Social Psychology

Navigating Multiple Identities: Race, Gender, Culture, Nationality, and Roles

Ruthellen Josselson, Michele Harway (eds)

In our increasingly complex globalized world, many people carry distinct, often conflicting, psychosocial identities. People live at the edges of more than one communal affiliation, ... More

In our increasingly complex globalized world, many people carry distinct, often conflicting, psychosocial identities. People live at the edges of more than one communal affiliation, bridging loyalties and identifications. This book is designed to explore how people attain or maintain personal integration in the face of often-shifting experiences of personal or social location—how people navigate the complexity of their multiple identities. One of the key premises of this book is that identity is rooted in social location and therefore always reflects the social and historical period in which it is formed and evolves. People are often fixed from outside themselves with labels that they must include or resist in their identity definition. Thus, even in our highly individualized society, identity remains socially constructed and people are not free to simple declare the meanings of their identity and have them accepted by others. Identities are fluid and context-dependent, and identity elements exist in readiness to be expressed depending on the external social factors that invite their emergence. The book considers individuals who are navigating across: • Racial minority or majority status • Cultures with different values • Gender identities • Roles • Cultural expectations versus individual definitions. The first section of the book attempts to look at identity theoretically and phenomenologically and assesses how current theory can aid in understanding the experience of multiple identity. The second and third sections of the book look at the identity navigation process in the United States and in cross-cultural populations. Less

Neurodevelopmental Disorders Across the Lifespan: A neuroconstructivist approach

Emily K. Farran, Annette Karmiloff-Smith (eds)

Nowadays, it is widely accepted that there is no single influence (be it nature or nurture) on cognitive development. Cognitive abilities emerge as a result of interactions between gene ... More

Nowadays, it is widely accepted that there is no single influence (be it nature or nurture) on cognitive development. Cognitive abilities emerge as a result of interactions between gene expression, cortical and subcortical brain networks, and environmental influences. In recent years, our study of neurodevelopmental disorders has provided much valuable information on how genes, brain development, behaviour, and environment interact to influence development from infancy to adulthood. This book presents evidence on development across the lifespan across these multiple levels of description (genetic, brain, cognitive, environmental). It chooses a well-defined disorder, Williams syndrome (WS), to explore the impact of genes, brain development, behaviour, as well as the individual's environment on development. WS is used as a model disorder to demonstrate the book's approach to understanding development, whilst being presented in comparison to other neurodevelopmental disorders — autism, developmental dyscalculia, Down syndrome, dyslexia, fragile X syndrome, Prader–Willi syndrome, Specific Language Impairment, Turner syndrome — to illustrate differences in development across neurodevelopmental disorders. WS is particularly informative for exploring development. Firstly, it has been extensively researched at multiple levels: genes, brain, cognition, and behaviour as well as in terms of the difficulties of daily living and social interaction. Secondly, it has been studied across the lifespan, with many studies on infants and toddlers with WS as well as a large number on children, adolescents, and adults. The book also explores a number of domain-general and domain-specific processes in the verbal, non-verbal, and social domains, across numerous neurodevelopmental disorders. This illustrates, among other factors, the importance of developmental timing, i.e., that the development of a cognitive skill at a specific timepoint can impact on subsequent development within that domain, but also across domains. In addition, the chapters discuss the value of investigating basic-level abilities from as close to the infant start-state as possible, presenting evidence of where cross-syndrome comparisons have shed light on the cascading impacts of subtle similarities and discrepancies in early delay or deviance, on subsequent development. Less

New Perspectives on Faking in Personality Assessment

Matthias Ziegler, Carolyn MacCann, Richard Roberts (eds)

This book showcases a range of different viewpoints on response distortion from a diverse group of world experts in personality assessment. Chapters consider what it means to "fake" a ... More

This book showcases a range of different viewpoints on response distortion from a diverse group of world experts in personality assessment. Chapters consider what it means to "fake" a personality assessment, why and how people would try to fake particular scores on personality tests, and which types of tests people can successfully fake. A range of traditional and cutting-edge methods for detecting and controlling for faking are presented and their usefulness is discussed. Amongst the methods are social desirability (lie) scales, warnings, affective neutralization, unidimensional and multidimensional pairwise preferences, decision trees, linguistic analysis, situational measures, and methods based on item response theory. Two independent chapters make separate attempts to synthesize, evaluate, and summarize the range of viewpoints presented throughout the book, suggesting practical recommendations and areas for future research. Less

The Obamas and a (Post) Racial America

Charles Ogletree

Gregory Parks, Matthew Hughey (eds)

Since the milestone election of Barack Hussein Obama on November 4, 2008, some have wondered whether the United States can now be considered a post-racial nation. According to this ... More

