Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T19:06:57.568Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Too paranoid to see progress: Social psychology is probably liberal, but it doesn't believe in progress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2015

Bo Winegard
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32304. Winegard@psy.fsu.eduhttp://psy.fsu.edu/~baumeisterticelab/winegard.html
Benjamin Winegard
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. bmw8vb@mail.missouri.eduGearyD@Missouri.eduhttps://psychology.missouri.edu/bmw8vbhttp://web.missouri.edu/~gearyd/
David C. Geary
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. bmw8vb@mail.missouri.eduGearyD@Missouri.eduhttps://psychology.missouri.edu/bmw8vbhttp://web.missouri.edu/~gearyd/

Abstract

We agree with Duarte et al. that bias in social psychology is a serious problem that researchers should confront. However, we are skeptical that most social psychologists adhere to a liberal progress narrative. We suggest, instead, that most social psychologists are paranoid egalitarian meliorists (PEMs). We explain the term and suggest possible remedies to bias in social psychology.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Haselton, M. G. & Nettle, D. (2006) The paranoid optimist: An integrative evolutionary model of cognitive biases. Personality and Social Psychology Review 10:4766.Google Scholar
Inbar, Y. & Lammers, J. (2012) Political diversity in social and personality psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science 7(5):496503.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. (2011a) The better angels of our nature: Why violence has declined. Viking.Google Scholar
Smith, C., ed. (2003) The secular revolution: Power, interests, and conflict in the secularization of American public life. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Tetlock, P. E. (2003) Thinking the unthinkable: Sacred values and taboo cognitions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7:320–24.Google Scholar