Psychic damage is a concept used in the field of

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...

to describe the negative effects of

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

on individual members of

stigmatized Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, an individual or group based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, rac ...

groups. The label "psychic damage" was first used by U.S. historian Daryl Scott to describe the effects of stereotyping on

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

in his 1997 book ''Contempt and Pity: Social Policy and the Image of the Damaged Black Psyche, 1880–1996'', which won the

Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...

' James A. Rawley Prize for the year's best work in

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

. In his book '' Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do,'' U.S. social psychologist Claude Steele wrote that the psyches of individual African-Americans gets damaged "by bad images of the group projected in society -- images of blacks as aggressive, as less intelligent, and so on." Repeated exposure to these images, he wrote, is

internalized Internalization ( or internalisation) is the process of making something internal, with more specific meanings in various fields. It is the opposite of externalization. Psychology and sociology In psychology, internalization is the outcome of ...

by members of the stigmatized group, which damages their character by causing low self-esteem, low expectations, low motivation and self-doubt, and contributes to societal problems such as high

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

, poor marriage success, low educational achievement and

criminality In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

. Initially the concept of psychic damage was used to describe the effects of stigmatization on African-Americans, but the concept has also been applied to other stigmatized groups, such as Native Americans,

Latino people Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-ethn ...

and women.

References

{{Reflist Social psychology Stereotypes Social stigma