Dr glenn adams 2

Neocolonialism in Science: The Case of Relationship Psychology Glenn Adams Department of Psychology and Kansas African Studies Center University of Kansas, USA 18 MAY 2011 Lecture at the Faculty of Psychology, University for Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam Neocolonialism • Imposition of concepts and associated practices from powerful centers to relatively powerless peripheries • Invading "foreign" concepts/practices displace locally evolved or adapted concepts and practices, doing violence in the process • For the colonized, mismatch between imported science and local realities causes suffering, reproduces systems of domination • For the colonizer, imposition endangers viable ways of being that might provide wisdom about alternative paths to human welfare (e.g., Attachment Theory) The Social Welfare Department, which deals with over a thousand Lagos children a year in need of care and protection, is concerned at the evidence of widespread emotional insecurity amongst children If the argument put forward by Dr Bowlby and others is accepted many Lagos boys and girls must grow up with their ability to form relationships of love impaired Such emotional insecurity may make it difficult for a couple to commit their feelings to each other, or to overcome conflicts in marriage At the same time, the exchange of children between members of the family encourages them to identify themselves with the family group, and they must learn not to rely too much on any one relationship But by learning to trust rather in the solidarity of the family group, they limit the intensity of their feelings (p 64) Marris, P (1961) Family and social change in an African city: A study of rehousing in Lagos Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press Relational Patterns West African Worlds • • Kinship Model of Family Relations True Love as Filial Obligation Mainstream Normative Standard • • Nuclear Model of Family Relations True Love as Romance Cultural Psychology of "True" Love (with Phia Salter) A West African Dilemma: Suppose there is a health emergency and your mother and your spouse are in serious danger You have resources to help only one person Whom you choose to help: a) your mother b) your spouse Cultural Psychology of "True" Love Location F(1,66) = 278, p = 60 Relationship type F(1,66) = 5.98, p =.02 Location x Rship type F(1,66)=2.36, p=.13 Relational Patterns West African Worlds • • • • • • • • Kinship Model of Family Relations True Love as Filial Obligation Socially Distributed Childcare Obedience Oriented Parenting Conjugal Complementarity Avoidant Attachment Materiality of Care Silence and Concealment Mainstream Normative Standard • • • • • • • • Nuclear Model of Family Relations True Love as Romance Dyadic Relational Childcare Rational-Egalitarian Parenting Conjugal Companionship Secure Attachment Psychologization of Care Expression, disclosure, revelation Prevention-focused (Higgins, 1996) Promotion-focused (Higgins, 1996) • Cautious relationality emphasizing • Open relationality emphasizing dutiful performance of obligation, expansive pursuit of pleasurable preservation of harmony companionship Neocolonialism in the Study of Relationship • Mainstream Psychological Science tends to valorize "promotionfocused" relationality — an open approach to intimacy characterized by free disclosure and eager pursuit of pleasurable companionship — as a naturally superior standard for health Click to edit Master text stylesClick to edit Master text styles Second level Second level Third level Third level Fourth level Fourth level Click to edit Master text stylesClick to edit Master text styles Second level Second level Third level Third level Fourth level Fourth level Neocolonialism in the Study of Relationship • Mainstream Psychological Science tends to valorize "promotionfocused" relationality — an open approach to intimacy characterized by free disclosure and eager pursuit of pleasurable companionship — as a naturally superior standard for health • Psychological Science tends to pathologize the more "preventionfocused" relationality of many West African settings—concern for meeting obligations and preserving harmony—as a suboptimal deviation from the normative standard Embedded Interdependence Constructions of relationship as environmental affordance: "One's birth is like the bird-scaring rope." Abstracted Independence Constructions of relationship as the tenuous arrangement of inherently separate "free agents" Research Overview Two Experiments • Participants from