Transforming Community Psychology

Community psychology has made great strides in including context when understanding people in their environments. While continuing to consider context, we need to expand our conceptualization of the individual in community settings. I propose 3 principles: (1) focus our research on people, not programs; (2) consider multiple dimensions of people's experience; and (3) conceptualize people as agentic and not simply as reactors to the environmental press. I illustrate those principles with research on domestic violence and welfare reform. In doing so, I call attention both to the way in which aspects of people's lives intersect with community settings, and to the embeddedness of people's lives (and community settings) in larger social structures.     

Separated twins and the genetics of personality differences: a critique

This article discusses studies of separated twins, with special emphasis on the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA), to determine whether they support the existence of an important genetic component in behavioral and personality differences. The methods and conclusions of the MISTRA team are discussed in the context of earlier studies of separated identical twins. I argue that volunteer-based studies are biased toward greater twin similarity. In addition, the MISTRA research team did not publish or share raw data and case history information. Reared-together and reared-apart monozygotic twins share important environmental similarities not controlled for by comparing personality correlations. I propose an alternative control group consisting of biologically unrelated pairs of strangers matched on all environmental factors common to pairs of separated monozygotic twins. I conclude that the evidence from studies of twins reared apart does not support the role of genetic factors in personality and behavioral differences.     

Re-emerging conceptual integration: commentary on Berkowitz's "on the consideration of automatic as well as controlled psychological processes in aggression"

In recent decades, researchers in various areas of psychology have challenged the claims of a single mode of information processing, and developed dual-process models of social behaviors. Although these theories differ on a number of dimensions, they all share the basic assumption that two different modes of information processing operate in making decision and copying behavior. In essence, the common distinction in these perspectives is between controlled vs. automatic, conscious vs. unconscious, and affective vs. cognitive modes of processing. The purpose of Berkowitz's article is to go beyond the notion of automatic processes in order to use classic notions of conditioning and displacement to explain aggressive behavior. I assert that an explanatory framework for psychology of aggression must be anchored not only in the new but also classic theoretical paradigms. However, progress in psychology does not rest solely on the accumulation of theoretical insights. It demands a large body of empirical facts, with attention to incongruities, discordances, and conceptual clarifications.     

Integrating psychological research on girls with feminist activism: a model for building a liberation psychology in the United States

A liberation psychology is needed to bridge the gap between psychology's focus on individual distress and broad social forces that foster such distress. We offer a model for bridging this gap by focusing on a specific area of psychology (psychological research on girls) and a specific social movement (feminist activism). Psychological research on girls and feminist activism share the common goal of improving the lives of girls and women. However, both have fallen short of this goal. This is due, in part, to the weaknesses associated with each endeavor and to the fact that the complementary strengths of each have remained isolated from the other. In this paper, we propose a common language and shared framework to integrate psychological research with feminist activism. First, we review the basic strengths and weaknesses associated with psychological research and feminist activism, with a particular focus on how they are distinct from one another. Second, we provide a taxonomic framework for integrating these two areas on the basis of the stress paradigm, with specific examples provided from our recent reviews of the literature and our own empirical work with adolescent girls. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for future work needed to integrate psychological research on girls with feminist activism toward the goal of building a liberation psychology in the United States.     

How can Asian social psychology succeed globally?†

The present article is inspired by the provocative ideas of Atsumi, Hofstede, Leung, and Ward expressed in this Special Issue on the past achievements, current status, and future opportunities and challenges of Asian social psychology as an international (vs a regional) endeavour. I believe that the success of Asian social psychology as a new voice and emerging perspective in social psychology hinges upon several factors: (i) adoption of an international (vs regional) outlook; (ii) not letting arbitrary geographical or intellectual boundaries restrict creative expansion of research ideas; and (iii) striving to craft a global identity with an Asian character by developing communicable theories that describe and explain important Asian social psychological phenomena for the benefits of Asia and beyond.     

Economic cycles as a source of social influence on individuals

The current review summarizes emerging research in psychology and associated disciplines showing that the economic cycles exert social influence on individuals across a range of psychological domains. Most research on social influence focused on how factors in the proximal environment impact individuals, while influences emanating from the state of the economy as a whole received far less attention. I review the development of different intellectual traditions examining social influence to explain the relative lack of attention to economic cycles and position emerging work on the topic relative to past research. I then review research on how economic cycles influence individuals by focusing on influences relevant to intraindividual, interpersonal, and intergroup processes. A review of this work shows that the understanding of core phenomena of interest to social psychology (e.g., attributions, altruism, and racial tensions) can be meaningfully extended by studying the complex interplay between the economic system and the psychology of individuals embedded within it. This stream of research also uncovers mechanisms through which economic cycles generate or amplify problems for the broader society, which I propose is both the key reason why more work on the topic is needed as well as the key direction for future work.     

