Psychological Knowledge and the New American Dilemma of Race

A discussion of the social issue race contrasts the American Dilemma of the 1940s, typified by moral uneasiness over the struggle of right versus wrong, with what is described as a New American Dilemma, characterized by moral conflict between right versus right—race-neutral and race-conscious social policies. Critical Race Theory (CRT) explanations for evidence of continuing and sometimes widening racial disparities in social and economic status are reviewed. Psychological Critical Race Theory (PCRT) is proposed as a way of accounting for the role of social psychological processes in continuing racial disparities. The components of PCRT—(1) Spontaneous and persistent influence of race; (2) Fairness is derived from divergent racial experiences; (3) Asymmetrical consequences of racial policies; (4) Paradoxes of racial diversity; (5) Salience of racial identity—are discussed. Implications for understanding the social issue of race are discussed.     

日本文化中的“异类形象”浅论

本文在整合前人对日本“妖怪”文化的研究基础上,主要从各种“异类”形象的特点出发,分析了“魔女”、“娃娃”、“妖怪”与“鬼魂(能乐)”四类形象在其各自文化载体中的独特呈现,从中凸显日本人有关“死亡”及“彼岸世界”的想象,揭示出日本民族在其独有的历史文化土壤中培育出来的美学观念及其在现代社会各领域中的延伸表现。     

TRIOS: A Psychological Theory of the African Legacy in American Culture

TRIOS is comprised of attitudes, beliefs and values about time, rhythm, improvisation, orality and spirituality. It is proposed that TRIOS represents the cultural foundation of an African legacy for African Americans and provides a means of coping with slavery and various forms of racism over time. TRIOS is a model for the dual processes of self-protective and self-enhancing motivations for targets who must live in a universal context of racism. TRIOS is described as a context-dependent theory of being-in-the-world, as opposed to doing-in-the-world. Evidence for the origins of TRIOS elements in African and Caribbean culture is presented. A scale to measure TRIOS is described and evidence for racial/ethnic differences shows that African Americans score higher than other racial/ethnic groups. The implications of TRIOS for psychological well-being of African Americans and a wide array of future research questions are discussed.