University of Kansas, University of Ghana • Participants receive an embeddedness treatment • Participants complete dependent measures • Embeddedness hypothesis Participants in the embeddedness condition will show the more prevention-focused patterns typical of Ghanaian settings Experiment Participants • University of Kansas (KU; n = 71); University of Ghana (UG; n = 67) Experimental "Treatment" Individual (I am …) and Collective (We are …) versions of the TST (Kuhn & McPartland, 1954; Hong, Ip, Chiu, Morris, & Menon, 2001 Measures of Friendship Experience • Social Support in Friendship Social Support Measure Ps use an 11-point (0-10) scale to rate the importance of different types of social support in friendship Emotional support Friends are there to listen to problems and to offer sympathy Material support Friends provide resources (money, materials) to solve problems Results: Social Support Emphasis University of Kansas Support Type x Setting: F(1, 131) = 36.04, p < 001 University of Ghana Experiment 1: Results As in previous research (e.g., Adams & Plaut, 2003) people in an American setting, relative to people in a parallel Ghanaian setting: placed greater emphasis on emotional support, and placed less emphasis on material support However, also evidence for the embeddedness hypothesis: The above tendencies were higher for Ghanaian participants in the independence (I) condition than interdependence (we) condition Results: Social Support Emphasis University of Kansas University of Ghana Support Type x Manip x Nation: F(1, 131) = 3.96, p = 049 Within UG: Support Type x Manipulation: F(1, 64) = 8.40, p = 005 Experiment Participants University of Kansas (n = 142); University of Ghana (n = 120) Experimental "Treatment" Eyes of others (Kitayama, Snibbe, Markus, & Suzuki, 2004) Dependent measure Willingness to disclose sensitive information about self to mating relationship partner Self-Disclosure Index Use a scale from (not at all) to (completely) to indicate the extent to which you discuss the following topics with your romantic partners • • • • What is important to me in life What makes me the person I am My worst fears Things I have done which I am proud of (α = 73) Experiment 2: Results Consistent with previous observations, willingness to disclose was lower among people in a Ghanaian setting than a US setting Consistent with the embeddedness hypothesis, willingness to disclose was lower among people exposed to "eyes of others" than in the notreatment "control" condition Experiment 2: Results Setting: F(1, 256) = 12.64, p < 001 Embeddedness Treatment: F(1, 256) = 6.39, p = 012 Overall Summary • Results confirm stronger tendencies of "prevention-focused" relationality among "Ghanaian" participants, even in a setting (UG) that affords considerable abstraction • However, results challenge prevailing interpretations of this pattern: • Normalizing Caution Prevention-focused relationality typical of many West African worlds is not a pathology, but instead reflects ecologies of embeddedness that have benefits (e.g., assurance of belonging and support) • De-naturalizing Openness Promotion-focused relationality valorized in psych science is not "naturally" superior, instead reflects ecologies of abstracted independence that have costs Conclusion: View from Postcolonial Studies Experience of abstracted independence may free people (with sufficient resources) to contract relationships that provide self-expansion and personal satisfaction … but association with neoliberal individualism also has costs (Ferguson, 2006) • Uncertain pleasures of "romance" can lure people to forgo guarantees of embeddedness and put them at risk for disappointment, abandonment (Cole & Thomas, 2009; Hirsch & Wardlow, 2006) • Sense of freedom from embeddedness leads people to acquire and consume with little attention to social consequences and reputation (Geschiere, 1997) • More generally, this "high mobility" (and middle-class) way of relating requires and consumes resources (Markus, Ryff, Curhan, & Palmerscheim, 2004) Despite sincere intentions to no harm, imposition of promotion-focused relationality as a normative standard legitimizes resource-intensive ways of being that reproduce inequality and (perhaps) neocolonial domination Decolonizing Psychology "For [the colonizer], for ourselves, and for humanity … we must work out new concepts and try to set afoot a new [hu]man." Franz Fanon (1961) Wretched of the Earth Acknowledgements Funding • Social Science Research Council (USA) Collaborators • Vivian A Dzokoto • J William Fulbright Fellowship Board • Hazel Rose Markus • KU General Research Fund • Victoria C Plaut • Kansas African Studies Center • Phia S Salter • Culture and Psychology Research Group, KU Additional Support • Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences • Department of Psychology, University of Ghana • Tamale Institute for Cross Cultural Studies • University for Development Studies, Navrongo Campus [...]... Experiment 2: Results Consistent with previous observations, willingness to disclose was lower among people in a Ghanaian setting than a US setting Consistent with the embeddedness hypothesis, willingness to disclose was lower among people exposed to "eyes of others" than in the notreatment "control" condition Experiment 2: Results Setting: F(1, 25 6) = 12. 64, p < 001 Embeddedness Treatment: F(1, 25 6) =... Type x Manip x Nation: F(1, 131) = 3.96, p = 049 Within UG: Support Type x Manipulation: F(1, 64) = 8.40, p = 005 Experiment 2 Participants University of Kansas (n = 1 42) ; University of Ghana (n = 120 ) Experimental "Treatment" Eyes of others (Kitayama, Snibbe, Markus, & Suzuki, 20 04) Dependent measure Willingness to disclose sensitive information about self to mating relationship partner Self-Disclosure... "naturally" superior, but instead reflects cultural ecologies that promote abstracted independence and have (typically obscured) costs * Adams, G., & Salter, P (20 07) Health psychology in African settings: A cultural-psychological analysis Journal of Health Psychology, 12, 539-551 Embedded Interdependence Constructions of relationship as environmental affordance: "One's birth is like the bird-scaring... self-expansion and personal satisfaction … but association with neoliberal individualism also has costs (Ferguson, 20 06) • Uncertain pleasures of "romance" can lure people to forgo guarantees of embeddedness and put them at risk for disappointment, abandonment (Cole & Thomas, 20 09; Hirsch & Wardlow, 20 06) • Sense of freedom from embeddedness leads people to acquire and consume with little attention to social... solve problems Results: Social Support Emphasis University of Kansas Support Type x Setting: F(1, 131) = 36.04, p < 001 University of Ghana Experiment 1: Results As in previous research (e.g., Adams & Plaut, 20 03) people in an American setting, relative to people in a parallel Ghanaian setting: placed greater emphasis on emotional support, and placed less emphasis on material support However, also...A Cultural-Psychological Analysis (Adams & Salter, 20 07) • Normalizing Caution Prevention-focused relationality typical of many West African worlds is not a sub-optimal form, but instead reflects cultural ecologies of "embeddedness" or "interdependence"... was lower among people exposed to "eyes of others" than in the notreatment "control" condition Experiment 2: Results Setting: F(1, 25 6) = 12. 64, p < 001 Embeddedness Treatment: F(1, 25 6) = 6.39, p = 0 12 Overall Summary • Results confirm stronger tendencies of "prevention-focused" relationality among "Ghanaian" participants, even in a setting (UG) that affords considerable abstraction • However, results... Kansas (KU; n = 71); University of Ghana (UG; n = 67) Experimental "Treatment" Individual (I am …) and Collective (We are …) versions of the TST (Kuhn & McPartland, 1954; Hong, Ip, Chiu, Morris, & Menon, 20 01 Measures of Friendship Experience • Social Support in Friendship Social Support Measure Ps use an 11-point (0-10) scale to rate the importance of different types of social support in friendship Emotional... to social consequences and reputation (Geschiere, 1997) • More generally, this "high mobility" (and middle-class) way of relating requires and consumes resources (Markus, Ryff, Curhan, & Palmerscheim, 20 04) Despite sincere intentions to do no harm, imposition of promotion-focused relationality as a normative standard legitimizes resource-intensive ways of being that reproduce inequality and (perhaps) ... the notreatment "control" condition Experiment 2: Results Setting: F(1, 25 6) = 12. 64, p < 001 Embeddedness Treatment: F(1, 25 6) = 6.39, p = 0 12 Overall Summary • Results confirm stronger tendencies... Cultural Psychology of "True" Love Location F(1,66) = 27 8, p = 60 Relationship type F(1,66) = 5.98, p =. 02 Location x Rship type F(1,66) =2. 36, p=.13 Relational Patterns West African Worlds •... (typically obscured) costs * Adams, G., & Salter, P (20 07) Health psychology in African settings: A cultural-psychological analysis Journal of Health Psychology, 12, 539-551 Embedded Interdependence