Evaluating the Feminist Challenge to Research in Personality and Social Psychology: 1963–1983

Psychology of Women Quarterly: Citation Network Analysis of its Landscape and Evolution

Psychology of Women Quarterly (PWQ) is a leading outlet for feminist psychology research. To elucidate the interrelations of PWQ publications over time, we conducted a citation network analysis of its 2,747 articles and 4,517 citation links. Of the 16 citation clusters that emerged, many echoed key elements of PWQ's scope. These included Cluster 1: feminist consciousness and sexism; Cluster 2: body image and objectification; Cluster 3: feminist psychology, epistemology, and methodology; Cluster 4: gender and educational and occupational experiences; Cluster 5: rape and sexual assault; Cluster 6: power and violence in close relationships; Cluster 7: sexual harassment and workplace discrimination; and Cluster 8: women and power with attention to race and nation. Areas of citation disconnection revealed avenues for resisting citation silos and advancing pantheoretical feminist frameworks on the continuum of patriarchal violence. Small and discontinued clusters were areas ripe for feminist revisiting (e.g., reproductive justice). PWQ articles were cited in an increasing number and breadth of journals over time. These findings can inform authors, reviewers, and editors to advance the next decades of scholarship in PWQ in ways that resist citation silos, revive research on critical domains of women's lives, and foster the feminist edge of our scholarship.

Contextual History: A Framework for Re-Placing Women in the History of Psychology

The absence of women from published histories of psychology is addressed from a perspective that makes sense of women's place in the history of psychology, including their participation, their exclusion, and their invisibility. This approach is based on principles of social constructionism and on a contextual approach to history that seeks to understand women's place in psychology as a product of socially constructed notions of gender, psychology, and history. The article suggests that an awareness of the context created by these constructions explains women's role in psychology to date and holds promise for their meaningful inclusion in the future.

Do Research Reports in Mainstream Feminist Psychology Journals Reflect Feminist Values?

Core values in feminist approaches to psychological research include attention to the relationship between scientists and citizens. But traditional methodological norms dictate that investigators restrict citizens' participation in research and prescribe an impersonal, decontextualized writing style in journal reports. Content analysis of 228 research articles in two journals associated with feminist psychology—the Psychology of Women Quarterly and Sex Roles, spanning the journals' first decade—showed that authors typically provided minimal or no information about such relationship dimensions as level of participation, informed consent, and feedback. The depersonalized writing style generally employed gives the impression that some feminist psychologists have adopted androcentric standards for the research relationship. Developing appropriate models for both research methods and report writing is essential for feminist researchers to resolve the apparent contradiction between ideals and behavior. But certain institutional obstacles need to be overcome for the resolution to occur.

Psychology Reconstructs The Female: 1968–1988

Recent work on the psychology of gender is pluralistic, stemming from varied specialty areas within psychology, grounded in several intellectual frameworks, and reflecting a spectrum of feminist perspectives. This article is a critical appraisal of diverse approaches to the study of women and gender. It first describes prefeminist or “womanless” psychology, then analyzes four co-existing frameworks that have generated recent research. The four frameworks are: Exceptional Women, in which empirical research focuses on the correlates of high achievement for women, and women's history in the discipline is re-evaluated; Women as Problem (or Anomaly), in which research emphasizes explanations for female “deficiencies” (e.g., fear of success); the Psychology of Gender, in which the focus of inquiry shifts from women to gender, conceived as a principle of social organization that structures relations between women and men; and a (currently relatively undeveloped) Transformation framework that reflexively challenges the values, assumptions, and normative practices of the discipline. Examples of research programs within each approach are described, and the strengths and limitations of each approach are critically examined.

Feminist Theory, Feminist Psychology: A Bibliography of Epistemology, Critical Analysis, and Applications

A selection of recent (post-1980) works on feminist theory and method, this bibliography includes literature from psychology and other social sciences, feminist studies, and philosophy of science. The first of its four sections concerns epistemology and metatheory. The second lists works that offer reformulations or critical analyses of key concepts in gender studies; many of these are grounded in social constructionist and feminist standpoint epistemologies. The third section cites writings that illustrate the potential of new epistemological stances or exemplify new ways of working. The last section lists related bibliographies. (232 entries.)

