Women Across the History of Cross-Cultural Psychology: Research and Leadership

Across the years as interest in culture grew in the field of psychology, women contributed to its growth by leading research into new areas, such as children’s socialization and family dynamics, and acknowledging the critical role of the social and environmental context. Moreover, women were significant partners in team-led projects, developing methodologies that have been successfully employed to study cultural similarities and differences. Women have expanded psychological research in many domains, investigating the role of culture in cognitive areas, such as perceptual learning, cognition, and languages, as well as in social areas such as cultural stereotypes, acculturation, self-construal, attributions, and human development. Women have also investigated appropriate psychometric testing for valid assessments, critical for establishing equivalence in cross-cultural research. As women’s research voices grew, they have slowly advanced into important roles in academic organizations, such as IACCP. Although men continue to dominate leadership positions in IACCP and other similar organizations, women have become more visible in recent years. Indeed, women have made important research and leadership contributions to the growth and direction of cross-cultural psychology, and they will certainly continue to do so in the future.