INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE ARTICULATED THOUGHTS ...

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE
ARTICULATED THOUGHTS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
IMPACT OF SIMULATED RACISM ENCOUNTERS
Jennifer L. Best, M.A. and
Gerald C. Davison, Ph.D.
University of Southern California
ABSTRACT
The Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations
(ATSS) paradigm was utilized to explore the affective
experiences and coping intentions in a group of female
college students of African American heritage while they
imaginally encountered different types of racism stressors.
The links among attitudes about racial identity, hardiness
beliefs and aspects of participants' ATSS (i.e. articulated
affect and coping intentions) and post-ATSS psychological
functioning (i.e. positive and negative affect, self-esteem,
interest, preparedness, thoughts) were examined. Across
racism stressors, problem-focused coping articulations were
negatively correlated with expressions of negative affect.
Transformational coping cognitions were positively related
to expressions of positive affect during the vignettes. In
addition, while earlier stage racial identity attitudes were
positively associated with behavioral disengagement
intentions expressed during the racism scenarios, hardy
attitudes were found to be negatively related to this type of
coping response. Later stage racial identity attitudes (i.e.
internalization) and hardiness were also positively related to
more adaptive psychological outcome indicators (e.g. selfesteem,
positive affect, interest) reported in the immediate
aftermath of the simulated racism encounters. These
findings have important implications for understanding the
relation of health-promoting individual difference factors to
affect and coping in the process of and following
encounters of racism-related stressors.
BACKGROUND
> Racist events have been cited as significant
psychosocial stressors linked to risks to both mental and
physical wellness for people of color (Clark et al., 1999;
Harrell et al., 1998).
> There is a dearth of empirical work
relating individual differences to both the psychological
experiences of African Americans as they cope with racerelated
stressors and in the aftermath of coping with racist
events.
> Stages of racial identity attitudes are
culturally-specific individual difference factors related to
aspects of psychological health and adaptiveness among
African Americans (Cross, 1971, 1991; Helms & Parham,
1985; Wilson & Constantine, 1999).
> Hardiness has been found to be an important
health-related personality factor in the stress and wellness
literature linked to adaptive forms of coping (Maddi &
Hightower, 1999) and to psychological adjustment
following significant psychosocial stressors (King et al.,
1998).
> The Articulated Thoughts in Simulated
Situations (ATSS) paradigm is a useful think-aloud
approach for investigating cognition and emotion expressed
during imaginal interpersonal scenarios as they unfold
(Davison, Robins, & Johnson, 1983; Davison, Vogel, &
Coffman, 1997).
SPECIFIC AIMS
â To examine the psychological experiences of
African American college-aged women both during (i.e.
affect and coping) as well as following (e.g. affect, selfesteem)
imagined racism stressors utilizing a novel, thinkaloud
approach
> To demonstrate the relation between
articulated affect and coping intentions while imaginally
experiencing interpersonal situations involving racism
> To explore the links of health-related
individual difference factors such as stage of racial identity
attitudes and hardiness to the psychological experiences of
participants both during and immediately after imagining
simulated racism stressors
HYPOTHESES
> Earlier stage racial identity attitudes (e.g. preencounter)
would be negatively associated with hardiness
while the opposite pattern of associations was anticipated
for later stage racial identity attitudes (e.g. internalization)
and hardy beliefs.
> Hardiness and later stage racial identity attitudes
would be positively related to positive affect expressions,
problem-focused and transformational coping articulations
verbalized during the ATSS racism vignettes.
> Hardiness and later stage racial identity attitudes
would be negatively associated with negative affect
expressions, avoidant and behavioral disengagement coping
articulations verbalized during the ATSS racism stressors.
> Earlier stage racial identity attitudes were
anticipated to negatively covary with post-ATSS indices of
positive affect, self-esteem, preparedness and interest.
> Hardiness and later stage racial identity attitudes
were predicted to positively covary with post-ATSS
measures of positive affect, self-esteem, preparedness and
interest.
METHOD
• Participants: 64 African American women (mean
age = 19)
â Self-report Measures:
o Demographic Questionnaire
o Racial Identity Attitudes Scale-Black
version (RIAS-B; Parham & Helms,
1985)
o Personal Views Survey-Ill R (PVS-IIIR;
The Hardiness Institute, 2001)

