African American Perception Essay Research Paper AbstractEuropean

African American Perception Essay, Research Paper Abstract European Americans believe that they are the superior race to every other race. They persist in attempts to control and conquer all that exist on this earth. Their influence on the African American psyche is of interest to the current investigation. This ideology could influence four personality dimensions, for example: inferiority, dependence, helplessness, and self-hate. Experimental research is utilized in this project to test a sample of the African American population from the inner city on perception. The sample will be a group of two hundred participants both female and male whom are between the ages of eighteen to thirty. Field research and questionnaires will be utilized. It is predicted that European

Americans negative perception of African Americans, related to African Americans perception of themselves. The Impact of European Americans perception and influence On the African American psyche in American Society Foremost, perception is the process by which sensory stimulation is organized into usable experience, which are commonly called percepts. Percepts are acquired by past experiences, which become organized and assist in and individual s present perception. Therefore, it would not be difficult for a person to perceive themselves and other things according to prior knowledge, history, and experiences. According to the classical theory of perception advanced by the German physiologist and physicist Herman Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, depth perception is a result of an

individual s ability continually to synthesize past experience and current sensory cues (Encarta, 96). In addition, perception allows an individual to recall past experiences in the present with the assistance of some type of sensory stimuli that connects the past with the present. Significantly, self-concept and self-esteem play major roles in the personality dimensions of the African American. Self-concept and self-esteem can be interchangable. Foremost, self-concept means the totality of the individual s thought and feelings having reference to self as an object. (Rosenberg 1979). It is adopting the attitudes of others toward the self. In turn, the perceptions of society as a whole towards a group of people can manifests as attitudes of others toward the self, which can be

perceived as the attitudes of others are turn inwardly to reflects ones self (Rosenberg, 1979). Both persuasive theories of reflected appraisal and social comparison could be utilized in characterizing the personality dimensions of the African American. According to Sullivan, reflected appraisal specifies that people are deeply influenced by the attitudes of others toward the self, and that, in the course of time, they come to view themselves as they are viewed by others (Rosenberg, 1979). Therefore, it could be evident that African Americans view themselves in the small manner as European Americans. The perception of European Americans affects the African American viewpoint. Consecutively, the social comparison theory could be adopted in assisting in the explanation of the

personality dimensions of the African American. As described by Pettigrew, the basic tenet of social evaluation theory is that human beings learn about themselves by comparing themselves to others (Rosenberg, 1979). Whether the comparison is amongst individuals, groups, or social categories, people learn to judge and evaluate themselves according to the standards of others. For example, studies show that minority group members have low self-esteem because they compare unfavorably with the majority group. The unfavorable comparisons could be low economic status and poor family structure amongst other variables due to discrimination and prejudices. One might conclude that an African American may have low self-esteem because they are unable to achieve success when in comparison with