Internationalizing Personality and Social Psychology Through Teaching: Challenges and Opportunities

Research highlights the lack of global diversity in the psychological database and the need to better reflect the experiences and perspectives of underrepresented populations. Likewise, research needs to be better contextualized to evaluate generalizability.

Adequately tackling these global research concerns requires corresponding changes in how social and personality psychology is taught at undergraduate and graduate levels. In training the next generation of psychologists, it is critical to highlight work that is conducted in underrepresented regions and to consider the extent to which classic and contemporary findings generalize globally.

For instructors in North America and Western Europe, this may start with presenting research conducted in non-Western societies, while for instructors from other regions, it may mean incorporating local research that critically compares and contrasts international textbook findings and local realities.

The session highlights challenges and opportunities associated with integrating global research in psychology programs, sharing suggestions for how to locate and integrate global perspectives into course planning, mentorship, and research.

Presenters

• Takeshi Hamamura, Curtin University - Teaching Social Psychology in Asia
• Kopano Ratele, Stellenbosch University - Social Psychology Textbook for an Actual Existing Society 
• Glenn Adams and Syed Muhammad Omar, University of Kansas - Racism-evasive Ignorance in the Standard Pedagogy of Hegemonic Social Psychology
• Michael Bender, Tilburg University - Obstacles to intercultural contact between local and international students in the Netherlands and elsewhere.