Two types of prejudice and their causes.

Comments on J. Duckitt's (see record 1993-05337-001) analysis of theories of prejudice in the historical context. Although his work brought together various perspectives, the discussion was weakened by the lack of attention to the distinctions between different types of prejudice and the claim that he had presented a reasonably complete understanding of prejudice. The distinction between cognitive or epistemic prejudice and moral prejudice is clarified as being based on whether social perceptions of attitudes are compared with the standard of the social reality or with that of a moral value or justice principle. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceiving pervasive discrimination among African Americans: Implications for group identification and well-being.

The processes involved in well-being maintenance among African Americans who differed in their attributions to prejudice were examined. A rejection–identification model was proposed where stable attributions to prejudice represent rejection by the dominant group. This results in a direct and negative effect on well-being. The model also predicts a positive effect on well-being that is mediated by minority group identification. In other words, the generally negative consequences of perceiving oneself as a victim of racial prejudice can be somewhat alleviated by identification with the minority group. Structural equation analyses provided support for the model and ruled out alternative theoretical possibilities. Perceiving prejudice as pervasive produces effects on well-being that are fundamentally different from those that may arise from an unstable attribution to prejudice for a single negative outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing political group dynamics: A test of the groupthink model.

Used the Group Dynamics Q sort to explore the empirical underpinnings and theoretical logic of the groupthink model. Examination of 10 decision-making episodes revealed considerable historical support for I. L. Janis's (1982) classification of groups into groupthink and vigilant decision-making episodes. LISREL analysis, however, revealed less support for Janis's causal model of groupthink. Neither group cohesiveness nor situational stress emerged as independent predictors of symptoms of groupthink. Structural and procedural faults of the organization did, however, emerge as a potent predictor. Little support was found for Janis's suggestion that the ill-fated Mayaguez and Iran rescue decisions were the product of groupthink. The results illustrate the symbiotic relationship between social psychology and history. Historical case studies allow for testing theories of group dynamics; social-psychological concepts and research methods can inform interpretations of historical events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergroup relations: insights from a theoretically integrative approach

In social psychology, specific research traditions, which often spring up in response to external events or social problems, tend to perpetuate the theoretical assumptions and methodological approaches with which they began. As a result, theories and methods that have proven powerful in 1 topic area are often not applied in other areas, even to conceptually similar issues. The authors adopt a theoretically integrative approach to the topic of intergroup relations. Theories and empirical approaches from the domains of attitudes, impression formation, the self, personal relationships, and norms offer many new insights into problematic issues, such as repeated findings of dissociations among stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. This integrative approach not only promises new theoretical advances, but also suggests numerous potential practical approaches to limiting or reducing destructive patterns of intergroup relations.     

Theoretical orientation and psychotherapy integration: Comment on Poznanski and McLennan (1995).

J. J. Poznanski and J. McLennan (see record 1996-07039-001) have made a strong contribution to our understanding of theoretical orientation. This comment considers their discussion and proposals for measurement of theoretical orientation in light of recent interest in psychotherapy integration. Suggestions are made to allow better assessment of the orientation of counselors who espouse integrative theories or technical eclecticism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prejudice and politics: Symbolic racism versus racial threats to the good life.

Although theories of prejudice have been extensively catalogued, empirical confrontations between competing theories are rare. The present study tested 2 major theoretical approaches to prejudice by Whites against Blacks: realistic group conflict theory, which emphasizes the tangible threats Blacks might pose to Whites' private lives; and a sociocultural theory of prejudice termed symbolic racism, which emphasizes abstract, moralistic resentments of Blacks, presumably traceable to preadult socialization. The main dependent variable was suburban Whites' voting behavior in 2 mayoral elections in Los Angeles, both strongly influenced by racial issues, that matched the same 2 candidates, 1 Black and 1 White. In both elections, symbolic racism (sociocultural prejudice) was the major determinant of voting against the Black candidate for people removed from possible personal threats posed by Blacks as well as for those at risk. Direct racial threats to Whites' private lives (to their jobs, their neighborhoods, their children's schooling, their families' safety) had little effect on either anti-Black voting behavior or symbolic racism. Implications for theories of prejudice and for interpretations of the effects of voters' private lives on their political behavior are discussed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision making and psychotherapy integration: Theoretical considerations, preliminary data, and implications for future research.

