- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Gabriel Velez
Marquette University, Educational Policy and Leadership, Faculty Member
-
University of Chicago, Comparative Human Development, Graduate Student add
A confluence of societal challenges and critiques of dominant modes of psychological science have created an opportunity to reassess how research in the discipline is taught to future generations of researchers. Given this context,... more
A confluence of societal challenges and critiques of dominant modes of psychological science have created an opportunity to reassess how research in the discipline is taught to future generations of researchers. Given this context, psychology instructors must employ methodological approaches and concrete strategies that provide students with research tools focused on developing effective and ecologically valid insights about everyday life. In this paper we aim to offer a way to address this need through a review of field social psychology and an argument for incorporating this approach into the teaching of psychology across levels. Field social psychology is a conceptual and methodological approach to researching psychological phenomena at multiple levels of analysis with emphasis on people’s everyday socio-cultural environments. We discuss what this framework entails, make an argument for why it should be taught and how it integrates with an action teaching orientation, and present...
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Social psychologists are often criticized for failing to capture the dynamic nature of psychological processes. We present a novel framework to address this problem. The MOVE framework contends that to comprehend complex, contradictory,... more
Social psychologists are often criticized for failing to capture the dynamic nature of psychological processes. We present a novel framework to address this problem. The MOVE framework contends that to comprehend complex, contradictory, and divergent patterns of thought, affect, and behavior within changing, real-world contexts, it is necessary to undertake ecologically valid research that is attentive to the lived experiences and meaning-making processes of culturally embedded individuals over time. A focus on meanings, observations, viewpoints, and experiences is essential for social psychological research that holistically captures how people construct, understand, respond, position, and act over time within changing social, economic, and political contexts. To illustrate the utility of our proposition, we draw on classic social psychological studies and multimethod fieldwork during a period of rapid social and political change in Colombia during the peace process (2012–2017). We...
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Introduction. Validity and reliability evaluations of the Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version (EQ-i: YV[S]) with children and adolescents from different countries have shown variations in the structural model proposed by Bar-On.... more
Introduction. Validity and reliability evaluations of the Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version (EQ-i: YV[S]) with children and adolescents from different countries have shown variations in the structural model proposed by Bar-On. Objective. To examine the psychometric properties of EQ-i: YV[S] with a Colombian’ sample. Method. We randomly selected a sample of 1355 children and adolescents between 8 and 14 years old (Mage = 10.80; SD = 1.41). We conducted exploratory (n1 = 416) and confirmatory (n2 = 939) factor analyses (EFA, CFA), reliability, internal consistency, and predictive validity. Results. The EFA explained 27.6% of the variance. The AFC indicated a multidimensional structure with four factors and 21 items obtained the best fit (χ2 = 334.358; df = 183; RMSEA=0.030; CFI=.951; TLI=944; NFI=.899) with acceptable internal consistency (ω = .57,.75). EQ-i: YV[S] factors explain 18.5% of the observed variance in problem-centered coping scores. Conclusions. The psychometric fit of the inventory supports evidence of its usefulness for screening processes in clinical or educational assessment.
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. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and other social dynamics created a myriad of challenges and changes for individuals, groups, and societies. The impacts on youth are particularly noteworthy given developmental processes of adolescence... more
. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and other social dynamics created a myriad of challenges and changes for individuals, groups, and societies. The impacts on youth are particularly noteworthy given developmental processes of adolescence and emerging adulthood. As psychologists, we have much to offer in studying how 2020 influenced their development and in shaping effective supports. To be useful, the work must be nuanced, iterative, and attentive to their lived realities. We argue for a dynamic research framework to study these developmental processes. Through such an approach, psychological science can provide insight into diverse young people’s experiences of COVID-19 with a focus on addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 4, and 16 on increasing a sense of well-being, making education more equitable, and developing more peaceful societies. This paper lays out three theoretical frameworks – Synthetic, Augmentative, Generative, and Experiential, Meanings, Observations, Viewpoints, and Experiences, and the Developmental Peacebuilding Model – that can be used to capture the dynamism of meaning-making and development within changing contexts. We then provide examples from our research with young people in the United States and Ireland. This paper ends with a call for psychologists across the globe to understand and address COVID-19’s impacts on youth through iterative and integrative research methods with a focus on meaning-making. In coordination with macro-level metrics, such work can help understand lived psychosocial impacts on diverse groups of young people, while highlighting opportunities to support SDGs 3, 4, and 16.
