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I asked this question in another post, related to how and why a trained economist (Thomas Sowell) had become a popular columnist on the issue of race. Where are the trained social psychologist and behavioral psychologist voices on the issue of race? Why are not these individuals the foremost authorities and the most sought after opinion, when this is what they are trained to do……which is examine the mind as it relates to all human behaviors, the impact of racism, poverty and the like, one the manifestation of crime and violence in the black community?
If there is a controversy over health and well-being, does it make sense to seek the opinion of a mechanical engineer? If you attend a seminar on health and well-being, and the expert speaker on the body and how it works is a mechanical Engineer, something is wrong with that picture. This is not a seminar on fixing motors and how to increase the life of a motor, but rather, the human body and how to increase its longevity. Thus, why are economists, politician, infotainment host, and nearly every other profession or trade, trotted out to give their opinion on race? Why does not Bill O’rielly bring on a noted or accomplished, in their field, social or behavioral psychologist, to respond to his topic and opinion on race?
The reason, I believe, is that America does not want people to hear the truth. They don’t want a trained and educated opinion on the matter, to counter theirs. Regardless if you have a Mechanical Engineering degree from MIT, such does not make your opinion and conclusions more credible than a person trained in and practicing social psychology or behavior psychology. That said, I can think of no better way to kill or invalidate a profession, psychology, than to have the industry take an unpopular stand, with whites, on the issue of race and why things are the way they are in this nation.
Last edited by Indentured Servant; 10-25-2013 at 09:32 AM..
A lot of people don't trust mental health and social science professionals. Many regard their fields of expertise as pseudo-sciences. I don't agree with that view, but it makes social psychologists ineffective agents for influencing public opinion.
Part of the broader problem of anti-intellectualism in this country.
The variables of racism, poverty etc. in relation to juvenile crime are mediated by the variables of parenting/family factors, school involvement/success and peer associations.
A lot of people don't trust mental health and social science professionals. Many regard their fields of expertise as pseudo-sciences. I don't agree with that view, but it makes social psychologists ineffective agents for influencing public opinion.
Part of the broader problem of anti-intellectualism in this country.
Even if their fields are psuedo-science, and I am not saying that it is, the know more about human behavior than those who have not studied it. I can bet you one thing....the military employs such people. You even see their use in law enforcement to do criminal profiles of suspects.
Thomas Sowell is a lunatic and a well known bigot. His great thoughts include that AIDs, DDT, and global warming are fake panics by evil conspiracies. Champions nuking Iran pre-emptively before the dirty Muslims invade. Also likes to say that having a minimum wage is a conspiracy by "them" to enslave blacks.
Anyone who champions all of his opinions as respected, trained, or even sane should have a sanity check themselves.
There have actually been psychological studies on black people in particular especially as it relates to beauty - think the videos when the children are asked to state which doll is "pretty" even in the 21st century the black children chose a white doll when the experiment was repeated showing how black people perceive being black, even in this day and age, as being ugly.
There have also been "anthropological" studies on black people and important works published on the subjects of urban black people in particular, look up "Tally's Corner." There are also sociological studies, usually by black sociologist - think "Souls of Black Folks" by WEB DuBois, but also E. Franklin Frasier and John Hope are noted sociologist who study black Americans. Black Americans have been studied to death.
FWIW, I live in an inner city neighborhood and my neighborhood is still "studied" lol by people seeking to be our saviors and solve our problems or "know" us. So it does happen.
I recently read a book, I'll have to look it up on my kindle later, that spoke of a study performed by medical doctors and psychiatrists in regards to black people having higher amounts of PTSD based on growing up in poverty and experiencing specific traumatic events related to poverty especially. It was some sort of score system and I looked it up myself and scored really high for PTSD as well and other psychological disorders - I grew up in poverty. Luckily I was heavily therapized as a teen to twenty something in college so it is not something that has greatly impacted my life, but there are studies done, they just aren't as racially polarizing and will have to force society to look at black people in a different light - some of these lights even black people don't want to accept especially in regards to the mental issues (depression, anxiety, PTSD, and how all of these relate to our higher incidences of inflammatory conditions especially hypertension).
There have actually been psychological studies on black people in particular especially as it relates to beauty - think the videos when the children are asked to state which doll is "pretty" even in the 21st century the black children chose a white doll when the experiment was repeated showing how black people perceive being black, even in this day and age, as being ugly.
There have also been "anthropological" studies on black people and important works published on the subjects of urban black people in particular, look up "Tally's Corner." There are also sociological studies, usually by black sociologist - think "Souls of Black Folks" by WEB DuBois, but also E. Franklin Frasier and John Hope are noted sociologist who study black Americans. Black Americans have been studied to death.
FWIW, I live in an inner city neighborhood and my neighborhood is still "studied" lol by people seeking to be our saviors and solve our problems or "know" us. So it does happen.
I recently read a book, I'll have to look it up on my kindle later, that spoke of a study performed by medical doctors and psychiatrists in regards to black people having higher amounts of PTSD based on growing up in poverty and experiencing specific traumatic events related to poverty especially. It was some sort of score system and I looked it up myself and scored really high for PTSD as well and other psychological disorders - I grew up in poverty. Luckily I was heavily therapized as a teen to twenty something in college so it is not something that has greatly impacted my life, but there are studies done, they just aren't as racially polarizing and will have to force society to look at black people in a different light - some of these lights even black people don't want to accept especially in regards to the mental issues (depression, anxiety, PTSD, and how all of these relate to our higher incidences of inflammatory conditions especially hypertension).
Thanks for that! I do realize that the profession has done many studies and published many findings.....what I am saying is that they rarely are used in the media to give their opinion on matters relating to say.....crime and out of wedlock birth rates being much higher among blacks.
Where are the trained social psychologist and behavioral psychologist voices on the issue of race? Why are not these individuals the foremost authorities and the most sought after opinion, when this is what they are trained to do……which is examine the mind as it relates to all human behaviors, the impact of racism, poverty and the like, one the manifestation of crime and violence in the black community?
Who cares where they are? Most soft-science serves confirmation bias and is not backed by any type of mathematical rigor.
Which makes it TOTALLY understandable why somebody like YOU would love it to be used as a tool to drive an agenda against some perceived social injustice.
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