Finished At 40: Women's Development within the Patriarchy

Psychological theories of women's lives in middle age and beyond are restricted, negative, and scarce. An overview of women's adult development in textbooks and the professional literature indicates that (a) the prevailing focus of concern is the woman as a biological creature, especially as a mother; (b) the proposed lifecycle trajectory is one in which the woman's life goes into decline after approximately age 40; and (c) little attention is paid to the particular character of women's life narratives. Such treatments of adult womanhood are advantageous to a patriarchal system of power. For future inquiry a social constructionist approach is proposed. Recommended are theories that: liberate interpretations of women from an exclusive focus on their reproductive roles; support methodologies along feminist valuational lines; give preference to relational networks over autonomous individualism; create new narrative life forms for women that are multiple and non-linear; and support a critical function both within psychology and in the society at large.

Social Psychology: Humanist Roots and Feminist Future

The central theme of this article is that a feminist perspective is not only compatible with the history, objectives, and emphases of social psychology, but necessary for its continued vitality. In view of social psychology's humanist roots and its “nurturist” and “social optimist” tenets, it is not surprising that feminist scholarship has flourished within it. Situational factors and group membership—the focus of social psychological inquiry—are also key to understanding how culture constructs gender, a central issue in the feminist agenda. Some of the important women in the early decades of American psychology are claimed as foremothers of social psychology and as feminist voices, and the feminist perspective is defined and identified in terms of its major interrelated themes. The influence of feminist scholarship on contemporary social psychology is illustrated, and it is argued that a feminist perspective will become increasingly more visible.

A Restive Legacy: The History of Feminist Work in Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In the last century feminist psychologists have contributed to refining and improving research in experimental psychology. While the accomplishments are cause for celebration during the American Association of Psychology's (APA) Centennial year, especially given the sexism that has accompanied scientific practices, we need to examine more carefully the difficulties—past and present—that attend feminist efforts in the discipline. This brief article explores the strategies that feminist researchers have used to eliminate androcentrism and sexism from experimental and, more recently, cognitive psychology. Such historical reassessment not only reveals the multiple and insightful means by which feminist psychologists have proceeded, but also indicates that feminist work must continue to focus on epistemological and theoretical problems as well as methodological ones.

Feminist Poststructuralism and Discourse Analysis: Contributions to Feminist Psychology

In this article I suggest that feminist poststructuralism (Weedon, 1987) is of great potential value to feminist psychologists seeking more satisfactory ways of theorizing gender and subjectivity. Some key elements of this theoretical perspective are discussed, including an understanding of knowledge as socially produced and inherently unstable, an emphasis on the importance of language and discourse, and a decentering of the subject. Discourse analysis is discussed as one way of working that is consistent with feminist poststructuralist theory. To illustrate this approach, an example is presented from my work on the sexual coercion of women within heterosexual relationships.

Cultural Diversity and Methodology in Feminist Psychology: Critique, Proposal, Empirical Example

This article calls for a revision in the methodology of feminist psychological research because cultural differences can neither be investigated nor integrated without methodological change. A methodology that combines etic (objective, behavioral) and emic (subjective, phenomenological) approaches was demonstrated in an empirical investigation. White women did not differ from women of color in self-ratings on several gender-role stereotypic terms (etic data). However, the two groups differed significantly in how they had defined and interpreted those terms while rating themselves (emic data), and these subjective, culturally constituted interpretations predicted the self-ratings.

Who's the Boss? Confronting Whiteness and Power Differences within a Feminist Mentoring Relationship in Participatory Action Research

In this article, we discuss the sometimes problematic and always challenging nature of feminist mentoring, particularly in a participatory action research project aimed at interrogating whiteness. We analyze our relationship by examining the multiple contexts in which it was embedded-power relations within the institution in which the research was conducted, our expectations of one another both during and after the research experience, our complementary and conflicting agendas, whiteness, social class and gender. We illuminate the nuanced complexities of our relationship providing feminist researchers and scholars with a lens that elucidates the kaleidoscope that is woman-to-woman academic relationships. Our experiences suggest possible strategies for white educators and researchers who seek to both rethink the meaning of whiteness and reimagine feminist mentoring relationships through creating liberatory research methodologies. In addition, we suggest that as feminist researchers we need to continually demonstrate our reflexivity through (re)articulating how we problematize power, privilege and the multiple unequal hierarchies that exist in feminist research.

