Exploring the Psychology of White Racism Through Naturalistic Inquiry

This article reports on the use of naturalistic inquiry methods to study the psychology of White racism. As a result of spending 16 years investigating this form of social pathology among more than 1,200 White people who came from diverse backgrounds and residential locations, the investigators identified 5 psychological dispositions that characterized the way White people cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally responded to White racism.     

Addressing Spiritual Issues From a Cultural Perspective: The Case of the Grieving Filipino Boy

This article examines the ways that spiritual beliefs and traditions associated with the Filipino culture influenced an 11-year-old boy's efforts to cope with the death of his mother. Implications for attending to clients' spiritual beliefs are discussed.     

The role of relational similarity in young children’s use of a scale model

The role of relational similarity in 3-year-old children’s understanding of the relation between a scale model and the space it represents was investigated in two studies. Relational similarity was manipulated by arranging the objects within the two spaces in either the same or different configurations; thus, the internal relations among the objects were either identical or very different. The pattern of results across studies revealed that multiple factors interacted to determine the children’s appreciation of the higher-level model–room relation. When other information about the model–room relation was provided via explicit instructions (Experiment 1), relational similarity did not affect performance. However, relational similarity did have a significant effect on performance when only minimal information regarding the model–room relation was given (Experiment 2). These results established that the children were sensitive to the relations among the objects within each space, as well as to whether those relations were similar across spaces. Furthermore, the results indicated that successful performance was supported by appreciation of the higher-level model–room relation, not merely the detection of individual object correspondences.     

Moral judgment in relation to behavioral and cognitive disorders in adolescents

The capacity for formulating moral judgments shown by 20 emotionally disturbed, cognitively delayed adolescents was related to their social behaviors as observed in a classroom situation. Adolescents reported by their teachers to be shy and submissive were less capable of reasoning about moral issues than were adolescents who were seen as more assertive and socially engaged. The level of moral judgment was not a function of intelligence or ability to understand concrete operations. The implication that social engagement is a critical determinant of moral judgment for these adolescents is discussed.     

Eating at Fast-Food Restaurants: An Analysis Using Two Behavioral Intention Models

Eating at fast-food restaurants is becoming increasingly popular. However, little research has been conducted examining the determinants of this behavior. A subjective probability model and Fishbein's behavioral intention model were used to examine this behavior. Both models were significant predictors of the individual's intention to eat at these restaurants and both were used to identify psychologically important beliefs that determine this behavior. Intention was found to be a significant and sufficient predictor of behavior. Finally, the use of these findings for both applied and basic researchers is presented.     

Inferences of mental illness from noninvolvement

These studies continue the exploration of variables related to a person's use of the mental illness categorization. The central concern in the present studies was the effect of perceived variation in a target person's level of involvement in a social situation. While a low level of involvement, as portrayed in videotaped scenarios, prompts attribution of mental illness, other features of implicit personality theories also relate to greater or lesser attribution of mental illness. Those participants who gave evidence of having attributed lower levels of involvement, regardless of filmed information, also attributed higher levels of mental illness. Social workers, compared to general population participants, attributed higher levels of mental illness at all levels of target involvement. We discuss the implications of these findings for dissemination and assignment of the mentally ill role.     

The effects of incongruity and complexity on the perception of humor

This study compared differing predictions about the relationship between subjects' style or preference for general cognitive complexity and the role of incongruity and complexity on the perception of humor. The subjects, all adult females, found simpler, less incongruous cartoons to be most humorous. Regardless of their general preference for cognitive complexity, ease of information processing seemed directly related to the perception of humor.