Racial awareness and preference of White and Indian Canadian children.

Utilized the doll choices technique of K. B. Clark and M. K. Clark (1947) to study attitudes toward self and others and racial awareness and identification among 63 Canadian Indian students and 108 White children. The samples consisted of 64 younger (5- and 6-yr-old) and 107 older (7–9 yr old) Ss. Results show (a) that Indian Ss consistently drew figures smaller than did the corresponding White Ss, and (b) there was a significant main effect for Age in the analysis of mother's height. Younger Ss drew their mothers a mean of 3.26 inches taller than did older Ss. (French summary) (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural commitment and attitudes toward seeking counseling services in American Indian college students.

Counseling attitudes were assessed for American Indian college students rating themselves as either strongly or weakly committed to both Tribal and Anglo cultures. Participants strongly committed only to Tribal culture displayed more negative attitudes toward seeking counseling, recognizing a personal need for counseling, having confidence in mental health professionals, and interpersonal openness than those strongly committed only to the Anglo culture or to both cultures. Strongly committed participants demonstrated more negative attitudes toward interpersonal openness than those weakly committed to both cultures. Women showed more positive attitudes toward these issues than did men. It is recommended that counselors consider cultural commitment in understanding the hesitancy among potential American Indian clients to use conventional psychological services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

White fears and native apprehensions: An integrated threat theory approach to intergroup attitudes.

Motivational and cognitive factors have been used to explain negative attitudes toward out-group members. According to the integrated threat theory of prejudice, negative intergroup attitudes are predicted by proximal factors consisting of perceived threats from out-group members; these threats, in turn, are predicted by distal factors such as perceived differences in group status or negative out-group contact. In the present study, White and First Nation people (adolescents and adults) completed measures assessing distal and proximal variables and attitudes toward members of the other ethnic group. Path analyses indicate that realistic and symbolic threats, intergroup anxiety, and negative stereotypes predicted negative out-group attitudes. Many of these threats, and in some cases ethnic attitudes, were associated with negative intergroup contact, strength of in-group identity, perceptions of intergroup conflict, and perceived status inequality. Theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teacher verbal and nonverbal behavioral expression toward selected pupils.

Using the context of pupil-initiated questions, selected verbal and nonverbal behaviors of teachers were investigated. 12 secondary school teachers in individualized classroom settings were asked to select 4 students subsequently labeled accepted, concerned, indifferent, and rejected. Teacher verbal behaviors were recorded with the Observation Schedule and Record 5V. Teacher–pupil interpersonal distance was recorded with the kinesthetic scale of the proxemic notation system (E. T. Hall, 1963). The 44 pupils selected completed the Describe Your School Inventory, a measure of pupil attitudes. Results show that school attitudes differed significantly between pupils labeled accepted, concerned, indifferent, and rejected. No significant differences were found in teacher behaviors toward these pupil groups. The usefulness of the situational context approach to the investigation of teacher behaviors is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teacher effects on cognitive and affective pupil outcomes in elementary school mathematics.

Some writers contend that there is a degree of incompatibility in maximizing both desired cognitive and affective outcomes in pupils. In direct conflict is the contention expressed in literature relating to elementary school mathematics that the promotion of desired cognitive outcomes (or achievement) in pupils is dependent on the prior promotion of desired affective outcomes, such as favorable attitudes toward the subject, and furthermore, that teachers not possessing the desired cognitive and affective attributes may be unable to inspire them in their pupils. The validity of these contentions was assessed by administering mathematics attitude and achievement tests to final-year student teachers and to the 850 pupils (4th–6th grade) of 48 of these teachers during the following year. Statistical analyses were used to investigate teacher–pupil relationships. Findings indicate that high achievement and high attitudes in teachers were each signficantly related to high achievement in pupils but were also related to the least favorable pupil attitudes toward the subject. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological and demographic correlates of early academic skill development among American Indian and Alaska Native youth: A growth modeling study.

