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Community contexts of human welfare.
Marybeth Shinn1, Siobhan M Toohey
1Psychology Department, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA. beth.shinn@nyu.edu smt219@nyu.edu
Annual Review of Psychology
|November 5, 2002
Summary
Ignoring community context, known as context minimization error, negatively impacts understanding human behavior and social change. Recognizing neighborhood influences is crucial for psychological research and interventions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Public Health
Background:
- The tendency to overlook the influence of neighborhood and community settings on individual behavior is termed context minimization error.
- This oversight has detrimental effects on comprehending psychological phenomena and implementing social change initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To define and elaborate on the concept of context minimization error.
- To explore theoretical models linking community contexts to human welfare.
- To review empirical evidence on the association between contexts and various outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of theoretical models and empirical studies.
- Synthesis of research on the impact of community contexts on health, distress, behavior, attitudes, and child development.
Main Results:
- Community contexts significantly influence health, psychological distress, risky behaviors, attitudes, and child development.
- Psychological processes can vary across different contexts and interact with individual sociocultural characteristics.
- Individuals possess the capacity to influence and shape their community environments.
Conclusions:
- Addressing context minimization error is vital for accurate psychological understanding and effective social change.
- Future research requires advanced methods for context assessment to fully grasp contextual effects.
- Interdisciplinary approaches integrating psychological and sociological perspectives are needed.