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This mixed‐methods study examined how adolescents understand and evaluate different ways to address intergroup harms in schools. In individual interviews, 77 adolescents (M age = 16.49 years; 39 girls, 38 boys) in Bogotá, Colombia,... more
This mixed‐methods study examined how adolescents understand and evaluate different ways to address intergroup harms in schools. In individual interviews, 77 adolescents (M age = 16.49 years; 39 girls, 38 boys) in Bogotá, Colombia, responded to hypothetical vignettes wherein a rival group at school engaged in a transgression against their group. Adolescents reported that students who were harmed should and would talk to school authorities, but also noted they would likely retaliate. In terms of teacher‐sanctioned responses to harm, youth endorsed compensation most strongly, followed by apologies, and rated suspension least positively. Youths' explanations for their endorsement of different disciplinary practices reflected varied concerns, including their perceptions of how justice is best achieved and how restoration could be attained.
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Intersectionality is an analytic tool for studying and challenging complex social inequalities at the nexus of multiple systems of oppression and privilege, including race, gender, sexuality, social class, nation, age, religion, and... more
Intersectionality is an analytic tool for studying and challenging complex social inequalities at the nexus of multiple systems of oppression and privilege, including race, gender, sexuality, social class, nation, age, religion, and ability Although the term has become widely used in psychology, debates continue and confusion persists about what intersectionality actually is and how best to take an intersectional approach to psychological science This special issue of Translational Issues in Psychological Science on intersectionality includes a range of methodological tools and theoretical perspectives that advance psychological research on intersectionality In particular, these projects constitute psychological research that takes intersectionality's political aspirations seriously and envisions psychology as a tool for social justice The articles model responsible use of intersectionality through citation practices that reflect intersectionality's origins in Black feminist thought and women of color scholar-activism, as well as through analyses that reflect intersectionality's commitment to reflexivity, structural critique, and complexity In this introduction, the editors reflect on intersectionality's challenge to psychology and consider the place of translational science amid global crises and what critical psychologist Michelle Fine calls "revolting times " (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement What is the significance of this article for the general public?-This paper introduces a special issue on the topic of intersectionality and situates this social justice-oriented scholarship in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial justice uprisings of 2020, and ongoing debates about psychologists' role in addressing social problems (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
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En este libro se realiza un análisis multidisciplinario sobre distintos aspectos del proceso de paz entre el Gobierno colombiano y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP), así como de los retos de... more
En este libro se realiza un análisis multidisciplinario sobre distintos aspectos del proceso de paz entre el Gobierno colombiano y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP), así como de los retos de la implementación temprana del acuerdo logrado en el 2016. Los autores de Excombatientes y acuerdo de paz con las FARC-EP en Colombia abordan cuestiones prácticas en materia de reintegración, implementación de acuerdos de paz y situaciones de transición relacionadas con excombatientes. Analizan el proceso de reintegración política, el rol de la cooperación internacional y del sector privado, las respuestas de grupos como los jóvenes, y también los ajustes institucionales que ha implicado esta etapa temprana. Gracias a la diversidad temática, de enfoques y de metodologías se logra una mirada complementaria y pertinente a la luz de los desafíos que este proceso implica para la formulación de políticas públicas en el país. Esta obra está dirigida a acad...
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Research dating back to the 1960s shows that as children age, their understandings and conceptions about peace change along with their cognitive and social development. This work highlights the importance of context, interpersonal... more
Research dating back to the 1960s shows that as children age, their understandings and conceptions about peace change along with their cognitive and social development. This work highlights the importance of context, interpersonal relationships, and cognitive capabilities on how children develop ideas and behaviors related to peace. The literature to date mainly draws from three theoretical bases to situate peace attitudes within ontological development: socialization theory, Piaget’s cognitive stages of development, and social-cognitive theory. Drawing on these models, empirical research has demonstrated that children generally move from concrete and material notions that focus on negative peace to abstract, norm-related concepts that incorporate interpersonal dynamics. At the same time, these processes vary with a number of factors, including cultural norms, historical context, and gender. This chapter presents an ecologically based and culturally grounded theoretical framework to...