Some social-historical issues underlying psychology's fragmentation

Based on a social-contextual analysis, I assess unification and pluralist impulses to resolve psychology's historical disunity. Unifiers and pluralists seem to privilege the context of justification by focusing on rational argument, whereas skeptics in the debate over unification concentrate on irrational dimensions that constitute the social-historical context for epistemic positions on pluralism and unification. Applying Kurt Danziger's (1997b) notion of the “context of construction” to psychological discourse, I discuss six contextual issues that impinge upon solutions to the unification-pluralist debate: historical precedents for disunity; marginalization of human-science psychology; the intersection of psychological knowledge with power; persistent social conflict within the discipline; implicit notions of social change for psychology; and tension between globalized US psychology and an emergent, genuinely international psychology. Adopting the context of construction to examine these contextual issues, pending systematic investigation, might facilitate reflection on the potential of pluralism to resolve the discipline's fragmented state.     

Tension and opportunity in post-world War II American psychology

The rapid growth of post-World War II psychology in the United States led to intradisciplinary tensions and opportunities. In this article, I examine these tensions and opportunities in the context of social change from the 1950s through the present, attending specifically to the broad impact of federal funding on psychology. I argue that as psychology became a resource-rich field, it was forced to move from a narrow, parochial stance to a position as a national-level professional player that had to deal with the challenges of mixing science and practice, as well as meeting the demands of non-White psychologists at the national level. The impetus to create a more inclusive psychology has grown in the last three decades of the 20th century and has helped create possibilities for greater richness in American psychology and movement toward a truly international role vis-a-vis emergent psychologies around the world.     

OPENING DOORS TO FEMINIST RESEARCH

Currently, both controversy and consensus exist concerning the conceptualization and implementation of feminist research. In this article I trace the rise of feminist research in the context of the multiple meanings of a gendered and feminist psychology. I then summarize examples of recent research studies that demonstrate some of the many ways in which feminist psychology is contributing to our understandings of human behavior. The challenge to feminist psychology is to document the variables that influence the process of gendering in social transactions, while actively questioning the perpetuation of its authority.     

Is culture a problem for social psychology?

Culture has been regarded as an anathema to psychology as an empiricist research tradition. Despite the explosive growth of research on culture and psychology over the last decade of the 20th century and its importance in Asian social psychology, the ontological and epistemological tension between psychology as a science and psychology as a cultural/historical discipline introduced in the writings of the thinkers of the Enlightenment and counter-Enlightenment still lingers on in the contemporary discourse of psychology. Clifford Geertz once ominously suggested that cultural psychology may have chewed more than it can. In the present paper, the interpretive turn in social science as exemplified by writings of Charles Taylor and Paul Ricoeur is reviewed and how it may impinge on the practice of Asian social psychology as an empirical science in methodological, epistemological, and ontological respects is discussed. It is argued here that the current practice of Asian social psychology is largely, though not entirely, free of the challenges mounted by these theorists, and that Asian social psychology has an advantage of not being encumbered by this traditional tension due to a monist ontology that is prevalent in Asia.     

Multiple levels of inquiry in cognitive science

Summary Gibsonian ecological psychology, symbolic information processing, and connectionist information processing are frequently construed as three competing paradigms or research traditions, each seeking dominance in experimental psychology and in cognitive science generally. There is an important element of truth in this perspective, and any adequate account of the development of experimental psychology over the past 30 years would have to examine seriously how the various conceptual frameworks, experimental endeavors, and social institutions have figured in this conflict. But the goal of this paper is not to characterize the historical dynamics within experimental psychology and cognitive science; rather, it is to consider what sorts of rapprochement is possible. Rapprochement, however, is not sought simply for its own sake or out of an a priori conviction that scientific enterprises should be unified. Spirited controversy between competing traditions is often an important component of progess (Laudan, 1977). Rapprochement has a purpose when alternative theoretical traditions have reached a point when each confronts serious shortcomings that can best be overcome by incorporating alternative perspectives. In this paper I try to show that this is the situation that exists in experimental psychology and cognitve science generally with respect to the three traditions enumerated above. I first explore how cognitive inquiry directed at internal procedures for processing information could benefit from a detailed study of the context of cognition, including insights provided by the Gibsonian tradition. Second, I examine the current controversy between symbolic and connectionist approaches and address the question of what contributions each offers to the other. Finally, I offer a framework in which multiple levels of inquiry in cognitve science can be related.     

The cultural in the social: A reflection on sociocultural models approaches

Culture is a critical concept for social psychology in Asia. The sociocultural models approach, as exemplified in this special issue, is a significant synthesis of the past work and a generative platform for future research. From the perspective of cultural dynamics, this commentary provides what I hope to be constructively critical reflections on this approach and attempts to point to potential directions for future investigation.     

Work Sample Exams and Gender Adverse Impact Potential: The influence of self‐concept,social skills,and written skills

We clarify the existing literature on gender differences in work sample exams by disentangling such differences on work sample exams from other predictors (e.g., situational judgment tests). In fact, we note that there are only two articles specifically related to gender differences in work sample exams. Based on theory and literature from social psychology, neuropsychology, and applied psychology, we propose that the three constructs of self‐concept, social skills, and writing skills are likely to influence work sample gender differences. We tested our hypotheses on two samples of managers. We found in one instance that males scored higher on a technical exercise, but there was stronger support for females, on average, scoring higher on exercises that involved social skills and on exercises that involved writing skills. Work samples that targeted a broad array of knowledge, skills, and abilities were associated with higher overall scores for females (ds of ?.37 and ?.34) and, thus, were unlikely to be associated with gender‐based adverse impact against females.     

