Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

I discuss the critical importance of putting culture in the middle in judging scholarly merit in psychological science. I describe the challenges in evaluating cultural research, pointing out the various ways that ethnocentric judgments undermine the scientific merit of cultural research and the consequences of the marginalization of culture in psychological science and practice. In spite of the obstacles, cultural psychologists have made major scientific contributions and achieved scientific eminence. I further suggest that we raise the bar by including a broad, cultural approach to research as one basis for judging scientific contributions. I propose that to put culture in the middle, the evaluation of scholarly merit in psychological science should (a) consider the integration of cultural perspectives in research as a critical indicator, (b) take into consideration the international visibility of scholarship, (c) benefit from a general consensus among cultural researchers, (d) document real-life impact in different populations, and (e) be mindful of the beliefs and practices of scientific communities in other cultures.

Keywords

culture scholarly merit evaluation cultural research

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Atran

(2011). Talking to the enemy: Sacred values, violent extremism, and what it means to be human. New York, NY: Penguin.

Bempechat

Elliott

J. G.

(2002). Learning in culture and context: Approaching the complexities of achievement motivation in student learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Burlew

A. K.

(2003). Research with ethnic minorities: Conceptual, methodological, and analytical issues. In Bernai

Trimble

J. E.

Burlew

A. K.

Leong

F. T. L.

(Eds.), Handbook of racial & ethnic minority psychology (pp. 179–197). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Chen

Wang

Liu

(2014). Loneliness in Chinese children across contexts. Developmental Psychology, 50, 2324–2333. doi:10.1037/a0037689

Cheung

F. M.

(2012). Mainstreaming culture in psychology. American Psychologist, 67, 721–730. doi:10.1037/a0029876

Cole

(1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Diener

Oishi

Park

(2014). An incomplete list of eminent psychologists of the modern era. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 2, 20–31. doi:10.1037/arc0000006

Fujii

(2017). Conducting a culturally informed neuropsychological evaluation. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/15958-000

Hardin

E. E.

Robitschek

Flores

L. Y.

Navarro

R. L.

Ashton

M. W.

(2014). The cultural lens approach to evaluating cultural validity of psychological theory. American Psychologist, 69, 656–668. doi:10.1037/a0036532

10.

Henrich

Heine

S. J.

Norenzayan

(2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 33, 61–135. doi:10.1017/S0140525X0999152X

11.

Kitayama

Cohen

(Eds.). (2007). Handbook of cultural psychology. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

12.

LeVine

R. A.

LeVine

(2016). Do parents matter? Why Japanese babies sleep soundly, Mexican siblings don’t fight, and American families should just relax (1st ed.). New York, NY: Public Affairs.

13.

(2012). Cultural foundations of learning: East and West. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

14.

Magioglou

(2014). Culture and political psychology: A societal perspective. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

15.

Markus

H. R.

(2008). Pride, prejudice, and ambivalence: Toward a unified theory of race and ethnicity. American Psychologist, 63, 651–670. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.63.8.651

16.

Markus

H. R.

Conner

(2014). Clash! How to thrive in a multicultural world. New York, NY: Plume.

17.

Moran

R. T.

Abramson

N. R.

Moran

S. V.

(2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

18.

Roediger

H. I.

(2016). Varieties of fame in psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 882–887. doi:10.1177/1745691616662457

19.

Ruscio

(2016). Taking advantage of citation measures of scholarly impact: Hip hip h index! Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 905–908. doi:10.1177/1745691616664436

20.

Shweder

R. A.

(2000). The psychology of practice and the practice of the three psychologies. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 3, 207–222. doi:10.1111/1467-839X.00065

21.

Simonton

D. K.

(2015). Psychology as a science within Comte’s hypothesized hierarchy: Empirical investigations and conceptual implications. Review of General Psychology, 19, 334–344. doi:10.1037/gpr0000039

22.

Simonton

D. K.

(2016). Giving credit where credit’s due: Why it’s so hard to do in psychological science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 888–892. doi:10.1177/1745691616660155

23.

Sternberg

R. J.

(2004). Culture and intelligence. American Psychologist, 59, 325–338. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.59.5.325

24.

Sternberg

R. J.

(2016). “Am I famous yet?” Judging scholarly merit in psychological science: An introduction. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 877–881. doi:10.1177/1745691616661777

25.

Sternberg

R. J.

Gordeeva

(1996). The anatomy of impact: What makes an article influential? Psychological Science, 7, 69–75. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00332.x

26.

Sue

(1999). Science, ethnicity, and bias: Where have we gone wrong? American Psychologist, 54, 1070–1077. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.54.12.1070

27.

Wang

(2013). The autobiographical self in time and culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737833.001.0001

28.

Wang

(2016). Why should we all be cultural psychologists? Lessons from the study of social cognition. Pers-pectives on Psychological Science, 11, 583–596. doi:10.1177/1745691616645552

29.

Zajonc

R. B.

(1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151–175. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.35.2.151

Putting Culture in the Middle in Judging Scholarly Merit

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References