Psychology resources

Below are resources that may be useful for a diverser psychology. These are organized under the following psychology subtopics: Developmental psychology, Organizational Psychology, Cognitive & Social Psychology, and Clinical, Counselling & Health psychology. This is then followed by general psychology resources. This is a work in progress and if you would like to contribute any resources please email g.jankowski@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.

Developmental psychology 
Developmental psychology teachers could consider teaching how racism and white privilege are related to development over the life course for BME and white people respectively. Such teaching can fit into a wider curriculum on how the socipolitical affects the individual’s learning, development, interaction with others and in particular how systems of disadvantage and advantage influence this (e.g., racism, sexism, their intersections etc.). The following resources may be a useful start to provide this.

  • Burman, E. (2007). Deconstructing developmental psychology (2nd EImage result for deconstructing developmental psychologyd). London: Routledge. Burman explores popular developmental theories and maps these onto the actual lived realities of children. She unpacks the way these developmental psychologies reprodruce racism and particularly sexism. 
  • de Royston M. M. & Nasir, N. S (2017). Racialized learning ecologies: Understanding race as a key feature of learning and developmental processes in schools (pg. 258 – 286). In new perspectives on human development. Budwig, N. Turiel, E. & Zelazo, P. D. (Eds.). New York: Cambridge UNiversity press. This chapter explores how ‘learning ecologies’ are racialized and “how race organizes society and effectively structures and influences human development and learning”.
  • Spencer, M. B. (2017). Privilege and critical race perspectives’ intersectional contributions to a systems theory of human development (pg. 287-312). Budwig, N. Turiel, E. & Zelazo, P. D. (Eds.). New York: Cambridge University press. Chapter synopsis:”Privilege and critical race perspectives’ intersectional contributions to a systems theory of human development”.
  • Ghavami, N., Katsiaficas, D., & Rogers, L. O. (2016). Toward an Intersectional Approach in Developmental Science: The Role of Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Immigrant Status. Advances In Child Development And Behavior, 50, 31–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2015.12.001. Chapter reviews research on intersectional models of social disadvantage and how these relate to childhood and youth development.
  • Isebor, P. (12th April 2021). Connecting perspectives: Attachment and Ubuntu [BlogPost] Wider Perspectives.co.uk. https://www.widerperspective.co.uk/post/attachment-and-ubuntu
    • [Useful post on the developmental concept of ‘attachment’ and its relation to Ubuntu. Author also helped established UK regional clinical psychology mentoring scheme for aspiring psychologists of colour]: “Essentially Ubuntu is an African concept from the Bantu speaking peoples which captures the essence of being human. At its heart, Ubuntu recognises that “a person is a person through other people” or “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” – essentially it is not possible for us to be fully human without other people” (para 16-17). 

Organizational psychology

  •  The health and safety of BAME employees and prospective applicants is compromised when organizational racism occurs.  Evidence suggests this does occur (e.g., see this analysis of HE racism) and interestingly, some organizational psychologists seem to be aware of this. For example, this manifesto for the future of Work & Organizational Psychology, published in an academic journal, notes the field “[has] responsibilities towards reducing inequality”. Critical organizational psychology might be a particular resource to develop this further, particularly because of its resistance to pro-capitalist values it sees the wider field upholding (e.g., see Islam & Zyphur (2009) :Concepts_and_directions_in_critical_indu) and given the overlap between racism and class.

Cognitive & Social psychology 
Psychology teachers may wish to critique social cognitive models of racism (as individualizing, victim blaming etc.) and from there introduce critical race theory that better details the breath and depth of racism. The following resources may help with this.

Clinical, Counselling & Health psychology

Psychology teachers may wish to explore how racism and intersecting oppressions contribute to poor mental health. Teachers may wish to outline barriers accessing mental health support systems BME people face. This could then foreground the need for intersectional , culturally-sensitive, counselling/clinical psychology.  The following resources may help with this.