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Field social psychology is a conceptual and methodological approach to describe, examine, and explain psychological phenomena at multiple levels of analysis with emphasis on the sociocultural environments in which people are embedded, the... more
Field social psychology is a conceptual and methodological approach to describe, examine, and explain psychological phenomena at multiple levels of analysis with emphasis on the sociocultural environments in which people are embedded, the unfolding of psychological processes over time, and the use of ecologically valid multiple methods in conjunction. In this essay, we first define a contemporary form of field social psychology from its roots in the history of psychological study. Second, we argue for the necessity of the reemergence of this approach given the limitations of the dominant current social psychological paradigm exposed by the replication crisis. Third, we outline an integrative and actionable model of field social psychological research. We describe two contemporary examples of field social psychological research concerning climate change protests in Norway and restorative justice in the U.S.A. to illustrate this framework. We end with implications of field social psychology for developing psychological science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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In recent years, academics, practitioners, and activists have expanded implementation and evaluation of restorative justice in schools and justice systems. Almost exclusively, however, this implementation has involved face-to-face... more
In recent years, academics, practitioners, and activists have expanded implementation and evaluation of restorative justice in schools and justice systems. Almost exclusively, however, this implementation has involved face-to-face interaction. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many schools around the world were forced to close or move to alternate instruction and gathering people together in a community became difficult. Within this context, we, along with other educators and practitioners, adapted our restorative justice methodologies to virtual spaces. In this chapter, we explore the potential of virtual restorative justice with a comparison to current literature on its in-person practice, as well as the concrete experience and application amid the coronavirus pandemic. First, we highlight key elements and assumptions about restorative justice that are rooted in in-person interactions. We then demonstrate how this could be adapted to online environments by describing what virtual restorative practices look like. We draw on and extend current literature, presenting a limited review of academic sources before the pandemic and popular media discussing virtual adaptations during 2020. We next detail our own involvement in processes of adapting restorative practices to virtual spaces in schools and communities during the pandemic. The data from this section comes from our own experience as practitioners, as well as work evaluating implementation in school settings. Finally, we end by highlighting opportunities, challenges, and questions to be addressed in considering the potential of virtual spaces for practices of restorative justice.
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Academia is often critiqued as an “ivory tower” where research, thinking, and teaching are isolated from the complexity and everyday experience of so many people. As instructors of political and other psychology courses, we strive to... more
Academia is often critiqued as an “ivory tower” where research, thinking, and teaching are isolated from the complexity and everyday experience of so many people. As instructors of political and other psychology courses, we strive to break down these barriers and engage with the dynamic and nuanced nature of phenomena as situated in lived social and political contexts. In this report, we unpack and detail how we strive to achieve this goal by expanding on Plous’ articulation of action teaching (2012). We first define our pedagogical focus on active engagement, critical thinking, and staying on the move between multiple perspectives. We then provide specific examples of how we enact our philosophy in activities and assessment. We end by articulating how this approach to teaching in social and political psychology can be understood as furthering not only our students’ intellectual growth as psychologists, but also their development as democratic citizens. In doing so, we argue that ac...
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Social psychologists are often criticized for failing to capture the dynamic nature of psychological processes. We present a novel framework to address this problem. The MOVE framework contends that to comprehend complex, contradictory,... more
Social psychologists are often criticized for failing to capture the dynamic nature of psychological processes. We present a novel framework to address this problem. The MOVE framework contends that to comprehend complex, contradictory, and divergent patterns of thought, affect, and behavior within changing, real-world contexts, it is necessary to undertake ecologically valid research that is attentive to the lived experiences and meaning-making processes of culturally embedded individuals over time. A focus on meanings, observations, viewpoints, and experiences is essential for social psychological research that holistically captures how people construct, understand, respond, position, and act over time within changing social, economic, and political contexts. To illustrate the utility of our proposition, we draw on classic social psychological studies and multimethod fieldwork during a period of rapid social and political change in Colombia during the peace process (2012–2017). We...
