APS Commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

APS Commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

APS Statement on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The Association for Psychological Science is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in all areas of our leadership, membership, activities, staff, and field. Including members of underrepresented groups in meaningful ways is a vital part of this commitment. Acknowledging the harmful roles that racism and other forms of discrimination and exclusion have played in all aspects of society, including our field, is critical in order to turn this commitment into action. This includes investigating potential consequences within our own organization.

We fully embrace the guiding organizational principle that psychological science has the ability to transform society for the better and can and must play a central role in advancing human welfare and the public interest. To that end, we support the pursuit of a wide variety of scientific work that furthers our understanding of the causes and harmful effects of racism, stereotypes, and inequities; the psychological and societal benefits of diversity, equity, and inclusion; and the most effective ways to foster these outcomes and advance a more just and equitable world.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Leo Wilton, Chair
Binghamton University, The State University of New York
Geremy Grant, Member
Alfred University
Bria Gresham, Member
University of Minnesota
John Jost, Member
New York University
Keith Maddox, Member
Tufts University
Kunalan Manokara, Member
University of Amsterdam
Sheri Mizumori, Member
University of Washington

Public and Media Engagement

Roundtables: 

Podcasts:

Webinars:


Students

  • Funded 11 APS Student Members to participate in training as Wiki Scholars with the specific goal of adding information about Black psychologists to Wikipedia. As of May 1, 2021, they had added entries, edited 17 Wikipedia articles related to psychology, especially Black psychologists, and added 16,700 words to Wikipedia and 129 references/citations. The articles they improved reached 45,900 readers in the first month since the project ended.

Position Statement on Racism, Bias, and Intolerance:

The Association for Psychological Science (APS) stands steadfastly with individuals and communities around the world who are or have been victims of discrimination and injustice. Psychological research has chronicled the harmful effects of racism, as well as implicit or unconscious bias, on individuals and society. Importantly, psychological science also offers insights to help individuals and organizations combat racism and build more equitable and inclusive organizations and communities.

APS Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

APS provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment. No person shall be discriminated against because of race, color, religion, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, physical handicaps, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, family responsibilities, citizenship, political affiliation, or any other category that is protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Research Collections


APS engages the public with psychological research through its scientific journals, its member magazine the Observer, outreach to media outlets, and presentations at conferences and other events. These collections of articles provide a snapshot of psychological research on diversity, equity, and inclusion and the causes and harmful effects of racism, stereotypes, and inequities.

  • Elevated view of people walking in a square

    Cultural Diversity

    How do people respond to increasing cultural diversity in their communities, cities, and countries? Researchers investigate.

  • Implicit Bias

    Unconscious bias can lurk below the level of conscious awareness, but researchers are working to uncover more effective methods of reducing these prejudices.

  • LGBTQIA Rainbow Pride Flag Striped Background

    LGBTQIA+

    Psychological science has played a leading role in busting misconceptions about sexual orientation and gender identity, and in changing people’s attitudes toward individuals who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

  • Racism and Discrimination

    Psychological researchers are examining the complexities of racism and xenophobia at both the interpersonal and societal levels.

  • Gender and Bias

    Researchers explore the factors that perpetuate gender inequality and the effects that such bias can have on women in the workplace and beyond.

  • Workplace Diversity

    When done well, efforts to improve intergroup harmony at work can uplift individuals and lead entire organizations to perform at a higher level.


Awards and Honors

APS’s Awards Program recognizes psychological scientists for outstanding contributions at all career stages. Nominators and awards committees are asked to consider the diverse and international nature of our field. APS seeks nominations of members of underrepresented groups in psychological science

The new APS James S. Jackson Lifetime Achievement Award for Transformative Scholarship honors APS Members for their lifetime of outstanding psychological research that advances understanding of historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups and/or understanding of the psychological and societal benefits of racial/ethnic diversity, equity, and inclusion. The type of scholarship honored by the award is broad in scope and research methodology, and encompasses research on historically disadvantaged racial/ethnic groups residing anywhere in the world. Recipients must be APS members, and their contributions may be in any field or area of psychological science. The inaugural winners, Patricia Gurin and James M. Jones, were honored at the 2022 APS Annual Convention.

APS Fellow nominations no longer require that a current APS Fellow contribute one of the nomination letters, and criteria for Fellow status have been amended to include consideration of “an outstanding record of mentoring students from diverse backgrounds, working with research participants from diverse backgrounds, and making outstanding contributions to diversity and inclusion within the field of psychological science.” 


Grants

The APS Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science supports the teaching and public understanding of psychological science in the U.S. and around the world. A special category within the grants program supports projects that aim to eliminate racial bias in psychological science curricula and incorporate principles of racial justice into psychological science curricula.

The William K. and Katherine W. Estes Fund supports advanced training opportunities in mathematical and computational modeling for psychological science in summer schools and focused workshops. Funding criteria include an express commitment to “the inclusion of scientists of all genders, races, sexual orientations, disability statuses, countries of origin, geographical locations, and disciplinary expertise.”