Research regarding the development of early academic skills among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) students has been very limited to date. Using a nationally representative sample of AIAN, Hispanic, African American, and White children at school entry, the authors used latent growth models to estimate the associations among poverty, low parental education, living in a rural location, as well as child attitudes toward learning and internalizing/externalizing behaviors, with mathematical and reading cognitive skill development across the 1st 4 years of school. Results indicate that AIAN children entered kindergarten with scores on both mathematical and reading cognitive tests that were comparable to their peers from other ethnic groups of color. Importantly, all children who entered kindergarten with lower cognitive skill scores also acquired skills more slowly over the next 4 years. Having a positive approach to learning at the start of kindergarten was associated with cognitive skill levels at school entry nearly 1 standard deviation above the population average. Results are discussed with reference to the shared early educational profiles observed between AIAN and other children of color. These findings provide a much-needed update regarding early academic development among AIAN children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A sociocultural stress, appraisal, and coping model of subjective burden and family attitudes toward patients with schizophrenia.

A sociocultural stress, appraisal, and coping model was developed to understand relatives' burden of care and negative affective attitudes toward patients with schizophrenia. Ninety-two African American and 79 White patients and a significant other (80% mothers) completed 2 10-min family problem-solving discussions. In addition, the Kreisman Rejection Scale and a global self-report rating of family burden were administered to relatives, and a self-report rating of substance use was administered to patients. Results indicated that subjective burden of care and patients' odd and unusual thinking during the family discussion each independently predicted relatives' attitudes toward patients, suggesting that negative attitudes are based in part on both patients' symptoms and perceived burden of care. African American relatives' perceived burden was also predicted by patients' substance abuse. Finally, White family members were significantly more likely than African Americans to feel burdened by and have rejecting attitudes toward their schizophrenic relative suggesting that cultural factors play an important role in determining both perceived burden and relatives' attitudes toward patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Harvesting implicit group attitudes and beliefs from a demonstration web site.

Respondents at an Internet site completed over 600,000 tasks between October 1998 and April 2000 measuring attitudes toward and stereotypes of social groups. Their responses demonstrated, on average, implicit preference for White over Black and young over old and stereotypic: associations linking male terms with science and career and female terms with liberal arts and family. The main purpose was to provide a demonstration site at which respondents could experience their implicit attitudes and stereotypes toward social groups. Nevertheless, the data collected are rich in information regarding the operation of attitudes and stereotypes, most notably the strength of implicit attitudes, the association and dissociation between implicit and explicit attitudes, and the effects of group membership on attitudes and stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes of white and Negro high school students in a west Texas town toward school integration.

"1. Authoritarian attitudes… were not indicative of negative attitudes toward integration. 2. Negro students… show highly authoritarian attitudes as well as strong positive attitudes toward all areas of school integration. 3. White students in the segregated school systems studied show high authoritarianism though less than Negro students. 4. White students show a number of positive attitude responses toward many aspects of school integration, thus easing the expressed fear of widespread interracial conflicts in integrated schools in this area, though problems may arise in situations necessitating close personal-social contact." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit and explicit prejudice and interracial interaction.

The present research examined how implicit racial associations and explicit racial attitudes of Whites relate to behaviors and impressions in interracial interactions. Specifically, the authors examined how response latency and self-report measures predicted bias and perceptions of bias in verbal and nonverbal behavior exhibited by Whites while they interacted with a Black partner. As predicted, Whites' self-reported racial attitudes significantly predicted bias in their verbal behavior to Black relative to White confederates. Furthermore, these explicit attitudes predicted how much friendlier Whites felt that they behaved toward White than Black partners. In contrast, the response latency measure significantly predicted Whites' nonverbal friendliness and the extent to which the confederates and observers perceived bias in the participants' friendliness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnic preference and identification among Canadian Indian and White children: Replication and extension.