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Cultural Studies, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Social Psychology, Peace and Conflict Studies, and 12 moreSocial Sciences, Political Psychology, Qualitative methodology, Colombia, Political Science, Cultural Psychology, Civil War, Quantitative Methods (Psychology), General Psychology, Politics and International relations, Replication, and Conflict and Conflict Resolution
For emerging adults transitioning to college, normative social and contextual shifts present challenges that are largely a productive aspect of development. But not all students have the same experiences, nor do all students manage... more
For emerging adults transitioning to college, normative social and contextual shifts present challenges that are largely a productive aspect of development. But not all students have the same experiences, nor do all students manage similar experiences in similar ways. Black and Latinx emerging adults transitioning to Historically White Institutions must adjust not only to college life but also to feeling different and, sometimes, isolated. There is a dearth of qualitative work examining how students of color make meaning of their racial-ethnic experiences on campus. Our article draws on a mixed-methods study of Black and Latinx emerging adults’ transition to college to investigate how high school racial-ethnic contexts shape students’ interpretations of experiences of difference on college campuses. There was substantial variation in how Black and Latinx students interpreted experiences of difference on campus and coped with their feelings of otherness, and this variation was predic...
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Beginning with Erikson, identity formation has often been framed as a salient developmental challenge for adolescents. Recent theoretical advances situate this identity formation as a central life course process involving ecological and... more
Beginning with Erikson, identity formation has often been framed as a salient developmental challenge for adolescents. Recent theoretical advances situate this identity formation as a central life course process involving ecological and social context associated with diverse experiences and characteristics. Some scholars have employed intersectionality as a call to study experiences of individuals who belong to multiple marginalized groups. In this article, we argue that developmental research would be served by a return to Crenshaw's formulation of intersectionality-that is, that marginalization involves systematic inequality and interlocking systems of oppression-as integrated with Spencer's phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST). The latter was formulated as a needed critique of traditional developmental theories that generally ignored the problem of inequality as experienced through multiple layers of navigated contexts. Problematic ecological cont...
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During adolescence, individuals begin to form ideas about human rights as part of the development of a sense of self. The outcomes of these processes are influential in the stability and peace in postconflict societies. However, there... more
During adolescence, individuals begin to form ideas about human rights as part of the development of a sense of self. The outcomes of these processes are influential in the stability and peace in postconflict societies. However, there remain many questions about how these youth construct ideas about human rights and how they become oriented toward promoting these in society through a developed human rights consciousness. This study investigates how adolescents in an underexplored area of postconflict societies—where past violence was not intimately experienced—understand human rights. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 25 fifteen-year-olds across five schools in Tacna, Peru. These adolescents understand human rights as related to respect, protection, and needing personal advocacy, but they do not integrate ideas about human rights into concrete practice—the foundation of human rights consciousness. While the majority of respondents assert that human rights must be understood and enacted in order to become reality, they do not connect these ideas to concrete issues in Peruvian society. This gap may have emerged from postconflict political developments in the Peruvian education system. For a group of female respondents, human rights are about identity, which may demonstrate the ways that local gender contexts and developmentally salient concerns shape these understandings. These findings could provide important empirical support for policies and programs fostering human rights consciousness in postconflict youth.
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Previous research has demonstrated that (re)building an active civic culture and support for human rights are prevalent goals in postconflict countries (Leidner & Li, 2015; Quaynor, 2012). This research report builds on previous work... more
Previous research has demonstrated that (re)building an active civic culture and support for human rights are prevalent goals in postconflict countries (Leidner & Li, 2015; Quaynor, 2012). This research report builds on previous work by exploring the relationship between youth attitudes about human rights and citizenship with a sample of 15-year-olds in Tacna, Peru. This work also extending postconflict research into an area of these countries that is often overlooked: regions that did not directly experience conflict. The investigation finds that human rights and civic attitudes are linked, particular with perceptions of democracy and social movements. These findings could provide a foundation to further test these relationships, and eventually to leverage such connections to build more effective educational supports for the development of human rights and civic values in these settings.
