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In this paper, we argue that a cultural context of racism in the United States influences the representation and outcomes of Black forgiveness. Previous research in psychology has focused on the positive social and emotional benefits of forgiveness; however, the consequences of Black forgiveness are not always straightforward. We review prior research and highlight real‐world examples that suggest Black people are often pressured and expected to forgive racism. This pressure to forgive overshadows calls for justice and encourages forgiveness as a more palatable, less antagonistic response to racism. Furthermore, we argue that this expectation suppresses Black emotions by stigmatizing negative emotional reactions to racism in favor of forgiveness. We conclude by proposing future lines of research in social psychology that do not reinforce a pressure for Black forgiveness, that foster a study of forgiveness that incorporates social justice, and that considers new lines of forgiveness research that are culturally sensitive to Black experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In June 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that a woman would replace Hamilton on the $10 bill. In April 2016, it announced that Harriet Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, instead. After each announcement, we surveyed nationally representative samples of American adults and asked them what they thought of these proposed changes for the $10 bill (Study 1, N = 209) and the $20 bill (Study 2, N = 208). Predictors of currency preferences were gender, race, political affiliation and their respective prejudices and biases—sexism, racism, and political ideology. On the basis of social identity, system justification, and social dominance theories we predicted that privileged groups (i.e., males, Whites) and groups who desire to maintain the status quo (i.e., Republicans, conservatives, sexist and racist individuals) would prefer to leave Hamilton on the $10 bill and Jackson on the $20 bill. Results were consistent with these predictions: Overall, we found that under‐represented groups and more liberal individuals support the proposals from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. These findings suggest a bill of money is not just a piece of paper. The person depicted on U.S. currency can be perceived as an in‐group or out‐group member and this can affect judgements in line with relevant social psychological theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the impact of White supremacy, ableism, and U.S. policing on both the history and current state of psychology and sheds light on ways that psychologists can acknowledge and divest from carceral White supremacist practices in mental healthcare. Because of how oppression and intersectionality function within a White supremacist society, not all Black lives have been equally valued by non-Black Americans. Similarly, White supremacy and ableism have had lasting impacts on the public perception of disabled people. Connecting the historical origins of the U.S. policing system to the current practices of the U.S. police system, this paper argues that the police have always been about controlling "disorder." Similarly, psychology and the larger mental health field have a troubled history of controlling Black, Brown, and disabled bodies. Recommendations for ways therapists can unlearn therapy practices stemming from White supremacy cultural practices (e.g., carceral therapeutic practices and biased mental health care) are provided along with action items for mental health practitioners to maintain a commitment to undoing the harm from these historic and systemic issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While researchers have examined the economic effects of sport franchise relocation on cities and municipalities, little research has explored the social psychological effects of relocation on the fans from the cities being abandoned. Through the use of "Virtual Participant Observation" and "Inter(net)viewing," this paper examines the meanings fans attach to franchise relocation decisions and how they make sense of and adjust to the impending loss of a civic institution such as a sport franchise. The paper also examines the root metaphors created and used by fans in the expression of their feelings, experiences, and interpretations of (a) the relocation decision, (b) the relationship of the owners and team, and (c) the relationship of the fans and team. These metaphors enable funs to make sense of a particularly disruptive situation (i.e., franchise relocation)--a decision which violates normative American cultural assumptions, core tenets, and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four decades of rising incomes at the top, combined with income stagnation and declining intergenerational social mobility for the majority of American households, have combined to produce what has been widely described as a "new gilded age" in the United States. Yet analyses of the best available survey data reveal little evidence of a proportional increase in policy demands for redistribution over time. What explains this puzzling pattern of non-responsiveness? One classical explanation, revived in recent economic literature, postulates that high and persisting levels of optimism about the chances for advancement and social mobility reduce Americans' willingness to support redistributive public policies. Although seemingly paradoxical in the current economic environment, the "prospect of upward mobility" (POUM) hypothesis is consistent with cross-national survey evidence revealing relatively high levels of support for such beliefs. What about trends over-time? This raises an important and largely unexamined question: Have underlying