In most societies, some social identity groups hold a disproportionate amount of social, cultural, and economic power, while other groups hold little. In contemporary U.S. society, examples of this power are evident around issues of ability/disability, with able-bodied individuals wielding social dominance and people with disabilities experiencing…

This study provides a basic overview of in-service preschool teachers using drawing as intervention with children. Art therapy is used more often for the smaller children who have more difficulty to describe their emotions and feelings in recognizing words, such as anger, resentment, and different kind of abuses. As a matter of fact, the drawing…

The past and current states of research on social comparison are reviewed with regard to a series of major theoretical developments that have occurred in the past 5 decades. These are, in chronological order: (1) classic social comparison theory, (2) fear-affiliation theory, (3) downward comparison theory, (4) social comparison as social…

This paper synthesizes two perspectives on essentialism: cognitive and social. The cognitive essentialist perspective argues that our bias to appeal to the psychological belief that categories have innate essences enables us to make inferences about social categories such as race, caste, and gender. The social essentialist perspective argues that…

The intellectual changes of the 19th century were as dramatic as the economic changes of the Industrial Revolution. U.S. citizens at that time subscribed to the traditional belief that a spiritual self, grafted onto the body, was the source of life and thought. The later belief that human beings possessed complete, experiential knowledge of their…

Study of three adults with severe multiple congenital limb deficiencies does not support Goffman's theory of stigma. For them, self-display is a strategy for self-empowerment in which the primary focus is the experience of the person with disabilities rather than the reactions of people who are "normal." (Author/BJV)

Two studies investigated the validity of the Cultivation Hypothesis, which holds that the more people view television the more they will see the world as mean and violent. Specifically, the study examined whether three psychological variables affected the relationship. The variables are (1) Magic Window, the degree to which a person believes…

Draws on interviews with 80 epileptics to examine the consequences of disability for the distribution of work and responsibility in routine, everyday relationships and how, in turn, these affect the way people see, think about, and feel about themselves. Particular attention is paid to family, parental, and employment relationships. (Author/BJV)

Recalls the publication of the 1948 special issue of "Journal of Social Issues" on the social psychology of disability, speculates on the magazine's influence on changes in the field between 1948 and 1988, and discusses possible future developments. (Author/BJV)

Presents the results of a study of high school students in Spain concerning the effects of introducing contradictory information about previously established stereotypes. Confirms earlier studies that suggested negative stereotypes are easier to establish and more difficult to discredit. Includes statistical analysis, data tables, and graphs. (MJP)

This volume of essays enables readers to see utility in the practice of social mapping as it opens traditional cartographic representation to multiple perspectives and the play of difference. This book argues that social mapping is useful in constructing more comprehensive and reasonably accurate representations of social and cultural phenomena.…

Critiques the assumptions about the nature and meaning of disability advanced in social-psychological writing, suggests the origins of these assumptions, and proposes a return to a Lewinian/minority-group analysis of the situation of people with disabilities. Introduces the other articles in this issue. (Author/ BJV)

Reviews two experiments that strongly support dual coding theory. Dual coding theory holds that communicating concretely (tactile, auditory, or visual stimuli) affects evaluative thinking stronger than communicating abstractly through words and numbers. The experiments applied this theory to the realm of age and evaluation. (MJP)

Replicates a classic psychology laboratory experiment where students either endorsed or refuted personal statements and estimated how other people would respond. Students always overestimated an affirmative response on the statements they endorsed, thus illustrating the false consensus effect. Includes a list of the statements and statistical…

Proposes a new conceptual framework, based on the fundamental values of personal appearance and individual autonomy, for assessing the "aesthetic" and "existential" anxiety aroused by persons with disabilities. Investigations using this perspective might contribute to determining the attitudinal foundations of the competing…