This research examined the effects of racial imagery (Black and White characters) and cultural themes (African American and Euro-American) in reading content on comprehension and recall in African American children. The participants, consisting of 109 elementary school children attending a developmental research school in Tallahassee, Florida, listened to prerecorded stories while attending to an accompanying story manuscript. The participants were assigned to one of three treatment groups. Participants in Story Treatment Condition I listened to a story composed of Black characters and African Americans themes; participants in Story Treatment Condition II experienced a story with White characters and traditional/Euro-American themes; and participants in Story Treatment Condition III were exposed to a story with Black characters and traditional Euro-American themes. After the presentation of the story, participants were asked six questions designed to elicit their recall of the story's characters and events and their level of comprehension of the story. It was hypothesized that stories depicting Black characters would facilitate more efficient recall and comprehension than stories depicting White characters. The results provided support for this hypothesis regarding comprehension although the hypothesis pertaining to recall was not supported. Additionally, the data analysis revealed significantfindings in support of the hypothesis that the stories reflecting themes consistent with the sociocultural experiences of African Americans would have a facilitating effect on recall and comprehension in African American children. The findings are discussed as supportive of the facilitative effects of culturalfactors on reading in African American children.

This research investigated the relationship between social cultural setting and background characteristics to African self-consciousness (ASC) as measured by the ASC Scale. Two hundred fifty Black college students, half from pre dominantly Black Florida A&M University (FAMU) and half from predominantly White Florida State University (FSU), were administered the ASC Scale and a background questionnaire. The findings revealed that: (a) FAMU stu dents obtained significantly higher ASC Scale scores than FSU students; (b) older students obtained significantly higher ASC scores than younger students; (c) upper level students obtained higher ASC scores than lower level stu dents, and this effect was more pronounced for FAMU students than for FSU students; (d) students with Black Studies backgrounds obtained higher ASC Scale scores than did students without this experience, especially for the FSU students; (e) FAMU students with all-Black elementary school backgrounds obtained higher ASC Scale scores than did the other students. It concluded: (a) that the African self-consciousness construct appears to be an important factor in explaining differences in psychological functioning and behavior among Black students in different sociocultural settings; and (b) that Black sociocultural settings and pro- Black experiential emphases are probably facilitative of healthy Black personality functioning.

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Based on analysis and research, an affect-symbolic imagery synthesis construct has been proposed as a broad explanatory construct for understanding knowledge acquisition in African Americans. This construct defines an affective (interpersonal/social) factor, a stimulus-response diversity/change factor, and a diunital/intuitive analysis and synthesisfactor as constituting a culturally unique orientation to learning and problem solving in African Americans. The affective factor defines an affinity in African Americans for "psychological closeness" to the phenomena one seeks to understand. This factor prioritizes personal-social (nonrational) attributes in knowledge acquisition. The stimulus diversity/change factor suggests an orientation toward dynamic, flexible, and varied experiential modes as opposed to repetitive, static, and regimented experiential modes. This factor projects the importance of stimulus variety and change in knowledge acquisition. The diunital/intuitive analysis and synthesis factor also is a holistic Black cultural construct of knowledge acquisition. It depicts problem solving as an integrative hemispheric endeavor rather than a linear, analyticalprocess. This construct depicts learning and problem solving as a holistic process, encompassing both affective and conceptual-expressive factors in complementary organization.

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