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Cited by 373Decolonial Thought and EpistemologiesAcademic and Historical Perspectives in PsychologyLatin American Cultural Politics

Decolonizing Psychological Science: Introduction to the Special Thematic Section

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Adams, Glenn, Dobles, Ignacio, Gómez, Luis H., Kurtiş, Tuğçe, Molina, Ludwin E.·2015·Journal of Social and Political Psychology
DOI 10.5964/jspp.v3i1.564
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Abstract

Despite unprecedented access to information and diffusion of knowledge across the globe, the bulk of work in mainstream psychological science still reflects and promotes the interests of a privileged minority of people in affluent centers of the modern global order. Compared to other social science disciplines, there are few critical voices who reflect on the Euro-American colonial character of psychological science, particularly its relationship to ongoing processes of domination that facilitate growth for a privileged minority but undermine sustainability for the global majority. Moved by mounting concerns about ongoing forms of multiple oppression (including racialized violence, economic injustice, unsustainable over-development, and ecological damage), we proposed a special thematic section and issued a call for papers devoted to the topic of "decolonizing psychological science". In this introduction to the special section, we first discuss two perspectives—liberation psychology and cultural psychology—that have informed our approach to the topic. We then discuss manifestations of coloniality in psychological science and describe three approaches to decolonization—indigenization, accompaniment, and denaturalization—that emerge from contributions to the special section. We conclude with an invitation to readers to submit their own original contributions to an ongoing effort to create an online collection of digitally linked articles on the topic of decolonizing psychological science.

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  • For thousands of years, the shaman has been working effectively in ways that do not map directly onto modern Western psychology.

    “Indeed, for thousands of years, the shaman has been working effectively in ways that do not map directly onto modern Western psychology (Adams et al., 2015).”

    From Prospective examination of the therapeutic role of psychological flexibility and cognitive reappraisal in the ceremonial use of ayahuasca (2022) · cites this paper as Adams et al., 2015

    In “Indigenizing Health: Social-Emotional Well-Being” (pp. 11–12), the paper describes Indigenous knowledge as time-tested, potentially effective, and sometimes poorly matched by mainstream psychological approaches. It does not mention shamans, establish a history of thousands of years, or state that their work has been effective. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • Ayahuasca retreats tend to remain financially inaccessible to those who cannot afford the costs of the retreats and associated travel.

    “Ayahuasca retreats, which can cost up to several thousands of dollars, tend to remain financially inaccessible to those who cannot afford the costs of the retreats and associated travel (Adams et al., 2015).”

    From Prospective examination of the therapeutic role of psychological flexibility and cognitive reappraisal in the ceremonial use of ayahuasca (2022) · cites this paper as Adams et al., 2015

    The closest passages discuss psychologists traveling to communities (Accompaniment in Healing, p. 14) and economic inequality (Denaturalizing Conventional (Scientific) Wisdom, p. 8). Searches for ayahuasca, retreat costs, and travel expenses found no passage addressing the financial accessibility of ayahuasca retreats. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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Flagged first, then by citations

9 of the 94 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 15

  1. Adams, G., & Salter, P. S. (2011). A critical race psychology is not yet born. Connecticut Law Review, 43 , 1355-1377.
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  3. Burton, M., & Gómez Ordóñez, L. H. (2015). Liberation psychology: Another kind of critical psychology. In I. Parker (Ed.), Handbook of critical psychology (pp. 248-255). New York, NY, USA: Routledge.
  4. Dobles, I. (1986). Psicología social desde Centroamérica: Retos y perspectivas: Entrevista con el Dr. Ignacio Martín- Baró [Social psychology from Central America: Challenges and prospects: Interview with Dr. Ignacio Martín- Baró]. Revista Costarricense de Psicología, 5 (8-9), 71-78.
  5. Dobles, I. (1990). Ignacio Martín-Baró y el estudio de la opinión publica en El Salvador y en América Central: Contextualización, referentes epistemológicos y metodológicos. [Ignacio Martín-Baró and the study of public opinion in El Salvador and Central America: Contextualization, epistemological and methodological references]. Boletin Avepso. Asociación Venezolana de Psicología Social, 13 (3), 3-11.
  6. Dobles, I., Baltodano, S., & Leandro Zúniga, V. (Eds.). (2007). Psicología de la liberación en el contexto de la globalización neoliberal: Acciones, reflexiones y desafíos [Liberation psychology in the context of neoliberal globalization: Actions, thoughts, and challenges] (Selection of texts from the 7th International Congress of Liberation Social Psychology, Guanacaste, University of Costa Rica. November, 2005). San José, Costa Rica: Editorial UCR.
  7. Fals-Borda, O. (1981). Science and the common people. The Journal of Social Studies, 11 , 2-21.
  8. Fals-Borda, O. (2013). La ciencia y el pueblo: Nuevas reflexiones sobre la investigación- Acción (participativa) [Science and the people: New reflections on Participatory Action Research]. In N. Herrera & L. López (Eds.), Ciencia Compromiso y Cambio Social: Orlando Fals Borda: Antología (pp. 301-319). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Colectivo.
  9. Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice . Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press.
  10. Grosfoguel, R. (2002). Colonial difference, geopolitics of knowledge, and global coloniality in the modern/colonial capitalist world-system. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), 25 , 203-234.
  11. Lander, E. (Ed.). (2000). La colonialidad del saber: Eurocentrismo y ciencias sociales: Perspectivas latinoamericanas [The coloniality of knowledge: Eurocentrism and social sciences: Latin American perspectives]. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales. Retrieved from http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/clacso/sur-sur/20100708034410/lander.pdf
  12. Martín-Baró, I. (1987). El latino indolente: Carácter ideológico del fatalismo latinoamericano [The lazy Latino: The ideological character of Latin American fatalism]. In M. Montero (Ed.), Psicología politica latinoamericana (pp. 135-162). Caracas, Venezuela: Panapo.
  13. Mills, C. W. (2007). White ignorance. In S. Sullivan & N. Tuana (Eds.), Race and epistemologies of ignorance (pp. 13-38). Albany, NY, USA: SUNY Press.
  14. Narayan, U. (1989). The project of feminist epistemology: Perspectives from a nonwestern feminist. In A. M. Jaggar & S. Bordo (Eds.), Gender/body/knowledge: Feminist reconstructions of being and knowing (pp. 256-269). New Brunswick, NJ, USA: Rutgers University Press.
  15. Wright, S. C., & Lubensky, M. (2008). The struggle for social equality: Collective action vs. prejudice reduction. In S. Demoulin, J. P. Leyens, & J. F. Dovidio (Eds.), Intergroup misunderstandings: Impact of divergent social realities (pp. 291-310). New York, NY, USA: Psychology Press. publishing psychology

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Authors
Adams, G., Dobles, I., Gómez, L. H., Kurtiş, T., & Molina, L. E.
Affiliations
  • University of Kansas (US)
  • Universidad de Costa Rica (CR)
  • Universidad Nacional (CR)
  • University of West Georgia (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Publisher
Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID)
Published
2015-08-21
Volume
3
Issue
1
Pages
213-238
ISSN
2195-3325 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.5964/jspp.v3i1.564
OpenAlex
W1529669390
Cited by
373
References
94
Citations by year
2026: 42 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 1
FWCI
57.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Journal of Social and Political Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe’s Journal of Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion)
  • PsychOpen Gold (Leibniz Institute for Psychology) (publishedVersion)
  • Repositorio Académico Institucional de la Universidad Nacional (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • KU ScholarWorks (University of Kansas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Psychology Archives (cc-by)
Funders
  • University of West Georgia
  • Universidad de Costa Rica
  • Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University
  • Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Decolonial Thought and Epistemologies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › General Psychology › Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Latin American Cultural Politics
Keywords
coloniality, liberation psychology, cultural psychology, indigenization, accompaniment, denaturalization, multiple oppressions, global inequality, racialized violence, ecological damage

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