beliefs about POUM also shaped Americans' attitudes toward redistributive policies during the era of rising inequality? In this paper, we examine the POUM-policy preference link, and how it has changed in recent decades. We find that POUM beliefs have shaped how individuals form policy attitudes toward inequality and taxes, net of partisanship, income, and confidence in government. Study findings provide new and provocative evidence in support of the POUM hypothesis, and we discuss implications for models of inequality attitudes and more generally scholarship on the politics of rising inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David Mechanic has been a pioneering leader in the social and behavioral sciences of health, health services, and health and mental health policy for more than fifty years. One of David's most distinctive qualities has been his vision in identifying trends and defining new research areas and perspectives in health care policy. His early work on how methods of physician payment by capitation and fee-for-service in England and the United States affected physicians' responses to patients and patient care addressed present challenges and many ongoing studies of payment mechanisms. His papers on rationing of health care established a framework for examining alternative allocation mechanisms and just decision making. Influential papers dealt with risk selection, policy challenges in managed care, reducing racial disparities, trust relationships between patients, doctors, and the public and health institutions, and the predicaments of health reform. Focusing on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, David explored its opportunities and challenges especially in providing comprehensive and effective behavioral health services. A hallmark of his work has been his redirecting our attention to the most severely ill and those in greatest need. Less visible is the leadership and institution building endeavors and the many honors David has received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay introduces Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy's collection of papers on the social psychology of the 2012 election, framing it in terms of two prior collections. The papers are described as reflecting four themes: President or Barack Obama's path from outsider to incumbent, the nation's shift toward increasingly racialized politics, contemporary perceptions of 'Americanness,' and the role of moral values in political engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish consumption in Mexico is considered low (around 12 kg per person per year) and non-homogeneously distributed across the country. One of the reasons for this situation is the scarcity of wholesale selling sites. In this context, the Mercado del Mar (MM), located in Guadalajara city, Jalisco, is the second biggest wholesale fish market in Mexico, with a distribution of about 500 tons per day and a variety of about 350 different species of fish. In this paper, we argue that MM has accumulated social capital, which is formed from two main resources: buyer and seller relationships, and reputation. Specifically, the MM manages a broad and intensive interaction among business actors and the already achieved reputation allows the MM to adapt to market changes. To validate our hypotheses, an empirical study was conducted in 2015 by means of interviews to fish wholesalers in the MM and a sample of their suppliers and buyers. For simplicity we have only considered fresh water fish. We have followed snow-ball sampling as the survey strategy. Results show that the MM has responded to fish market dynamics organizing a complex network of buyers and suppliers whose relationships can be explained in the form of strong and weak ties. At the same time, reputation has been the central resource to build this social capital and also gives place to market transactions. Additionally, the strategic position of Guadalajara city and the well-connected routes have facilitated fish bulking and distribution in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the fundamental importance of achieving quality implementation when assessing the impact of social and emotional learning interventions. Recent findings in implementation science are reviewed that include a definition of implementation, its relation to programme outcomes, current research on the factors that affect implementation, and a framework for understanding the steps, actions and challenges involved in achieving quality implementation. Examples from the social and emotional learning literature are used to illustrate different issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the 16 articles appearing in the 2009 and 2010 volumes of Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy that were submitted in response to a call for papers on 'The Social Psychology of the 2008 United States Presidential Election.' The papers touch a wide array of election topics, comparing the backgrounds and values of voters and nonvoters, those voting for different candidates, and those who choose which candidates they support early vs. late during the campaign. These papers, together with several others on media representations of candidates, highlight the continuing presence of race in shaping political attitudes and preferences, and also emphasize the evolution of American prejudices in the election process, from overt rejection of individuals who are racially different, to qualified political support under certain circumstances. Other papers in the collection focus on the role of gender as well as race, and also on some of the many ways in which presidential elections reflect and shape the self-concepts of American voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that earlier quantitative research on the