IntroductionResearch psychologists Carlos Navarrete (Harvard University) and Cleopatra Abdou (UCLA) are actively studying African American men and women, their culture and how their self-identity is affected by their hair and other physical characteristics. During the process of their extensive research, these researchers have posed some compelling questions about African Americans and their self-concepts and social identities. In their past research, they have found that the way that women identifying as African American or Black wear their hair can reflect their self-esteem and their views about their own racial or ethnic group. Navarrete and Abdou believe that "particular physical features and feelings about self-attractiveness might ultimately result in how African Americans define themselves as individuals". They now seek to expand their research to include men and women of all ethnic backgrounds to get a better sense of how these processes work similarly and/ or differently among different groups of people. They have designed a new online survey with these goals in mind in order to scientifically test their initial findings on a broader sample of people. Among the scientific and social questions that they wish to answer are:
As Navarrete pointed out, "these questions are probably relevant in the lives of both African American males and females". However, he senses that "there seems to be a much wider range of what is considered attractive for African American males in our society".
African American females, on the other hand, as Navarrete commented, "may feel more pressure to look a specific way in order to be considered attractive by the masses". Abdou adds that "ironically, few real people in the real world actually resemble these standards of attractiveness that the vast majority of us feel so much pressure to attain". Given this paradoxical reality, Navarrete and Abdou want to gain a better understanding of how standards of attractiveness impact the everyday lives of all people of color, and even White Americans. If you would like to assist these researchers in finding clearer answers to these important social questions, please help them by participating in their on-line survey regarding this very important topic. The knowledge that they stand to gain from each of you, as survey participants, has the potential to greatly empower men and women of all ethnicities in our society. The survey is free, 100% anonymous, fun, and only takes about 15 minutes to complete. Please help by participating in their online survey. Just a few minutes out of your day will assist with the completion of this very important study. If you have further questions about this research study, please feel free to contact the researchers at: Carlos David Navarrete, Ph.D. Department of Psychology WJH 962 – 33 Kirkland St Cambridge, MA 02138, USA cdn at wjh.harvard.edu Profile Cleopatra Abdou, M.A. Department of Psychology University of California 1285 Franz Hall – Box 951563 Los Angeles, CA. 90095 USA cabdou at ucla.edu Profile Social Media Network InformationPlease follow me on Twitter at: http://Twitter.com/HairBoutique. I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets. Visit us at Hairboutique.com located at: http://www.HairBoutique.com, on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Thank you for visiting us at The HairBoutique Blog and for leaving your comments. They are very much appreciated. We apologize in advance but must remove any direct advertisements or solicitations. - Revised Publication Date: 05/22/10 |
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Please follow us on Twitter at: https://Twitter.com/HairBoutique. I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets.