diversity is construed as the presence of people from diverse sociocultural backgrounds, including but not limited to race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, and ability/disability.These characteristics of diversity are internationally applicable, but how social inequities and disparities based on these characteristics are expressed is quite rooted in specific social (e.g., national) contexts.Social categorizations, and the very conceptualization of health and illness, are socially constructed (Burton, 2015; Waters, 2010).Because psychology deals with the broad spectrum of human behavior, including mental health and illness, it is critical that we are able to understand the wide variety of human experiences and that our psychological scholarship is both accurate and benefits people equally.This is not just a general values statement, it is an ethical imperative for researchers internationally (World Medical Association, 2013).In addition to the importance of understanding human behavior in its cultural context, and acknowledging the methods and instruments of psychology as cultural artifacts (Domenech Rodríguez et al., 2018).To date, much research is WEIRD (Heinrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010), providing both a challenge but also an excellent opportunity for the field of psychology.Psi Chi, as the International Honor Society in Psychology, has seized this opportunity to address a pressing need in psychology.Psi Chi is uniquely positioned to help fill the enormous gaps in knowledge regarding the variety of human experiences.As a society that encourages membership from the early college years, we are in an excellent position to partner with educators on college campuses to help shape the minds and hearts of
Author: Melanie M. Domenech Rodríguez
Institution: Utah State University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2959911072