relationship between heterosexual partners' earnings and time spent on housework has two basic flaws: First, it has focused on the effects of women's shares of couples' total earnings on housework, not considering the simpler possibility of an association between women's absolute earnings and housework. Second, it tends to draw uniform inferences across the range of data, including regions where the data are sparse. This paper adopts a flexible, nonparametric approach to examine this relationship within a US context, while not imposing the polynomial specifications on data that characterize the two dominant models. The results provide support for an alternative model that emphasizes the importance of partners' own earnings for their housework, especially in the case of women. Women's earnings are negatively associated with their housework hours, independent of their partners' earnings and their shares of couples' total earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages the concept of the organizational field to explore the status of a growing set of organizations referred to as social enterprises, nonprofit ventures, and social purpose businesses. The argument is developed through an ethnographic case study of a nonprofit hybrid organization (in the United States) that is training welfare recipients in their own in-house businesses. First, this paper provides an overview of the commercial trends in the nonprofit sector and the rise of social purpose enterprises. Then, employing key concepts from neo-institutional theory, the author proposes framing nonprofit-business hybrids as organizations positioned in two different organizational fields—each necessitating different internal organizational technologies—to elucidate the structural tensions that can emerge inside these new hybrid models. Internal organizational tensions identified in the case study are highlighted. Finally, the proposed use of organizational field theory developed from the case analysis is discussed in terms of social enterprise more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are the relations among nations inevitably conflictual? Neorealism and neoliberalism share the rationalist assumption that states are self-regarding, but debate over whether states pursue relative or absolute gains. Scholars focusing on identity have recently joined the controversy. Wendt (1992) has argued against the realists that conflict is not the inevitable product of anarchy. Drawing on social psychology to defend realism, Mercer (1995) has countered that conflict is `an inescapable feature of … interstate relations'. This paper argues that international identity dynamics do not inexorably lead to competition, let alone conflict. Mercer's pessimism is unwarranted. Drawing on social identity theory (SIT), it argues that intergroup conflict is a highly contingent outcome, and that social psychology provides insights into when the realists are right, and when the liberals are. Utilizing examples from Sino-American relations, the paper also seeks to contribute to the stalemated debate in the China field between optimists and pessimists over the existence of a `China threat'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A profusion of studies have demonstrated that body size is a major factor in mate selection for both men and women. The particular role played by weight, however, has been subject to some debate, particularly with respect to the types of body sizes deemed most attractive, and scholars have questioned the degree to which body size preferences are constant across groups. In this paper, we drew from two perspectives on this issue, Sexual Strategies Theory and what we termed the cultural variability perspective, and used survey data to examine how body size was associated with both casual dating and serious romantic relationships. We used a United States sample of 386 African American adolescents and young adults between ages 16 and 21, living in the Midwest and Southeast, and who were enrolled in either high school or college. Results showed that overweight women were more likely to report casually dating than women in the thinnest weight category. Body size was not related to dating status among men. Among women, the results suggest stronger support for the cultural variability argument than for Sexual Strategies Theory. Potential explanations for these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the development of industrial capitalism and the development of modern social science in the United States through the writings of two of the best–known writers on social science in the late nineteenth century: Henry George, the apostle of the rights of labor and author of the classic critique of private ownership of land, Progress and Poverty; and William Graham Sumner, the arch defender of the rights of capital and author of a pioneering treatise on Folkways. The paper traces and analyzes their mutual movement away from classical political economy and toward a new social psychology in response to rising economic inequality. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the views held by four low-income African American men concerning how mobility operates in American society, their sense of their personal life-chance prospects, and how they believe that being African American relates to each matter. The central finding was that the extent of social isolation experienced in life (e.g., lack of direct interracial exposure, lack of intimate exposure to institutions of social power and authority) shaped the capacity to articulate an importance for race in these issues. This paper also argues that an investigation of how low-income Black men made sense of race in their constructions of social reality moves academic and popular considerations of them beyond a preoccupation with the behavioral attributes that are subsumed under the ‘crisis of the Black male’ scaffold. Thus, while each of the men maintained some of the attributes associated with this crisis (e.g., lack of consistent employment, involvement in illicit activity, incarceration), their capacity to form contrasting conceptions of the importance of race indicated a crucial dimension of variability in what might initially appear to be a cluster of similar individuals. Lastly, this paper argues that an acknowledgment of the bases for such variability is critical for any attempt at remedial intervention in their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon insights from the social movement literature as well as leadership experience in a successful social movement organization, this paper suggests aspects of a framework for integrating traditional and contemporary approaches. The case history of JUST (Johnstowners United to Stop another Tragedy) is used to illustrate the interaction of grievances and structures in the career of a social movement organization. In addition to helping fill a lacuna in the literature on the internal dynamics of such organizations, this analysis also demonstrates the importance of the nature of the grievance as well as the target group's structural entrenchment. The paper focuses upon a relatively anomalous case for U.S. social movement organizations: an SMO which was successful despite displacement goals. The final section of the paper includes a summary diagram of the factors involved in JUSTs successful protest effort as well as broader generalizations suggesting the conditions under which grievances or infrastructures are more salient in explaining social movement phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 2 years, a record number of abortion restrictions have been proposed and enacted in the United States. Such restrictions include parental notification and consent laws, mandatory waiting periods, preabortion counseling, sonogram requirements, and restrictions on late-term abortions. These restrictions are often positioned in the language of informed consent with legislators and policymakers asserting that women regret abortions, are physically and psychologically harmed by them, and are advantaged by continuing their pregnancies to term. In this paper, I position these restrictions, as well as ideas about parenting, within a framework of pronatalism, an ideology that venerates parenting as normative and desirable, and generally disparages other choices surrounding reproductive choices, particularly for women. Research about the incidence and impact of abortion on women's lives, as well as the physiological, psychological, financial, and other effects of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting on adults' well-being, is presented. Myths pertaining to abortion and parenting are explored. Recommendations for psychologists conclude the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 41 states, students must pass the "basic skills" portion of their licensure exam before they can be admitted into a teacher education program. Because African American test takers are roughly half as likely to pass basic skills exams on their first attempt compared to White test takers, this portion of the licensure exam is a key gatekeeper to the field and directly shapes the racial diversity of the profession. Researchers generally frame this problem in one of two opposing ways: (a) by locating the cause in skill and knowledge deficiencies of test takers or (b) by locating the cause in the cultural bias of standardized test instruments. This study looks beyond these two polarized views to conceptualize the licensure exam as a testing event that includes a nexus of cognitive and affective processes beyond the specific skills the test is designed to measure. Focus of Study: The study examined the subjective and social psychological ways African American test takers experience teacher licensure testing events. This study was guided by the following research questions: (a) How do African American preservice teachers experience the licensure testing event? (b) How does race become a salient aspect of the testing event experience for African American preservice teachers ? The study drew from the social psychological constructs of identity contingencies and situational cues to analyze students' experiences in the testing event. Setting and Participants: Participants in this study were 22 African American preservice teachers attending a predominantly and historically Black institution in the northeastern United States. Each of the participants took the paper format basic skills exam in either the spring 2009 or spring 2010 national administration. Research Design: Drawing from culturally sensitive research practice, this study used a qualitative case study research design to explore test takers' experiences in the testing event. Findings/Conclusions: Findings illustrate how the licensure testing event can become a racialized experience for some participants through (a) interactions with test proctors and site administrators before and during examinations and (b) actions of other test takers that inadvertently signaled racial stereotypes about test preparation, intelligence, and character. Racialized experiences for participants were not based upon any specific test questions or content. Findings are discussed in light of previous research to suggest that these experiences have the capacity to produce a host of cognitive and affective states that undermine performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas recent reports from national studies have presented extremely high rates for many personality disorders in American Indian communities, persistent concerns about the meaning of these symptoms have left many troubled by these reports. American Indians as a group are known to suffer disproportionately from a number of violent experiences, but the dynamics of this violence have received little attention. This paper examines perspectives on violence in the lives of 15 northern plains tribal members who met criteria for antisocial personality disorder and comorbid alcohol use disorder. It explores how study participants constructed and understood their own violent encounters, as well as the motivations they described (characterized here as reputation, leveling, retaliation, catharsis, and self-defense). Violence was gendered in this study, with men generally presenting as perpetrators and women as victims. Men often described themselves as ready participants in a violent world, while women were quite clear that aggression for them was often simply required as they tried to defend themselves from male violence. While this analysis does not replace clinical analyses of violence in antisocial personality disorder, it does reveal an underlying cultural logic that may play a role in shaping the recourse to violence for that minority of individuals for whom it appears to be the obvious choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the later years of the War of Resistance to Japan (1937–1945), United States (US) propaganda activities intensified in both Japanese military-occupied and ‘free’ regions of China. One of the most important organizations behind these activities was the Office of War Information (OWI). This paper examines the OWI, and particularly its Overseas Office, as key institutional actors within a broader US total war effort which touched the lives of civilian populations in East Asia as well as combatants, arguing that: •US propaganda institutions and propagandists played demonstrable roles in representing and shaping the experience of war in China;•these institutions, which included Asians and individuals of Asian descent, simultaneously acted to advance US goals in the wartime ‘Far East’;•while cooperation between US and Chinese governments was sporadic in the area of psychological warfare, conflicts over control often undermined or limited operations;•despite these shortcomings, US propaganda institutions (which included both the OWI and offices within the Department of State) had developed comparatively wide-ranging capabilities by the end of the war, and continued operations into the Civil War of 1945–1949.By 1945 propaganda had become an activity which regularly targeted allied populations as well as enemies. This process was facilitated by the early twentieth-century communications revolution, but was planned and controlled by the new engineers of the post-war order. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Renowned civil rights advocate and race man Thurgood Marshall came of age as a lawyer during the black protest movement in the 1930s. He represented civil rights protesters, albeit reluctantly, but was ambivalent about post-Brown mass protests. Although Marshall recognized law's limitations, he felt more comfortable using litigation as a tool for social change. His experiences as a legal advocate for racial equality influenced his thinking as a judge. Marshall joined the United States Supreme Court in 1967, as dramatic advancement of black civil rights through litigation waned. Other social movements, notably the women's rights movement, took its place. The push for women's equality had garnered some success in Congress, but the enforcement and scope of these protections became a focus of litigation in the 1970s and 1980s. While on the Court, Marshall played an important role in the advancement of women's equality, yet a few cases suggest he struggled when the interests of race and gender equality seemed to directly clash. This paper considers the ways in which Marshall's role as a participant and lawyer in the black civil rights movement influenced his thinking about gender equality. While his record on women's equality is very strong, Marshall's position in three cases indicates that he believed institution concerns sometimes trumped otherwise valid gender equality claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper explores contested memories of place in the historical recovery and community revitalization of Salinas, California's old Chinatown. For over a century, Chinatown has been home to Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and Mexicans. Today, it is occupied by the homeless, drug dealers, and addicts. Chinatown is variously remembered as the site of the best Chinese food in town, a place of gambling and prostitution, and “home.” Oral histories reveal multiple and contested significations of place: from intensely nostalgic recollections that mythify the past to distanced accounts that reveal little attachment to place. Narratives shed light on the tensions involved in cultural recovery and negotiating spatial claims across ethnic and cultural groups, generations, and social classes. Accounts also reveal how the restoration of lost community history can generate new coalitional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While a great deal of research has focused on understanding the foundations of public support for American courts, scant attention has been paid to the role of the media for such attitudes. Given the media’s demonstrated ability to influence public opinion, this remains a substantial gap in the literature. In the present paper we examine how different types of media—sensationalist (i.e., political radio and cable news) or sober (i.e., newspapers and network news) —influence individuals’ attitudes toward both the U.S. Supreme Court and courts at the state level. In line with our predictions, we find that sensationalist media exposure depresses both diffuse and specific support for American