International Psychology - Trends

Trends

Perhaps the best measure of trends within international psychology is within its organizations, through new membership, conference topics, and cooperative research across borders. For example, the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) has seen an increase of new member countries from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America in the past 15 years; membership in such organizations represents a desire and need in these countries for networking, training, accreditation, expansion of scientific research, and international recognition (Stevens & Gielen, 2007). Correspondingly international psychology conferences are now increasingly taking place in Western and non-Western countries. IUPSyS's quadrennial International Congresses of Psychology (ICP), for instance, have been and will be taking place in Beijing (2004), Berlin (2008), Cape Town (2012), Yokohama (2016), and Prague (2020).

Trends in global psychology point to the sustained growth, specialization, and feminization of psychology, and the emergence of contextually sensitive paradigms.

The number of psychologists, psychology students, and psychology programs worldwide continues to grow, proving that one of the goals of globalization is being met. However, much work is still to be done in order to bring psychology to underdeveloped areas, and to increase the resources and development of the field in countries where it has already taken hold (Adair & Kağitçibaşi, 1995).

Specialization is a growing trend, with each nation focusing specializations on its own needs and goals. Also, communication within these specializations is being facilitated through the World Wide Web and the emergence and growth of specialized international organizations and journals in many subfields of psychology. Although access to the Internet is often limited in less developed countries, it has nevertheless improved in recent years thus facilitating the exchange of scientific and professional information as well as research data.

Feminization in psychology is another trend, as women are beginning to dominate the field in Europe, Latin America, Canada, the United States, and parts of Asia. A trend within this trend is the continued dominance of male psychologists within business and academia, whereas women tend to work more in school, counseling, and clinical settings.

Finally, with the globalization of psychology comes the demand for more culturally sensitive paradigms. Traditionally, psychology was taught in the Western context, reflecting the norms, values, and data of those particular regions. Increasing awareness that this psychology does not address global issues and therefore does not apply to some cultures has led to the call for indigenous psychologies, or at least an alternative psychology to the mainstream, reductionistic paradigm which may be applied to most, if not all, cultures (Kim, Yang, & Hwang, 2006). Prominent centers of indigenous psychology include Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan. Moreover, the increasing inclusion of globally collected data of psychological relevance is gradually undermining the traditionally ethnocentric nature of psychology as taught in the United States and elsewhere in the West (e.g., Hofstede, 2001).