Why Psychology Must Reckon with Its Cultural and Historical Blind Spots

Psychologists propose teaching critical histories to foster a more just and equitable field.

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Psychology’s origin story is often told as a march of scientific progress led by towering figures like Wundt, Skinner, and Freud. Yet, beneath this narrative lies a history of exclusion, where entire communities and perspectives have been marginalized.

A special issue of American Psychologist, guest-edited by Germine H. Awad, Joseph P. Gone, Kevin O. Cokley, Lillian Comas-Díaz, and Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, challenges the field to reckon with its past through a cultural–historical lens. In their contribution to this issue, Phia Salter and colleagues argue that embedding “critical histories” into psychology curricula can reshape the discipline by amplifying counterstories and fostering spaces of belonging.

Their proposal emphasizes that history is not merely a backdrop but a structure that shapes how we see the world—and how psychology sees itself. The authors write:

“Critical histories provide counterstories that challenge racist narratives, promote antiracist affordances, and signal identity safety and belonging.”

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Liam Gehrig Bach
Liam is a studying to complete his master’s degree in animal studies at New York University. He graduated from Bard College as a biology/psychology double major and completed independent research about the psychology of perceiving conservation efforts. Liam is especially interested in using feminist and queer theory to unpack current systemic issues that affect otherized, marginalized groups. When he isn’t writing, Liam is likely walking with his dogs.

6 COMMENTS

  1. You’ve got it all mixed up. Western psychology cannot get rid of it’s historical blind spots because if it did so it would be getting rid of itself entirely. You can hardly expect a psychiatrist to be so hypocritical as to council patients not to commit suicide while committing professional suicide themself. So the only solution, obviously, is for all of us to commit professional murder on their behalf, and get rid of these toxic grifters and while we’re at it, getting rid of all the enormous grifts that blight our lives like the gambling industry, the tobacco industry, the fossil fuels industry (suck it up you oil guzzling pigs – it’s you’re children’s futures your burning in order to protect all that lard on your arses), the military and firearm industries, the prison industry, recruitment agencies, Ubers, private landlords, private hotels, fast food outlets (unless YOU will all volunteer to serve the burgers and wash all the toilets and floors), investment banks, politicians, nations, factories, politicians, industrial farms, bosses, managers, experts, authorities, and every other putrid human spectacle or putrid piece of corporate or technocratic crap that has replaced the dazzling perfection and beauty of Mother Earth which according to nature’s laws is ours and our right to freely enjoy, replacing all this with private property, private industry, with busy roads with pig shuttles (cars) often containing one stinking passenger, with generic McDonald restaurants and coffee shops that blight our lives and make us all want to puke even if we’re addicted to them, while all the while turning our very children into the tricksters, goons, buffoons, clowns and festering anal passages who run and destroy their world, i.e. me and you.

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  2. Nice. I really like this one: “Seeing racism as primarily rooted in individuals points us toward solutions that only focus on individuals rather than addressing the broader structural changes that are needed.” This seems so true, and not just in the context of racism. Not to diminish racial struggle, but it seems to me that if the word “racism” were replaced with “depression” or “anxiety” or a host of other “mental disorders,” the sentence still carries truth

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  3. Years ago, I saw a psychiatrist who uncharacteristically admitted to me that he himself had at one time been a psychiatric patient himself, though not to fulfill a training requirement. He said the psychiatrist pointed to his vast collection of “clinical” literature lining the walls of his office and confessed to him that, “…most of this amounts to very bad poetry.”

    I could have told him that.

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  4. I consider Critical Theory to be a bunch of BS. But so is “modern” psychology.

    I recently ran across an example of how this plays out in real life: The Telepathy Tapes.

    It turns out that many children diagnosed by “modern” psychology as autistic are in fact telepathic. Yet critical theorists insist on calling them “neurodivergent.” Neither of these groups (opposing sides?) are doing much to help these children become functioning members of society. Many of then are being treated like retarded people in their schools, while they are for the most part extremely intelligent and well-educated.

    I think the problem is that both “modern” psychology and “modern” critical theory are grounded in materialism. While theoretical physics, as well as theoretical psychology, has been moving away from a materialistic model for years now, the vested interests in “modern” society are embedded in it, and feel threatened if the model is seriously challenged.

    The producer of the Telepathy Tapes is convinced that the “materialist paradigm” must be challenged, as it has been found to be unworkable. And I agree. We need a whole re-think about life, built on the assumption that consciousness came first and is not a product of the material world, but its creator.

    I am watching for which school of thought will be first to let in the non-materialist (spiritual) ideas that we need to move forward in our understanding of life and our ability to handle life’s problems. I personally hope it is psychology.

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