courts. Additionally, our results call into question the unconditional nature of the ubiquitous sophistication-approval relationship. We find that sophistication’s positive effect on court attitudes is conditional on an individual’s particular source of political information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Why is the Japanese rate of students with disability a fraction of that of the United States? Barring genetic differences between Americans and Japanese, the difference in disability rates must be what Durkheim called a “social fact,” a phenomenon explained by social differences between the two countries. In this paper we focus on the institutional and cultural factors that enter into the Japanese construction of disability of school-aged students. We argue that the lower incidence of disability in Japan is a result of Japan’s strong collectivist and paternalistic orientation and the requisite institutions promulgating those beliefs. The latter play a key role in the translation of general cultural dispositions into concrete policies and behavior on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifting focus from income to capability signifies an important milestone toward accurately measuring poverty and deprivation. This paper operationalizes capability deprivation in the United States and compares measurement outcomes among various capability approaches and between capability and income spaces. Of the three capability approaches examined, the factor score absolute approach suggests a greater extent of deprivation and more comprehensive demographic profiles of the deprived. Additionally, I find that using the capability space may further attenuate the extent of deprivation over that using the income space and alter somewhat the stereotypical profiles of the poor and deprived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the attempt of social scientists associated with Unesco to create a system of knowledge production to provide the international perspective necessary for democratic governance of a world community. Social scientists constructed a federal system of international associations that institutionalized American disciplines on an international scale. An international perspective emerged through the process of interdisciplinary international research. I call this ideal of coordinating multiple subjectivities to produce objectivity the “view from everywhere.” Influenced by social psychological “action-research,” collaborative research was group therapy. The attempt to operationalize internationalists' rallying slogan, “unity in diversity,” illuminated tensions inherent in the mobilization of science for social and political reform. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalating demand for coaching worldwide has motivated practitioners, consumers and educators of coaching to advocate professionalisation of the industry to safeguard quality, effectiveness and ethical integrity. The potential benefit to coaching of professional status has led to an interest in consultative dialogue, such as the Global Convention on Coaching (GCC) and the International Coaching Research Forum (ICRF). The formal GCC began in July 2007 in New York, culminating in Dublin in 2008, with the presentation and discussion of white papers related to the advancement of the discipline. The Dublin Declaration on Coaching recommends establishment of a common understanding of the profession through shared codes of ethics, standards of practice and educational guidelines; acknowledgement of the multi-disciplinary roots and nature of coaching; and moving beyond self-interest to address core critical areas in on-going consultative dialogue. In September 2008, the ICRF, consisting of internationally recognised researchers, coaching professionals and other stakeholders met at Harvard to produce research proposal outlines to advance coaching as an evidence-based discipline. The GCC and ICRF have initiated a process that is seeking to clarify what coaching is, to measure and study its effectiveness, and to identify what role practitioners, academics and other stakeholders have to play. This article examines the achievements of the GCC in some detail, with an overview of the ICRF. However, coaching is a fair distance from becoming a profession, and there is a question mark as to whether it will become a full-blown profession. The challenge for stakeholders in the global coaching community is to let go of power, control and territoriality in order to collaborate and share their ideas, expertise and research to advance a more disciplined and rigorous field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a summary of the cost-effectiveness research for family therapy. Data were available from four different sources in the United States: (1) a health maintenance organization with 180,000 subscribers; (2) the Medicaid system of the State of Kansas; (3) CIGNA Behavioral Health, a division of a health insurance company with nine million subscribers; and (4) a family therapy training clinic. Results suggest that family therapy reduces the number of healthcare visits, especially for high utilizers. The studies suggest that including family therapy as a treatment option does not significantly increase healthcare costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of racial bias toward Blacks in interracial relations, and in racial disparities in health care in the United States. Our analyses of these issues focuses primarily on studies of prejudice published in the past 10 years and on health disparity research published since the report of the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) Panel on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care in 2003. Recent social psychological research reveals that racial biases occur implicitly, without