Kenneth Clark

admin Social Psychology

Kenneth Clark, born in 1914, grew up in Harlem, N.Y.. Clark was a psychologist and a Civil Rights Activist. He is most well known for the famous doll studies conducted by himself and his wife, Mamie Phipps Clark. The thesis behind this study, “The Development of Consciousness of Self in Negro Preschool Children,” was actually written by Mamie while she was obtaining her master’s degree. Clark took an interest in her research and became a partner in the doll studies, suggesting that they also look at self-identification in African American children.

During the doll study, Clark and his wife would ask African American and White children to show them a doll based on a series of statements:

  • “Show me the doll that’s a white doll.”
  • “Show me the doll that’s a brown doll.”
  • “Show me the doll that you like to play with.”
  • “Show me the doll that’s a nice doll.”
  • “Show me the doll that’s a bad doll.”
  • “Show me the doll that looks like you.”

Clark explained in an interview that some African American children were so upset with their answer to the last question that they would cry, leave the room, or refuse to answer. The findings from this experiment showed the negative effects segregation had on African American children. While studying self-identification, they also found high amounts of internalized racism.
Their findings were used in the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, ending racial segregation in American public schools.
In 1946, Clark and his wife opened the Northside Center for Child Development in his hometown of Harlem. It was one of the first child guidance centers in the area to offer families psychological and casework services. The Northside Center for Child Development is still running today and has been helping children develop resilience, confidence, and self-worth for over 70 years.

The Clarks were the first African Americans to receive a PhD in psychology from Columbia. Clark was head of the Board of Education in New York City. He worked hard to integrate schools, decrease class sizes, improve curriculum, and update facilities. He was also the first African American president of the American Psychological Association.

More resources:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/13/doll.study/index.html
https://www.northsidecenter.org/our-mission.html
http://digital.wustl.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eop;cc=eop;rgn=main;view=text;idno=cla0015.0289.020
http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/psychologists/clark.aspx
http://www.naacpldf.org/brown-at-60-the-doll-test

Francis Cecil Sumner: Father of Black Psychology

admin Great Hall

Francis Cecil Sumner is known as the “Father of Black Psychology.” He was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in psychology in 1920. Sumner worked closely with another well know psychologist, G. Stanley Hall, while at Clark University. Sumner was self-educated after elementary years, and he went on to college at age 15 and graduated as valedictorian of his class. Sumner studied in multiple disciplines throughout his educational career such as philosophy, English, modern languages, Greek, Latin, and psychology. Sumner was drafted during World War 1 and had to put his doctoral pursuit on hold. Following his discharge, Sumner completed his dissertation entitled “Psychoanalysis of Freud and Adler.”

Sumner’s main focus in psychology is “race psychology” wherein he studies how to understand and eliminate racial bias in the administration of justice. He wanted to combat the Eurocentric methods of psychology that were used during his time. Sumner critiqued the way the education system treated African Americans. His views aligned with Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois. Sumner believed that the department of psychology should separate from philosophy and the school of education within the university system. Throughout his time as a professor, Sumner constantly struggled to receive funding, and he believed that this struggle was due to racial discrimination. Aside from “race psychology,” Sumner also studied color and vision, as well as the psychology of religion. Sumner submitted a paper to the International Congress of Religious Psychology entitled “The Mental Hygiene of Religion.” He was one of the first people in academia to contribute to the fields of psychology, religion, and the administration of justice together. In Sumner’s later years he worked with the Journal of Social Psychology and the Psychological Bulletin. He wrote abstracts, primarily for studies written by French, German, Russian, Spanish, and English authors. Sumner was described by his students as being motivating and encouraging.

 

https://aaregistry.org/story/francis-c-sumner-born/

http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/psychologists/sumner-prosser.aspx

Adele Diamond: A Pioneer in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

admin Neuropsychology

Adele Diamond is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist. She is currently a professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Diamond has recently been named one of the 15 most influential neuroscientists. Diamond’s main area of research is executive functions. Executive functions include many different aspects; cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibitory control, and attentional shifting. Executive functions are important for creative and flexible problem-solving, meeting unanticipated challenges, self-control, reasoning, and the discipline to persevere. Diamond specifically looks at how executive functions are affected by biological and environmental factors in children. Her research has improved treatment for medical disorders and ADHD, as well as impacted early education. Diamond is now looking into the possible roles of traditional activities like music and dance in the improvement of executive functions, academic outcomes, and mental health.

