Awareness, Social Cognition, and Commitment: Developing a Social Justice Orientation in Psychology Training Programs

This study investigates how the awareness of social inequities and racism may serve as a foundation for psychology trainees' social justice self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, interests, and commitment. Using the social-cognitive justice developmental framework proposed by Miller et al. (2009), a total of 222 participants were recruited from accredited applied psychology programs across the United States. Participants completed measures assessing their levels of two dimensions of critical consciousness: Egalitarianism and awareness of inequality (Diemer et al., 2017), their colorblind racial attitudes (Neville et al., 2000), and their social justice self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, and commitment (Miller et al., 2009). A hypothesized path model was fit to the data. Alternative models were also considered. Results indicated that participants who endorsed egalitarianism and were more aware of social inequities showed greater awareness of racism and, in turn, were more likely to endorse a higher orientation and commitment to social justice. Limitations and implications for future research and training are discussed. Public Significance Statement This study sought to better understand the factors supporting the promotion of social justice interests and commitment among psychologists in training. We found that trainees who had developed a greater critical awareness of systemic inequality and who endorsed egalitarian attitudes were more likely to be aware of racism in various forms (e.g., blatant racism, institutional racism, and White privilege) and that this was related to endorsing social justice beliefs, expectations, interests, and commitment. These findings highlight the importance of critical attention to social and historical context in clinical training.