Examples include the investigation of subjective well being, identification and treatment of mental health problems, the psychological dimensions of family systems, gender roles and gender-typed behavior, childrearing practices, cognitive and emotional functioning, international attitudes, value systems, intergroup conflicts, threats to the natural environment, societal transformation and national development, the struggles of disempowered groups (such as women, children, migrants, and refugees) as seen in a global perspective (Stevens & Gielen, 2007).
More generally, the emergence and intensification of an international psychology movement is part and parcel of the broader process of globalization in the scientific, economic, technological, sociocultural, political and ecological spheres.
In addition, globalization in psychology has led to the de facto use of English as the predominant means of communication so that academics in many parts of the world are now expected to read and publish in English-language journals.
Consequently, it is a key goal of internationally oriented psychologists both in the US and elsewhere to turn psychology into a more universally and less culturally biased discipline that contributes to human welfare everywhere while strengthening "world consciousness" rather than ethnocentric and potentially violent forms of nationalism or extremist religious preoccupations (Leong, Pickren, Leach, & Marsella, 2012).
In addition, psychology has gained ground in East and Southeast Asia and is increasingly visible in Muslim countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, and Lebanon (Ahmed & Gielen, 1998; Baker, 2012; Stevens & Wedding, 2004).
For more detailed information, see the edited volume by Stevens and Wedding (2004) which includes analyses of the status of psychology in 27 countries located on all inhabited continents.
The contributions respectively to Moodley, Gielen, and Wu (2013) and Gerstein et al. (2009) analyze the status of counseling psychology and psychotherapy in numerous countries.
In general, psychology as a discipline has prospered in well-to-do, urbanized, and individualistic countries and cultures but it is frequently considered an unnecessary luxury in the poorer and more rural regions of the world where the treatment of physical health problems by modern healthcare workers and indigenous healers is likely to take precedence over the identification and treatment of mental health problems (Leung & Zhang, 1995; O'Gorman, Shum, Halford, & Ogilvie, 2012).
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).
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).
However, much work still needs to be done 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; Stevens & Wedding, 2004).
Although access to the Internet is frequently still limited in low-income countries, it has nevertheless improved considerably in recent years thus facilitating the exchange of scientific and professional information as well as research data.
Moreover, high impact psychological journals published in North America and Europe have broadened their scope by increasingly accepting articles by international and non-Western authors including those residing in East Asian countries.
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.
In the 36 European countries represented in EFPA, a major effort is underway to unify the basic academic curriculum as well as other requirements underlying the training and certification of psychologists.
These countries have established specific yet wide-ranging guidelines for a European Diploma in Psychology comparable to a Master's level university education of six years duration that includes supervised practice.
Countries that currently have limited or no regulation of the profession include India, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Thailand and Turkey.
This holds true for all post-industrial countries and increasingly for some modernizing nations such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Turkey.
International contacts among psychologists as well as joint research and applied projects across national and geographic boundaries have prospered thanks to the rapidly evolving technologies of transportation and electronic communication.