Frequently asked questions

The APA Council of Representatives adopted a trio of resolutions in October 2021 that will set APA on the path to atone for racism in psychology’s past and to improve the outlook for the future of the discipline, the association, and the larger society. For the first time, APA and American psychology are systematically and intentionally examining, acknowledging, and charting a path forward to address their roles in racism.

The membership consistently has said that APA and psychology should take on critical societal issues. Arguably, no issue is more complex and more closely tied to the foundation of our nation than racism. Thus, APA has mounted a sustained, long-term effort to combat racism—informed, guided, and supported by these resolutions.

The text of the resolutions is APA’s policy in this area. Some frequently asked questions follow.

• What is APA apologizing for and why?
• What are the resolutions?
• What actions will APA take going forward?
• What if I have comments/concerns?
• Who are the members of the task forces?

Share your comments and concerns with APA

What is APA apologizing for and why?

APA is apologizing for promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, racial discrimination, and the hate toward communities of color and for contributing to systemic inequities.

APA is profoundly sorry, accepts responsibility for, and owns the actions and inactions of APA itself, the discipline of psychology, and individual psychologists who stood as leaders for the organization and field.

As a scientific organization whose mission is to benefit society and improve lives, APA failed to do so on an issue that has had an incalculable, negative toll on the basic human rights of security, health, well-being, and societal participation of generations of people.

Why is this such a monumental moment for psychology?

For the first time, APA and American psychology are systematically and intentionally examining, acknowledging, and charting a path forward to address their roles in racism. These resolutions are just the first steps in a long process of reconciliation and healing. This important work will set the path for us to make real change and guide the association moving forward.

Why is APA apologizing now? Hasn’t APA known about psychology’s racist past for many years?

APA, and many in psychology, have long considered such an apology, but failed to accept responsibility. APA previously engaged in unsuccessful efforts to issue apologies, including an apology to Indigenous peoples.

Work on these resolutions began during Dr. Sandy Shullman’s 2020 presidential year, as she confronted a very disturbing time in our nation’s history. This work has continued into Dr. Jennifer F. Kelly’s 2021 presidential year as she challenged APA to look within and set up the foundational elements to move our association forward. This work will continue during Dr. Frank Worrell’s 2022 presidential year as he will spearhead the operational and systemic changes needed to make us a better APA.

The work to make this apology a reality was led by a broad cross-section of today’s APA—members, APA’s elected and appointed leaders, and staff—in a shared commitment not only to fully assess the harms and the harmed, but to take responsibility and commit to taking those collective learnings and direct them into an apology that will effect true change.

The apology was informed by actively listening to the voices of the past—as outlined in a chronology of psychology’s history—and especially informed by the voices of today, the lived experience of psychologists of color, Ethnic Psychological Associations, and those who serve communities of color.

Does the apology capture everything that needs to be said?

The resolutions are foundational to an ongoing process and are not an endpoint—they are necessary to begin the work but not sufficient alone. Only by establishing this foundation can APA and psychology begin to take the steps necessary for sustainable change.

APA is committed to ongoing learning, an inclusive process, course correction, and action to dismantle racism and health inequities going forward, and the apology and associated resolutions should be viewed in that context.

We have made a comment portal available to allow for you to share your comments and concerns about the resolutions with APA.

What are the resolutions, and what do they say?

The resolutions adopted by the Council in October 2021 all build on Harnessing Psychology to Combat Racism: Adopting a Uniform Definition and Understanding (PDF, 95KB)opens in new window, a resolution Council passed in February 2021. That definitional resolution on racism provided guidance to psychologists and APA to consider four levels of racism—internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and structural—in their efforts to counter racism within individuals and across societal systems. It also instructed APA to “undertake an analysis of psychology’s history, with the goal of understanding the harms that marginalized racial groups have experienced and the actions necessary to create a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive association, discipline, and society going forward.”

The October 2021 resolutions are as follows.

• Apology to People of Color for the Role of the American Psychological Association in Promoting, Perpetuating, and Failing to Challenge Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Human Hierarchy in the United States, which focuses on acknowledging and apologizing for the roles of psychology and APA in promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, and for the harms that have been inflicted on communities of color as a result.
• Role of Psychology and the American Psychological Association in Dismantling Systemic Racism Against People of Color in the United States, which delves more deeply into methods by which psychological science can be used to remedy racism’s harms in practice, education, criminal justice, training, and other domains.
• Advancing Health Equity in Psychology, which begins the targeted work in centering race/ethnicity and racism as the key drivers of health inequities and making recommendations for psychological science, education and training, practice, public policy, and legislative advocacy.

Together, these resolutions commit APA to continuing to work on dismantling racism.

How have APA and American psychology been complicit in systemic racism and eugenics?