In recent years, a number of publications have called for investigation of how psychotherapists make treatment decisions in clinical practice. This recommendation is particularly salient for psychotherapy integration, as studies have consistently shown that a plurality of American clinicians consider themselves to be either "eclectic" or "integrative" in theoretical orientation. Yet, the research on clinician decision making in psychotherapy is in its infancy. This article examines the need for decision-making research in psychotherapy integration, as well as aspects of psychotherapy integration that are targets for research and possible theoretical frameworks for understanding decision-making processes of integrative psychotherapists. A preliminary study provides data from practicing psychotherapists to illustrate these points. Finally, implications and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ideas about causation in philosophy and psychology.

Philosophical theories summarized here include regularity and necessity theories from D. Hume (1739 [1978], 1740 [1978]) to the present; manipulability theory; the theory of powerful particulars; causation as connected changes within a defined state of affairs; departures from "normal" events or from some standard for comparison; causation as a transfer of something between objects; and causal propagation and production. Issues found in this literature and of relevance for psychology include whether actual causal relations can be perceived or known; what sorts of things people believe can be causes; different levels of causal analysis; the distinction between the causal relation itself and cues to causal relations; causal frames or fields; internal and external causes; and understanding of causation in different realms of the world, such as the natural and artificial realms. A full theory of causal inference by laypeople should address all of these issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic prejudice in childhood and early adolescence.

Four cross-sectional studies are presented that investigated the automatic activation of prejudice in children and adolescents (aged 9 years to 15 years). Therefore, 4 different versions of the affective priming task were used, with pictures of ingroup and outgroup members being presented as prejudice-related prime stimuli. In all 4 studies, a pattern occurred that suggests a linear developmental increase of automatic prejudice with significant effects of outgroup negativity appearing only around the ages of 12 to 13 years. Results of younger children, on the contrary, did not indicate any effect of automatic prejudice activation. In contrast, prejudice effects in an Implicit Association Test (IAT) showed high levels of prejudice independent of age (Study 3). Results of Study 4 suggest that these age differences are due to age-related differences in spontaneous categorization processes. Introducing a forced-categorization into the affective priming procedure produced a pattern of results equivalent to that obtained with the IAT. These results suggest that although children are assumed to acquire prejudice at much younger ages, automatization of such attitudes might be related to developmental processes in early adolescence. We discuss possible theoretical implications of these results for a developmental theory of prejudice representation and automatization during childhood and adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit and explicit components of prejudice.

Research on implicit and explicit prejudice has treated implicit prejudices as a unitary construct characterized by automatic access to negative concepts. The present article makes the case that tasks purported to measure implicit prejudice actually assess 2 different processes. Some assess the extent to which prejudice is activated automatically on the perception of a member of the target group. Other implicit tasks assess the extent to which prejudice is automatically applied in judgment. In the reported study, participants completed 4 implicit and 2 explicit measures of prejudice against women. Factor analysis yielded a 3-factor solution. The solution provides support for the distinction between explicit prejudice and 2 types of implicit prejudice corresponding to automatic activation and automatic application of prejudice. Prejudice appears to be a multifaceted construct, different aspects of which are measured by different tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling stage-sequential change in ordered categorical responses.

Although few would dispute the usefulness of looking at behavioral change from a stage-sequential perspective, until recently the lack of appropriate modeling techniques has hampered rigorous empirical tests of stage theories. In particular, for behavioral measurements that are ordinal, there is a need for methods that represent the underlying change processes in the form of qualitative and discontinuous shifts. This article introduces a stage-sequential ordinal model by postulating that at any point in time there are a finite number of latent stages. Panel members may shift among these stages over time. The authors show that the stage-sequential model provides a general approach for both the analysis of ordinal time-dependent data and tests of various competing theories and hypotheses about psychological change processes. An analysis of a 5-year study concerning attitudes toward alcohol consumption by teenagers is presented to illustrate the modeling approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thinking graphically: Connecting vision and cognition during graph comprehension.

Task analytic theories of graph comprehension account for the perceptual and conceptual processes required to extract specific information from graphs. Comparatively, the processes underlying information integration have received less attention. We propose a new framework for information integration that highlights visual integration and cognitive integration. During visual integration, pattern recognition processes are used to form visual clusters of information; these visual clusters are then used to reason about the graph during cognitive integration. In 3 experiments, the processes required to extract specific information and to integrate information were examined by collecting verbal protocol and eye movement data. Results supported the task analytic theories for specific information extraction and the processes of visual and cognitive integration for integrative questions. Further, the integrative processes scaled up as graph complexity increased, highlighting the importance of these processes for integration in more complex graphs. Finally, based on this framework, design principles to improve both visual and cognitive integration are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The theoretical status of latent variables.