Since the milestone election of Barack Hussein Obama on November 4, 2008, some have wondered whether the United States can now be considered a post-racial nation. According to this book's contributors, a more nuanced and contemporary analysis and measurement of racial attitudes undercuts this assumption. Despite the election of the first black President and rise of his family as perhaps the most widely recognized family in the world, race remains a salient issue—particularly in the United States. Looking beyond public behaviors and how people describe their own attitudes, the contributors draw from the latest research to show how, despite the Obama family's rapid rise to national prominence, many Americans continue to harbor unconscious, anti-black biases. Nonetheless, the prominence of the Obamas on the world stage and the image they project may hasten the day when America is indeed post-racial, even at the implicit level. Less

An Odyssey with Animals: A Veterinarian's Reflections on the Animal Rights & Welfare Debate

Adrian R. Morrison

The relationship between animals and humans is more complex today than ever before. Animal–human interaction has engendered a bitter enmity between animal rights activists and the ... More

The relationship between animals and humans is more complex today than ever before. Animal–human interaction has engendered a bitter enmity between animal rights activists and the biomedical researchers whose work depends on the use (and oftentimes the killing) of laboratory animals. This book—which argues that humane animal use in biomedical research is an indispensable tool of medical science, and that efforts to halt such use constitute a grave threat to human health and wellbeing— is the culmination of the author's years spent negotiating the treacherous divide between a legitimate concern for animals and the importance of biomedical research. Drawing on the disciplines of philosophy, history, biology, and animal behavior, he crafts a multi-faceted argument in favor of using animals humanely in research, the center of which is his staunch belief that human interests must be the primary concern of science and society. Along the way, he delves into other human uses of animals in domains such as agriculture, hunting, and education, examining each use along with its philosophical, moral, and ecological implications. The result is a thought-provoking, intelligent and fair-minded discussion of a charged subject—of the past and present of animals' relationships with humans, and how and why we should be able to use them as we do. Less

On Voter Competence

Paul Goren

A half century of research shows that most citizens are woefully uninformed about public affairs, liberal-conservative ideologies, and the issues of the day. This had led most scholars ... More

A half century of research shows that most citizens are woefully uninformed about public affairs, liberal-conservative ideologies, and the issues of the day. This had led most scholars to conclude that policy voting lies beyond the reach of typical American voters and to condemn them as politically inept. This book breaks sharply with this view. Once attention turns away from liberal-conservative predispositions and issue preferences, there is indisputable evidence that nearly everyone holds genuine policy principles and uses these to guide their votes come Election Day. Three principles that reflect the major cleavages long dividing the Democratic and Republican parties are paramount: limited government, traditional morality, and military strength. Integrating work from social and political history, social and political psychology, and electoral behavior, the book argues that these three principles are available in the minds of nearly all citizens; function as central heuristics in their belief systems; are rooted deeply in basic human values; and guide presidential choices to a comparable degree for voters across the sophistication spectrum. Analysis of opinion data from the past six presidential elections and three new surveys yields unequivocal support for these claims. Contrary to the indictment leveled by most of the scholarly community and political pundits more generally, ordinary citizens who are neither deeply knowledgeable nor engaged with the world of public affairs prove as adept as their more sophisticated counterparts at grounding presidential votes in abstract views about public policy. Less

The Origins of Morality: An Evolutionary Account

Dennis Krebs

This book updates Darwin’s early account of the evolution of morality in light of contemporary theory and research from a wide array of academic areas. The evidence supports two main ... More

This book updates Darwin’s early account of the evolution of morality in light of contemporary theory and research from a wide array of academic areas. The evidence supports two main propositions. First, a capacity for morality evolved in the human species because it helped early humans survive, reproduce, and propagate their genes. Second, traditional psychological accounts of morality can be improved by recognizing that processes such as those that regulate social learning, moral reasoning, empathy, perspective-taking, and conscience, are products of evolution. To account for the sources of morality featured in psychological theories, we must understand the functions that they evolved to serve. Dispositions to exert self-control, to defer to authority, to obey rules that uphold the social order, to punish transgressors, and to behave in altruistic and cooperative ways evolved because they helped early humans advance their biological interests and reap the benefits of group living. Old brain mechanisms that humans share with other primates engender primitive aspects of a sense of morality, such as feelings of moral obligation, sympathy, gratitude, guilt, forgiveness, and righteous indignation. Although new brain mechanisms endow humans with higher-order cognitive abilities that enable them to override primitive impulses, people are only provisionally rational, and often use mental shortcuts that are susceptible to a variety of cognitive biases to make moral decisions in their everyday lives. People are naturally-disposed to be as moral as they have to be to advance their interests, and a little bit more. Less