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The current study investigates the utility of political activism as a protective factor against experiences of racial/ethnic (R/E) discrimination that negatively affect stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among Black and Latinx... more
The current study investigates the utility of political activism as a protective factor against experiences of racial/ethnic (R/E) discrimination that negatively affect stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among Black and Latinx college freshmen at predominately White institutions. Data come from the Minority College Cohort Study, a longitudinal investigation of Black and Latinx college students (N = 504; 44% Black). We conducted multiple regression analyses for each mental health indicator and tested for interaction effects. For Black and Latinx students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of freshman year stress varied by political activism. For Black students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of the year anxiety varied by political activism. There was a significant interaction effect for depressive symptoms among Latinx students. Political activism serves as a protective factor to mitigate the negative effect of R/E discrimination on st...
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We propose a SAGE model for social psychological research. Encapsulated in our acronym is a proposal to have a synthetic approach to social psychological research, in which qualitative methods are augmentative to quantitative ones,... more
We propose a SAGE model for social psychological research. Encapsulated in our acronym is a proposal to have a synthetic approach to social psychological research, in which qualitative methods are augmentative to quantitative ones, qualitative methods can be generative of new experimental hypotheses, and qualitative methods can capture experiences that evade experimental reductionism. We remind social psychological researchers that psychology was founded in multiple methods of investigation at multiple levels of analysis. We discuss historical examples and our own research as contemporary examples of how a SAGE model can operate in part or as an integrated whole. The implications of our model are discussed.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected schools and the people within them. The move to remote schooling forced practitioners of school-based restorative justice to adapt and innovate, as theory and practice had almost exclusively... more
The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected schools and the people within them. The move to remote schooling forced practitioners of school-based restorative justice to adapt and innovate, as theory and practice had almost exclusively focused on in-person instruction. In this paper, I first review some of the challenges, adaptations, and lessons during the pandemic. I then argue that restorative justice in schools offers new and unique potential to address needs of educational communities and the students, educators, and staff within them as in-person instruction returns. Specifically, I suggest it could contribute to rebuilding social connection and community, bolstering mental health, and addressing inequities. Finally, I end with limitations and future directions for considering these extensions and evaluating their impact. School-based restorative justice alone cannot be a panacea for these issues, but could be integrated into other supports and services to address the stark needs...
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Social psychologists are often criticized for failing to capture the dynamic nature of psychological processes. We present a novel framework to address this problem. The MOVE framework contends that to comprehend complex, contradictory,... more
Social psychologists are often criticized for failing to capture the dynamic nature of psychological processes. We present a novel framework to address this problem. The MOVE framework contends that to comprehend complex, contradictory, and divergent patterns of thought, affect, and behavior within changing, real-world contexts, it is necessary to undertake
ecologically valid research that is attentive to the lived experiences and meaning-making processes of culturally embedded individuals over time. A focus on meanings, observations, viewpoints, and experiences is essential for social psychological research that holistically captures how people construct, understand, respond, position, and act over time within changing
social, economic, and political contexts. To illustrate the utility of our proposition, we draw on classic social psychological studies and multimethod fieldwork during a period of rapid social and political change in Colombia during the peace process (2012–2017). We argue the MOVE framework has the potential to advance psychological understandings of, and contributions to, individuals embedded in real, dynamic social and political contexts. We discuss the implications of this extended social psychological paradigm for advancing psychological science.
ecologically valid research that is attentive to the lived experiences and meaning-making processes of culturally embedded individuals over time. A focus on meanings, observations, viewpoints, and experiences is essential for social psychological research that holistically captures how people construct, understand, respond, position, and act over time within changing
social, economic, and political contexts. To illustrate the utility of our proposition, we draw on classic social psychological studies and multimethod fieldwork during a period of rapid social and political change in Colombia during the peace process (2012–2017). We argue the MOVE framework has the potential to advance psychological understandings of, and contributions to, individuals embedded in real, dynamic social and political contexts. We discuss the implications of this extended social psychological paradigm for advancing psychological science.
