Thomas F. Pettigrew | |
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Born | [1] | 14 March 1931
Nationality | American |
Spouse | Ann Hallman [1] |
Awards | Cooley-Mead Award, 2014; |
Academic background | |
Alma mater |
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Influences | Gordon Allport, Samuel A. Stouffer, Talcott Parsons. [2] |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Social psychology |
Institutions | University of California,Santa Cruz |
Main interests | Social psychological and structural factors in intergroup relations;racial prejudice;meta-analyses of intergroup contact and relative deprivation research. [1] |
Website | https://pettigrew.socialpsychology.org/ |
Thomas Fraser Pettigrew (born March 14,1931) is an American social psychologist best known for his research on American civil rights,and is one of the leading experts in the social science of race and ethnic relations. [2]
Pettigrew was born in Richmond,Virginia in 1931 during a period of racial segregation and intense prejudice in the American South. As a youth,Pettigrew witnessed racial injustice first hand,such as a formative experience when he was accompanying his African American caregiver,Mildred Adams to movie starring Humphrey Bogart,her favorite actor.
She was barred from entry due to a "whites only" rule,and repetitions of such experiences produced in Pettigrew an intense abhorrence of racial discrimination and intolerance,strongly motivating his passion for research into racial prejudice.
Pettigrew received his bachelor's degree in psychology from University of Virginia,and his M.A.,PhD. in social psychology from Harvard University where Gordon Allport and Samuel A. Stouffer were his mentors. [3] [2] He received his PhD in 1956.
In 1956,Pettigrew married physician Ann Hallman Pettigrew who at the time was a pre-med student at Harvard University. They had one child,Mark Fraser Pettigrew born in 1966. [4] Pettigrew taught at Harvard for 23 years and in 1980 became a research professor at the University of California,Santa Cruz. [3]
Pettigrew's initial research showed that psychological factors such as orientation towards authoritarianism could not alone account for greater hostility towards Black Americans in the South. Further structural components and societal norms he argued had to be considered for a more complete description of the phenomenon,an approach he later referred to as his multilevel approach to social issues using several levels of analysis. The case of prejudice for example requires:
Pettigrew has studied each level and its interactions with others throughout his career,such as the role authoritarianism plays with prejudice,subtle individual prejudicial attitudes affect the undermining of desegregation,or friendship plays in his reformulation of intergroup conflict and contact theory. Pettigrew continues to argue forcefully that no level alone is sufficient for adequate analysis. [2]
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's perceived personal characteristics, such as political affiliation, sex, gender, gender identity, beliefs, values, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race, ethnicity, language, nationality, culture, complexion, beauty, height, body weight, occupation, wealth, education, criminality, sport-team affiliation, music tastes or other perceived characteristics.
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Gordon Willard Allport was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personality psychology. He contributed to the formation of values scales and rejected both a psychoanalytic approach to personality, which he thought often was too deeply interpretive, and a behavioral approach, which he thought did not provide deep enough interpretations from their data. Instead of these popular approaches, he developed an eclectic theory based on traits. He emphasized the uniqueness of each individual, and the importance of the present context, as opposed to history, for understanding the personality.
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Joe Richard Feagin is an American sociologist and social theorist who has conducted extensive research on racial and gender issues in the United States. He is currently the Ella C. McFadden Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University. Feagin has previously taught at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, University of California, Riverside, University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Florida.
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Andreas Zick is a professor of Socialization and Conflict Research at Faculty of Education Science, Bielefeld University.
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David O’Keefe Sears is an American psychologist who specializes in political psychology. He is a distinguished professor of psychology and political science at the University of California, Los Angeles where he has been teaching since 1961. He served as dean of social sciences at UCLA between 1983 and 1992. Best known for his theory of symbolic racism, Sears has published many articles and books about the political and psychological origins of race relations in America, as well as on political socialization and life cycle effects on attitudes, the role of self-interest in attitudes, and multiculturalism. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1991.
There is a great deal of research on the factors that lead to the formation of prejudiced attitudes and beliefs. There is also a lot of research on the consequences of holding prejudiced beliefs and being the target of such beliefs. It is true that advances have been made in understanding the nature of prejudice. A consensus on how to end prejudice has yet to be established, but there are a number of scientifically examined strategies that have been developed in attempt to solve this social issue.
Peace psychology is a subfield of psychology and peace research that deals with the psychological aspects of peace, conflict, violence, and war. Peace psychology can be characterized by four interconnected pillars: (1) research, (2) education, (3) practice, and (4) advocacy. The first pillar, research, is documented most extensively in this article.
Integrated threat theory (ITT), also known as intergroup threat theory, is a theory in psychology and sociology which attempts to describe the components of perceived threat that lead to prejudice between social groups. The theory applies to any social group that may feel threatened in some way, whether or not that social group is a majority or minority group in their society. This theory deals with perceived threat rather than actual threat. Perceived threat includes all of the threats that members of group believe they are experiencing, regardless of whether those threats actually exist. For example, people may feel their economic well-being is threatened by an outgroup stealing their jobs even if, in reality, the outgroup has no effect on their job opportunities. Still, their perception that their job security is under threat can increase their levels of prejudice against the outgroup. Thus, even false alarms about threat still have "real consequence" for prejudice between groups.
James H. Sidanius, known as Jim Sidanius was an American psychologist and academic. He served as John Lindsley Professor of Psychology in memory of William James and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. He won the 2006 Harold Lasswell Award for "Distinguished Scientific Contribution in the Field of Political Psychology" from the International Society of Political Psychology and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2013 Career Contribution Award. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007. The Society of Experimental Social Psychology awarded Sidanius the Scientific Impact Award in 2019.
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