Overcoming Evil: Genocide, Violent Conflict, and Terrorism

Ervin Staub

This book describes the origins or influences leading to genocide, violent conflict, and terrorism. It identifies principles and practices of prevention, and of reconciliation between ... More

This book describes the origins or influences leading to genocide, violent conflict, and terrorism. It identifies principles and practices of prevention, and of reconciliation between groups after violence, or before violence thereby to prevent violence. It uses both past cases such as the Holocaust, and contemporary ones such as Rwanda, the Congo, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, contemporary terrorism, and the relations between the Dutch and Muslim minorities, which also has relevance to other European countries, as examples. The book draws on work on all these issues, as well as on research in genocide studies, the study of conflict and of terrorism, and psychological research on group relations. It also describes the work conducted in real world settings, such as with promoting reconciliation in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo. The book considers what needs to be done to prevent impending or stop ongoing violence. It emphasizes early prevention, when violence generating conditions are present and a psychological and social evolution toward violence has begun, but not yet immediate danger of intense violence. The book considers the role of difficult social or life conditions, repression, culture, the institutions or structure of society, the psychology of individuals and groups, and the behavior of witnesses or bystanders within and outside societies. It emphasizes psychological processes, such as differentiation between us and them and devaluation of the “other”, past victimization and psychological woundedness, the power of ideas, and people's commitment to destructive ideologies. It considers humanizing the other, healing from past victimization, the creation of constructive ideologies and groups, and how these help people develop cultures and institutions that make violence less likely. The book asks what needs to be accomplished to prevent violence, how it can be done, and who can do it. It aims to promote knowledge, understanding, and “active bystandership” by leaders and government officials, members of the media and citizens to prevent violence and create harmonious societies. Less

Pathological Altruism

Barbara Oakley, Ariel Knafo, Guruprasad Madhavan, David Sloan Wilson (eds)

Many harmful deeds—from codependency to suicide martyrdom to genocide—are committed with the altruistic intention of helping companions or one’s own in-group. Therefore it is worthwhile ... More

Many harmful deeds—from codependency to suicide martyrdom to genocide—are committed with the altruistic intention of helping companions or one’s own in-group. Therefore it is worthwhile to study how well-meaning altruism can shade into pathology. Although the term pathological altruism has been used to a limited degree in psychodynamic circles, there has been inadequate study of the phenomenon in general, and almost none from a biological, genetic, and evolutionary perspective. In essence, pathological altruism might be thought of as any behavior or personal tendency in which either the stated aim or the implied motivation is to promote the welfare of another. But instead of overall beneficial outcomes, this altruism instead has irrational (from the point of view of an outside observer) and substantial negative consequences to the other or even to the self. This volume presents psychological, neuropsychological, biological, and evolutionary approaches that help account for pathologically altruistic behavior, and goes on to discuss its diverse and profound societal implications. Each of these approaches points to one disturbing truth: What we value so much, the altruistic “good” side of human nature, can also have a dark side. The result is a nuanced counterbalance to the study of altruism and a call for further research. Less

The Political Psychology of Democratic Citizenship

Eugene Borgida, Christopher M Federico, John L Sullivan (eds)

While scholars in political science, social psychology and mass communications have made notable contributions to our understanding of democratic citizenship, they concentrate on very ... More

While scholars in political science, social psychology and mass communications have made notable contributions to our understanding of democratic citizenship, they concentrate on very different aspects of the overall problem. The current volume challenges this fragmentary pattern of inquiry, and adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of citizenship, which holds great potential for insight and integration across topic areas, and for the development of informed interventions aimed at meeting challenges faced by democratic citizens. The volume is organized around five themes related to democratic citizenship: citizen knowledge about politics; persuasion processes and intervention processes; group identity, and perception of individual citizens and social groups; hate crimes and intolerance; and the challenge of rapid changes in technology and mass media. These themes address the key challenges to existing perspectives on citizenship, represent themes that are central to the health of democratic societies, and reflect ongoing lines of research that offer important contributions to an interdisciplinary political psychology perspective on citizenship. These also represent themes for which scholars may not be aware of work in other disciplines on the same topic, or where scholars are insufficiently aware of such work and might well benefit from greater intellectual commerce. In other words, these are themes that provide opportunities for the interdisciplinary cross-talk that characterizes contributions to this volume by scholars from psychology, political science, sociology, and mass communications. In the final section, commentators reflect on different aspects of the scholarly agenda put forth in this volume, including what this body of work suggests about the state of political psychology's contributions to our understanding of these issues. Thus, the volume aims to provide a multifaceted, interdisciplinary look at the political psychology of democratic citizenship. The interdisciplinary bent of contemporary work in political psychology may uniquely equip it to provide us with a more nuanced understanding of citizenship issues — and perhaps even of competing democratic theories — in democratic societies. Less