On being useful: The nature and consequences of psychological research on social problems.

Discusses the definition of problems and causal attribution bias in psychological research into social problems. An analysis of the literature on blacks covered in Psychological Abstracts during a 6-mo period indicates the types of variables studied (person vs. situation) and the causal relationships between them. It is concluded that too much research emphasis is placed on "blaming" the personal characteristics of those experiencing problems, and that greater attention should be given to the possible influence of external factors. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)