The RISE (Researching Injustice and Social Equality) Award, open to APS Student Affiliates, seeks to cultivate psychological science research in fields related to socially and economically underrepresented populations, and recognizes outstanding student researchers from diverse racial, ethnic, geographic and cultural backgrounds, as well as other underrepresented groups in psychological science.


Public Policy

In ongoing outreach to legislators and federal agencies about the contributions behavioral science can play in addressing societal ills, APS promotes the use of empirically validated findings in the treatment and prevention of mental illness and in improving public health, education, economic productivity, social justice, and more. Recent and upcoming APS activities include:

  • In addressing the COVID-19 crisis, referencing the crisis of racism and the role psychological science can play in better understanding and combatting those issues.
  • Providing feedback to science agencies and other government entities about the role that psychological science can play in combatting structural racism, such as APS’s April 2021 comments in response to NIH’s UNITE initiative. 
  • Hosting the National Research Mentoring Network, which seeks to help historically underrepresented mentees successfully progress in their behavioral and biomedical research careers, for a January 2021 webinar for APS members.
  • Collaborating with scientific coalitions in joint action, such as a September 2020 message asking the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a study to acknowledge and assess the full participation of racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in science, tech, education, and math.
  • Advocated for increased funding for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which helps student scientists, including those from backgrounds underrepresented in science, pursue scientific careers. NSF now awards more, bigger fellowships.

Journals

APS’s six journals publish cutting-edge research across all areas of the field and promote the integration of scientific perspectives within psychological science and with related disciplines. Committed to broadening the diversity of their reviewer, author, and editorial pools, the editors seek original research that aids in public understanding of the causes and harmful effects of racism, stereotypes, and inequities; the psychological and societal benefits of diversity, equity, and inclusion; and the most effective ways to foster these outcomes and advance a more just and equitable world. Recent APS journal activities include:

Stack of Books image representing APS Journals
  • Publishing a special issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science on the topic of racial microaggressions, guest edited by Monnica T. Williams, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Disparities at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Williams was also interviewed about the issue on the APS podcast, Under the Cortex.
  • Undertaking the collection of anonymous demographic data from authors of submitted and accepted manuscripts. Having an accurate understanding of the pool of APS authors will allow us to track our progress as we aim to expand that pool and ensure that the authors represented in our journals reflect the diversity of our field.
  • Hosting a webinar with APS journal editors and staff aimed at students and early career researchers explaining the peer review process and what makes for a quality review with an eye toward creating a larger and more diverse pool of reviewers evaluating manuscripts submitted to APS journals.
  • Curating collections of APS journal articles related to issues such as racism, and making the articles contained in these collections freely accessible to the public.
  • Preparing a special issue of Clinical Psychological Science, “Understanding Ethnoracial Disparities and Advancing Mental Health Equity through Clinical Psychological Science,” showcasing innovative clinical psychological research that characterizes psychopathology among people of color, elucidates determinants of ethnoracial mental health disparities, and informs culturally responsive prevention and treatment.

Convention Programs

APS conventions, including the Annual Meeting, present a wide array of diverse voices from across the psychological science community. Explore the program for the 2023 APS Convention, Special programs, and Student Diversity Registration Award. 

Inclusivity Spotlight 

Each year, the APS Board asks the Annual Convention Program Committee to plan a special invited event to highlight research related to diversity. This program can be an address by a prominent speaker or a panel of speakers on psychological science research related to ethnicity, culture, race, sexual orientation, disability or other dimensions of diversity.

The 2023 program, “Upending Racism in Our Science: Where the Rubber Meets the Road” discussed how psychological science lacks diversity in topics, populations researched, scientists, reviewers of our science, and dissemination avenues and how this narrow lens stifles intellectual contributions, idea generation and scholarly innovation. This talk also highlighted structural and procedural barriers holding psychological science back and offered concrete strategies to deviate from that norm.

The 2022 program, “Bias in Graduate Admissions: Solutions and Future Directions,” assembled three thought leaders in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education to explore where bias comes in during the admissions process, how biases can be reduced, and where more empirical research is needed. In addition to the live events, APS shares content broadly on social media to engage a broader audience.

APS-David Myers Distinguished Lecture on the Science and Craft of Teaching Psychological Science

The 2023 David Myers Distinguished Lecture, “Towards a More Equitable Classroom: Contending With Bias and Oppression in Teaching and Learning,” featured Corinne A. Moss-Racusin of Skidmore College. Moss-Racusin discussed higher education and how it strives to provide meritocratic opportunities for people of all backgrounds to pursue their academic and intellectual goals. However, research suggests that biases can undermine the fair treatment and evaluation of both teachers and instructors. Moss-Racusin drew upon evidence-based strategies and extensive personal experience to discuss how academic communities can cultivate socially-just learning environments.

Notable examples include: