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This article presents information regarding the problems faced by the developing countries in their course of development. The problems faced by the developing countries of the world are numerous and of critical importance. These problems include those of industrialization and economic development, of changing traditional social institutions such as stratification and power mechanisms so that they facilitate rather than inhibit modernization, and of providing ever-increasing percentages of citizens with an education that teaches the economic and social skills requisite to assuming rewarding roles in a changing society. However, in the array of social and behavioral sciences that have been brought to bear upon the problems of developing countries, social psychology has been noticeably absent. Anthropologists have carried over their interest in traditional societies to include concern with the problems these societies face in the processes of modernization and development, particularly as these processes affect values and institutions such as the family and religion.

An examination of urban-nonurban differences in several aspects of social behavior shows that urbanites are different only in limited ways from their less urban counterparts. In an urban environment, there does appear to be less social contact between neighbors and less helpfulness and consideration shown toward strangers, while social contact between relatives and between friends is no different from what is found in smaller-sized communities. These findings are most consistent with the urban impact models proposed by Milgram and Fischer, while they disconfirm Wirth's model. A fourth model developed by Gans seems also disconfirmed by this pattern of urban-nonurban differences, though the Gans model is less firmly tied to the expectation of overall urban-nonurban differences. A case is made in the paper that the city's influence on social behavior seems mediated by situational forces rather than by alterations of individual personalities. The paper concludes with an account of recent research on urban social behavior in Turkey. This study found urban-nonurban differences on a number of measures, as well as differences within Turkish cities between an urban sample and a sample of squatter settlement residents, who resembled the town dwellers in their social behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A good deal of recent psychological research on urban behavior has been generated by Milgram's overload model. This model suggests that high levels of urban stimulation overload people, and have negative effects on their perception of the city and responses to others. This paper proposes a more "balanced" approach to urban stimulation which derives largely from the work of Berlyne & Wohlwill. Drawing upon theory and research on optimal level of stimulation and adaptation level, it is proposed that stimuli which are intense, complex and/or novel may lead to positive as well as negative effects; and that this may vary across persons or over time A preliminary research study is presented that confirms the importance of urban complexity as an organizing variable; and suggestions for future research and urban application are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a brief review of the major approaches and findings of past research on children of divorce and presents some questions for future research. Many earlier studies of divorce and children are to be found within the research tradition of studies of single parent families. The bulk of these studies, many of which were done in the 1950's and 1960's, focused on demonstrating causal relationships between a child's living in a single parent household and the child becoming delinquent, failing in school, developing inappropriate sex role attitudes and behaviors, or exhibiting other types of pathology. Such studies have typically conceptualized the single parent family as a deviation from the traditional two parent family. These families were not viewed as a family form to be studied on its own terms. Rather they were seen as an aberrant or deviant form of the normal family. The views that single parent families are deviant forms, that they are homogeneous, and that they invariably cause dysfunctioning in children have led to biases and problems in the choice of samples, designs, instruments, and procedures.

This paper focuses on the effect of cancer on the patient's interpersonal relationships, and the ultimate impact of these relationships on the patient's emotional adjustment to the disease. In a detailed theoretical analysis, both the patient's reaction to the illness and others' responses toward the patient are explored. Concerning the patient, the following issues are discussed: (1) fears and uncertainties that develop as one attempts to cope with the diagnosis; (2) the consequent need for clarification and support; and (3) the barriers to receiving validation and support from others. Others' reactions to the patient are hypothesized to be a function of a conflict between (1) their feelings about the illness, which are predominantly negative; and (2) their beliefs about appropriate behaviors to display when interacting with cancer patients (optimism and cheerfulness). This conflict results in behavioral responses that are unintentionally damaging to the patient, including physical avoidance, avoidance of open discussion of the illness, and discrepancies among behaviors. The impact of others' behavior on the patient and the patient's subsequent attempts to solve their interpersonal problems are discussed. The paper concludes with implications for intervention and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents some strong, though limited, empirical generalizations about the effects of cohesiveness on a wide variety of behaviors: cooperation, competition, conformity, productivity, and learning among group members. There is also a more descriptive literature from sociology and anthropology which deals with cohesion and the ethnic organization of current and historic groups. In the paper, findings from these disparate sources are examined. When combined, these diverse sources of research data offer some insights into the internal characteristics of groups which have emerged from poverty. From this perspective the literature permits the prediction of some of the antecedents and consequents of changes in group cohesiveness and ethnic organization among those who are presently poor. Recent changes in the ideology and cohesiveness of poor blacks is used as an illustrative case. The present account includes: a selective discussion of experimental findings on group cohesiveness, some experimental results of the effects of ethnic identity, examples of ethnic and religious organization among current and historic disadvantaged groups (with ethnic cohesiveness among poor blacks used as a current illustration), and some conclusions and predictions.

In this paper, the author proposes a social psychology research, which may increase understanding of inter-personal relations in the U.S. The methods which seek to take account of the individual as a dynamic process are the clinical ones. These approaches will be best used when coordinated with other techniques already developed in the field of social psychology. An example of such coordination in the investigation of social psychological problems is to be found in the University of California Public Opinion Study. For the study of anti-democratic trends, projective techniques have been found valuable. Whereas in the area of internal economic tensions, an assessment center is needed to incorporate principles such as: basing of research upon a fundamental theory of personality; assessment of persons as wholes and as members of natural groups; use of multiform clinical procedures with the techniques of attitude and opinion measurements.

In this paper, we explore how early adolescents’ descriptions of their romantic relationships produce evidence of how precursors to violence are woven into the fabric of such relationships from the very beginning of their experiences of “heterosociality.” We identified Rich’s (1983) concept of compulsory heterosexuality as an interpretive framework for analyzing these relationship narratives, examining qualitative data from two samples (combined n = 100) diverse in ethnicity and income to form a dialogue between youth perspectives and theory. We offer adolescents’ descriptions, and our interpretations, of several themes, including the conceptualization of boys as sexual predators which normalizes such behaviors, girls’ behavior in response to assumed male aggression, and boys’ narration of their participation in relational processes which reproduce these beliefs and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review methodological issues related to the quantitative assessment of thriving with interviews and paper-and-pencil scales. We emphasize two new paper-and-pencil measures of thriving, the Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS; Park. Cohen, & Murch, 1996) and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI: Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). These scales are designed to assess perceived benefits that result from a specific stressor, Research with the SRGS suggests a unidimensional structure of thriving, whereas research with the PTGI suggests a multidimensional structure. Two possible reasons for this inconsistent finding concern differences in the method of participant selection and in the recall period for the reporting of stressful events. In addition, we present a number of strategies to validate self-report measures of thriving, including corroboration from significant others and the use of control groups. We conclude with a brief discussion of the assessment of thriving at the group and community levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the past two decades there has been an increase in research studying the perspective of persons labeled as disabled, rather than relying solely on outsiders' (nonlabeled persons') perspectives about them In this paper, a series of interviews with a small group of persons labeled as mentally retarded sought insights into their work environment, friendships, and future goals through their own words. The interviews revealed that they recognized being "different" in terms of the labels applied to them by others, but they did not use those same labels when defining themselves or choosing their close friends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines some of the claims made by social scientists about the initial employment stage; that of recruiting job candidates for the applicant pool. The claims make great strides in specifying the barriers that black workers face; each fails to specify the conditions under which its findings are true. It is questionable whether ambivalence about high-status jobs can be generalized to ambivalence about lower status jobs and whether women's ambivalence can be generalized to black ambivalence. In keeping with the social psychological analysis they present, social scientists do not analyze social networks as a factor contributing to difficulties in recruiting black job applicants. They present no research evidence for their belief that the finding about female ambivalence and high-status jobs generalizes to black workers. The finding that whites respond poorly to low-immediacy behaviors is suggestive, but far from conclusive. Since white applicants do not usually receive such behavior, they are not used to it and are therefore not prepared to compensate for it.

The term telecommuting refers to the substitution of telecommunications technology for physical travel to a central work location; it usually implies that the person is working in the home. This paper reviews organizational arrangements which allow employees to work at home on a regular basis as a substitute for attendance at the normal workplace. Two extreme cases of the implementation of such an arrangement are described. In the first, where the employee has a skill in demand and a job that is characterized by complexity and autonomy, work at home reinforces the individual's autonomy and self-control over the work. In the second case, where the employee's skill is not in demand and he or she has few other work options due to non work (i.e., family) constraints, the job is designed to reduce individual autonomy and may involve reduced compensation relative to comparable work per- formed on-site. Based on interviews with employees working at home, we examine the effects of work at home on the relationship between the employee and employer, the connection between work and non work domains, and gender issues. We tentatively conclude that work at home will not bee come a widespread trend, but there is sufficient interest in its use as a flexible work option in special cases that it should be examined more closely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines three models of social control processes in computerized work settings. Two models, the management control model and the professional negotiations model, are derived from other analysts' conceptions. The third model, the institutional control model, is new. The models differ in their conception of the flexibility of norms, the proximity of social control agents to other participants, and the patterns of information flow in a system. We examine the explanatory value of these models in light of an intensive study of one complex organization. A set of episodes concerning one recurrent dilemma reported by information system users, the maintenance of accurate data, illustrates the usefulness of the institutional negotiations model. Control is exercised by many actors in a complex social fabric rather than simply through vertical management control or through lateral work relationships. Participation in a larger, institutionalized world of computer use defines work activities, and it subjects users, regardless of their position in the hierarchy, to tighter social controls than is suggested by the other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experimental research approach has some limitations when used to understand the effects of the recent introduction of computers on the social context of classrooms. Rather than looking for effects per se, an alternate framework is used to study the places and processes of change that accompany the use of new technologies. The authors outline two critical elements of the process by which computers are incorporated into the social context of the classroom. First, teachers' interpretations of the meaning of the software- its purpose and value, and whether it has a legitimate relationship to traditional curricular areas and modes of learning- will play a central role in how and whether computers become an integral part of the classroom. Second, teachers' and students' views regarding the new kinds of learning interactions often arising when working with computers, namely) the legitimacy of collaborative work and child experts, will also have a powerful influence in shaping the role of computers. The paper concludes with a discussion of how computers may enable teachers and students to learn new things about and through the technology, as well as provide opportunities for rethinking the learning agendas and the organization of learning interactions currently employed by schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies a cultural perspective to the problem of introducing novices to a new technology: computing. We suggest a general model of initial socialization composed of reality shock, confusion, and attempts at control. Cultural values and ideas contribute to the settings in which this socialization takes place, and one result of this socialization process consists of either cultural recruits or cultural dropouts. In a two-part study exploring the nature of novice encounters with computing in one university setting, reality shock and confusion were quite high and attempts at control were often unsuccessful. In this study when novices encountered computing, they learned more than skills: they learned cultural lessons. Novices acquired perceptions of the social organization of computing; they learned "we-they" distinctions and language; they learned values. This cultural learning) we think, will magnify differential outcomes of organizational socialization to computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the differing systems and variables used to distinguish city from city, and city from non-city. A wide variety of approaches to urban description and classification are reviewed, ranging from those of the novelist and social critic to those of the sociologist, economist, geographer and social psychologist. A distinction is made concerning the measurement of community variables using objective and subjective data; and the contributions and problems of each in explaining interpersonal orientations and behavior is considered. In considering the relative usefulness of these two orientations, it is suggested that they are complementary rather than competing systems of description. Each may be relevant to differing kinds of behaviors and outcomes, and it is the interaction between these two forms of data that is likely to prove most useful in explaining the full range of urban behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews research on the relationship of high ambient temperatures to physiological adaptation, performance, and the social behaviors of attraction, aggression, and helping. In general, very high temperatures reduce performance, attraction, aggression and helping behavior. Moderately warm temperatures, however, have less predictable effects, sometimes facilitating a given behavior and at other times reducing it. High temperatures may either increase or decrease arousal, narrow attention, and cause discomfort. The mediators of arousal, adaptive capacity, and negative affect are employed to explain the empirical data, and to suggest directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a report of a study of marriage and divorce as processes through which emotional attachments are established and resolved. The concepts of family systems theory and therapy are used to describe the ways in which emotional attachments in general, and child focus in particular, operate in families undergoing separation or divorce. The report begins with a general description of family systems theory, including an examination of the patterns of management of emotional attachment in families and the relationship of these patterns to the ways children experience their parents' separation, divorce, and custody arrangements. Then the management of emotional attachment in families which may have either a mild or severe degree of child focus is compared and contrasted. The final section considers family therapy in relation to these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a longitudinal study of the effects of divorce on play and social interaction in children. Forty-eight middle class white preschool children from divorced families and a matched group of forty-eight non divorced families were studied at 2 months, 1 year and 2 years after divorce. In the first year following divorce disruptions were found in both play and social relations for boys and girls from divorced families. The adverse effects had largely disappeared for girls by two years after divorce; however, the effects were more intense and enduring for boys. The play patterns of children from divorced families, in comparison to those of children in non divorced families, were less socially and cognitively mature when measured shortly after divorce. Limitations and rigidity in fantasy play were particularly notable. In the year following divorce both boys and girls showed high rates of dependent helpseeking behavior and acting out, non-compliant behavior. This again was more enduring in boys than girls. Even when the behavior of boys from divorced families had improved they were viewed and responded to more negatively by peers and teachers than were children from non divorced families or girls from divorced families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of articles published in the January 1979 issue of the "Journal of Social Issues." In the article 'A Social-Psychological Analysis of Physician- Patient Rapport: Toward a Science of the Art of Medicine,' it has been shown that the interpersonal relationship between physician and patient involves a highly charged affective component. Implications for teaching physicians the elements of empathic communication are discussed. The article 'Patient Compliance and the Role of the Expert,' focuses on the failure of patients to follow recommendations made to them by health experts usually represents a hazard to the patient's health, a waste of health resources, and a source of frustration to the health expert. The article 'The Social Power of Health-Care Practitioners As Agents of Change.' examines dominant sources of social power and influence that affect the degree to which patients adhere to recommended regimens for prevention or treatment and their rate of recovery.

The article provides an overview of the April 1977 issue of "The Journal of Social Issue," which deals with sex research. The articles are arranged according to whether they emphasize individual, interpersonal or cultural analyses of sexual behavior. In the first paper, Rook and Hammen use a cognitive model to examine how internal and external factors affect the perception, labeling and meaning of sexual arousal for the individual. Next, Blumstein and Schwartz consider the relationship between overt sexual behavior and a person's self-definition as heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual. Meanwhile, in the context of interpersonal relationships, D'Augelli and colleagues employ a cognitive-development framework to analyze sexual decision-making in premarital relationships. Finally, the article by Peplau, Rubin and Hill investigates the impact of sex on the development of commitment in relationships.

This paper attempts to integrate equity theory and specialized theories and data concerning the reactions of bystanders and victims caught up in emergencies. The authors first examine three factors which determine the bystander's response to emergency situations: whether or not bystanders attend to an emergency; how aroused bystanders become by the emergency; how the bystander responds to the emergency-i.e., by helping, by denigrating the victim, or by running away. Finally, they examine factors which affect how the victim will respond to the bystander who either provides or denies him assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fall of 1952, a chronological study has been conducted to solve the problem of community action in the Springdale community in New York. For this purpose interviews were arranged with ten different adults who had played key roles in the action. The case study is based primarily in the weekly paper, observations made by the field workers at meetings of various organizations. Additional information was also gathered by field workers through informal contacts in the community. The roles of various organizations were also analyzed.

People occupying stigmatized social positions often withdraw from sources of social support, becoming stressed, depressed, and isolated. Homelessness is globally prevalent and stigmatized. Despite the overwhelming evidence that homelessness is associated with experiences of isolation and poor mental health, there is a sparse understanding of how stigma and social relationships interact with mental health in this context. This mixed‐method study presents evidence that relationship breakdown is a common precedent to experiences of homelessness. It further shows that people withdraw from potential sources of support due to the stigma associated with homelessness. The findings demonstrate that universal forms of social contact and perceived social support do not consistently associate with mental health. Rather, distinct types of support, from different support sources, are associated with higher levels of mental health. Policy implications considering the relationship of stigma and social relationships within the context of homelessness are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between stigma and adverse interpersonal outcomes is well established. However, the mechanisms underlying this association have yet to be comprehensively conceptualized and tested, in part because research has neglected to evaluate stigma across multiple levels. To address this gap, we examined whether stigma—measured at individual, interpersonal, and structural levels—prospectively affects loneliness and social support by thwarting fundamental belonging needs, using a longitudinal sample of 315 gay men. Results indicated that thwarted belonging needs prospectively mediated the association between interpersonal discrimination, internalized homonegativity, and concealment motivation and changes in loneliness and lack of social support. When indirect pathways were tested simultaneously, discrimination was uniquely associated with reductions in social support via thwarted belonging needs. In addition, the prospective association between objectively‐measured structural stigma (at the state and county levels) and loneliness and lack of social support was serially mediated by perceptions of structural stigma and thwarted belonging needs. To guide future work, we propose a model outlining pathways by which stigma, across multiple levels, may lead to adverse interpersonal outcomes by increasing relationally‐oriented biological, motivational, cognitive, affective, and behavioral mechanisms that affect belonging needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds can experience stigma in undergraduate educational settings but little research on this topic has been conducted at the PhD level. Lower‐SES PhD students may feel lower levels of social integration as they experience incidents of interpersonal disconnection from others inside and outside of academia. Interpersonal disconnection may be a mechanism by which lower‐SES leads to a lower sense of social integration. In this prospective study of first‐year PhD students at three North American universities (N = 608), we assessed students' perceived social integration and their interpersonal perceptions inside and outside of academia 2–8 times throughout their first year of graduate school. Relative to higher‐SES students, lower‐SES students perceived lower levels of social integration. They had difficulty making academic friends, felt dissimilar to their academic peers, and perceived a lack of understanding about their work in graduate school from non‐academic families and friends. They also lost non‐academic social ties. These interpersonal disconnections prospectively mediated the association between lower SES and lower levels of perceived social integration. Lower‐SES PhD students are at risk of impaired interpersonal relationships. Institutional policies to promote social connections among PhD students may help lower‐SES students integrate into academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on social psychology and racial problems involving employment. Racial problems involving employment are major issues that deserve intense scientific scrutiny. Social psychology has distinctive and important contributions to make to the analysis of and remedies for these problems. To be sure, such complex and persistent problems require multidisciplinary attention, but we hold that social psychology has a critical piece of the puzzle to contribute. The discipline had not yet applied the full force of its research and theory to the problem. The exercise in critical rationalism lends clarity to the discipline's agreements and disagreements in this applied area and underscores its complexity. In sharpening the analysis, the critiques isolate the many points at which a broad and effective social psychological analysis of racial employment problems requires additional conceptual and empirical work. Given the complexity of current racial attitudes and behavior among white Americans, it is no wonder that there is disagreement about current racial views.

Two years after the final decree, 560 divorced parents, fathers as well as mothers, were asked to assess the impact of the divorce on their children. Their responses to this question-as well as to other questions-seemed to divide into a "his" and "hers" perspective. Other variables having to do with the parents and their children, the marriage, the divorce and the changes necessitated by the divorce were analyzed in relation to these parental assessments. Factors associated with fathers' responses differed from those associated with mothers', but the majority of each group felt that their children had been negatively affected by the divorce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lists books and other information resources related to human relations published in the May 1951 issue of the "Journal of Social Issues."

Changing environmental attitudes from an economic to a moral orientation are discussed in terms of the activation of moral norms to guide and evaluate behavior. In controlled experimental situations, increasing levels of two variables (awareness of the negative interpersonal consequences and ascription of responsibility) increased the likelihood that moral norms influenced behavior. Changes in the social system are discussed which have increased both our awareness of, and the actual adverse consequences stemming from, a strict economic approach to the environment. Other modifications have made decision-makers responsible for these consequences. These changes have fostered the current moral fervor concerning the natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility exists that during the past decade some important social psychological theory and research and some salient social forces may have interacted to produce a subtle shift in the Zeitgeist from studies concerned with more negative to studies of more prosocial or positive forms of social behavior. The history of the term "prosocial" is first explored. Some different forms of prosocial behavior are indicated, along with the different research strategies and operational definitions involved, and a working definition of prosocial behavior is suggested. Finally, each chapter is overviewed and some indications are made of various intersections of agreement as well as countervailing arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers some critical comments concerning more general conceptual topics in psychological research in poverty. In passing, observations also will be made on empirical research in the field. In very general terms, the psychology of poverty can be seen as concerned with the relationship between environment and behavior. To put it another way, the psychology of poverty deals with the "interface" between the economic system and the individual: the relationship between a particular array of physical and interpersonal stimuli and psychological structure or overt behavior. Unfortunately, the researchers' theoretical and conceptual tools for analyzing such inter-level problems still are unsophisticated and unsystematic. Most extant psychological theories are woefully inadequate for dealing with the type of problems presented by poverty. A theoretical system bridging the psychological level and the level of the social (and economic) system within a single conceptual framework would seem to be most congruent with the nature of the problems encountered in research in poverty.

The paper explored the social reinforcement standard (SRS) model as a predictor of the responsiveness of Negroes to reinforcement. The study investigated the relative effectiveness of Negro peer group and white authority figure reinforcement in enhancing task performance and self-image of Negro youth. In addition, the relative effectiveness of positive and negative reinforcement was investigated. The relationship of the SRS model and other incongruity models such as dissonance and balance theories seems was discussed. In summary, what the authors have tried to do with the SRS model is to combine the stress on reinforcement history and reinforcement schedules of the operant conditioners with the insights of social psychologists concerned with: (1) the motivating effects of attitudinal inconsistency, and (2) the view of social interaction as involving social exchange and self-presentation. It may also be noted that the fact that the SRS model is a theory mediating between cognitive and reinforcement approaches is nowhere more clearly evident than in the view which SRS theory takes of how input-standard disparities are resolved. SRS theory assigns highest priority as a resolution mechanism to purposeful behavioral adjustments aimed at achieving stimulus control vis-a-vis tactics of interpersonal manipulation. The result is a kind of social psychological version of the cognitive behaviorism called for by Miller, Galanter, and Pribram (1960).

This paper is a preliminary report on how the possibility of sending a man into space or engaging in other forms of interplanetary travel has been translated into jokes in actual circulation. Such relatively informal data may provide clues to the perception of an innovation which may supplement more formal procedures. There have been no studies which examined how the reaction to any innovation was translated into popular humor. A content analysis of space jokes appeared to be one clue to how the public was responding to space. Another interesting problem in the popular culture of jokes is the identification of the anonymous creators of these jokes, which constitute such a staple of social intercourse.

This paper introduces articles in a 1961 issue of the journal "Social Issues," about the diversity of impacts of Man in Space (MIS) and of the theoretical and research opportunities involved. Gardner Murphy explores the changing nature of man himself over the long period of man's growth into space. Another author makes broad inventory of the diversity of impacts on contemporary institutions and activities and documents the extent to which they have already become part of life. The space crew is also examined as a laboratory for group living, which will pose questions for psychology. The diversity of MIS impacts also raises problems concerning the optimal strategy of social psychological research. The editors believe that MIS merits the knowledgeable awareness of those interested in the role of the social sciences in understanding and meeting social issues.

Actions agencies have been established in order to combat intergroup tensions present in the American society. Three states have set fair employment practice commissions and a variety of new agencies, privately supported, have been activated nationally. Some of these are the American Council on Race Relations, the Commission on Community Inter-relations of the American Jewish Congress and the Bureau of Intercultural Education. Thus far the newness of this action for unity initiative has hindered the development of a working relationship among various agencies. This article discusses techniques and methods for influencing intergroup relations in the U.S.

Concerns about intergroup contact have a long and somewhat tortuous history. Shaped largely by Social Darwinism dogma, early theorizing anticipated negative effects. Following World War II, however, a more optimistic view took hold, and social psychological research began to study the phenomenon. Allport's (1954) influential book, the Nature of Prejudice, focused social psychological attention on intergroup contact and shaped research on it for the rest of the 20th century. Now the domain has developed into a complex and intricate theory, complete with multiple forms of contact and numerous moderating and mediating variables—as demonstrated in the articles throughout this JSI issue. Within this historical context of the theory's development, this article then comments on each of the previous articles and their further advances to the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on the cognitive effects of subtle racial discrimination among racial and ethnic minorities focuses on direct experiences of it wherein stigmatized individuals are the targets of discriminatory treatment. However, it is not necessary for people to be the direct target of discriminatory behavior to experience the negative consequences associated with it. Although exposure to discriminatory behavior is increasingly common given the accessibility of smartphones and social media, we know relatively little about how this exposure affects people's executive functioning. Here, we provide a systematic, comparative review of the extant literature on the effects of (a) personally experiencing versus (b) observing instances of subtle racial discrimination toward others on three core executive functions: inhibition, shifting, and updating. We highlight where more work is needed to understand the cognitive consequences of observing discrimination and we provide initial evidence that observing subtle discrimination impairs updating—a previously unexplored relationship. Finally, we discuss the implications of executive function impairment due to observing and experiencing subtle discrimination for long‐term outcomes, such as academic achievement, employment, and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racism is often thought of as existing and operating at the interpersonal and institutional levels. One aspect of racism that has been relatively forgotten, however, is its internalized component: racism that exists and operates at the internalized level. Surprisingly, even psychology—the field that is arguably best equipped to study the internalized component of racism—seems to have lagged in investigating and addressing this construct. Thus, we conducted a systematic literature review of psychological work on internalized racial oppression to better understand what is currently known, what the recent surge in scholarship has contributed, and where the research and service gaps are in order to identify areas for future growth. Overall, psychological attention on internalized racism seems to be increasing, and there have been some exciting conceptual (e.g., cognitive behavioral conceptualization, moving toward "appropriated racial oppression") and empirical (e.g., development of scales, correlates with mental health variables) developments. However, our review also revealed a need for more work that: (1) utilizes qualitative or mixed methods; (2) focuses on the experiences of different racial and ethnic groups; (3) investigates how internalized racism intersects with other forms of internalized oppression; (4) clarifies the connection of internalized racism with other theoretically similar phenomena; and (5) incorporates social justice and advocacy in clinical and community services to balance unequal power dynamics that perpetuate racism—the root cause of internalized racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the discussion regarding the conceptual analysis of altruism. Agreement on the emphasis of the other in altruism; Emphasis on the contention that helping behavior is the next most general term with altruistic being the special case rather than vice versa; Mistake on the inclusion of the paraphrase that leads the reader to the incorrect conclusion that the author was equating altruistic and moralistic behavior.