APA and American psychology made direct and indirect contributions to systemic racism and eugenics by upholding the myth of White superiority. Historically, psychology accepted Whiteness as the standard or norm and presented other races as inferior, marginal, or unnatural. APA was established in 1892 by White men, many of whom contributed to scientific inquiry and methods that perpetuated systemic racial oppression, including promoting the ideas of early 20th century eugenics. Eugenics was a movement—now discredited—that advocated selective breeding allegedly to improve the human race. It was predicated on the belief that racial differences and hierarchies are biological and fixed, and was used to support racial segregation, restricted immigration, sterilization, and antimarriage laws.

Psychologists created, promoted, and administered psychological tests, intelligence tests, educational assessments, and interventions that were normed on White samples, culturally biased, and discriminated against people of color. Within the discipline, people of color have been marginalized by excluding their scholarship and voices; limiting their leadership, educational, recruitment, and retention opportunities; and restricting their access to journal editorship and student supervision.

How did APA work to catalogue the long history of harms to inform the apology?

Consistent with its February 2021 commitment to catalogue the long history of harms to communities of color and to inform an apology and a path toward healing and reconciliation, APA commissioned a historical chronology from the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology at the University of Akron.

In addition, recognizing that many historical records and narratives were created by White people and have been centered in Whiteness, APA concluded that it was imperative to capture the oral history and the lived experiences of communities of color, so it commissioned a series of listening sessions and surveys, which also inform the resolutions.

Throughout APA’s work on the apology and resolutions, we were repeatedly confronted by the fact that the entire narrative of psychology—from textbooks to histories to journal articles—often excludes people of color and their voices.

What actions will APA take going forward?

APA acknowledges this apology must be accompanied by concrete actions to ensure reconciliation, repair, and renewal. We know too well that history can repeat itself, that the past informs the present, and that many harms will continue to be perpetuated absent purposeful intervention.

In addition to offering an apology for these harms, APA put structure into the work to come in the Resolution on the Role of Psychology and the American Psychological Association in Dismantling Systemic Racism Against People of Color in the United States, delving more deeply into methods by which psychology can be used to help remedy harms in practice, education, criminal justice, training, and other domains. And we begin the work of meeting specific goals in the Resolution on Advancing Health Equity in Psychology, taking on the critical issue of racism as related to health equity.

APA’s Council of Representatives is directing APA’s CEO to develop a long-term plan to prioritize, operationalize, and ensure accountability for achieving the goals identified in the resolutions to be presented to Council by its meeting in August 2022. He will do so in consultation with the Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination, and Hate and other subject matter experts within and outside the association.

How can members get involved in the next phase?

It is the Board’s hope that we can fully and deeply engage our members, especially our student and early career leaders, in what comes next—turning these words into action, assessing, and evolving the work, and thoughtfully implementing the many next steps we must take to eradicate racism at APA, in psychology, and in society.

The apology and resolutions are not ends in themselves but the beginning of much-needed, hard work.

Why is APA not also addressing, for example, psychology’s role in perpetuating anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, sexism, and homophobia and transphobia?

APA is starting by apologizing to communities of color.

APA plans to expand its work to examine other forms of destructive social hierarchies beyond racism, including, but not limited to, sexism, ableism, ageism, heterosexism, classism, and religious bigotry.

Our shared values remind us that equity, diversity, and inclusion, human rights, racial justice, and social change are never fully achieved, that they must be continually sought, and that our actions must be constantly reassessed. Therefore, APA is fully invested in doing the work needed to dismantle systemic inequality in psychology.

Today’s work will serve as scaffolding to move forward. APA’s work in this arena is far from complete.

Was the process thorough?

The Board is confident in the quality of the work to date, and in the thoroughness of the process.

The apology itself, the resolution focusing on APA’s role in dismantling racism, and the resolution on health equity were developed by two task forces of eminent psychologists who were chosen for their knowledge and expertise.

The work involved a broad cross-section of individuals and organizations who weighed in during comment periods (almost 350 comments to date), participated in listening sessions, completed surveys, and offered edits.

What task forces were involved and what was their charge?

There were two task forces.

The charge of the Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination, and Hate was to:

• oversee APA’s review of psychology’s history with respect to racism and racist ideologies
• oversee the completion of an apology for this history
• advise on actions needed to address this history
• recommend a set of evidence-based resources for APA to disseminate to psychologists and others to use in efforts to prevent and address racism, discrimination, and hate.

The Apology Advisory Subcommittee, which included the Task Force cochairs, guided the work of other APA leaders in drafting the APA apology to Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

The charge of APA President Dr. Jennifer F. Kelly’s Presidential Task Force on Health Equity was as follows:

Based on a review of relevant research, community-based initiatives, and policy work, to produce a comprehensive report articulating a vision for the role of psychology in advancing health equity. Specific recommendations to promote innovative approaches for psychological science, education and training, psychological practice, public policy, and legislative advocacy as well as recommendations for the corresponding APA organizational units. The Task Force’s charge will also include developing a policy for consideration and approval by the APA Council of Representatives. The Task Force was to complete its work by the end of 2021.

Who are the members of the task forces?