James M. Jones

The Substance of Things Hoped for: A Study of the Future Orientation, Minority Status Perceptions, Academic Engagement, and Academic Performance of Black High School Students.

This study investigated the relationship between the Future Temporal Orientation (FTO) and academic performance of African American high school students. We hypothesized that the relationship between FTO and academic performance would be mediated by students’ perceptions of the usefulness of an education and their valuing of academic work and that the relationships between FTO and the hypothesized mediators would be moderated by students’ perceptions of school and societal inequity. The students (N = 334) completed questionnaires assessing their temporal orientation and educational attitudes, and GPAs were gathered from their transcripts. Results and post hoc analyses supported the existence of a three-step process: FTO was associated with perceptions of education usefulness, which was then associated with valuing academic work (a relationship moderated by perceived unfair treatment at school), which was then associated with GPAs. The significance of FTO development as a normative process and possible protective factor against depressed academic achievement are discussed.

Racism in Black and White

Racism is an elusive, emotional, and historically pervasive fact of American society. In contemporary society, the problems heretofore viewed in the context of a historical legacy that includes involuntary slavery, constitutional denial of equal rights, legal support of second-class citizenship, and ubiquitous and various forms of physical, emotional, social, economic, and psychological exploitation and oppression of black Americans of African descent are now normalized as problems of equal opportunity for minorities. The use of the term minority denotes an expansive confluence of disadvantage associated with being different in any of numerous ways, including physical or mental disability, nonnormative sexual preference, the status of being an immigrant or refugee, aged, chronic poverty, and ethnicity characterized by color. In addition, being female, although not a condition of minority status, does often qualify for being included among the less advantaged.

Toward a diversity hypothesis: Multidimensional effects of intergroup contact

Abstract The long-standing and important contributions of the contact hypothesis in reducing prejudice in intergroup situations is augmented by the introduction of the diversity hypothesis. The diversity hypothesis argues that the positive consequences of diversity will occur when the following four conditions are met: (a) full participation occurs across all levels of society for membres of diverse ethnic, racial, and cultural groups; (b) the degree of participation approximates an appropriate index of representation for racial and ethnic groups; (c) common purpose across these levels of diversity is created; and (d) cultural identity is valued. The empirical evidence for these conditions and implications for the organizational advantages of diversity are discussed.

Succeeding in the Face of Stereotype Threat The Adaptive Role of Engagement Regulation

Two experiments examined Engagement Regulation, the systematic increase or decrease of self-esteem engagement in a domain following positive or negative outcomes, respectively. We hypothesized that, under threat, more positive outcomes increase engagement, and greater engagement augments the influence of subsequent outcomes on self-esteem and performance. Female participants completed an initial math test, received bogus feedback, and then completed a second test. Results indicated that more positive feedback evoked greater engagement and that this relationship was strongest under stereotype threat (Study 1). Under stereotype threat, engagement interacted with subsequent feedback, such that greater engagement to positive feedback increased performance, but greater engagement to negative feedback decreased self-esteem and performance (Study 2). Together, these findings suggest that Engagement Regulation facilitates self-esteem maintenance and positive performance under stereotype threat.

Self-enhancement influences medial frontal cortex alpha power to social rejection feedback

Although previous research has demonstrated that individuals are motivated to self-enhance, the neurocognitive mechanisms and temporal dynamics of self-enhancement are poorly understood. The current research examined whether self-enhancing motivations affect the perceptual processing of social feedback. Participants who varied in self-enhancement motivations received accept and reject feedback while EEG was recorded. Following this task, we measured perceptions of feedback by asking participants to estimate the number of times they were rejected. Source localization and time–frequency analyses revealed that alpha power in the medial frontal cortex (MFC) completely mediated the relationship between self-enhancement motivations and rejection estimates. Specifically, greater self-enhancement motivations predicted decreased MFC alpha power to reject compared to accept feedback, which predicted decreased rejection estimates. These findings suggest that self-enhancement motivations decrease perception of social rejection by influencing how the MFC processes social feedback.

The Minority Fellowship Program: a 30-year legacy of training psychologists of color.

This article traces the development and growth of the American Psychological Association (APA) Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) from is inception in 1974 to 2007. The original influences of Black psychiatrists in creating the Center for Minority Group Mental Health at the National Institute of Mental Health are described, and the initial structure and strategy of MFP is outlined. The dramatic growth in the number of MFP Fellows (82%), the average size of Fellowship stipends (810%), and the total stipend dollars (1,560%) reflects expansion of the programs in substance abuse research, treatment and prevention, neuroscience and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), as well as mental health service and research. The influence of the MFP on the APA and departments of psychology are described, including the role the MFP played in the establishment of the Office, Board, and Committee of Ethnic Minority Affairs. Some of the accomplishments and leadership roles MFP alumni have played are described. The article concludes with a discussion of the current status of MFP and projections for the future.

Adaptive Disengagement Buffers Self-Esteem From Negative Social Feedback:

The degree to which self-esteem hinges on feedback in a domain is known as a contingency of self-worth, or engagement. Although previous research has conceptualized engagement as stable, it would be advantageous for individuals to dynamically regulate engagement. The current research examined whether the tendency to disengage from negative feedback accounts for variability in self-esteem. We created the Adaptive Disengagement Scale (ADS) to capture individual differences in the tendency to disengage self-esteem from negative outcomes. Results demonstrated that the ADS is reliable and valid (Studies 1 and 2). Furthermore, in response to negative social feedback, higher scores on the ADS predicted greater state self-esteem (Study 3), and this relationship was mediated by disengagement (Study 4). These findings demonstrate that adaptive disengagement protects self-esteem from negative outcomes and that the ADS is a valid measure of individual differences in the implementation of this process.

Cultural Psychology of African Americans

The cultural psychology of African Americans involves the evolution of African patterns of thought, feeling and behavior and their utilization as adaptive mechanisms in a context of racism and oppression. Assumptions about cultural psychology as the intersection of psyche and culture, and African American psychology as the multidimensional response to dehumanization and psychic conflict are discussed. Time, Rhythm, Improvisation, Orality, and Spirituality (TRIOS) are proposed as psycho-cultural mechanisms of adaptation, innovation, and psychological control for African Americans. Sources of variability among African Americans (both psychological and societal) are a basis for black subcultures within Black Culture. TRIOS is offered as a way to understand the psyche-cultural interactions for African Americans, and to provide a framework for their cultural psychology. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol3/iss1/1

The Sankofa Effect: Divergent Effects of Thinking About the Past for Blacks and Whites

Time perspective theory has traditionally focused on the individual level assessment of how thinking about time influences emotion and behavior. In this chapter, we extend this individual-level approach by proposing that emotion, behavior, and cognitive processes are also influenced by a collective representation of time that is attached to both individuals and their groups. Specifically, marginalized groups with an historical narrative of prejudice and discrimination may benefit from integrating personal and collective pasts into the present and future, a process called Sankofa. To capture Sankofa processes, we propose the development of a collective time perspective measure. Two experiments are reported that show Blacks engage in Sankofa processes more than Whites, and that a past orientation mediates psychological outcomes for Blacks. Finally, we discuss how Sankofa processes may be limited when facing psychological threats. Time perspective is discussed as a source of psychological threat as well as a process for coping with it.

Toward a Diversity Science: The Longest Journey Begins With the First Step

Vicky Plauts wonderfully cogent, concise, yet comprehensive analysis of sociocultural perspective on diversity is an excellent first step toward a full-blown diversity science. I have been writing...