Applied Psychology
We define Psychology as the study of the human brain and its function and its effects on behavior. Psychology is important to humanity because it allows us to explain mental disorders that before psychology would be seen as demonic possession and would result in deaths. Psychology provides us with an insight into our brain which is responsible for all of our body’s functions so for many physical disabilities we can explain by seeing damage done to the brain. Psychology has provided humanity with a deeper mental insight into our minds.
Looking at racial disparities in the criminal justice system through a Psychological lens we can explain its problems with the social psychology approach. With this approach the concept of fundamental attribution error can explain the reason why nothing has been done to help resolve this issue. “Fundamental attribution error is our tendency to underestimate the impact of situational factors and overestimate the impact of dispositional factors when accessing why other people acted the way they did.”( ) Individuals in the criminal justice system have this type of mentality where they seem to overlook the reason for why these large discrepancies are occurring. They say that Latinos and African Americans are being incarcerated at high rates because they are the ones committing the most crimes, but they don’t focus on why they are committing these crimes. Latinos and African Americans are committing these crimes because they are being deprived of a good educational system, health care, and job opportunities. This type of mentality needs to be altered for there to be a decrease in racial disparities.
Another major factor that is contributing to these large racial disparities in the criminal justice system is the self-fulfilling prophecies that young black and brown people are falling into. Black and brown people are being told at a very young age by the media, adults, and society that they are meant to live a life of poverty and constant incarcerations and these black and brown people are fulfilling these expectations. We need to stop placing these expectations on these minorities so that they can succeed in life and not be forced to live a life of poverty and depression. By changing these expectations we remove the burden of trying to overcome the majority’s opinion and allow minorities to create their own destinies.
The interpersonal perception also does a great job of explaining how these racial disparities are occurring and why they are present. This concept focuses on in-groups and out-groups and how we create certain perceptions of those out-groups based on our in-group ideologies. The criminal justice system is creating and placing labels on minorities based on their in-group perception of minorities. Their biases are coming from incarceration rates and other statistics, but fail to dig deeper into the problem.
Looking at racial disparities in the criminal justice system through a Psychological lens we can explain its problems with the social psychology approach. With this approach the concept of fundamental attribution error can explain the reason why nothing has been done to help resolve this issue. “Fundamental attribution error is our tendency to underestimate the impact of situational factors and overestimate the impact of dispositional factors when accessing why other people acted the way they did.”( ) Individuals in the criminal justice system have this type of mentality where they seem to overlook the reason for why these large discrepancies are occurring. They say that Latinos and African Americans are being incarcerated at high rates because they are the ones committing the most crimes, but they don’t focus on why they are committing these crimes. Latinos and African Americans are committing these crimes because they are being deprived of a good educational system, health care, and job opportunities. This type of mentality needs to be altered for there to be a decrease in racial disparities.
Another major factor that is contributing to these large racial disparities in the criminal justice system is the self-fulfilling prophecies that young black and brown people are falling into. Black and brown people are being told at a very young age by the media, adults, and society that they are meant to live a life of poverty and constant incarcerations and these black and brown people are fulfilling these expectations. We need to stop placing these expectations on these minorities so that they can succeed in life and not be forced to live a life of poverty and depression. By changing these expectations we remove the burden of trying to overcome the majority’s opinion and allow minorities to create their own destinies.
The interpersonal perception also does a great job of explaining how these racial disparities are occurring and why they are present. This concept focuses on in-groups and out-groups and how we create certain perceptions of those out-groups based on our in-group ideologies. The criminal justice system is creating and placing labels on minorities based on their in-group perception of minorities. Their biases are coming from incarceration rates and other statistics, but fail to dig deeper into the problem.