Research Interests:
Cultural Studies, Social Psychology, Peace and Conflict Studies, Social Sciences, Political Psychology, and 9 moreQualitative methodology, Colombia, Political Science, Cultural Psychology, Civil War, Quantitative Methods (Psychology), Politics and International relations, Replication, and Conflict and Conflict Resolution
For emerging adults transitioning to college, normative social and contextual shifts present challenges that are largely a productive aspect of development. But not all students have the same experiences, nor do all students manage... more
For emerging adults transitioning to college, normative social and contextual shifts present challenges that are largely a
productive aspect of development. But not all students have the same experiences, nor do all students manage similar
experiences in similar ways. Black and Latinx emerging adults transitioning to Historically White Institutions must adjust not
only to college life but also to feeling different and, sometimes, isolated. There is a dearth of qualitative work examining how
students of color make meaning of their racial-ethnic experiences on campus. Our article draws on a mixed-methods study of
Black and Latinx emerging adults’ transition to college to investigate how high school racial-ethnic contexts shape students’
interpretations of experiences of difference on college campuses. There was substantial variation in how Black and Latinx
students interpreted experiences of difference on campus and coped with their feelings of otherness, and this variation was
predicted by racial-ethnic high school context.
productive aspect of development. But not all students have the same experiences, nor do all students manage similar
experiences in similar ways. Black and Latinx emerging adults transitioning to Historically White Institutions must adjust not
only to college life but also to feeling different and, sometimes, isolated. There is a dearth of qualitative work examining how
students of color make meaning of their racial-ethnic experiences on campus. Our article draws on a mixed-methods study of
Black and Latinx emerging adults’ transition to college to investigate how high school racial-ethnic contexts shape students’
interpretations of experiences of difference on college campuses. There was substantial variation in how Black and Latinx
students interpreted experiences of difference on campus and coped with their feelings of otherness, and this variation was
predicted by racial-ethnic high school context.
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Research Interests:
For emerging adults transitioning to college, normative social and contextual shifts present challenges that are largely a productive aspect of development. But not all students have the same experiences, nor do all students manage... more
For emerging adults transitioning to college, normative social and contextual shifts present challenges that are largely a productive aspect of development. But not all students have the same experiences, nor do all students manage similar experiences in similar ways. Black and Latinx emerging adults transitioning to Historically White Institutions must adjust not only to college life but also to feeling different and, sometimes, isolated. There is a dearth of qualitative work examining how students of color make meaning of their racial-ethnic experiences on campus. Our article draws on a mixed-methods study of Black and Latinx emerging adults' transition to college to investigate how high school racial-ethnic contexts shape students' interpretations of experiences of difference on college campuses. There was substantial variation in how Black and Latinx students interpreted experiences of difference on campus and coped with their feelings of otherness, and this variation was predicted by racial-ethnic high school context.
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Research Interests:
Beginning with Erikson, identity formation has often been framed as a salient developmental challenge for adolescents. Recent theoretical advances situate this identity formation as a central life course process involving ecological and... more
Beginning with Erikson, identity formation has often been framed as a salient developmental challenge for adolescents. Recent theoretical advances situate this identity formation as a central life course process involving ecological and social context associated with diverse experiences and characteristics. Some scholars have employed intersectionality as a call to study experiences of individuals who belong to multiple marginalized groups. In this article, we argue that developmental research would be served by a return to Crenshaw' s formulation of intersectionality—that is, that marginalization involves systematic inequality and interlocking systems of oppression—as integrated with Spencer' s phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST). The latter was formulated as a needed critique of traditional developmental theories that generally ignored the problem of inequality as experienced through multiple layers of navigated contexts. Problematic ecological contexts can be understood through intersectionality' s forefronting of complex structures and social positionality— that power dynamics and interconnected systems lead to differential outcomes within socially constructed categories like class, race, and gender. PVEST complements these insights through an attentiveness to phenomenological interpretations and responses—the " how " and " why " of the process. Therefore,
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We propose a SAGE model for social psychological research. Encapsulated in our acronym is a proposal to have a synthetic approach to social psychological research, in which qualitative methods are augmentative to quantitative ones,... more
We propose a SAGE model for social psychological research. Encapsulated in our acronym is a proposal to have a synthetic approach to social psychological research, in which qualitative methods are augmentative to quantitative ones, qualitative methods can be generative of new experimental hypotheses, and qualitative methods can capture
experiences that evade experimental reductionism. We remind social psychological researchers that psychology was founded in multiple methods of investigation at multiple levels of analysis. We discuss historical examples and our own research as contemporary examples of how a SAGE model can operate in part or as an integrated whole. The implications of our model are discussed.
