title: Changing Environments by Changing Individuals: The Emergent Effects of Psychological Intervention.
abstract: The two studies reported here tested whether a classroom-based psychological intervention that benefited a few African American 7th graders could trigger emergent ecological effects that benefited their entire classrooms. Multilevel analyses were conducted on data that previously documented the benefits of values affirmations on African American students' grades. The density of African American students who received the intervention in each classroom (i.e., treatment density) was used as an independent predictor of grades. Within a classroom, the greater the density of African American students who participated in the intervention exercise, the higher the grades of all classmates on average, regardless of their race or whether they participated in the intervention exercise. Benefits of treatment density were most pronounced among students with a history of poor performance. Results suggest that the benefits of psychological intervention do not end with the individual. Changed individuals can improve their social environments, and such improvements can benefit others regardless of whether they participated in the intervention. These findings have implications for understanding the emergence of ecological consequences from psychological processes.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education, Stanford University jpowers1@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Joseph T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Jonathan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Columbia University.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Purdie-Vaughns
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stanford University.
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Apfel
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education, Stanford University Department of Psychology, Stanford University.
authors.forename: Geoffrey L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D004493:Education / Q000379:methods*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012931:Social Environment; D012945:Social Values / Q000208:ethnology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: affirmation; ecological effects; emergence; intervention; stereotype threat; treatment density