This article examines the theoretical status of latent variables as used in modern test theory models. First, it is argued that a consistent interpretation of such models requires a realist ontology for latent variables. Second, the relation between latent variables and their indicators is discussed. It is maintained that this relation can be interpreted as a causal one but that in measurement models for interindividual differences the relation does not apply to the level of the individual person. To substantiate intraindividual causal conclusions, one must explicitly represent individual level processes in the measurement model. Several research strategies that may be useful in this respect are discussed, and a typology of constructs is proposed on the basis of this analysis. The need to link individual processes to latent variable models for interindividual differences is emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological bases of ideology and prejudice: Testing a dual process model.

The issue of personality and prejudice has been largely investigated in terms of authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. However, these seem more appropriately conceptualized as ideological attitudes than as personality dimensions. The authors describe a causal model linking dual dimensions of personality, social world view, ideological attitudes, and intergroup attitudes. Structural equation modeling with data from American and White Afrikaner students supported the model, suggesting that social conformity and belief in a dangerous world influence authoritarian attitudes, whereas toughmindedness and belief in a competitive jungle world influence social dominance attitudes, and these two ideological attitude dimensions influence intergroup attitudes. The model implies that dual motivational and cognitive processes, which may be activated by different kinds of situational and intergroup dynamics, may underlie 2 distinct dimensions of prejudice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification and inferential processes in dispositional attribution.

Tested, in 2 experiments, predictions of a formal model that decomposes the attribution of personal dispositions into identification and dispositional inference processes. The model assumes that identification processes initially represent the incoming stimulus information in terms of meaningful attribution-relevant categories. The results of the identification process serve as input for dispositional inference processes wherein causal schemata guide the inference of personal dispositions. The 2 illustrative experiments traced the processing of behavioral and situational information at the identification and dispositional inference stages and examined attributions as a joint product of the different stages. Findings and previous relevant research demonstrate that the proposed model can help reconcile conflicting findings in the literature, reveal new attributional phenomena, and improve understanding of the cognitive processes that produce self- and other-attribution. Dispositional attribution calculations are appended. (90 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multilevel integrative analyses of human behavior: Social neuroscience and the complementing nature of social and biological approaches.

Social and biological explanations traditionally have been cast as incompatible, but advances in recent years have revealed a new view synthesized from these 2 very different levels of analysis. The authors review evidence underscoring the complementing nature of social and biological levels of analysis and how the 2 together can foster understanding of the mechanisms underlying complex behavior and the mind. Specifically, they review the utility of considering social influences on biological processes that are often viewed as outside the social domain including genetic constitution, gene expression, disease, and autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune activity. This research underscores the unity of psychology and the importance of retaining multilevel integrative research that spans molar and molecular levels of analysis. Especially needed in the coming years is more research on the mechanism linking social and biological events and processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flexible use of recent information in causal and predictive judgments.

Associative and statistical theories of causal and predictive learning make opposite predictions for situations in which the most recent information contradicts the information provided by older trials (e.g., acquisition followed by extinction). Associative theories predict that people will rely on the most recent information to best adapt their behavior to the changing environment. Statistical theories predict that people will integrate what they have learned in the two phases. The results of this study showed one or the other effect as a function of response mode (trial by trial vs. global), type of question (contiguity, causality, or predictiveness), and postacquisition instructions. That is, participants are able to give either an integrative judgment, or a judgment that relies on recent information as a function of test demands. The authors concluded that any model must allow for flexible use of information once it has been acquired. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The integration of behavior.

Reviews the book, The integration of behavior by Thomas M. French (1952). In this fundamental contribution to Ego psychology French undertakes to elucidate the workings of integrative mechanisms, using as illustrative material the record of the analysis of an asthmatic patient. The first volume--Basic Postulates (see record 1952-05902-000) presnts, in a first approximation, the conceptual framework evolved by French, exemplifying the "basic postulates" by instances taken from everyday normal behavior and from some of the patient's dreams. In the second volume--The Integrative Process in Dreams (see record 1954-05671-000) the author brings detailed analyses of several sequences of the patient's dreams, elaborating the integrative processes and the system of personal patterns reflected in these dreams. French's undertaking can be considered as one of the most valuable among the current attempts to evolve a systematic "ego psychology," centering it on the successfully integrated behavior, on constructive, rather than defensive, functions of the psychic organization. Through a judicious selection of concepts and theories that have both a high explanatory power and a close fit to facts, he tries to "bring into resonance" not only the rational and irrational behavior, but also many other dichotomous areas and approaches of the personality study. Personality psychologists will certainly welcome this attempt at overcoming the segregation of various approaches to the study of human behavior, even if one may disagree with the specific selections French makes, and regret the fact that the inclusion of so many theories and speculations tends to obliterate the main outlines of the work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)