PB2A

Scholarly articles differ immensely between fields because different academic fields approach topics from alternate points of view. A huge difference in the approaches shows through conventions such as the organization and background information of the scholarly article, as well as the questions posed and jargon used. I investigated an article called Using the Science of Psychology to Target Perpetrators of Racism and Race-Based Discrimination For Intervention Efforts: Preventing Another Trayvon Martin Tragedy. I found that the article had a psychological approach because it had a specifically organization introduction and background information, and also used psychological questions and jargon throughout to try to explain, but not justify, possibly reasoning for racism and discrimination.

The organization of the article reflects a psychology paper in the way that information is first introduced. The first section of information is the “abstract”, which contains a general overview of the topics that will be discussed, such as “prejudice”, “racism”, “African Americans”, and “War on Drugs” (Mays). The next section is the “introduction”, which explains that Martin’s case “would be the catalyst for an examination of how racial bias in current policies, laws and social norms play a role in the interracial violence against young African American men”. The introduction then brings up psychology by explaining that “psychological studies of race, racism and discrimination contribute to society’s understanding of the bases and mechanisms of hierarchical differentiation” (Mays). Both the abstract and introduction of the article preview what will be addressed, but do not go into depth about each aspect of the topic. They summarize the article with sentences such as the ones shown above, but do not yet give information about how or why psychology may correlate to racism. Abstracts and introductions are vital parts of a scholarly psychological article because they help readers get a quick description of the article without investing a large amount of their time into reading all of its pages. This is important because the field is filled with a colossal number of articles for each topic of study.

The article then uses a plethora of background information to contextualize the issue at hand and inform the reader. There is a section about the “Psychology of Racism: Early Contributions to Social Justice”, which gives examples of previous studies done, such as Clarke’s study using dolls to find a correlation between race and initial reactions of people (Mays). There is then a section titled “Toward a Social Determinants Framework of Racism and Prejudice: Theories of Implicit Bias”, which explains the term “implicit bias” and gives background information about it. The background information then bridges a connection to the Martin case with the section about “When Implicit Bias Becomes Policy: The War on Drugs” (Mays). Then after more background information about the issue, the article explains a case similar to Martin’s—the case of Rodney King—and then eventually describes “The Trayvon Martin Shooting and the Challenge to Psychological Science” (Mays). Although to a black studies or art major, all of this background information may seem unnecessary, it is necessary in the field of psychology. It is important for psychologists to contextualize their studies and work by explaining the other studies done, different theories, and other instances that relate, so that the reader may understand further how the article relates to other information in the field and in the world.

The field of psychology also poses questions using ideas that other fields would not necessarily think of or understand. Some backbone ideas of this article are shown through the research questions, such as “what are the consequences of growing up in a society structured by police and cultural norms that implicitly support prejudice, bias, or race-based discrimination in everyday societal interactions?” and the question of “whether the tools of science about racism and prejudice can and should be employed to address the escalating deaths that young African American men are facing at the hands of perpetrators of racism?” (Mays). Psychology is a field that takes the interaction between individuals’ minds and the environment into account. Using research questions that address this interaction, as well as the relevancy of the scientific findings, the questions portray a psychological approach to this issue. I believe that this is the most important part of the article because the research questions reveal what kind of information they are looking to find out and how they will use that information afterwards, which exhibits the psychological approach.

Psychological jargon is used in methods of investigation and discussion about the findings. To investigate the role that race played in the death of Trayvon Martin, the article references many other studies that found correlations between the environment and resulting racism, as well as racism and resulting acts of hostility. In such studies, they operationalized racism by showing subjects models of people from different races (dolls or pictures) and then asking them questions about their initial associations or measuring the time it takes them to associate the people with good or bad quality traits. The article explains that “various psychological studies have found that embedded in the minds of individuals… is the perceived relationship among race, crime, and dangerousness” and that “stereotypes can become ingrained despite conscious beliefs to the contrary” (Mays). Bringing up previously done psychological studies, as well as using words such as “embedded”, “mind”, “ingrained” and “conscious” shows psychological jargon. Researchers from other fields may not know the exact definition of the word “conscious”, or exactly how an idea could be “embedded” or “ingrained” into the mind. However, to psychologists, this is what they study and these words would therefore explain more and hold more meaning when they read them.

The conventions employed during this article, organization, background information, research questions, and jargon, all work together to create an article that has a psychological approach to racism and the War on Drugs. If the same topic of racism and the War on Drugs was studied from the perspective of an alternate academic field, the resulting article would probably be organized much differently, have different contents, and use different jargon. It is important to format a paper and use the correct jargon when appealing to a certain field so that readers can better contextualize and understand the information presented.

Works Cited

Mays, Vickie M., et al. "Using The Science Of Psychology To Target Perpetrators Of Racism And Race-Based Discrimination For Intervention Efforts: Preventing Another Trayvon Martin Tragedy."Journal For Social Action In Counseling & Psychology 5.1 (2013): 11-36. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.