Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism

To advance the scientific study of personality and social psychology, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism (DEIA) are strategic assets for SPSP. This is especially important given past and present systemic practices that have historically undermined the inclusion of marginalized voices, topics, and methods, limiting the validity and generalizability of studies in our field. 

To increase DEIA in personality and social psychology, SPSP introduced a DEIA statement in 2022 for every podium presentation submission. After a three-year pilot period, the Convention Committee, based on suggestions from the Diversity and Climate Committee and feedback received in post-convention surveys, decided to revise this procedure. 

We ask submitters to indicate whether their work is of DEIA interest. This procedure is aimed at encouraging researchers to reflect on how their work embodies DEIA and how they can further incorporate these values in future research. This procedure is also aimed at monitoring if and how DEIA is promoted within SPSP members’ research and how to further improve it in research practice.  

This allows scholars the ability to not share if they are uncomfortable doing so based on their current situation.

Yes. Per the analysis of the 2023 and 2024 convention program, submitters who indicated they did not contribute to EIA were not rejected at a higher rate than those who indicated they did contribute to EIA.

In 2021, the SPSP Equity and Anti-Racism (EAR) Taskforce suggested that we ask people to indicate how their presentation advances the Equity and Anti-racism goals of SPSP. The SPSP Board of Directors agreed that we should do so.

For the 2022 Annual Convention, we asked people to write these statements during the submission process, but did not give them to reviewers (we required only the symposia, single presenter, and PD submissions to fill this out, posters were exempt). We requested the submitters to please explain whether and how this submission advances the equity, inclusion, and anti-racism goals of SPSP. This may include, but is not limited to: The research participants in the sample; the methods used in the research; the members of the research team(s) involved in the work (e.g., background, diversity, career stage, affiliation type); the content of the presentation (e.g., critical theories, prejudice, equity, cross-cultural research).

For the 2023 Annual Convention, reviewers scored submissions on scientific merit and content and evaluated EIA statements separately from the other criteria. In both phases of the pilot, those making final decisions about programming read the statements and considered them when choosing submissions rated around the borderline in traditional scientific criteria (alongside other criteria such as increasing coverage of disciplinary areas with fewer submissions).

After the 2023 Annual Convention, SPSP conducted a report to evaluate the progress of this pilot project and determine how it is affecting convention programming. Learn more about the key findings and read the report itself by referring to this announcement.

Based on the findings of the report, we adjusted the process:

• One year extension of the pilot program to determine whether to keep EIA statements in the submission process and, if so, how best to institutionalize the collection and review of the responses to the prompt in the future.
• Clarified instructions and make evaluation criteria transparent and easily accessible (e.g., adding a word limit, providing examples, offering answers to FAQ).
• Added the term "diversity" to the submission question, making the prompt more applicable to researchers outside the United States where terms like "anti-racism" may be less applicable.
• Require statements only for submissions that authors indicate do advance DEIA goals.