Ann Bettencourt – författare

In the past decade, an increasing volume of psychological research has been conducted on social exclusion by social and developmental psychologists. The very best of this new body of work is showcased in this volume, providing an understanding of how children experience, evaluate, and understand exclusion as well as inclusion. For interventions to be effective, programs designed to ameliorate social problems associated with exclusion need to be based on an understanding of how, why, and under what conditions, social groups make decisions to exclude others, how children experience this exclusion, and how this originates and changes over the course of the lifespan. This volume draws together and foregrounds social and developmental psychological research to show its central relevance to the social exclusion of children.

Ethnic-racial diversity in the United States is a source of national pride, but it is overshadowed by the reality that stigmatized groups are disproportionately burdened by negative physical health. The social contexts and their activated psychological processes that contribute to ethnic-racial health disparities are not well understood. Moreover, scientists should delineate the implications of their research for public policies that address health disparities. This Journal of Social Issues volume brings together social, developmental, cognitive, and clinical psychological research on health disparities. Furthermore, it discusses how the present research informs public health policy.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Milgram's first major publication—"Behavioral study of obedience" (1963)—this issue contains fourteen papers from eading Milgram scholars examining the contemporary relevance of the famous Yale studies. The issue offers a critical appraisal of the impact of Milgram's work, as well as its moral dangers and analytic weaknesses. Several important new perspectives obtained from archival analysis and innovative methodologies are also presented. The relevance of Milgram's experiments for an understanding of the Holocaust is given particular emphasis. The issue presents a range of fresh material that provides the basis for a significant updating of our appreciation of Milgram's legacy, and that will inform forthcoming scholarship and debate.

This special issue brings together and promotes research, theory, and policy on confronting and reducing sexism. The first section on "Confronting Sexism" presents articles that identify key aspects of situations and of individuals that are associated with confronting, and highlight variables that moderate the target's and ally's confronting behavior. The second section on "Interventions for Reducing Sexism" presents articles that examine optimal ways to reduce sexism, identify factors that affect the efficacy of interventions, and highlight structural and cultural influences that bolster sexism and prevent the acceptance of interventions.

In everything from the policies that regulate media industries to the practices of the organizations that produce the messages to the usage patterns of the consumers that choose them, mass media are implicated in real-world interracial/ethnic dynamics. Yet, despite the obvious associations between media and issues of race and ethnicity, a comprehensive effort aimed at documenting and addressing these links has not been undertaken. The current issue, Media Representations of Race and Ethnicity: Implications for Identity, Intergroup Relations, and Public Policy, does just that. Media portrayals, media usage patterns, favorable and unfavorable effects of exposure (on diverse audiences), and policy implications, all are examined.

This special issue of the Journal of Social Issues focuses on different ways that social history and psychology—always co-constructing each other—matter.  Focused on major events and social movements of the twentieth century, we highlight work that psychologists have done that allow us, as a field, to take seriously the relationships between social-level events and individuals’ identities and self-representations, emotional lives and well-being, approaches to social justice and collective action, motivations and accomplishments. The individual and collective pursuit of social justice makes links between history and psychology visible along with their implications for relations within and between social groups.

This issue of JSI focuses on interethnic marriage.  Our objectives are to (1) discuss conceptual and methodological concerns; (2) examine interethnic marital relationship processes especially through the lens of interdependence theory; (3) review attitudes towards interethnic marriage; (4) assess the clinical and policy implications; and (5) synthesize the contemporary scholarship.  We draw upon the subject areas of intergroup and interpersonal relations including contributions from authors across various disciplines.  Given the status of interethnic marriage as a potential bellwether of social change in the United States, we believe that the present edition is as timely as it is important.