Comment in 2022

The next generation of translational measures must exhibit greater construct validity in their capacity to capture the dynamic nature of mental illness.

PhD training in psychology asks people to receive training while simultaneously executing the essential work of a university. A healthy PhD approach that places student wellbeing ahead of productivity is a counterweight to these conditions.

The field of animal cognition does far more than simply extend cognition into zoology. Studying animal cognition helps researchers to comprehend the human mind.

To ensure that psychological science is credible and impactful, and benefits people of all backgrounds, the field must simultaneously tackle the intertwining problems of reproducibility and generalizability.

Meta-analysts’ practice of transcribing and numerically combining all results in a research literature can generate uninterpretable and/or misleading conclusions. Meta-analysts should instead critically evaluate studies, draw conclusions only from those that are valid and provide readers with enough information to evaluate those conclusions.

Mothers experience barriers to academic belonging and success beyond those already experienced by women more broadly. Addressing these challenges requires structural and institutional reform and immediate action and advocacy by those in positions of power.

Individuals from marginalized ethnic and/or racial backgrounds are underrepresented in faculty positions at US universities. Improving representation will require support of individual faculty members and revamped broad incentive structures.

Under the guise of objectivity, psychologists ignore the fact that understanding the human condition requires engaging beyond the ivory tower. For a more inclusive science, psychologists must lean into the social aspect of being a social scientist.

Despite increased attention to the reliability of behavioural research, efficient solutions for conducting more representative studies are lacking. Remote virtual reality offers a promising way forward by enabling researchers to study representative behaviours in large samples and diverse settings over time, without sacrificing experimental control.

Collaborations between psychology researchers in high-income countries and those in low- and/or middle-income countries often involve unstated imbalances of power and privilege. The outcomes of these imbalances present a scientific, ethical and moral threat to psychological science.

When psychologists attend to Africa, they usually test whether theories and concepts developed in North America and Europe generalize to Africa. Psychology would be enriched by focusing on Africa on its own terms.

The technological advancements and globalization of the 21st century require a broad set of skills beyond traditional subjects such as mathematics, reading, and science. Research in psychological science should inform best practice and evidence-based recommendations for teaching these skills.

Open research is increasingly required by journals and funders but involves many new skills. Creating open-source tutorials is useful to the field and personally rewarding, but these efforts must be credited accordingly.

Current diagnostic criteria for learning disorders are insufficient because of ongoing COVID-19-related educational disruption. Diagnostic criteria for learning disorders should be modified to reduce the risk of misdiagnosis and ensure timely intervention.

Field studies in social psychology tend to focus on validating existing insights. In addition to learning from the laboratory and bringing those insights to the field — which researchers currently favour — we should also conduct field studies that aim to learn in the field first.

Psychological constructs are necessary abstractions to operationalize otherwise intractable entities. However, the way constructs are defined and refined over time introduces notable bias into models of behaviour, which prevents effective knowledge building within and across subfields.

Diversifying psychology is fundamental to good science. Tests of generalizability using diverse samples can inform and constrain theories, leading to scientific progress and cumulative knowledge.

The lack of models in psychology hinders scientific progress. To start addressing this problem, we need a clear understanding of what models are and what they are not.

Psychology must grapple with Whiteness — the social context of power and privilege unique to white participants — to achieve racial justice goals; however, psychologists are incentivized to conceal its influence.

Insular collaboration networks contribute to inequities in academic psychology by concentrating resources and reputation among members of majority groups. By actively diversifying their networks, researchers can improve their science and reduce inequity.