SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGY AND THE AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION DEBATE

For a number of reasons, the discipline of psychology has not contribu ted substantially to the affirmative action debate. One of the major r easons is that psychologists have taken a ''trapped'' orientation to a nalysis of the psychology of affirmative action. That trapped orientat ion has caused psychologists to engage in miraculous theorizing, where by there are significant policy-relevant gaps in the models used in po licy analysis. These problems are identified and analyzed, and a more productive alternative approach to the analysis of the psychology of a ffirmative action is outlined and reviewed.