intention or awareness, as well as explicitly, and these implicit biases have implications for understanding how interracial interactions frequently produce mistrust. We further illustrate how this perspective can illuminate and integrate findings from research on disparities and biases in health care, addressing the orientations of both providers and patients. We conclude by considering future directions for research and intervention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The paper explores collective action in Peru through community level case studies. It asks why extreme inequality between groups has persisted for so long and whether a weak propensity to collective action is part of the answer. Significant evidence of constructive meso-level collective action is found; but it is restricted by a corrupt, self-seeking political system. The analysis shows how in relatively fragile institutional systems, the poor find collective action more difficult and costly while the relatively well endowed with capabilities can manage it better, shedding light on why inequality is often long lasting. When only modest gains are achieved, frustration is to be expected. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Great disparity exists in the United States between those at the economic top of society and those at the economic bottom. While the difference between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ is not a new phenomenon, the extent of the gap is now at previously unseen proportions. This paper examines the disparity, explores why and how it developed, and presents a new way to approach amelioration of the differences through the development of social empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite gains in redefining America as a ‘salad bowl’ versus a ‘melting pot’, stereotypes about racial and ethnic minorities, including African Americans, remain embedded in the fabric of the United States. By acknowledging the significance of stereotypes, race, and culture on the lives of clients, culturally affirming bibliotherapy is a tool that can empower them, validate their experiences, and promote the development of a positive self?identity or self?concept. This paper focuses on its use with African American youth, however, because, race impacts all individuals of African descent, this tool can and should be incorporated into their treatment as well when deemed appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth violence is widely recognized as a critical social issue in the United States, and many approaches to prevention have been developed in recent years. Emerging research suggests that only approaches that are deeply embedded in cultural, community, and organizational contexts are likely to be powerful enough to have a meaningful collective impact. No programs of this kind that are also truly practical and socially valid have yet reached a level where they can be regarded as well established, but data are beginning to appear that can guide community efforts. In this review, two classes of behavioral programming that appear promising as partial solutions to this need are identified: universal skills training and ecological strategies that focus on interlocking cultural practices. Progressive refinements in both are appearing through programs of developmental research. This paper reviews the state of the science in these efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Charles Sanders Peirce contributed significantly to the founding of American sociology, doing so at the level of philosophical presuppositions or meta-sociology. I emphasize two of his ideas. One is semiotics, which is virtually the same as the anthropologists' concept of culture. This latter concept in turn was essential to clarifying the sociologists' idea of the social or society. Peirce also created the modern theory of the dialogical self, which explained the symbolic character of human beings and proved foundational for social psychology. Politically Peirce was a right-wing conservative, but his ideas eventually contributed to the egalitarian views of cultures and sub-cultures. In addition his ideas contributed, by way of unanticipated consequences, to the 20th-century human rights revolutions in the American legal system. Thus he was both a founder of sociology and a founder of American political liberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2004 U.S. presidential election was determined not by simple demographics and the power of incumbency, but by emotions such as fear and shame, aspects of the self-concept such as moralism and religiosity, and other psychological phenomena ranging from the self-deception of voters to the linguistic styles of the candidates. In introducing the papers in this special issue of ASAP on the social psychology of the election, I examine the effect sizes for psychological constructs such as religiosity, moralism, and terror. I suggest that pride and shame are likely determinants of the widely reported exit poll discrepancies, and argue that outgroup homogeneity was critical in determining the outcome of the election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to outline the social history of cheerfulness using the constructivist perspective on emotions. The role of cheerfulness in American society grew in relation to modern ideological frameworks and various economic and social factors. Embraced by the middle class since the eighteenth century for reasons of social identity and philosophical outlook, cheerfulness became a national emotional standard perceived by outsiders of the culture as part of the American character. It was fostered by a tradition of optimism, self-reliance and self-centeredness. Being socially and individually beneficial, it was cultivated in the Victorian family. In the industrial