When Diamond began her research in the 1980s on developmental cognitive neuroscience, it was a major landmark in the combination of developmental psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. In the 1990s, Diamond and colleagues made discoveries that led to the improvements of the treatment for phenylketonuria (PKU). They determined the biological mechanism that causes executive function deficits in children who are being treated for PKU. In the 2000s, Diamond conducted research on the clinical differences between ADHD with hyperactivity and inattentive-type ADHD. Her research was greatly appreciated by ADHD patients. She also conducted research on the effects of education on executive functions. She discovered that the better the child’s executive functions, the better their performance on standardized measures of academic performance. This research found that executive functions could be improved in children by teachers in classrooms, without computerized training. Diamond’s research has led to an increase in interest in the capability of early interventions to improve executive functions to combat mental health issues and school issues.

Vilayanur Ramachandran: Phantom Limbs and Neural Plasticity

admin Neuropsychology

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran (1951-) is a neuroscientist from Tamil Nadu, India. He is best known for his work in behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics. He is currently a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Graduate Program in Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego, and he is the director of the Center for Brain and Cognition. Ramachandran studied at the University of Madras in Chennai, India, as well as Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Ramachandran has conducted research on a variety of topics. He began by doing research on human visual perception. He then moved on researching neurological syndromes like phantom limbs, body integrity identity disorder, and the Capgras delusion. Ramachandran also worked with the understanding of synesthesia and invented the mirror box. Ramachandran is known for using simpler technology in his experiments.

Ramachandran’s Theories:

Phantom Limbs: Ramachandran theorized that there was a connection between phantom limbs and neural plasticity in the adult human brain.

Mirror Visual Feedback/Mirror Therapy: Ramachandran invented the mirror box and presented mirror visual feedback as a treatment for phantom limb paralysis.

Neural Cross-Wiring/Synesthesia: Ramachandran was one of the first scientists to theorize that grapheme-color synesthesia comes from a cross-activation between brain regions.

Mirror Neurons: Ramachandran advocates for the importance of mirror neurons. Ramachandran went so far as to say, “Mirror neurons will do for psychology what DNA did for biology…” He believes that mirror neurons play a role in empathy, imitation learning, language development, and self-awareness.

“Broken Mirrors: Theory of Autism: Ramachandran hypothesized that a loss of mirror neurons might be the main deficit that explains many of the symptoms and signs of autism spectrum disorders. This hypothesis is controversial because the research did involve measuring mirror neuron activity directly, and instead showed that children with ASD displayed abnormal EEG responses when they observed the activities of other people.

Xenomelia (Apotemnophilia): Ramachandran theorized that apotemnophilia is a neurological disorder caused by damage to the right parietal lobe of the brain.

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2011/jan/30/observer-profile-vs-ramachandran

Biophilia and the Promotion of Pro-Environmental Behaviors

admin Environmental Psychology

The biophilia hypothesis suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life.  In his seminal book, Biophilia (1984) Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis saying that we, as humans, all possess “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.”

This hypothesis has become a movement, of sorts, especially within the field of urban design and the creation of biophilic cities with a growing network of cities classified as biophilic. See http://biophiliccites.org/   For example: this downtown park in Shanghai is attempting to create an ecosytem in the center city.

   

There are many reasons that creating environments that are biophilic will influence people’s desire to be more environmental.  Psychologists have been heavily involved in developing ways to change people’s behaviors to be more pro-environmental.  These strategies include:

  1. Antecedent Strategies: Strategies that stop or encourage pro-environmental behavior before it happens.
    1. Prompts: Approach and Avoidance Prompts help encourage or discourage environmental behavior, such as this prompt to turn off the lights when exiting the classroom:
  2. Technological Strategies: Strategies that use technological advances to make our choices more environmental and not cost-prohibitive.  For example: packaging that reduces waste without us even realizing we are being more environmental is a great way to work toward a healthier environment! Photo: http://sungistics.com/
  3. Fun Strategies: Making pro-environmental choices fun can encourage them to happen!     
    1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbEKAwCoCKw garbage bin
    2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw   stairs
    3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSiHjMU-MUo bottles