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This article provides a conceptual introduction to the second installment of a two‐issue collection of work on decolonial approaches to the psychological study of social issues. Whereas papers in the first installment consider decoloniality as a social issue for psychological study, papers in this second installment consider psychology as a site for decolonial analysis. In this article, we briefly review key concepts from decolonial theory (e.g., the coloniality of modernity, distinct from historical colonialism). We then discuss manifestations of epistemic violence in hegemonic psychology that require intervention. Epistemic violence is (not merely) a matter of epistemic exclusion of racialized others from the knowledge production process, imperialist imposition of white‐washed knowledge products as universal standards without regard to context, or pathologizing forms of explanation that construct racial others as deviants in light of white‐washed standards (i.e., epistemological violence; Teo, 2010). In addition, epistemic violence in psychology includes forms of harm (e.g., zero‐point epistemology and individualist lifeways) associated with its modern/colonial roots. Accordingly, a decolonial approach to the psychological study of social issues may require refusal of the discipline of psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychology's disciplinary interests and methodological norms lead psychologists to look for intersectionality at the level of individuals and variables, with an attendant focus on identities rather than social structures of inequality. Accordingly, many social science approaches reframe intersectionality as a tool to understand complexity, rather than oppression and liberation. At the same time, social science scholars deploying intersectionality frameworks have moved the focus of the analytic framework away from the particular subject position and social location of Black women and the vulnerabilities they face. In these ways, even at a moment when intersectionality is exceedingly visible in social science, including psychology, women of color are not visible in that success. These trends represent not only an injustice but also a threat to the radical potential of intersectionality to transform scholarship and practice. This article aims to recenter women of color in this special issue by discussing what the collected papers can tell us about the lives of women of color, their status as creators of knowledge, and useful approaches for deploying intersectionality frameworks within psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological science has had a long history of both being in collusion with and resisting the colonial and violent nature of White supremacy in the academy. The field of psychology has culpability in creating and maintaining dominant narratives that have served to justify the dehumanization of marginalized groups, particularly in regards to the methodologies used. Meaningfully integrating reproductive justice (RJ) frameworks into psychological science can drive the development of interventions for using empiricism in the service of justice for systemically vulnerable groups. This paper examines how RJ offers psychological science methodological interventions that interrogate, expose, and challenge hegemonic discourses and policies that have functioned to disempower systemically vulnerable groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a personal account of my experience with Kurt Lewin and attempts to characterize why he was such an effective scientific leader. Key points are Lewin's personal leadership style, his approach to theorizing and research, the substantive and methodological innovativeness of the research done by Lewin and his students, his intense commitment to developing psychological knowledge that would be relevant to important human concerns, and his persistent attempt to develop ways of applying psychological knowledge to make the world a more humane habitat. The paper concludes by summarizing how my career in social psychology has been affected by Kurt Lewin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construct of privilege has been undertheorized in the field of psychology. The discipline more commonly examines those who have been disenfranchised, marginalized, and discriminated against. However, psychologists concerned with social issues must also attend to questions of power and privilege. This article uses a collaborative research project with New York City youth and adults called Polling for Justice to engage in a discussion about privilege as it runs through three areas of that work: by design, in results, and through action. First, the paper argues that privilege is an epistemological standpoint of empirical psychology that has been disguised as objectivity. Next, that privilege is a set of material and social psychological conditions that protect adolescents as they develop, take risks, and mature. Finally, that those who hold privilege can embrace and model a sense of collective responsibility and solidarity, not retreat or passively empathize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academics and professionals who aim to understand and plan for aging societies are most often younger than study participants and the benefactors of social programs themselves. However, the appropriateness of such intergenerational practice is beginning to be questioned. It has been suggested that only older people should conduct research, consult on and plan programs for older people. To understand the benefits and pitfalls of such an approach, research encounters between younger and older people will be used as examples from which to explore the question: what happens when individuals attempt to reach across age and generational boundaries? Situating age and generation as organizing principles, insights will be gleaned from the anthropological insider–outsider debate, linguistic work on age-based differences, and emotional associations and identification across age and generational boundaries. This paper argues that the ways older and younger people relate to each other may hold the potential for connection and/or conflict between the generations. Results suggest that age and generation be considered one of the many social locations that may impact the research process and outcomes. Researchers and policy makers of all ages must begin to reflect on their involvement with age and generational boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1939 George W. Hartmann was Chairman of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and a prominent activist-scholar. By the end of World War II, his teaching career and psychological health lay in ruin, and he never reestablished his influence as a psychopolitical expert. This article traces the rise and fall of Hartmann's career and its unique mixture of Gestalt psychology, socialism, and anti-Communism. Unpublished correspondence, family papers, and files from the FBI and other intelligence agencies are used to recreate Hartmann's political personae--including Socialist electoral candidate, chairman of Peace Now, and leader of the War Resisters League. His life as a public intellectual is used to reflect upon the nature of psychological expertise at midcentury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes some of the major principles of belief system theory and describes the method of value self confrontation. An example of how value self- confrontation can be used to modify environmental values is provided. The research on value self confrontation is reviewed and critically evaluated. Although there is support for belief system theory and for the efficacy of value self-confrontation as a means of inducing long-term change in important values, attitudes, and behaviors, a number of important questions remain unanswered. In particular, the psychological mechanisms underlying change in values, attitudes, and behaviors after value self-confrontation require clarification and further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]