Follow up on Noam

Sorry, I also ran across (totally by accident) an article on the NYT webpage that leads to an entire list of articles by Noam Chomsky if you are interested in what he is up to these days besides talking in Madison.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/noam_chomsky/index.html?inline=nyt-per

Noam Chomsky

Hey,
So I found a link to Noam Chomsky at Madison's Edgewood college.
http://www.uppitywis.org/noam-chomsky-edgewood-last-night

Evidently he has become quite the political theorist and commentator. There are some links on youtube to comments he has on Obama. That (foreign policy) is also what he is presenting about tonight at the Orpheum theater in Madison.
(Just search Noam Chomsky on Obama)

Racial Profiling - link & response for last week

I thought the video we watched last Thursday was really interesting (despite the design and presentation flaws we discussed in class). It led me to think more about the depiction of certain problems in the media, and how psychologists can influence those issues.

In our book, we learned about the alleged racial differences in intelligence and how those research prospects still influence our thinking today. As mentioned in our book, the differences in race (not just in intelligence, but in any aspect of life) tend to be an "American obsesssion."

And as we saw with the Dateline, 20/20, or 60 minutes spot we watched in class, people still tend to "prefer" one race over another, and this leads me to believe that people still see differences between people of different races. Lots of people will claim, "I don't see color," but the research presented in the video we watched tells otherwise. Will this ever go away?

An every day scenario where racial prejudice might come into play is in the phenomenon of racial profiling by police. I found this Time feature article pretty relevant and the interesting part is that it gives multiple viewpoints on this issue. It's kind of long, but I think you'll also find it interesting. (Here also is the photo essay on this subject.)

Last Week's Reflection and Link

We spent a lot of time talking about gender differences last week in class. We discussed what is present in the current research and what we thought should be. Most of the things we mentioned were things that we would have to test and could not look at physiologically. I think it is important to note both sides of this.

It is not important to understand the differences in sexes to answer the ultimate question of which sex is more superior---rather it is best for both sexes involved to learn as much as possible about both sides. I was searching on-line and found the following link that talks about physiological differences that have been found between sexes that I was not aware of. I found the information in "Psychology Today", so its interesting to note who might be reading this type of material. Is it useful? Do we need to understand these differences or does it just polarize the respective genders?

Some of the interesting findings in the article are that women have numerous back-up genes that men don't. The authors speculate that this is the reason why women are less susceptible to mental illnesses (i.e. autism and schizophrenia). We know that women have more gray matter in our brains and really drive home that point, but who knew that men had more white matter and cerebrospinal fluid? The reasoning for this is that it gives men's brains more cushion and protection from the elements when tooling around or battling. Just some food for thought...

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20030624-000003.xml

Week 10: Reflection and Link

Fifty years after the landmark Brown v. Board decision, the APA's publication, Monitor on Psychology, commemorated this date by publishing an issue centered on currently relevant issues in educational psychology. This coincided with the annual convention (2004), in which Kenneth and Mamie Clark were honored for their contributions which were arguably under-recognized during the Brown era. In addition, the APA's Racial Identity in Context: The Legacy of Kenneth B. Clark, examines Clark's life and incredible achievements in promoting desegregation and racial equality through interviews of 20 prominent psychologists. Reflecting back upon Clark's work and vision for the desegregation process in all American schools, psychologists and sociologists alike are often quick to admit that, discouraging as it is, Clark's projection was rather accurate. He argued that integration would happen to the degree that authorities and the government worked for it - which many would argue has not, to a great degree, happened in our schools. Rather than simply recounting Clark's contributions, however, the book stresses how his focus on the community had and continues to have far-reaching effects on how we conceive of group identity, race, and social psychology.

Other topics in the September 2004 issue of the Monitor on Psychology include desegregating urban schools, the education achievement/opportunity gap (and the significance behind word choice), social hurdles to integration, and the claim that academic placement perpetuates racial segregation. This touches on some of the issues we read and talked about in terms of school psychology, as well as many of the social questions facing those employed in the wide field of applied psychology today. These topics are of personal interest to me as my favorite areas of psychology are development and social, yet I also believe they're relevant to all of us preparing to graduate and enter graduate school or the work force - the burden of racial inequality doesn't stop at the borders of the school yard.

Here's the link to the short articles in the 9/04 issue of the Monitor : http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep04/50years.html

Another Doll Story About Race

Going off of the comments about Kenneth Clark's doll experiments and the impact the results had on all of us, I thought I might add some more thought-provoking material to the discussion. This American Life featured a story a little while back that is incredibly interesting:

Elna Baker reads her story about the time she worked at the giant toy story, FAO Schwartz. Her job was to sell these lifelike "newborns" which were displayed in a "nursery" inside the store. When the toys become the hot new present, they begin to fly off the shelves. When the white babies sell out, white parents are faced with a choice: will they go for an Asian, Latino, or African-American baby instead? What happens is so disturbing that Elna has a hard time even telling it.

The story is only 16 minutes long and completely fascinating. A quote from the author: "What it meant was just too depressing... I still didn't want to face what it said if a factory reject monster baby was adopted before a whole nursery of perfectly cute black babies."

Here is the link. It is the last story on the show so if you let it load all the way and then click to 40 minutes in you'll be queued up perfectly. In case that link doesn't work for you for some reason you can try this one.

I am curious to see your opinions and thoughts.

link and reflection 4/2

This week we discussed social action. We learned about many important psychological contributions to the civil rights movement that had a very positive impact on racial and gender equality. In class on Friday we watched videos of various tests performed to determine if people have a preference toward a particular race. These experiments were designed to recreate the work of Kenneth Clark's doll experiment. The results of these tests are a little shocking and upsetting. It was heart breaking to watch an African American child describe the white doll as good and nice while the African American doll was described as bad. Some of the tests, such as the computerized version, seem like they could have some confounds based on the order of presentation but it is powerful to see multiple tests with multiple generations report basically the same results. it is too bad that we have these preferences and possible prejudices still present in our society. Even th emost well meaning people who would never dream of any racial thoughts or actions still show a preference. These preferences may be due to exposure to popular media and most of us would be completely unware that our experiences would have caused any preference to develop at all. I think it is ok to have these preferences as long as you are able to recognize that you have them, understand that they are unfair, and work to keep them from influeincing your thoughts and actions as best as you can.

Here is a link to the wiki for Jane Elliots brown eye, blue eye experiment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott