Gender schema theory revisited: men's stereotypes of American women

Bem's gender schema theory is reconsidered in terms of connections among schemas, stereotypes, and perceptions of self and others. The supposition that schematic, as opposed to aschematic persons, are more prone to think about others in stereotypic ways is tested. Primarily Caucasian adult men from all social classes (n=142), classified with the Bem Sex Role Inventory as masculine, androgynous, or undifferentiated, completed measures designed to assess strength of stereotypic views of American women and the tendency to think unidimensionally (the likelihood of perceiving women as feminine vs. androgynous). Results analyzed with multivariate analysis of variance, indicated significant differences among subject categories. Masculine (schematic) men were the most prone to see women as stereotypically high in femininity and low on masculinity. Androgynous men were more likely to perceive women as having androgynous characteristics.     

Assessing African American adolescents' risk for suicide attempts: attachment theory

The threat of separation from a parent theoretically increases the risk of adolescent suicide attempts. The present study evaluated this and other hypothesized risk factors in a sample of adolescent suicide attempters and nonsuicidal controls, using the Psychiatric Consultation Checklist (Lyon, 1987). Stepwise logistic regression was used to predict group membership. It was found that threat of separation from a parental figure, insomnia, neglect, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and failing grades were the strongest predictors of suicide attempt. Ten predictor variables correctly identified 97% of suicide attempters and 86% of nonattempters. Unexpected findings included high levels of truancy, threatening others, and separation from a parent before the age of 12 among nonattempters.     

Hispanic versus African American girls: body image, nutrition, and puberty

Public health research has been dominated by the biomedical model, which does not appear to be appropriate for studying public health variables across different populations. For example, when comparing the Hispanic American (HA) and African American (AA) population in the U.S., there are similarities on several demographic and public health variables. Despite these similarities, there is a public health paradox. HA with strong cultural ties engage in fewer high-risk behaviors and therefore have favorable health outcomes. The primary focus of this study however, is the health disparities between AA and HA girls in particular. Pediatric research indicates that HA girls are developing secondary sexual characteristics at a later age than AA girls. Researchers have acknowledged that growth trends are sensitive to life changes such as catastrophes, prosperity, and those which affect diet and lifestyle. Thus, this study investigated whether there are differences in food intake between HA and AA girls as a function of early sexual maturation and body image perceptions in the context of culture. Participating were 23 HA and 44 AA girls, aged 7 to 10 years, and 1 of their parent/guardians.     

Psychophysical judgment: Wundt's theory revisited

Summary Wundt's psychological interpretation of Weber's and Fechner's laws rests on two main postulates. First, the magnitude of sensory excitation is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus that produces it. Second, in apperception, sensory comparisons and judgments are made according to psychological relationships: Two sensations are just-noticeably different when they fall in a constant psychological ratio. Wundt's theory implies a hierarchical organization, in which sensory-perceptual processes are embedded within higher-level, apperceptive processes. Such an organization is compatible with recent psychophysical research on loudness and with a model that goes toward resolving some controversies in loudness scaling, notably the seeming incompatibility of Stevens's sone scale and Garner's lambda scale.     

African American Spirituals

ABSTRACT

This article endeavors to explore the following aspects of African American Spirituals: the African Legacy; the creation and evolution in the North American environment; basic content and purpose of texts, musical elements, the influence of the Spirituals, published collections and significant publications.     

African American Women Survivors of Sexual Assault:

More attention has recently focused on the psychological experiences of women survivors of sexual assault. However, little work has examined the experiences of African American women survivors, particularly with regard to the impact of race and class on survivors' experiences. We address these limitations by presenting a socio-historical analysis of African American women's rape experiences. This analysis considers the relationship between sexual and economic oppression in African American women's lives. Second, we discuss the influences of these socio-historical factors on African American women's post-assault experiences. Finally, recommendations for therapy with African American women survivors are provided.     

African American Muslim Women: An Invisible Group

Little is written about Islam and African American women or men from a psychosocial perspective. Most of the literature is on the historical and political development of the Nation of Islam, and the differences among the male leaders. This focus obscures the fact that the majority of African Americans Muslims belong to traditional Islamic groups. Drawing upon a variety of literatures, this paper seeks to explore some background information about Islam and the African American community, and to understand the appeal of Islam to African American women.     

