Disability Representation in Social and Personality Psychology Research: A State of the Field Review

We conducted a systematic state-of-the-field review examining disability representation of three flagship social and personality psychology journals between 2017 and 2022. First, we examined how frequently publications used disability-related terminology, finding that 192 of the 2,343 articles surveyed did so. Second, we examined patterns of disability-related terminology use and found that these concepts were most often used in an extraneous manner (e.g., in parenthetical phrases). Only 3 articles were primarily focused on disability. This is the first systematic investigation to examine how and to what extent social and personality psychology research addresses topics related to disability. These findings highlight a need for substantive change in the representation of disability within social and personality psychology. We close with recommendations for researchers.