Previous research has found negative effects of "market" as a global concept on trust. The current research differentiated the effects of two market attributes on trust. Study 1 found a negative effect of market priming on interpersonal trust. Study 2 manipulated the representations of the two market attributes by rendering either impetus or rule attribute relatively salient. The results showed that compared with highlighting impetus, highlighting rule improved interpersonal trust and facilitated trust recovery. In Study 3, we analyzed macroeconomic indicators and applied cross‐temporal meta‐analysis to reveal the negative relationship between reduced interpersonal trust and damaged market rule as reflected by the marketization index. The present research explains why Chinese marketization has negatively impacted interpersonal trust: Market rules that protect interpersonal trust have been weakened during the process of marketization, whereas the impetus attribute of market, which is harmful to interpersonal trust, has become more salient. These findings highlight the importance of establishing comprehensive market rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative intergroup processes such as prejudice and conflict have been a traditional focus of social psychological research, while work that explicitly focuses on the determinants of positive intergroup processes is still in its infancy. Reflecting these relatively recent developments in the social and behavioral sciences, this volume's contributions represent current directions in psychological theorizing and research on positive and proactive behavior across group boundaries. One intriguing feature of positive cross-group behaviors is that they can be conceived, at one and the same time, as individual, interpersonal, and collective phenomena. Accordingly, this volume is organized into three sections that represent these different levels of analysis. This multilevel approach represents a distinctive perspective that extends contemporary work on positive intergroup behavior. At a more general level, then, one important future outcome of this work could be a more nuanced picture of human social behavior in the context of groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is a growing body of work concerning cross-group friendship and intergroup attitudes, this work typically focuses on a limited number of interpersonal processes among established friendships. In addition, little is known about the role of group-related processes within such friendships. Two studies were conducted to address this gap. Results from a retrospective online survey and a longitudinal study reveal that both interpersonal friendship processes (e.g., intimacy, affection, trust, self-disclosure) and intergroup friendship processes (e.g., belief that outgroup friend respects one's own group, spending time with outgroup friend's family members and friends) are associated with positive intergroup attitudes. Specifically, the current findings suggest that interpersonal friendship processes are vital to fostering positive attitudes for the outgroup early in the relationship, but that intergroup friendship processes become more strongly linked to attitudes once the relationship progresses. Results may inform interventions designed to promote positive interactions across 'real-world' group boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elementary school-age children ( N = 137, 70 boys, ages 4-10) were randomly assigned to receive one of two types of lessons aimed at increasing the inclusiveness of peer relations and improving children's ability to identify bias in media. Children in the pro-social condition were taught to identify and respond to undesirable/unfair social behaviors (e.g., teasing), whereas children in the pro-egalitarian condition were taught to respond to these same behaviors, with additional attention to gender bias (e.g., teasing about gender role nonconformity). After five lessons, children completed immediate and 6-month delayed measures of egalitarian attitudes, intergroup liking, responses to hypothetical peers' sexist remarks, and ability to identify sexism in media. The lessons did not differentially affect children's gender egalitarian attitudes and intergroup liking. As expected, however, children in the pro-egalitarian condition were better able to identify sexism in media and to respond to peers' sexist comments than were children in the pro-social condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study's aim is to understand how individuals who are part of dual-earner couples experience and deal with work-family conflict in Sri Lanka. Twenty-five interviews were conducted to identify if and how couples negotiated within their marital relationships, and between themselves and their supervisors, to reduce or cope with work-family conflict. The interviews indicated that negotiations at home and at work concerned contributions to the exchange relationship and were unlikely to adversely affect the (home or work) exchange relationships. Negotiations at home were more likely to be initiated by women than