  • Nyugen, McDonal, Mate & Taylor (2018). Advancing a cross-cultural narrative approach to career counselling: The case of Vietnam. Australian Journal of Career Development. DOI: 10.1177/1038416218780069 Nguyen McDonald Mate Taylor 2018 [A thoughtful outline of how narrative approaches to career counselling can be useful in acknowledging an individual’s Globally Southern cultural influence in a way that avoids the pitfall of essentialising that culture].
  • Wood & Patel (2017). On addressing ‘Whiteness’ during clinical psychology training. Full text available here.
  • Burman, E. (2003). From difference to intersectionality: Challenges and resources. European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 6, 4,  293-308. Full text available here.
  • Paradies, Y., Harris, R., & Anderson, I. (2008). The impact of racism on Indigenous health in Australia and Aotearoa: Towards a research agenda. Discussion Paper No. 4, Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, Darwin. Full text available here.
  • Work by Guilaine Kinouani (https://racereflections.co.uk/ ), a clinical psychology doctoral student, equality consultant, therapist and founder of the Minorities in Clinical Psychology Training Group (@minoritiesgroup).
  • Fernando, S. (2017). Institutional racism in psychiatry and clinical psychology. Race matters in mental health. Palgrave Macmillan: London.
  • Bhui, K. (2002). Racism and mental health: Prejudice and suffering. Jessica Kingsley.
  • The impact of racism on mental health (March, 2018). [Briefing Paper} Synergi Collaborative Centre. Accessed: https://synergicollaborativecentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-impact-of-racism-on-mental-health-briefing-paper-1.pdf
  • Summary of above report from the Mental Elf site – an evidence based open mental health blog: https://www.nationalelfservice.net/populations-and-settings/black-and-minority-ethnic/racism-mental-health/ 
  • Rossman, R. (n.d.). History of psychology: Page 2 of 4. Retrieved from: http://psych.techscholia.com/book/Mchapters/History_2.html [brief and interactive summary of history of psychology that includes BAME psychologists].
  • Presentation by BPS President (2019) David Murphy on clinical psychology and race inequalities in entering the discipline. Excellent overview on current data on this and meaningful steps the discipline can take to undo it. Also relevant for promoting race equality in other general admissions courses. Powerpoint slides here Murphy2019or his twitter handle: @ClinPsychDavid
  • Paradies et al (2015). Racism as a determinant of health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Plos One. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138511 [Important systematic review of 293 studies documenting the impact of racism on physical and mental health]. 
  •  Derek M. Griffith, Marino A. Bruce & Roland J. Thorpe, Jr. (2019). Men’s Health Equity. (Eds). New York, NY: Routledge/ Taylor & Francis. [Includes extensive content on men’s health including BAME men’s health and other marginalized men. See also Derek Griffith’s work on men’s health from an intersectional perspective here.].
  • Ebodiment, fashion, appearance, food and body image work with a focus on racism and intersectionality:
    • LaMarre, A., Levine, M., Holmes, S. & Malson, H. (2022) An Open Invitation to Productive Conversations About Feminism and the Spectrum of Eating Disorders (part 2): Potential Contributions to the Science of Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention.  Journal of Eating Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-022-00572-3.
    • Malson, H., Marshall, H. & Woollett, A. (2002) Talking of Taste: A Discourse Analytic Exploration of Young Women’s Gendered and Racialised Subjectivities in British Urban, Multicultural Contexts, Feminism & Psychology 12 (4) 469-490. Full text: Malson et al talking of taste
    • Capodilupo, C. M., & Kim, S. (2014). Gender and race matter: The importance of considering intersections in Black women’s body image. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034597 
    • Intezar, H. Speaking Pictures, Silent Voices: Female Athletes and the Negotiation of Selfhood. Integr. psych. behav. 55, 89–111 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-020-09577-6 [Focuses on Serena Williams and Western discourses]

