WEIRD–Confucian comparisons: Ongoing cultural biases in psychology’s evidence base and some recommendations for improving global representation.

Abstract

The realization that most behavioral science research focuses on cultures labelled as WEIRD-Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (Arnett, 2008;Henrich et al., 2010;Thalmayer et al., 2021)-has given an impetus to extend research to more diverse populations. Confucian East Asian societies have relatively strong social and technological infrastructure to advance science, and thus have gained much prominence in cross-cultural studies. This has inadvertently fostered another bias: the dominance of WEIRD-Confucian comparisons, and a tendency to draw conclusions about "non-WEIRD" cultures in general based on data from Confucian societies. Here, analysing 1,466,019 scientific abstracts and, separately, coverage of 60 large-scale cross-cultural psychological projects (Nsamples = 2668 from Ncountries = 153 covering nparticipants = 3 722 940) we quantify the dominance of Confucian over other non-WEIRD cultures in psychological research. Our analysis also reveals the underrepresentation of non-European Union Post-Communist societies and the almost total invisibility of Pacific Island, Caribbean, Middle African, and Central Asian societies within the research database of psychology. We call for a shift in cross-cultural studies towards midsize (7+ countries), and ideally large-scale (50+ countries) cross-cultural studies, and wepropose mitigations that we believe could aid the inclusion of diverse researchers as well as participants from underrepresented cultures in our field. People in all world regions and cultures deserve psychological knowledge that applies to them.

Advancing equity in cross-cultural psychology: embracing diverse epistemologies and fostering collaborative practices

“…These studies reveal that Latin American cultures, while exhibiting collectivist social norms, simultaneously foster a sense of independence and self-expression. Furthermore, Krys et al (2024) argue for the necessity of moving beyond the WEIRD–Confucian comparisons to include a wider array of cultural contexts in psychological research, advocating for a global representation that accurately reflects the world’s cultural diversity.…”

Adopting global perspectives in school psychology.

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This introduction to the special issue on global perspectives frames the collection of articles around recent calls for expanding the focus of research in psychology in general, and school psychology specifically, beyond Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic countries and cross-cultural comparisons with non-Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic Confucian East Asian countries (cf. individualistic vs. collectivist societies; see Krys et al, 2024), while neglecting populations in Latin

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“…This introduction to the special issue on global perspectives frames the collection of articles around recent calls for expanding the focus of research in psychology in general, and school psychology specifically, beyond Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic countries and cross-cultural comparisons with non-Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic Confucian East Asian countries (cf. individualistic vs. collectivist societies; see Krys et al, 2024), while neglecting populations in Latin American, Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East, South Asia, and Oceania. The articles in this issue represent research from China, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malaysia, Ukraine, Vietnam, and the United States and address topics as diverse as teacher consultation, implementation science, adapting evidence-based interventions, parent–teacher and teacher–child relationships, bullying, behavior management, school climate and equity, resilience during war, newcomer immigrants, refugee status in transit countries, and social media use.…”

“…The data upon which psychology bases its understanding of human behavior have, historically, been collected from samples that constitute a mere 5% of the world’s population; the remaining 95% of peoples are largely excluded from psychological science, resulting in a near absence of consideration of the majority of humanity (Arnett, 2008; Nastasi et al, 2017; Thalmayer et al, 2021). More recently, Krys et al(2024) caution psychology researchers about the limitations of cross-cultural comparisons of Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) countries versus non-WEIRD Confucian East Asian countries (cf. individualistic vs. collectivist societies), while neglecting populations in Latin American, Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East, South Asia, and Oceania (see the online supplemental material to Krys et al’s article for classification of countries by region; https://supp.apa.org/psycarticles/supplemental/amp0001298/AMP-2023-0934_Supplemental_Materials.docx).…”

“…This issue of School Psychology makes a significant contribution toward addressing some of the greatest challenges currently faced in school settings and does so with specific attention to being globally inclusive. As such, the special issue includes research from WEIRD (United States, Germany, Italy, Latvia), Confucian-influenced East Asia (China), non-Confucian Asia/Oceania (Malaysia, Vietnam), and postcommunist states (Ukraine), reflecting some progress in response to Krys et al (2024; these regional categories are those suggested by Krys et al). We hope that the articles in this internationally focused collection heighten school psychologists’ knowledge of and interest in a world where science and practice expand beyond borders.…”