The future of Rorschach in personality assessment

This article considers the Rorschach and its prospects for the next century in the context of two broad issues in psychology, as well as some test specific challenges confronting those interested in the Rorschach and its applications. The broad issues are the matters of personality as a topic of study in psychology, and the relation of findings about personality to treatment planning. The specific issues concern the definition of the Rorschach, research about the test stimuli, and the expansion of information concerning the interpretive usefulness of some structural variables that are poorly conceptualized or for which interpretation may be overly generalized. Some recommendations concerning collaborative research efforts are also offered.     

情境对“热情优先效应”的影响——基于同伴提名法的检验

本研究同时从热情和能力维度独立和互依视角,采用同伴提名法考察社交与工作导向情境对“热情优先效应”的增强与削弱作用。结果发现：（1）社交导向情境下表现出明显的“热情优先效应”;（2）工作导向情境对能力的突显效应与“热情优先效应”的表现相反：在热情与能力独立视角下,情境的削弱效应使得“热情优先效应”无法表现;而在热情与能力互依视角下,“热情优先效应”则强于情境对其的削弱效应。     

Alternative approaches for thinking about and modeling consumer decisions in relationships

Simpson, Griskevicius, and Rothman identify an understudied area in consumer research (namely, decision making in social relationships), propose an important starting point for enquiry (a dyadic framework), and suggest many fruitful moderators for study that can be incorporated in their framework. After pointing out some boundary conditions and opportunities for future research concerning their suggestions, I consider a recent approach in psychology that applies to a relatively circumscribed domain of social relationships (i.e., the social relations model) and then briefly review an emerging approach (plural subject theory applied to goal-directed behavior) that goes beyond the social relations model and better fits certain psychological and social psychological phenomena in consumer behavior.     

Different action patterns for cooperative and competitive behaviour

The aim of the present study is to elucidate the influence of context on the kinematics of the reach-to-grasp movement. In particular, we consider two basic modes of social cognition, namely cooperation and competition. In two experiments kinematics of the very same action - reaching-to-grasp a wooden block - were analyzed in two different contexts provided by a cooperative task and competitive task. For the 'cooperation' tasks two participants were required to reach and grasp their respective objects and to cooperate to join the two objects in specific configurations in the middle of the working surface. For the 'competition' tasks, the two participants had to compete to place their own object first in the middle of the working surface. Results revealed specific kinematic patterns for cooperation and competition which were distinct from similar actions performed by each participant in isolation. Further, during the cooperation tasks, a high level of correlation between key kinematical parameters of the two participants was found. In accordance with evidence from neuroimaging, developmental and social psychology our results suggest the existence of motor patterns which reflect the intention to act in a social context.     

工具理性、社会认同与群体愤怒—— 集体行动的社会心理学研究

集体行动现象一直备受社会科学共同体关注。20世纪早期, 社会心理学曾是集体行动研究界的主导视角, 后逐渐转至社会学与政治学视角。最近20多年, 社会心理学视角开始复苏, 进入研究复兴期。社会心理学家先后确认工具理性、社会认同和群体愤怒这三种影响个体参与集体行动的主要前因变量, 并分别建构了包含工具理性和群体愤怒路径、包含工具理性和社会认同路径, 以及包含社会认同、工具理性和群体愤怒路径的三种重要集体行动参与模型。未来的集体行动社会心理学研究应重视行动情境类型、个体心理特征和除愤怒之外的群体情绪在集体行动参与中的作用, 考察理想信念等潜在新前因变量的可能地位, 加强与群际关系、歧视动机等其它经典研究领域的联系。     

社会公平感对不同阶层目标达成的影响及其过程

基于目标追求理论和社会阶层心理学的相关理论, 本文通过3个研究, 逐步深入地考察了社会公平感对不同阶层个体目标达成的影响作用及其过程。研究1为相关研究, 考察了高低阶层成人被试的教育领域社会公平感与为孩子进行教育投入的目标承诺及目标达成之间的关系; 研究2为准实验研究, 通过操纵公平或不公平教育情境启动公平感, 考察其对高低阶层中学生的学习目标承诺与目标达成的影响; 研究3为实验研究, 通过实验操纵社会公平感和社会阶层, 考察社会公平感对高低阶层大学生的实验任务目标承诺和目标达成的影响。研究发现, 社会公平感通过正向影响低阶层者的目标承诺, 进而正向影响其目标达成; 而对于高阶层者来说, 变量之间这些关系则不显著。这表明：相对于高阶层来说, 低阶层者的目标追求易受社会公平感的影响; 低阶层者的社会公平感水平越高, 其追求目标的动机水平就越高, 进而越有利于目标达成。