Examined 3 hypotheses regarding ethnic preference and identification among White and Native Indian children who were asked by either a White or Native experimenter (E) to indicate their preference for either a White or Native doll, a white or brown rabbit, and a white or brown cup. The escape hypothesis suggests that both types of Ss would choose the White doll and that the Natives would show ethnic misidentification. J. E. Williams's (Williams and J. K. Morland, 1976) notion of a pro-light/anti-dark bias suggests that Ss of both races would choose the lighter of 2 objects. A 3rd hypothesis suggests that Ss of both races would choose a doll of the same race as the E; there would be no pattern regarding rabbits or cups. 30 White 5–7 yr olds and 35 Native 5–6 yr olds served as Ss. Results show that Ss of both races chose the lighter of 2 objects, consistent with Williams's hypothesis. Such responses, however, were influenced by both S's race and race of the E. Results also indicate that when choosing the doll that looked more like themselves, Ss of both races chose the White doll more frequently with a White than a Native E, a finding consistent with the E bias hypothesis. The notion that minority group Ss were attempting to escape a minority group label by identifying with objects associated with the majority group was not supported. (French abstract) (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of Teaching Play Therapy Attitudes and Skills to Undergraduate Human Services Majors.

This study investigated the effectiveness of an undergraduate human services course based on Landreth's (1991, 2002) 10-week model of filia, therapy and Adlerian principles as in Kinder therapy (White, Flynt, and Draper, 1997). Specifically, this research determined whether the training received in this course facilitated change in the undergraduate students' attitudes toward and empathic behavior with children, the students' parenting attitudes, and their play therapy attitude, knowledge, and skills. Experimental and control groups of undergraduate human services majors completed pretest and posttest measures. Each group also had a 30-minute videotaped play session with a young child. The results revealed the undergraduate students in the course had significantly better scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous prejudice in context: Variability in automatically activated attitudes.

The goal of the research reported in this article was to examine whether automatic group attitudes and stereotypes, commonly thought to be fixed responses to a social category cue, are sensitive to change in the situational context. Two experiments demonstrated such variability of automatic responses due to changes in the stimulus context. In Study 1 White participants' implicit attitudes toward Blacks varied as a result of exposure to either a positive (a family barbecue) or a negative (a gang incident) stereotypic situation. Study 2 demonstrated similar context effects under clearly automatic processing conditions. Here, the use of different background pictures (church interior vs. street corner) for Black and White face primes affected participants' racial attitudes as measured by a sequential priming task. Implications for the concept of automaticity in social cognition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interracial attitudes and behavior at a summer camp.

Studied interracial attitudes and behavior during a series of week-long sessions at a summer camp. The camp involved prolonged, intimate contact between 92 Black and 104 White children of equal status. The situation was structured so that each living unit had a Black and a White counselor and equal numbers of Black and White campers. Measures of racial attitudes and behavior included a verbal attitude assessment, a series of interpersonal choices, and an analysis of photographs taken by the Ss. All 3 measures showed some significant and positive changes. Consistent with other studies, males generally showed more positive interracial attitudes and behavior than females. As a consequence of the elevated pretest scores of males, only females showed significant changes in attitudes and interpersonal choices. Possible rival hypotheses for the obtained changes are analyzed and rejected, and it is suggested that intergroup attitudes and behavior depend on the relative power and status of the groups in the social situation within which they interact. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group counseling expectations among Asian American students: The role of culture-specific factors.

The present study investigated the influence of loss of face and acculturation on the group psychotherapy expectations of Asian American students (N?=?134) with the Positive Attitudes subscale from Y. S. Slocum's (1987) Group Therapy Survey. Results showed that loss of face was not a significant predictor of positive attitudes toward group counseling, whereas acculturation was. U. Kim's (1988) measure of acculturation was based on J. W. Berry's (1980) model, which posits four acculturation statuses: assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. Of the 4 scales, only the integrationist status significantly predicted positive attitudes toward group counseling. Counseling and research implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations among age, exercise, and psychological variables in a community sample of women.

