2023/03/10 by Ayanna K. Thomas, Maxine McKinney de Royston, Shameka N. Powell · 1 voice · 31 citations
Health Professions · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Artificial intelligence #Cognition #Cognitive architecture #Cognitive psychology #Cognitive science #Community Health and Development #Computer science #Cultural Differences and Values #Domain specificity #Epistemology #Field (mathematics) #Perspective (graphical) #Problem of universals #Psychology #Racism #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Social cognition #Sociology #Universality (dynamical systems)
paper · doi:10.1177/09637214221141713
published in Current Directions in Psychological Science 32(2), 137-144 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2023/03/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Cognitive psychology has traditionally focused on investigating principles of cognition that are universal across the human species. The motivation to identify “cognitive universals” stems from the close relationship between biology and human cognition and from the theoretical architecture presupposed by the information-processing model. In this article, we argue that the underlying theoretical assumption of universality also stems from epistemological and methodological assumptions that laws of cognition can be effectively developed only by controlling for variables deemed to be outside the scope of internal cognition. These assumptions have resulted in the development of a science of human cognition based on the performance and behavior of a White, English-speaking, normatively invisible, racially color-evasive, socially dominant (WEIRD) class. In this article, we identify how scientific racism has influenced the study of cognition and offer perspective on how researchers may reconsider many of the premises that undergird our approach.