experiences that evade experimental reductionism. We remind social psychological researchers that psychology was founded in multiple methods of investigation at multiple levels of analysis. We discuss historical examples and our own research as contemporary examples of how a SAGE model can operate in part or as an integrated whole. The implications of our model are discussed.
Research Interests:
During adolescence, individuals begin to form ideas about human rights as part of the development of a sense of self. The outcomes of these processes are influential in the stability and peace in postconflict societies. However, there... more
During adolescence, individuals begin to form ideas about human rights as part of the development of a sense of self. The outcomes of these processes are influential in the stability and peace in postconflict societies. However, there remain many questions about how these youth construct ideas about human rights and how they become oriented toward promoting these in society through a developed human rights consciousness. This study investigates how adolescents in an underexplored area of postconflict societies—where past violence was not intimately experienced—understand human rights. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 25 fifteen-year-olds across five schools in Tacna, Peru. These adolescents understand human rights as related to respect, protection, and needing personal advocacy, but they do not integrate ideas about human rights into concrete practice—the foundation of human rights consciousness. While the majority of respondents assert that human rights must be understood and enacted in order to become reality, they do not connect these ideas to concrete issues in Peruvian society. This gap may have emerged from postconflict political developments in
Research Interests:
Objectives: The current study investigates the utility of political activism as a protective factor against experiences of racial/ethnic (R/E) discrimination that negatively affect stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among Black and... more
Objectives: The current study investigates the utility of political activism as a protective factor against experiences of racial/ethnic (R/E) discrimination that negatively affect stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among Black and Latinx college freshmen at predominately White institutions.
Method: Data come from the Minority College Cohort Study, a longitudinal investigation of Black and Latinx college students (N 504; 44% Black). We conducted multiple regression analyses for each mental health indicator and tested for interaction effects. Results: For Black and Latinx students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of freshman year stress varied by political activism. For Black students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of the year anxiety varied by political activism. There was a significant interaction effect for depressive symptoms among Latinx students.
Conclusions: Political activism serves as a protective factor to mitigate the negative effect of R/E discrimination on stress and depressive symptoms for Latinx students. For Black students, higher levels of political activism may exacerbate experiences of R/E microaggressions and relate to more stress and anxiety compared with Black students who are less politically involved. Findings point to the need for a deeper understanding of phenomenological variation in experiences of microaggressions among R/E minorities and how students leverage political activism as an adaptive coping strategy to mitigate race-related stress during college.
Method: Data come from the Minority College Cohort Study, a longitudinal investigation of Black and Latinx college students (N 504; 44% Black). We conducted multiple regression analyses for each mental health indicator and tested for interaction effects. Results: For Black and Latinx students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of freshman year stress varied by political activism. For Black students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of the year anxiety varied by political activism. There was a significant interaction effect for depressive symptoms among Latinx students.
Conclusions: Political activism serves as a protective factor to mitigate the negative effect of R/E discrimination on stress and depressive symptoms for Latinx students. For Black students, higher levels of political activism may exacerbate experiences of R/E microaggressions and relate to more stress and anxiety compared with Black students who are less politically involved. Findings point to the need for a deeper understanding of phenomenological variation in experiences of microaggressions among R/E minorities and how students leverage political activism as an adaptive coping strategy to mitigate race-related stress during college.
