It may be harder than we thought, but political diversity will (still) improve social psychological science

Abstract

In our target article, we made four claims: (1) Social psychology is now politically homogeneous; (2) this homogeneity sometimes harms the science; (3) increasing political diversity would reduce this damage; and (4) some portion of the homogeneity is due to a hostile climate and outright discrimination against non-liberals. In this response, we review these claims in light of the arguments made by a diverse group of commentators. We were surprised to find near-universal agreement with our first two claims, and we note that few challenged our fourth claim. Most of the disagreements came in response to our claim that increasing political diversity would be beneficial. We agree with our critics that increasing political diversity may be harder than we had thought, but we explain why we still believe that it is possible and desirable to do so. We conclude with a revised list of 12 recommendations for improving political diversity in social psychology, as well as in other areas of the academy.

The role of political affiliation in employment decisions: A model and research agenda.

“…Calls for increased greater political affiliation diversity and tolerance have been made (Duarte et al, 2015). but such progress is likely to be slow and very difficult (Crawford et al, 2015).…”

Seeking Evidence of The MAGA Cult and Trump Derangement Syndrome: An Examination of (A)symmetric Political Bias

“…Baron and Jost [31] spelled out some reasons why researchers may be compelled to interpret their research findings as supporting the notion that political bias is symmetrical. Motivation to appear unbiased may be elicited by calls from prominent researchers to promote "ideological diversity" in social psychology [51][52][53]. It may also be motivated by a conscious or unconscious recognition of the fact that there is a higher rejection rate for manuscripts on "liberal" topics [54].…”

Publication bias and stereotype threat research: A reply to Zigerell.

“…First, Crawford et al (2015) used stereotype threat as an example of an effect where a political bias could exist. They suggest a researcher’s liberal bias by might lead to biases in questions pursued, p -hacking, and a file-drawer problem.…”