Other psychology specific resources

BME Psychology Groups / Archives 

Resources relating specifically to psychology’s White/Western bias

  • Ahmed, B. (2008). Teaching critical psychology of ‘race’ issues: problems in promoting anti racist practice. Journal of Community & Applied  Social Psychology, 18(1), 54–67. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.912 [Reflection and strategies for improving the teaching of ‘race’ in psychology curricula].
  • Arnett, J. J. (2008). The neglected 95% why American psychology needs to become less American. American Psychologist, 63(7), 602–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.7.602 Content analysis of popular psychology papers highlighting samples and authorship are predominately White and Western.
  • Gray, J. (1988). The incidence of photographs of racial minorities in Introductory Psychology Texts. The Journal of Black Psychology, 15, 1, 77-99. A brief report quantitatively highlighting how under represented BME people are in 1985-86 introductory psychology textbooks photographs. The author writes: “If racial minorities were not participants in the studies cited in the texts [and the photographs included were supposed to represent those in the studies] perhaps the concepts developed from such studies did not apply to minorities. However, there were no [such disclaimers made]” (pp. 78-79). Full text available here.
  • Javangwe, G. (2013). How to Africanize Psychology in Zimbabwean Universities: An Introductory Note.  Journal of Black Psychology, 39, 3, 269-271. Highlights a need to ‘africanize’ psychology in Africa and in Zimbabwe in particular. Offers practical strategies to do this and sets out what such an Africanized psychology could be: “I foresee a formidable awakening of Black African minds and the emergence of a forceful army of Black African psychologists equipped with enough Black African psychological ammunition to fight Westernized conceptualizations about human nature and behavior and take Black African psychology to dizzy heights” (pg. 340). Full text available here.
  • Noble, W. W. (2013). Fundamental task and challenge of Black psychology. Journal of Black Psychology, 39, 3, 292-299.Argues for a Black psychology, which the author argues is not race or geographically narrow but something that will account for the African diaspora’s experiences, cultures and realities. Also outlines historical African precursors to the field of psychology such as the concept of Sakhu Sheti. Full text available here. 
  • Myers, L. J & Speight, S. L. (2010). Reframing Mental Health and Psychological Well Being Among Persons of African Descent: Africana/Black Psychology Meeting the Challenges of Fractured Social and Cultural Realities. The Journal of Pan African Studies, 3, 8, 66-83. “This paper will focus on innovations in psychological knowledge production over the past fifty years beyond a mono-culturally hegemonic psychology to one congruent with the social and cultural realities of persons of African descent” (pg. 67). Full text available here.
  • Rowe, T. D. (2013). Black psychology and the African Psychology Institute. Journal of Black Psychology, 39, 3, 269-271. A brief report providing a road map of key thinkers/movements and their respective goals to diversify psychology from its White, Western bias (including African Psychology Institute, Black Psychology and Emerging African Psychology). Full text available here.
  • Sonn, C. C. (2008). Educating for anti racism producing and reproducing race and power in a university classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education, 11(2), 155-166.  A paper exploring the issues associated with teaching about race, culture, and ethnicity in Psychology including consideration of how students respond to challenges to taken‐for‐granted understandings of race. It is discussed how students often engage in the reproduction of oppressive practices and invest in whiteness.
  • Pillay, S. R. (2017). Cracking the fortress: can we really decolonize psychology? South African Journal of Psychology, 47(2) 135 –140. [Introduction to special issue discussing psychology’s decolonization attempts. Notes the need for this to not be a ‘buzzword’ and for this to be radical. Gives overview of South African psychology field and its relationship to decolonisation including the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall campaigns)]. 
  • Adams, G., Dobles, I., Gómez, L. H., Kurtiş, T., & Molina, L. E. (2015). Decolonizing psychological science: Introduction to the special thematic section. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 213–238.
  • Kessi, S., & Kiguwa, P. (2015). Social psychology and social change: Beyond western perspectives. Papers on Social Representations, 24, 1.1–1.11.
  • Long, W. (2016). On the Africanisation of psychology. South African Journal of Psychology, 46, 429–431.

Updated infographic on recent evidence of psychology’s Western/ Global Northern dominace e.g., by Thalmayer, A G, C Toscanelli, and J J Arnett. ‘The Neglected 95% Revisited: Is American Psychology Becoming Less American?’ American Psychologist 76, no. 1 (January 2021): 116–29. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000622 by Pierinna Di Luca Granda

by Pierinna Di Luca Granda

Updated infographic on recent evidence of psychology’s Western/ Global Northern dominace e.g. Veillard, N. ‘WEIRD Sampling in Cross-Cultural Psychology, Should It Not Be Less WEIRD and More Representative?’ Ledien University, 2017. https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/56361 by Pierinna Di Luca Granda

Please see the curriculum resources for repositories, bibliographies and other initiatives within and beyond psychology (e.g., the Hub for Decolonial Feminist Psychology in Africa).