ABSTRACT
A number of non-Western researchers began claiming parts of the territory that mainstream psychology had ousted, specifically investigating 'particular' people and phenomena. Their work examined such people in their own right and led to the emergence of so-called indigenous psychologies. Somewhat similar to indigenous psychology is the field of cultural psychology, which can be considered an offspring of early cross-cultural research. Critically important for contemporary global relations in psychology is the legacy of western colonialism. For centuries, European countries like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, and to a lesser degree France and Germany, have dominated the globe, in trade and politics. Apart from challenging western knowledge claims and epistemological preferences, non-western indigenous psychologies also make steps to export their own knowledge products, as is illustrated by the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI). From the perspective of mainstream psychology it is not at all unlikely that 'proven' theories and methods will keep spreading across the world.