Age, exercise status, and their interaction were examined in relation to self-motivation, exercise self-efficacy, and attitudes toward exercise among a community sample of women aged 20 to 85 years. Random digit telephone dialing yielded 121 participants, stratified by age and exercise status. Age was negatively related to attitudes toward exercise and exercise self-efficacy but was unrelated to self-motivation. Age also interacted with exercise status; the belief that exercise would be enjoyable and beneficial decreased with increasing age only among nonexercisers. Finally, exercisers were significantly more self-motivated, had greater exercise self-efficacy, and had more positive attitudes toward exercise than did nonexercisers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescents' reference-group choices, self-esteem, and adjustment.

330 Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White high school students reported their reference-group label as mainstream, bicultural, or strongly ethnically identified. Compared with other groups, White students were significantly more likely to be mainstream. Across ethnic groups, students reporting a strong ethnic identification held attitudes that were significantly more separatist, reported more ethnic pride, engaged in less cross-ethnic contact out of school, reported more cross-ethnic conflict, and used English significantly less often than other reference groups. Reference-group label was not associated with significant ethnic differences in self-esteem, social competence, or grade point average (GPA). The generational status of minority students is discussed as a potential influence mediating the impact of reference group on adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does Volunteering With Children Affect Attitudes Toward Adults With Disabilities? A Prospective Study of Unequal Contact.

Objectives: Determine effects of volunteering with children with disabilities on attitudes toward adults with disabilities; examine predictors of social distance. Setting: Pediatric educational-rehabilitation center. Method: Seventy-one adult volunteers completed measures before and after volunteering for 4 to 10 months with children with physical or hearing impairments. Main outcome variables: Questionnaire measures of social distance, self- and other-focused attitudes, thoughts, and affect toward adults with disabilities. Results: Volunteering decreased social distance and had the greatest impact on comfort and ease, regardless of the group with which participants volunteered. There was little change in thoughts and beliefs about people with disabilities. Social distance was best predicted by an other-focused variable: thoughts about the person with a disability. Conclusions: Working with children with disabilities diminished social distance and improved self-focused aspects of attitudes, thoughts, and feelings. This experience generally did not affect other-focused views, which are important for interaction with peers with disabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contact with the dominant culture and cognitive competence in Canadian Indians and Whites.

Tests of 3 different kinds of cognitive competence were administered to 49 White 1st-3rd graders, 48 Indian classmates of the Whites who lived on a reserve, and 63 Indian 1st-3rd graders attending a residential school with isolation from both White and Indian societies. The Whites surpassed both Indian groups on abstract verbal reasoning in the English language, surpassed only the residential-school group on nonverbal reasoning, and scored at about the same level as the Indian Ss on concrete nonverbal skills. The 2 groups of Indian Ss obtained similar mean scores on all 3 tests. Findings suggest a continuum of contact with the dominant White society that interacts with the cognitive competencies sampled by tests, lowest mean scores resulting from testing the components that are most strongly culture-based, in children most isolated from the dominant society. The data also raise the possibility of qualitatively different "intelligences" in the 2 racial groups. (French summary) (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Whites' opposition to busing: Symbolic racism or realistic group conflict?

The theory of symbolic racism contends that White individuals' opposition to busing springs from a basic underlying prejudiced or intolerant attitudinal predisposition toward Blacks, not self-interest or realistic group conflict motives. The present research argues that realistic group conflict motives do help explain Whites' opposition to busing. Two major criticisms of the symbolic racism approach are made: (a) that the tests of symbolic racism vs group conflict explanations of opposition to busing have not been fair because of a narrow definition of group interests that ignores the role of subjectively appreciated threat and challenges to group status; and (b) that by forcing racial attitudes onto a single continuum running from prejudice to tolerance, the symbolic racism researchers overlook the importance of the perception that the civil rights movement is a threatening force. By reanalyzing the Michigan National Election Study data (2,705 voting-age citizens in the 1972 phase and 2,248 in the 1976 phase) used by D. O. Sears et al (1979, 1980), the present research broadens the notion of self-interest and operates with a multidimensional conceptualization of racial attitudes. In so doing, the data demonstrate that Whites' opposition to busing reflects group conflict motives, not simply a new manifestation of prejudice. (63 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)