RESULTS
2
o Positive and Negative Affect Schedule > Hardiness was positively associated with later
(PANAS; Watson, Clark & Tellegen,
stage racial identity attitudes (r = .33) and negatively
1988)
associated with earlier stage racial identity attitudes (r =
o Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSE; -.53).
Rosenberg, 1965) > Hardiness positively covaried with positive affect
o COPE Inventory (COPE; Carver, Scheier (r = .38) and negatively covaried with behavioral
& Weintraub, 1989)
disengagement articulated during the ATSS racism
o Post-study Questionnaire
scenarios (r = -.36).
> Pre-encounter attitudes were positively related to
â ATSS Racism Stressors:
behavioral disengagement (r = .35) and immersion attitudes
o Individual (Mall)
were marginally positively associated with emotion-focused
o Collective/hate crime
coping articulations (r = .23).
(Neo-Nazi)
â Behavioral disengagement negatively covaried
o Intra-ethnic (Sorority)
with post-study preparedness beliefs (r = -.29).
> Hardiness was positively associated with post-
ATSS racism stressor self-reported positive affect (r = .27),
preparedness beliefs (r = .27) and self-esteem (r = .45).
â Earlier stage racial identity attitudes were
negatively related to post-ATSS positive affect (r = -.35),
preparedness beliefs (r = -.50) and self-esteem (r = -.38).
> Later stage racial identity attitudes positively
covaried with post-ATSS positive affect (r = .35), selfesteem
(r = .28) and interest (r = .42).
> Procedure (within-subjects/repeated measures
design):
o Fixed order battery of self-report
questionnaires (RIAS-B, PVS-IIIR,
PANAS-I, RSE-I)
o ATSS racism vignettes (via audiotape,
counter-balanced)
o PANAS-lI, RSE-II, COPE and Post-study
Questionnaire (thoughts, preparedness,
interest)
o Participant debriefing
o Participants either received course credit
or S10 for their time
> ATSS Coding Scheme: (collapsing across
conditions)
o Articulated Affect Expressions:
Anger, Sadness, Fear, Positive Affect
o Articulated Coping Intentions:
Problem-focused, Emotion-focused,
Avoidant, Behavioral
Disengagement, Transformational
> Preliminary Statistical Analyses:
o Inter-rater reliability intra-class
correlation coefficients for ATSS
coding variables
o Pearson product moment bivariate
correlations
Across the racism vignettes, articulated problemfocused
coping intentions were negatively related to both
anger expressions (r = -.23) and to fear expressions
(r = -.31).
â Articulated problem-focused coping was also
significantly positively related to transformational coping
cognitions (r = .29) and negatively associated with
behavioral disengagement intentions (r = -.34).
> Within the racism scenarios, articulated
transformational coping cognitions were positively related
to positive affect expressions (r = .36).
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
> The relation of coping to the process of managing
negative and positive affect while encountering racism
stressors
> Positive affect and transformational coping as
significant factors related to post-racism stressor benefit- or
meaning-finding that should be further explored
â The relation of culturally-specific and general
health-related cognitive individual difference factors
> Hardiness and stages of racial identity attitudes as
important variables to consider in how people of color cope
with, react to and adapt to racism-related interpersonal
stressors that could have potential long-term implications
for buffering against the development of psychological
and/or physical illness
> The utility of the ATSS think-aloud approach in
capturing the cognitive and affective experiences of African
American women as they confronted racism-related
stressors that builds upon the questionnaire-based findings
within this area of research
FOR FURTHER READING
Cross, W. E. (1991). Shades of black: Diversity in
African American identity. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press.
Davison, G. C., Vogel, R. S., & Coffman, S. G.
(1997). Think aloud approaches to cognitive assessment
and the articulated thoughts in simulated situations
paradigm. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,
65, 950-958.
t

Helms, J. E. (1990). Black and white racial
identity: Theory, research and practice. New York:
Greenwood Press.
Maddi, S. R. (1999). The personality construct of
hardiness: Effects on experiencing, coping, and strain.
Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 51,
83-94.
Maddi, S. R. & Hightower, M. (1999). Hardiness
and optimism as expressed in coping patterns. Consulting
Psychology Journal, 51, 95-105.
Plummer, D. L. & Slane, S. (1996). Patterns of
coping in racially stressful situations. Journal of Black
Psychology, 22, 302-315.
Utsey, S. O. & Ponterotto, J. G. (2000). Racial
discrimination, coping, life satisfaction, and self-esteem
among African Americans. Journal of Counseling and
Development, 78, 72-80.
CONTACT PERSON FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
REGARDING THIS STUDY
Jennifer L. Best, M. A.
University of Southern California
Department of Psychology
SGM 501
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Email: jbest@usc.edu
3