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Previous research has demonstrated that (re)building an active civic culture and support for human rights are prevalent goals in postconflict countries (Leidner & Li, 2015; Quaynor, 2012). This research report builds on previous work by... more
Previous research has demonstrated that (re)building an active civic culture and support for human rights are prevalent goals in postconflict countries (Leidner & Li, 2015; Quaynor, 2012). This research report builds on previous work by exploring the relationship between youth attitudes about human rights and citizenship with a sample of 15-year-olds in Tacna, Peru. This work also extending postconflict research into an area of these countries that is often overlooked: regions that did not directly experience conflict. The investigation finds that human rights and civic attitudes are linked, particular with perceptions of democracy and social movements. These findings could provide a foundation to further test these relationships, and eventually to leverage such connections to build more effective educational supports for the development of human rights and civic values in these settings.
Research Interests:
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Child's rights have become prominent and widely discussed since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989. They are invoked in discussions on current events and are influential in the creation of policy and programs that... more
Child's rights have become prominent and widely discussed since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989. They are invoked in discussions on current events and are influential in the creation of policy and programs that affect millions of children across the world. While the foundational text—the CRC—has been analyzed previously for its impact and its psychological assumptions about the child, this paper extends the discussion to include the General Comments (i.e., documents that explain and expound upon child rights) of the CRC. Three prevalent themes emerge from the discursive conceptualization of the child in these documents: the internal development of the individual child is separable from social context, environmental risk equates to vulnerability, and human development is a universal and linear process. This paper critiques these assumptions based on a framework that integrates positioning theory and Spencer's PVEST. In these foundations of children's rights, child development should be understood as multifaceted, recursive, and involving individuals' complex processing of their social contexts. Such a change is possible because of the continual publication of General Comments.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In “Norms, Groups, Conflict,and Social Change: Rediscovering Muzafer Sherif’s Psychology,” the editors Ayfer Dost-Gözkan and Doga Sonmez Keith bring together an assortment of perspectives and discussion of the life and work of Muzafer... more
In “Norms, Groups, Conflict,and Social Change: Rediscovering Muzafer Sherif’s Psychology,” the editors Ayfer Dost-Gözkan and Doga Sonmez Keith bring together an assortment of perspectives and discussion of the life and work of Muzafer Sherif in order to make his work relevant again. The different chapters—which vary from historical analysis, discussion of theory, and modern application—come together to uphold the modern importance of Sherif, his interdisciplinary work, and his experimental methods. In accomplishing this goal, the volume also offers poignant models for the modern social psychologist facing challenges of specialization and the preeminence of laboratory analysis.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Despite the clear connections between psychology, restorative justice, and peace across national and institutional contexts, there has been little direct engagement between the field of peace psychology and the growing theory,... more
Despite the clear connections between psychology, restorative justice, and peace across national and institutional contexts, there has been little direct engagement between the field of peace psychology and the growing theory, implementation, and research of restorative justice.
This timely collection of chapters written by international experts bridges the gap between peace psychology and restorative justice. The Editors combined their respective fields of expertise to start a much-needed debate on the potential but also risks that are associated when implementing restorative justice in the peace psychology field. The volume highlights how psychological theory and research can inform and evaluate the potential of restorative practices in formal and informal educational settings as well as the criminal justice space. The chapters cover both negative and positive peace across levels while introducing the reader to various case studies from across the world. All in all, the book explores how restorative justice can promote positive peace through its connection fostering dialogue, empathy, forgiveness, and other key psychological elements of peace.
This timely collection of chapters written by international experts bridges the gap between peace psychology and restorative justice. The Editors combined their respective fields of expertise to start a much-needed debate on the potential but also risks that are associated when implementing restorative justice in the peace psychology field. The volume highlights how psychological theory and research can inform and evaluate the potential of restorative practices in formal and informal educational settings as well as the criminal justice space. The chapters cover both negative and positive peace across levels while introducing the reader to various case studies from across the world. All in all, the book explores how restorative justice can promote positive peace through its connection fostering dialogue, empathy, forgiveness, and other key psychological elements of peace.