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1、DouglasMedinandMeganBangNorthwesternUniversityTERCPerspectiveTaking,DiversityandPartnershipsWhatwouldthefieldofpsychologylooklikeifitsbeginningshadbeeninChina?Psychologymaybetheleastinternationalofallthesocialsciencesanditcertainlyismoreparochialthananyofthenaturalsci
2、ences.Therefore,thereisplentyofreasontothinkthatadifferentpointoforiginwouldhaveledtoadifferentcurrentstateoftheart.Onceonestartsalongthislineofthought,itiseasytogeneratevariations.Towhatextentdoourcurrentunderstandingsofourfielddependonthegender,ethnicity,SES,politic
3、alleaningsandculturalidentificationofthescientistswhoareconductingpsychologicalresearch?Forexample,whatifthefieldofpsychologyhadbeenconsideredasthesoledomainofwomen?Wouldourtheoriesandempiricalgeneralizationslookmuchdifferent?Thereisreasontothinkthattheywould(seeEagly
4、,2005,foranexamplefromresearchonleadership).Orsupposethatthefieldofpsychologywasnotdominatedbyliberalsbutratherreflectedabroadpoliticalspectrum.Inthiscase,chancesarewewouldhaveabroaderviewofmoralconcepts,onethatwouldgeneralizemorereadilytoothercultures(Shwederetal,199
5、7;Haidt,2008).Envisioningthevariouswaysthefieldmighthaveevolvedundervariousformsofrestrictionsissobering,becauseitunderlinestheproblemsofinsightslostbyvirtueofalackofdiversity.Socialscientistshaveevenconstructedproofsthatdiversitytrumpsabilityinproblem-solving(Page,20
6、04).Notethatthecostsoflimitedperspectivesnotonlyfallonthefieldofpsychologyperse,butalsomaybedevastatingforthepopulationsaffectedbytheresearch(e.g.immigrants,women,peopleofcolor,etc),especiallywhenbiasedassessmentsholdtheauthorityofscience.Forpresentpurposeswewillfocus
7、onculturalresearchandtheissuesassociatedwiththeobservationthatitstillispredominatelyconductedfromanAmericanperspective.Therearetwokindsofproblemswiththisasymmetry.Oneconcernsthecognitiveconsequencesofwhatcanbecalled,psychologicaldistance.Psychologicaldistancereferstoh
8、owsubjectively(psychologically)closeorremotefromaneventapersonisacrossarangeofmeasuresofdistance,includingtime,space,andpers