age, cheerfulness was found to be economically productive and was administered in the workplace by the managerial leadership. The lower classes engaged in it through the job market and other social pressures. Cheerfulness escalated in business and corporate culture with competition. Thus, it proved to be the most useful of emotions in an increasingly rational culture and was individually sought and socially encouraged until it became the emotional highlight of the American social landscape. In late capitalism cheerfulness has been commodified, commercialized and recycled by media, possibly with some repercussions on depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores changes in the meaning of privacy. Because individuals’ understandings and experiences of privacy vary by sociohistorical contexts, privacy is difficult to define and even more challenging to measure. Avoiding common obstacles to privacy research, I examine privacy from the standpoint of its invasion. I develop a typology of privacy invasions and use it to analyze discussions of invasions of privacy in U.S. newspapers. I show that the nature of invasions discussed in the news is increasingly covert and continuous and find empirical support for the often-made claim that the concept of privacy is evolving in meaningful ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the personality characteristics of individuals affect the answers they give to questions on controversial political topics. In April and May 2000, a random-digit-dial survey of 518 Americans was conducted in the continental United States. This survey included question batteries measuring two psychological concepts related to self-presentation. Respondents were also asked about their opinion on a number of sensitive topics, such as feelings toward blacks and homosexuals and their opinions about spending on popular programs, including schools and the environment. Their responses to these questions varied as a function of their self-presentation personality characteristics. The results presented here suggest that self-presentation measures such as those assessed here can improve our understanding of how the social dynamics of the survey interview affect responses to sensitive questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the United States has become more multicultural and diverse, there has been an increase in violence motivated by hate. Hate crimes against gay males are the most prevalent of the hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Hate crimes have their roots in normative, individual, and societal attitudes and ideologies that lead to intimidation, bullying, teasing, physical assault, rape, and murder. This paper provides an overview of the issues specific to hate crime assaults against gay males. Mental health nurses may find this knowledge useful in developing further nursing inquiry, education, and clinical practice related to hate crime and violence prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been a key contributor to the growing public health effort to prevent violence. Although CDC and its partners are proud of their many successes, much work remains to be done. Violence continues to be a leading cause of death worldwide for people aged 15-44. Moreover, although many forms of violence garner national concern and resources, much more violence occurs in private domains and receives less attention. These hidden health hazards silently drain our nation's human, economic, and health resources. In this paper, we highlight the current efforts of the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP), housed within CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), to use a public health approach to the prevention of one key hidden health hazard: violence against women (VAW). Building from a recently developed strategic plan and a research agenda, we explain how four core public health principles—emphasizing primary prevention, advancing the science of prevention, translating science into effective programs, and building on the efforts of others—drive current programmatic activities in VAW prevention. Several current programs and projects are described. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for future prevention work by deepening our vision of leadership, expanding our partnerships, pursuing comprehensive approaches, and using evidence-based strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers elaborations on current knowledge about social-movement framing processes and cognitive liberation, especially regarding technical controversies and not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) protest. The social-constructionist lens of the framing perspective also allows refinements in conventional explanations of NIMBY conflicts. Attention is given to the dynamics of emergence, continuity, and change in framing strategies over time in controversy regarding the U.S. Army's chemical-weapons disposal program. I focus specifically on dynamics involved in the development of cognitive liberation, particularly the framing difficulties that occur in the context of cognitive ambiguities produced by an "information haze." These ambiguities create problems for developing and linking the diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational elements of collective-action frames. I also attend to frame transformation, explaining how transformation may be both animated and constrained by a movement's opponent. I conclude that NIMBY is only one possible framing and can be transformed as the context of the dispute shifts. Moreover, framing activities in technical disputes may be particularly difficult due to the role of scientific rhetoric and experts in interpreting risks and shaping understandings of the situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]