Black Mental Health Exam 1

Adolescent Identity Development

• During adolescence, individual identity is assessed in response to environmental cues related to race.
• Examples of racial messages include “You’re not like other Black people” and “Do you play football?”
• Observing one is the only Black person in a given setting can be another cue.
• Adolescents enter Cross's encounter stage when society reflects their Blackness back, causing acknowledgement of racism.

Coping Strategies

• An oppositional stance, not "acting White," is a coping development.
• Coping strategy addresses feelings of exclusion in a majority White society.
• The oppositional stance is based on stereotypes of speech and academic achievement.
• "Racelessness" is a strategy for deemphasizing membership in a specific ethnic group.

Cultural Mistrust

• There is a general distrust of White people, institutions, and adopters of "White" ideology.
• Cultural mistrust is a core component of Black consciousness.
• Increased racism is associated with rising mistrust.

The Construct and Its Measurement

• "Cultural paranoia" exists.
• This affects mental and physical health seeking along with academic performance.
• Higher criminal activity in low-income Black neighborhoods stems from fear of law enforcement.
• Future research could explore the role of "Cultural paranoia" in business/financial activities.

Identity, and Double Consciousness

• To be Black and relatively conscious leads to a constant state of rage, according to Baldwin in 1963.

The Psychology of Survival

• Early Black identity development involved escaping the slavemaster.
• Another approach was to fight the slavemaster.
• A third option involved identifying with the slavemaster to minimize inner conflict.

The Function of Black Identity

• Identity is how one views oneself and how it is interrelated to values and attitudes.
• African-American identity is a social anchor connecting people to the broader African diaspora, buffering the psyche from non-affirming and dehumanizing messages.

Two Forces Dominating Social History

• Deracination was an attempt to erase Black consciousness.
• Nigrescence represents the struggle for Black self-awareness.
• The ultimate goal is the search for an authentic self-image.

Cross' Model of Nigrescence

• Pre-encounter: Individuals view the world from a "White" (majority) perspective, accepting a deracinated state, associated with socioeconomic status, and motivated by the need to dissociate from the negative impact of "Blackness."
• Encounter: It involves the introduction of a frame-of-reference-altering event(s), realization of the inappropriateness of the old reference, and a defiant acceptance of "Black identity."
• Immersion-Emersion: A turning point is reached by adopting a pro-Black/anti-White attitude that is emotionally intense.
• Internalization: Tension and defensiveness are resolved, replaced by psychological flexibility, leading to a more open, multi-cultural perspective; the reference group becomes "Black".

Dubois on "Double Consciousness"

• ...the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,--a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world.
• It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.
• One ever feels his twoness,--an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn assunder...

From UG Ch 1

• A crisis in the Black community, exposed via youth suicide deaths, prompted the writing.
• Maladaptive habits (poor self-care, masking, etc.) need to be broken.
• This is thought to occur because of changing values.
• There has always been strife in the community.
• A 'return' to cultural resources can address the crisis.
• Psychological fortitude is rated 0-10, manages emotions, works effectively, takes care of health, and aims to live life while managing threats.
• It looks different for everyone.
• Represents a 'web of protection' for the mind.
• Indicative of how much can be 'tolerated' before needing to adjust.

Views on Behavior

• Traditional psychological theories, developed by White psychologists and are ill equipped to explain White behavior making it difficult if not impossible to understand the lifestyles of Black people using them, according to Joseph White, Ph.D.
• Race: a social, not biological construct based on physical characteristics such as skin color and hair type, according to the American Psychological Association's (APA) Guidelines for Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists (APA, 2003).
• Culture: constellation of values, customs, and traditions that influence how people interpret and respond to life events, according to the American Psychological Association's (APA) Guidelines for Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists (APA, 2003).
• Ethnicity/ethnic group membership: or acceptance and internalization of group practices and beliefs, according to the American Psychological Association's (APA) Guidelines for Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists (APA, 2003).
• The spirit/soul (sakhu) represented the essence of the ancient Egyptian individual; Greek reinterpreted sakhu to mean behavior.
• This behavior was assumed to be measurable: study of the mind/psyche
• Themes related to the African-centered “norm”:Holistic conception, collectivism, oral tradition, time orientation ,death
• Unique and persistent perspective (or worldview) that is distinctively African should underlie Black Psychology.
• One's worldview informs values, attitudes, and relations to others.