Will the Real Sex Difference Please Stand Up?

Scholarship about women and gender in the US is marked by controversies about sex differences; and there is little rapprochement between groups of researchers with different epistemological assumptions. It is argued that empirical investigation of personal epistemology has important implications for feminist scholarship. Following findings of no reliable sex differences in personal epistemology, cross-cultural research showed important interactions between sex and religiosity. This suggests that in order to be able to make statements about the relative importance of sex/gender in predicting behavior, feminist researchers need to subject a wider range of variables to multiple comparisons.

A Feminist Approach to HRD Research

This article challenges HRD professionals to critically evaluate HRD research and practice using the lens of feminism. This article defines feminist research; makes the case for conducting feminist research; describes the purpose, processes, and products of feminist research; and identifies the inherent challenges in being more critical of our research and practice.

Dimensions of Desire

This study provides an example of how feminist psychology can bridge qualitative and quantitative methods while keeping lived experience at the center of an inquiry. The goal of the study was to begin to understand adolescent girls' experiences of sexual desire. We describe three separate and synergistically related analyses of interviews with 30 adolescent girls. We begin with a qualitative analysis of their voiced experiences of sexual desire; follow with a quantitative analysis of the differences in how urban and suburban girls describe these experiences, assessing the role of reported sexual violation; and conclude with a second qualitative analysis exploring the interaction between social location and reported sexual violation. These three analyses enabled us to understand qualitatively and to quantify interrelated dimensions of desire as described by adolescent girls.

Research On Women Of Color: From Ignorance to Awareness

Evidence that women of color are dealt with as anomalies in psychological research is discussed in order to: (a) inform researchers about the omissions, (b) stimulate interest in increased inclusion of women of color among research populations, and (c) demonstrate the need for increased diversity in research paradigms. It is noted that research paradigms directed at the study of the “universal woman” have in actuality focused on White middle class populations. This article examines the methodological and theoretical transformations that have occurred in the literature, and evaluates the extent to which researchers have successfully incorporated ethnicity into the study of gender issues. This is a call for an examination of women's experiences relative to ethnicity and a paradigmatic shift in the assumptions about what is worthy or appropriate for investigation.

Transforming Theory And Research With Women: Themes and Variations

We look at some of the ways in which feminist theorists and researchers apply new insights to established topics in psychology, as they explore the landscape of the unknown and unspoken in the lives of girls and women. The articles in this special issue present research and reflections by a group of feminist scholars, some of us from the editorial board of the Psychology of Women Quarterly and others from the larger academic community. Each contributor, selecting from a personal interest or expertise, reconceptualizes a topical area of psychology with the intent of reframing our understanding of its meaning, its impact on women's functioning, and/or its application to feminist research and theory. To provide a background, we review a sample of contributions of feminist thought to the contemporary revolution in science. We then ask the question: In what ways have feminist perspectives and scholarship transformed psychology in the particular areas addressed by these authors?

Where Is Social Structure in Personality Research?

For decades, feminist scholars have argued that to understand a person’s behavior, one must understand not only that individual but also the social structure in which she or he is embedded. Has psychology heeded these calls? The authors investigated this question using the subfield of personality as an exemplar. Based on a systematic analysis of publication trends in nine prominent journals, the authors found that social-structural analyses rarely appear in highly cited journals specifically devoted to personality research. Instead, these analyses appear in journals that focus on certain social structures (gender and race/ethnicity), while still neglecting others (social class and sexual orientation). To illustrate how greater attention to social structure can advance the scientific understanding of individuals, the authors then identified specific research programs that look closely at both personality and structure. The article concludes with specific recommendations for research and teaching in personality psychology, gender and race psychology, and beyond.

A history of women and feminist perspectives in community psychology

Using an historical framework, we document and assess efforts to include women, women's issues, and feminism in community psychology and in the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). Initiatives of the SCRA Task Force/Committee on Women are traced from its inception to present. We also chronicle the dilemmas and difficulties of moving toward a feminist community psychology. The history is divided into five phases. Each phase is described in terms of women's involvement in the field and efforts to integrate feminist content into research and practice of the field. Reflections on the qualities of contexts that have both supported and inhibited inclusion are identified. We look to this history to try to understand the observation that while women have been increasingly visible in leadership roles and women's professional development has been encouraged, less progress has been made toward building a feminist community psychology.