men. Further, the interviews revealed an influence of spouse's gender role ideology on the success of the negotiation at home. Negotiations at work were more likely to be initiated by the interviewees than by their supervisors. The results suggest that individuals in cultures with high power distance should still initiate negotiations when they feel it is possible to obtain favorable outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the behavioral outcomes of an understudied emotion, guilt, in the context of the work-family domain. Specifically, we propose that work-family guilt motivates both pro- and anti-social behaviors in the workplace. Working undergraduate students in the United States completed qualitative and quantitative indicators of behavioral responses to work-family guilt. Results demonstrated that when individuals experienced family-to-work guilt, they responded with helping behaviors directed toward individuals. When individuals experienced work-to-family guilt, they responded by shirking of work responsibilities. Thus, work-family guilt may be a critical and underexplored determinant of extrarole behaviors and an important emotion to manage in order to sustain career and care roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most parts of the world, globalization has become an unstoppable and potent force that impacts everyday life and international relations. The articles in this issue draw on theoretical insights from diverse perspectives (clinical psychology, consumer research, organizational behavior, political psychology, and cultural psychology) to offer nuanced understanding of individuals' psychological reactions to globalization in different parts of the world (Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Mainland China, Singapore, Switzerland, United States, Taiwan). These articles address the questions of how people make sense of and respond to globalization and its sociocultural ramifications; how people defend the integrity of their heritage cultural identities against the 'culturally erosive' effects of globalization, and how individuals harness creative insights from their interactions with global cultures. The new theoretical insights and revealing empirical analyses presented in this issue set the stage for an emergent interdisciplinary inquiry into the psychology of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration is a social issue of global importance. Understanding immigration patterns and trends requires paying attention to historical trends, demographic patterns, public policy developments, and cultural attitudes and beliefs. In this article I call for an intensified social psychological analysis of immigration, using Pettigrew's (1997) three-level framework as a means to define the approach. Selected research examples build the case for the critical role that social psychology can play in understanding the individual, group, and intergroup dynamics of immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peace psychology emerged as a distinct area of research and practice during the Cold War, when the preeminent concern was the prevention of nuclear war. Now global in scope, the focal concerns of peace psychologists are nuanced by geohistorical contexts and the distinction between episodic violence and structural violence, the latter of which also kills people, albeit slowly through the deprivation of basic need satisfaction. Accordingly, the focal concerns of contributors to this issue vary depending on geohistorical context: some being primarily concerned with patterns of behavior and cognition involved in the prevention of violent episodes and others with the amelioration of structural violence. A systems perspective is used as a framework for integrating episodes and structures of violence and peace. Articles emphasizing “systemic violence” demonstrate the interplay between structures and episodes of violence. Articles on “systemic peacebuilding” examine intergroup contact, the nonviolent management of conflict, and movement toward socially just structures, thereby yielding an increase in cooperative and equitable relationships across levels, from interpersonal to intergroup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following decades of war, Angolan youth are at risk of continuing cycles of violence and need support in developing positive behaviors and social roles. Accordingly, a community-based program, conducted in Angola 1998–2001, taught youth life skills, provided peer support and peace education, educated adults about youth, and engaged youth as workers on community development projects. The main results included increased adult awareness of the situation and needs of youth, improved youth-adult relations, reduced perceptions of youth as troublemakers, reduced fighting between youth, increased community planning, and increased perceptions that youth make a positive contribution to the community. The results suggest that a dual focus on youth and community development contributes to peacebuilding and the disruption of cycles of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]