African/Black Psychology Definition

• A system of knowledge (philosophy, definitions, concepts, practice) regarding the nature of the social universe from the perspective of the African worldview constitutes African/Black Psychology.
• Political control of knowledge and information to advance a group agenda and/or to prevent another group's progress constitutes scientific colonialism.
• Historical themes in psychology research include inferiority due to genetics and heredity, deficit/deficiency due to racism/poor environmental stimulation, and multicultural perspectives of distinct groups.
• Theories are subject to being proven or disproven.
• African Americans are not a monolithic social group (i.e., there is much with-in group difference).

African v. European Worldviews

• African/African American Worldview:Oneness/Harmony w/Nature, Collectivism, Survival of the Group, Spiritualism, & Past & present time orientation.
• European/European American Worldview: Control/Mastery over Nature, Competition, Survival of the Fittest, Materialism, & Future time orientation.
• One can find an African worldview among contemporary African-Americans, despite these being diverse peoples on the Africa continent
• Enslaved Africans adapted to spirituality remains strong, forming "Fictive kin" treated as biological relatives, and centuries of legalized isolation cemented these.

Theoretical Notions of Personality

• Key thinkers include Nobles and Akbar.
• Nobles: Extended-Self model, holding the African worldview (and sense of interdependence and collective consciousness) as the essence of personality/self-concept.
• Akbar: Divine/Spiritual Core model, similarly based on African worldview holding constant connect with African consciousness/nature/universe. Components of African Self-Consciousness Theory (Kambon)
• The Kambon Model includes:African Self Extension, Orientation, African Self Consciousness, & Cultural Misorientation.
• African Self Extension Orientation: a deeply rooted core reflecting African spirituality.
• African Self Consciousness: collective identity, African cultural survival, advocacy, and defense against anti-African matters.
• Cultural Misorientation: a personality disorder resulting from cultural oppression and racist Eurocentric consciousness.
• Criticisms of the Africentric perspective includes it omitting discussion of Black women's issues, class, sexual orientation and having a narrow discussion focus.

Quote To Consider

• "If you do not understand White Supremacy (Racism)-what it is, and how it works-everything else that you understand will only confuse you" is the concept that Neely Fuller Jr. highlights.

Racial Inequity

• Understanding racial inequity needs a perspective both from Jones, "Racial Analysis", & the one who is trying to learn

Indicators to African vs. Eurocentric Worldviews

• Linearity vs Non-Linearity
• Regular vs Irregular rhythm
• Individual technique vs Improvisation Social vs Intellectual Oral Expression
• Relevance of personal control vs other "force"

The "Unearned"

• White people by virtue of a system normed on their experiences, values, and perceptions are said to have White privilege, quoted in (Sue, American Psychologist, 2004)
• Desegregation is the right to occupy and equal privileges.
• Racism leads to suppressed anger, lower well-being. dec quality of life, increased depression, increased smoking, cardiovasularity and hypertension, and increased cortisol.
• Black folks feel like "less than" because the internalized beliefs of white.

Racial Dehumanization

• Racism is partially attributed to the dehumanization of Black people.
• Subjugation is said to be justified
• Goff et al (2008) suggests that people assume the ape theory when denying its overt knowledge

Strong Black Woman Persona

• Both white and Black people associate Black people with ape imagery.
• And when made to see this imagery, police violence toward Black, because "subject" was more acceptable

Strong Black schemas lead to independence, less emotions. And having to learn self sacrifice from mothers..

• Resilence can be the source it creates however problems include...
• Help, Acknoweledging limitations best helps when you do it. But it's best not to seem too pride in self.