Cultural Psychology of African Americans

The cultural psychology of African Americans involves the evolution of African patterns of thought, feeling and behavior and their utilization as adaptive mechanisms in a context of racism and oppression. Assumptions about cultural psychology as the intersection of psyche and culture, and African American psychology as the multidimensional response to dehumanization and psychic conflict are discussed. Time, Rhythm, Improvisation, Orality, and Spirituality (TRIOS) are proposed as psycho-cultural mechanisms of adaptation, innovation, and psychological control for African Americans. Sources of variability among African Americans (both psychological and societal) are a basis for black subcultures within Black Culture. TRIOS is offered as a way to understand the psyche-cultural interactions for African Americans, and to provide a framework for their cultural psychology. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol3/iss1/1