African American students' ratings of Caucasian and African American counselors varying in racial consciousness

African American college students (63 female, 30 male) rated vignettes of counselors varying in racial consciousness (high vs. low) and race (African American vs. Caucasian). Participants then completed a counselor rating scale and the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (Short Form; T. A. Parham & J. E. Helms, 1981). African American counselors were rated more favorably than White counselors, and high racially conscious counselors were rated more favorably than low racially conscious counselors. The African American counselor with high racial consciousness was rated the most favorably. Several significant correlations were found between participants' racial identity attitudes and their ratings of counselors. Implications for the training of both African American and White counselors are considered.     

Toward an African American Genogram

This article addresses the inadequacy of the standard genogram for African American families because of its underlying assumption that “family” is strictly a biological entity. The author suggests that this assumption is not culturally valid for African American families who have a long history of defining “family” as a kinship based on biological and functional ties. Using this conceptualization, an African American genogram is proposed.     

Native American religion versus archaeological science: A pernicious dichotomy revisited

Adversarial relations between science and religion have recurred throughout Western History. Archaeologists figure prominently in a recent incarnation of this debate as members of a hegemonic scientific elite. Postmodern debates situate disagreements in cosmological differences between innocent, traditional, native peoples and insensitive, career-mad, colonialist scientists. This simplistic dichotomy patronizes both First Peoples and archaeologists, pitting two economically marginal groups in a political struggle that neither can win. Although a few scholars have discussed the tyrannical nature of anthropological models of tradition and culture, little consideration has been given to the fact that archaeology as a scientific discipline is drastically under-funded, with little research support and few jobs. Reconsideration of which political and economic groups actually benefit from the dramatization of a dichotomy between traditional and academic perspectives indicates some interesting patterns. The search for common ground is shown to have ethical implications for both the futures of First Peoples and the future of archaeology. An earlier version of this paper was presented at a symposium entitled “Ethics in Science: Special Problems in Anthropology and Archaeology” held at the 1998 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Philadelphia, PA, 15 February, 1998.     

The motor theory of speech perception revisited

Galantucci, Fowler, and Turvey (2006) have claimed that perceiving speech is perceiving gestures and that the motor system is recruited for perceiving speech. We make the counter argument that perceiving speech is not perceiving gestures, that the motor system is not recruitedfor perceiving speech, and that speech perception can be adequately described by a prototypical pattern recognition model, the fuzzy logical model of perception (FLMP). Empirical evidence taken as support for gesture and motor theory is reconsidered in more detail and in the framework of the FLMR Additional theoretical and logical arguments are made to challenge gesture and motor theory.     

Cognitions and behaviour in a hierarchy: Mulder's power theory revisited

In this study, Mulder's power theory consisting of the power distance reduction tendency (PDR) of less powerful group members towards more powerful others, and the power distance enlargement tendency (PDE) of more powerful group members towards less powerful others, is investigated. In particular, two different interpretations of the relationships Mulder hypothesized between power distance and power tendencies are examined. In Experiment 1 no support was found for the interpersonal interpretation. Evidence for the intrapersonal interpretation was found only for the PDE. The most remarkable difference between these results and the results of previous experiments was that we did not find any consistent support for an increased interpersonal PDR with smaller power distance. Therefore, in Experiment 2 a more extensive investigation was undertaken focusing on interpersonal measures similar to the one used earlier by Mulder and his co-workers. Results of these measures yielded support for the interpersonal interpretations of both tendencies. In the discussion an explanation for the obtained results is offered that departs from the (in) stability of the power hierarchy.     

Religion and African American Political Life

Religion is a central force in the lives of the overwhelming majority of African Americans. However, psychology has been conspicuously silent about the role of religion in African American political life. This work endeavors to challenge the longstanding argument that religiosity promotes an escapist, apolitical stance among African Americans. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which our understanding of the link between religion and African American political behavior is complicated by expanded definitions of what is political and by increased attention to various forms of religious participation. Future directions for research are discussed.     

The Bible in African American Perspectives

This modified “note from the classroom” is a dialogue between two scholars about African American study of the Bible. Bellis introduces the subject by advocating the primacy of social location and the African American student's religious experience in the method that she uses in her classes. (Her sample bibliography, syllabus and course outline for teaching about the Bible in African American perspectives can be found on the Wabash Center web page: http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu.) Brown's response takes a different stance with regard to the relative importance for exegesis of historical-critical method and the reader's social location. While Bellis and Brown agree on the appeal that the King James Version holds for many African Americans (but for different reasons), their differing assessments of translations, the distinctiveness of African American interpretations, and the ethnicity of Biblical characters models a lively discussion of issues in teaching and learning.